1st Grow: Removing leaves

[GramMeGrows]

'K..here's the basics though I don't think they are needed to answer my Q

Strain - 2-3yr old bag seeds
# of Plants - had 5, one hermed, 4 females left
Grow Type - Soil
Grow Stage - flower
Bucket Size - 3 Gallon
Lights -vegged w/4 26w 5000k cfls and 2 26w 2700k, flower 6 26w 2700k
Nutrients - veg 13-4-5 general plant and molasses, flower 8-14-9 general plant and molasses
Medium - 25% Perlite 25% Vermiculite, 25% peat,25% backyard soil..lol yup
PH - unknown
RH - steady 45%
Room Temperature -75
Room Square Footage - 4'h x 2'd x 3'w
Pests - None Known

Now..after you pick yourself up off the floor from laughing, my question is this: I want to get more light down into my plants. They're big and bushy and healthy and I've had no issues with them. No camera or I would definitely show them off! I do want to get more light down into the plants and adding more lights is not an option. I want to remove some of the leaves. Can I? How many? Which ones?

 

[budbro]

You can remove some of the leaves, but with cfl's, most of the usable light (for plants) is around 1-3 inches from the bulb. So not exactly sure how much this will help, re-arranging the bulbs to get the light closer to where it can be used might be the best option if you can't add any more.

 

[GramMeGrows]

Thanks for the quick reply bud! I keep the cfl's about 1" from the plants but even if they were totally surrounded by lights I would still have the same problem. I've done everything...different..lol..and they are still monster BUSHES! They're only 7wks old today and 3wks into flower. I fimmed then twice and lst'ed and there are 6 main colas on each but there are so many leaves that the light can't penetrate. I've been twisting the leaves around each other but it's just not working anymore. I think my only option may be to remove some leaves unless anyone has another idea. I just don't know if removing them at this stage of flower is ok and if so which and how many I can remove without harming the plants.

 

[budbro]

You are welcome and you are already working harder at it than most. Since they are bushy and all sounds like it is going great, i'd remove some of the leaves that are blocking light from the buds, just don't go crazy on the poor girl, lol

 

[GramMeGrows]

Thanks again bud! I ended up with girls not girl. Out of 5 plants from bag seed I figured I'd be lucky to get maybe 2 females and I got 4. Being so bushy that just kinda compounds the situation. I'll trim a few leaves off them when the lights come on in the morning and see how they like it..or maybe I should do it before lights out...hmm. Really wish I had a camera now cause I think I'm getting to the point of having more questions. Don't mind my rattle..I think out loud when I'm stoned!!

 

[budbro]

Lol, we all do bro! And we all work our babies over with 10 times the TLC they actually need, haha. Good idea on the camera, then start a grow journal here. You'll get day-by-day advice from some of the best growers, and the best people I have ever seen! Good luck to you