Pruning leaf in flower?

[RoyC]

Hi everyone, I've been trying to research about cutting leaf in flower stage but still not sure how much I can if any, they are abit over crowded, my fault, I've been taking leaf of that has been covering other potential mains through out whole grow till 2 week into flower but I'm jst a bit cautious in flower, I've heard it can make the plant grow more leaf and makes leafy buds? I'm in week 5 now, I think these one have long flower phase, would like to get abit light to the slightly lower mains and get abit of air in the middle, any thoughts or links would be very much appreciated, cheers
Thet got little bit more crowded since these pics, sorry forgot to turn light off and use flash

 

[Buds Buddy]

I usually only cut off the leaves that have a leaf on each side of the stem directly across from each other. I leave any leaves that alternate up the stem. I also cut off all the little twig branches & only leave the thicker branches in order to get Cola's like these.

 

[RoyC]

I usually only cut off the leaves that have a leaf on each side of the stem directly across from each other. I leave any leaves that alternate up the stem. I also cut off all the little twig branches & only leave the thicker branches in order to get Cola's like these.

Wow those look amazing, if I could get something that looked half as good as those they would be twice as good, I get nothing like that and I've been trying everything and putting so much time into it, it's getting demoralizing when I try so hard.
So when do you trim them back to that?
Can i take as much as much leaf off as i need to get light down the into the plant?
How do the mains get so long with such short nodeing and so fat?
Is it to do with the strain?
I don't know what I'm doing wrong

 

[Buds Buddy]

Wow those look amazing, if I could get something that looked half as good as those they would be twice as good, I get nothing like that and I've been trying everything and putting so much time into it, it's getting demoralizing when I try so hard.
So when do you trim them back to that?
Can i take as much as much leaf off as i need to get light down the into the plant?
How do the mains get so long with such short nodeing and so fat?
Is it to do with the strain?
I don't know what I'm doing wrong

Not the strain. In fact I was told Gorilla Glue doesn't grow that way. Yes it does. I proved it.
Starting as a seedling you have to keep your lights as close as possible to the plants without getting light burn. The closer the lights, the shorter the plant, the tighter the node spacing.
I only Defoliate twice & it has nothing to do with light getting to the bottoms, but I'm sure it helps in that way too. The 1st time is either a week before or a week after I start flower .... doesn't matter which as it takes about 2 weeks after you flip to 12/12 for it to actually start flowering. I do this 1st defol to get the Twigs off & a few leaves here & there. This defol defines where all the plants energy will focus on making buds. No longer has to make all those little ones so all it's energy goes into making the big ones.
My 2nd defol is about 6 weeks later when the buds start getting close together & start forming into a long cola. I do this defol more to get Air Circulation through the plant so I don't get WPM or moldy buds. I don't like to cut fan leaves off unless it's preventing air flow. Those leaves are the plants solar panels. Every bud you see has a leaf feeding it. Cut off that leaf & that bud isn't being fed properly.

 

[Buds Buddy]

Wow those look amazing, if I could get something that looked half as good as those they would be twice as good, I get nothing like that and I've been trying everything and putting so much time into it, it's getting demoralizing when I try so hard.
So when do you trim them back to that?
Can i take as much as much leaf off as i need to get light down the into the plant?
How do the mains get so long with such short nodeing and so fat?
Is it to do with the strain?
I don't know what I'm doing wrong

Don't feel bad. I tried for 3 years to figure it out. Nobody ever told me anything on how they did it like it was a secret or something. So I kept trying different things I seen others doing til I figured it out. I know now. I also know it gets frustrating seeing others doing it when you can't figure it out like I did. So if someone asks ... I tell them how I did it to help them out. Maybe I should just make a tutorial on it as my new grow develops this time.
I'm experimenting again with different grow methods. Doing 2 Auto's in DWC & in a week or 2 I'll be adding 3 Photo Period plants in Auto Pots. I'm looking to hit that 1 pound per plant goal. I'm getting closer as I pulled a little over 11 oz. off my last plant & 10.5 off the plant before that. I think I'll figure it out soon.

 

[RoyC]

Don't feel bad. I tried for 3 years to figure it out. Nobody ever told me anything on how they did it like it was a secret or something. So I kept trying different things I seen others doing til I figured it out. I know now. I also know it gets frustrating seeing others doing it when you can't figure it out like I did. So if someone asks ... I tell them how I did it to help them out. Maybe I should just make a tutorial on it as my new grow develops this time.
I'm experimenting again with different grow methods. Doing 2 Auto's in DWC & in a week or 2 I'll be adding 3 Photo Period plants in Auto Pots. I'm looking to hit that 1 pound per plant goal. I'm getting closer as I pulled a little over 11 oz. off my last plant & 10.5 off the plant before that. I think I'll figure it out soon.

Yea a tutorial be great, cheers for the help I could ask so meny questions lol, so u do auto flower now are they the ones you trying to get pound per plant? On the first defoliation do you take of more than what I have in week 2 flower because I still got abit of fluff
1st jpg Week 2 flower, 2nd & 3rd jpg week 7

 

[Buds Buddy]

Those actually look pretty good. You should get a pretty good harvest. Just keep pulling the branches sideways to let air & light in & you'll do great.
Do you have an oscillating fan going to help with air flow ? I like to use 2 of them. one at each end of the tent running on low to keep air circulating.

 

[Buds Buddy]

I'm doing 2 Auto Critical 2.0 in DWC right now. I don't like Auto's as they are not as potent & I can't control the Veg cycle. I had a bunch of Auto Seeds but gave them to a friend last week just to get rid of them. Trying to order New Photo Seeds now. Still have enough seeds for 2 grows though so I'm good.

 

[RoyC]

Those actually look pretty good. You should get a pretty good harvest. Just keep pulling the branches sideways to let air & light in & you'll do great.
Do you have an oscillating fan going to help with air flow ? I like to use 2 of them. one at each end of the tent running on low to keep air circulating.

Cool thanks will let ya know how it goes, yea same got 2 oscillating fans either end, what does DWC mean? Drain to waste coco, I've been cutting abit of leaf off but I'll stop now, cant seem to get big fat heads, have I got to many mains? I use house and garden nutrients, they any good