SCROG canopy - Thin Out Fan Leaves or Not?

[diabolito]

I have a Blue Dream and a Gelato plant growing in a 3x3 tent.

The media is RDWC with 2 Mars ts2000w lights. The plants are in the second week of flowering and have stretched quite a bit. The air is moved by fans and a dehumidifier, so the humidity can be kept under control.

They are growing great and there is a really full canopy. The plants are in a SCROG and the levelled node sites have stretched up from the net now. I've cleared most of the growth below the SCROG for airflow and pushed alot of fan leaves back under the net to clear some space at the top of the plant.

I'm not a fan of defoliating but I wonder if it needs some, with the large fans leaves. I usually don't and end up with dense growth through mid-flower, and other than watching humidity and airflow, haven't had any problems. I wonder though if I should be thinning them out.

Here's a pic of the Blue Dream from above.

If I pull aside some of the top branches there are lots of nodes developing underneath and still above the SCROG. Here's a picture:

Here's a shot from the side looking at the growth above the SCROG with the tucked fan leaves and one of the big branches growing up:

Here's a shot of the canopy with the Blue Dream in front and the Gelato in the back.

I don't like the idea of removing healthy fan leaves but would light getting lower be better in the long run?

Or are the top fan leaves providing energy to the whole plant and collecting the light?

Appreciate any help on this.

 

[Bounce3d]

hi

i grow scrog too, i like to defoliate often in veg so i can select the nodes i want to turn into bud sites.

before flipping to flower i lollipop and then again in week three after the stretch i like to lollipop again and just do a general defol depending if she needs it.

i read some where you can have one plant with 100 bug sites but each bud would be say half the size of 1 plant with 50 bud sites, plants of same ''size'', pots and conditions.

just my two cents but it is something my friend and i discuss often as he doesnt like to defol that much

interested to see what the others say

we have also just germinated a BD

p.s ur ladies look beautiful

 

[Roy Growin]

Hi - if you don't select your buds and thin out some undergrowth it will get pretty sweaty in there as airflow will be restricted
Plants are looking great, you should be able to get a good cola SOG

 

[marcus611a]

hi

i grow scrog too, i like to defoliate often in veg so i can select the nodes i want to turn into bud sites.

before flipping to flower i lollipop and then again in week three after the stretch i like to lollipop again and just do a general defol depending if she needs it.

i read some where you can have one plant with 100 bug sites but each bud would be say half the size of 1 plant with 50 bud sites, plants of same ''size'', pots and conditions.

just my two cents but it is something my friend and i discuss often as he doesnt like to defol that much

interested to see what the others say

we have also just germinated a BD

p.s ur ladies look beautiful

Damn 100 bugs. Take care of that asap ...

 

[Bounce3d]

Damn 100 bugs. Take care of that asap ...

Lol, typo meant to say bud sites

 

[marcus611a]

Lol, typo meant to say bud sites

Looks really good I had a scrog but it got feed iodine by accident

 

[Old Guy Teaches]

Trim My friend. way to congested

 

[Buds Buddy]

I just got done reading an article on defoliating a SCROG & it says for best results to do so. I did it on my SCROG grow.
1 plant in a 3x3 in a 10 gal. pot. Didn't do all that great. a little over 10 oz. is all. Not that good since it was a 5 month grow.

 

[013]

congrats, looks nice

 

[diabolito]

Thanks for the input guys. Makes me more sure of what I should do.

It seems that I need to do trimming based on what you are all saying. I've heard mention of week 3 for defoliating before too and I'm headed in to that so the timing should be right.

Lollipopping really scares me Bounce3d. You're braver than me. I worry that I'd go too far an end up with just a twig but I will definitely do some trimming on this one.

10oz sounds like a lot Bunny. I'd be very happy with anything near that.

I'm going to do some cutting this week. I'll post some pics.

By the way loving this HSO Blue Dream. I ran 2 seeds of them previously and although it had a great high, the plant was long and stringy with no real buds. This one is looking much more robust. (The Canuk Gelato is growing really well too)

 

[Bounce3d]

great @diabolito , glad everyone could help you in a direction

our blue dream is also a Canuk

happy growing bro

 

[diabolito]

Thanks Bounce. It was painful, but I cut back some of the leaves.

It's hard to tell from the picture but there now is a lot more space between branches and the light can hit the lower leaves. I'll be watching it closely the next few days.

This Blue Dream is growing great. Really large fan leaves though in comparison to the Gelato behind it which has smaller branches but smaller leaves as well.

Here's the after pruning picture.

More space now in between the branches growing up from the SCROG.

 

[Old Guy Teaches]

Take More...... your pruning for tops. Not leaves. Ya know....They Call it "Weed" for a reason.. next year start in March.