What should I do before flowering

[phatnugz420]

hey guys i’m just curious are there any techniques i should do or any trimming before i switch to flowering they are 38 days old and i wanna get the biggest harvest i possibly can anyone have any recommendations on what i should do

 

[Killian]

Short answer yes and yes. I like to let mine veg for 8 weeks so I have plenty of time to top and train. Then before I put them in flower i will lolli pop them and do some defoilating. I only run 4 plants in a 4x4 with a 600 watt HID and average a pound. Research some grow journals that's similar to your set up and see what others are doing. Your plants look great by the way.

 

[Annex420]

What wattage is your Blurple light? The plants look pretty healthy. I'd recommend you cut back on the Nitrogen nutes as thats more needed in veg and increase the phosphorous and potassium. It doesn't look like you did any type of LST, so your gonna wanna make sure all or most leaves are getting as much light as possible and for flower its normal to lower the light a little. Again idk your wattage or what height they're at atm.

 

[Annex420]

Short answer yes and yes. I like to let mine veg for 8 weeks so I have plenty of time to top and train. Then before I put them in flower i will lolli pop them and do some defoilating. I only run 4 plants in a 4x4 with a 600 watt HID and average a pound. Research some grow journals that's similar to your set up and see what others are doing. Your plants look great by the way.

4 plants in a 4x4? Are they Autos?

 

[Remystemple]

What wattage is your Blurple light? The plants look pretty healthy. I'd recommend you cut back on the Nitrogen nutes as thats more needed in veg and increase the phosphorous and potassium. It doesn't look like you did any type of LST, so your gonna wanna make sure all or most leaves are getting as much light as possible and for flower its normal to lower the light a little. Again idk your wattage or what height they're at atm.

I'm a new grower so i'm doing a lot of reading. one thing i saw that makes sense to me, is to keep the same feed through the first week of 12/12. apparently they stretch big time in that first week. ( i'm so excited to see it happen. almost time ) and will still need lots of nitrogen.

Again, i'm new and could be way off but if they're growing that fast in that short of a time wouldn't you want the nitrogen levels to remain high for that week?

 

[Killian]

4 plants in a 4x4? Are they Autos?

No they are photos. Anymore than four and it's to crowded.

 

[Annex420]

I'm a new grower so i'm doing a lot of reading. one thing i saw that makes sense to me, is to keep the same feed through the first week of 12/12. apparently they stretch big time in that first week. ( i'm so excited to see it happen. almost time ) and will still need lots of nitrogen.

Again, i'm new and could be way off but if they're growing that fast in that short of a time wouldn't you want the nitrogen levels to remain high for that week?

The first week of 12/12 is not really equaly to first week of flower. Plants usually take 7-10 days of 12/12 to fully transistion to flower mode. So ya you could keep the nitrogen at the level your at now.

 

[Annex420]

No they are photos. Anymore than four and it's to crowded.

Ah shit sorry. I have floor tiles on my floor and they're 1 foot each and i was looking at 4 tiles to get idea of your space, but i had a stoner moment and was looking at 2x2. lol Ya 4x4 sounds way better.

 

[Remystemple]

and what about trimming or lolipopping a trained plant? it must be a little different than doing a non topped and trained plant. no?

 

[Annex420]

and what about trimming or lolipopping a trained plant? it must be a little different than doing a non topped and trained plant. no?

A topped plant or topping is cuting the top cola on each branch, allowing the plant to grow more and bigger colas. for example the plant has one main cola if you cut it the 2 just below it will get bigger then theyre supposed to. I'm not the best at describing this sorry. Training or LST is when you tie down the branches and every few days pulling them lower and lower doing this allows more light to shine on the plant and leafs. if you search for LST you'll get a better idea. Also don't top a plant before flower you wanna give it about 2 weeks after the last topping before starting flower.

 

[Remystemple]

A topped plant or topping is cuting the top cola on each branch, allowing the plant to grow more and bigger colas. for example the plant has one main cola if you cut it the 2 just below it will get bigger then theyre supposed to. I'm not the best at describing this sorry. Training or LST is when you tie down the branches and every few days pulling them lower and lower doing this allows more light to shine on the plant and leafs. if you search for LST you'll get a better idea. Also don't top a plant before flower you wanna give it about 2 weeks after the last topping before starting flower.

mine were all topped long ago. I'm getting ready to switch to 12/12 just like the OP. they're super bushy and i'm not sure what to cut off if anything. the really small stuff for sure. but there's not a lot of little branches.
i'll post a pic

 

[Annex420]

and what about trimming or lolipopping a trained plant? it must be a little different than doing a non topped and trained plant. no?

Don't worry if your first grow doesn't end up to be the best. Your new and still learning. I only starting growing this year and ive learned lots over the months,from this site and just growing and learning.

 

[Remystemple]

not the best pics. but you can see they're really bushy. in 10 gal bags. and most of the tops are fairly even height. i'm just wondering if i need to bother with the loli. they're not very tall either .

 

[phatnugz420]

Short answer yes and yes. I like to let mine veg for 8 weeks so I have plenty of time to top and train. Then before I put them in flower i will lolli pop them and do some defoilating. I only run 4 plants in a 4x4 with a 600 watt HID and average a pound. Research some grow journals that's similar to your set up and see what others are doing. Your plants look great by the way.

wow thank you a lot i’m gonna research those techniques

 

[Remystemple]

wow thank you a lot i’m gonna research those techniques

This is a good thread you started. there's a lot of conflicting info out there. for example. I just watched a video where he took off a bunch of the big fan leaves during lollipopping. But I've read countless times not to take them off as they're nute stores for the plant. It's really hard to know what to listen to, we want to learn without too many mistakes lol. People have already done that for us.

 

[Killian]

This is a good thread you started. there's a lot of conflicting info out there. for example. I just watched a video where he took off a bunch of the big fan leaves during lollipopping. But I've read countless times not to take them off as they're nute stores for the plant. It's really hard to know what to listen to, we want to learn without too many mistakes lol. People have already done that for us.

I agree. I like to look at what kind of results the people giving the advice are getting. The only real way to know is doing a side by side comparison with identical clones. I've seen plenty of great results from defoilating to make me a believer but done incorrectly can be detrimental to your plants.

 

[Remystemple]

I agree. I like to look at what kind of results the people giving the advice are getting. The only real way to know is doing a side by side comparison with identical clones. I've seen plenty of great results from defoilating to make me a believer but done incorrectly can be detrimental to your plants.

yeah, scary stuff to a new grower

 

[Annex420]

This is a good thread you started. there's a lot of conflicting info out there. for example. I just watched a video where he took off a bunch of the big fan leaves during lollipopping. But I've read countless times not to take them off as they're nute stores for the plant. It's really hard to know what to listen to, we want to learn without too many mistakes lol. People have already done that for us.

I wouldn't cut the big leafs off at least not until the plant is almost done. The big leafs are like solar panels, plant needs them for energy, if there is alot of them and you need to cut a few to expose the plant to light fine but i would'nt go cutting every one like i've seen most people do. But to each their own, a plant is yours do as you like.

 

[vyserage]

No they are photos. Anymore than four and it's to crowded.

Really? I always grew 6 soil in a 4x4 and still had a bit of room around. Dunno if 1 600w light is enough for 6 plants tho. Now hydro is a completely other beast lol

 

[vyserage]

I wouldn't cut the big leafs off at least not until the plant is almost done. The big leafs are like solar panels, plant needs them for energy, if there is alot of them and you need to cut a few to expose the plant to light fine but i would'nt go cutting every one like i've seen most people do. But to each their own, a plant is yours do as you like.

The biggest leaves get to a point where the plant starts taking energy from other leaves just to keep the big one alive, the biggest leaves are the candidates for removal imo, within reason of course cause in flowering you won't be getting anymore new leaves. The improved airflow further helps with the co2 exchange then of course more light exposure to inner leaves. If a fan leaf is bigger than my hand I'll usually snip it off if I still have plenty more leaves. That applies to indoor, outdoor I'd likely defoliate nothing as there is ample space between nodes and fan leaves for airflow, co2 and light from the sun