How high should I trim?

[Tmo88]

I'm growing some Durban Poison, n she's lookin great. But, how high up should I go when trimming fan leaves? I have pretty big leaves 2 nodes down from the top. Should I leave them, or cut em?

The leaf in my hand is the one I'm thinkin about cuttin.

 

[Scientific]

My rules are to trim as little as possible, but if a leaf is shading a bud, it has to go, and if a leaf itself is in the shade, it's a candidate for removal. Leaves that are both blocking light AND restricting air circulation are definite candidates for defoliation.

Just FYI and FWIW, here is the little foot-tall Dwarf Low Flyer growing out on my deck. Like you, I had big fan leaves blocking the buds, so I cut off the four big ones on the top, exposing the bud sites underneath. The buds just exploded as soon as the shade was removed.

Before: 4 big fan leaves blocking

After: Bud sites exposed to full sunlight were VERY happy. (Pink fake flowers are to confuse the neighbors. )

 

[Tmo88]

Very nice, I was ganna ask what strain had the pink flowers with them lol
Awesome thank you. So it's not ganna bother the plant to take those off?
I've kind of trimmed a bunch, but that's bc the leaves keep gettin big n block either light or air. I've just been tryin to not take anything to close to he top. But does that really matter?

 

[Scientific]

Any time you cut off a healthy leaf that's exposed to full light, you're compromising your plant's ability to photosynthesize of course, but judicious defoliation helps in the long run, especially if it's turning into an overdense bush. I think defoliation is kind of an art that you can do effectively just by watching your plant's growth every day and seeing how it responds. I pulled dozens of leaves off my last little dwarf plant and it did fantastic.

 

[Tmo88]

Any time you cut off a healthy leaf that's exposed to full light, you're compromising your plant's ability to photosynthesize of course, but judicious defoliation helps in the long run, especially if it's turning into an overdense bush. I think defoliation is kind of an art that you can do effectively just by watching your plant's growth every day and seeing how it responds. I pulled dozens of leaves off my last little dwarf plant and it did fantastic.

That's what I've been doin, I would just pick a little n watch it. The next day she would be booming n get a lot bigger.
I would only trim the leaves blocking something

 

[Scientific]

That's what I've been doin

Seems like we're on the same page then. It's kind of an art, no?

 

[Tmo88]

It really is. I've just been basing everything on instinct really

 

[Tmo88]

Seems like we're on the same page then. It's kind of an art, no?

Do you think I've trimmed to much?

 

[Why Doe]

Looks good, do you care about height at all? I would LST or scrog that girl before its too late.

 

[Tmo88]

Looks good, do you care about height at all? I would LST or scrog that girl before its too late.

I'm goin for whatever gets me the most yield.
I'm in the process of goin into flower. Taking an hr of light off each day, n next wedsneday it'll be at 12/12.
I was thinkin of topping her maybe this Saturday or Sunday.
If she gets much bigger, from what I hear; she'll be to tall for my tent by the end of flower.

What would you recommend?

 

[Why Doe]

Why are you going an hour less each day? If anything that is hurting your yields. Photoperiod plants will switch right into flowering soon as you switch them to 12/12 even if you had it on 18/6 the day before. Topping, LST, and scrogging will definatly get you more yields as it evens out the canopy allowing all bud sties to get the same amount of light and grow upwards. Just remember to top and defoliate before you flower as you want to give them time to rest before 12/12

 

[Why Doe]

I was thinkin of topping her maybe this Saturday or Sunday.

I would have topped a long time ago, you see how yours is growing upwards like a Christmas tree? Thats how cannabis naturally grows, but if you top, it stops the upwards growth of that stem and allows all the other branches to catch up. This is my current grow and is what you should be reaching for. It looks like a mess but im waiting for them to start stretching past the net so I can defoliate and clean her up. I have so many leaves because there is actually still bud sites catching up to the top and its the leaves for those stems. I have counted around 25 bud sites.

 

[Tmo88]

I would have topped a long time ago, you see how yours is growing upwards like a Christmas tree? Thats how cannabis naturally grows, but if you top, it stops the upwards growth of that stem and allows all the other branches to catch up. This is my current grow and is what you should be reaching for. It looks like a mess but im waiting for them to start stretching past the net so I can defoliate and clean her up. I have so many leaves because there is actually still bud sites catching up to the top and its the leaves for those stems. I have counted around 25 bud sites.

First off, very nice! She looks sexy lol.

I've been takin an hr off each day, bc I read in a number of places that when you go from 18 to 12, it makes the plant stretch for the light, makin the stems thin n weak. Which I read wouldn't be able to support thick heavy buds.
N since I'm goin for big buds, that didn't sound to good lol

N I've waited this long to top, bc I read in a few places, n saw some videos where people said that if you wait for the plant to be around 12" before you top, it'll make the main tap root grow stronger n bigger. I heard that when you cut the main stock, it stops the main root from growin long, n starts developing solely on the hairs that grow off the roots. One of the videos was "how to get 1 once colas" or somethin like that.

I know that's it's natural state n way to grow, n how topping it sends the energy to the branches.

But also, I trim leaves off that are blocking either air or light. N when I trim, I always bend my branches n make sure they all get light. I'll push one over to the left, one to the right, n I'll pull the one above them down, so every area gets full light.

 

[Tmo88]

I would have topped a long time ago, you see how yours is growing upwards like a Christmas tree? Thats how cannabis naturally grows, but if you top, it stops the upwards growth of that stem and allows all the other branches to catch up. This is my current grow and is what you should be reaching for. It looks like a mess but im waiting for them to start stretching past the net so I can defoliate and clean her up. I have so many leaves because there is actually still bud sites catching up to the top and its the leaves for those stems. I have counted around 25 bud sites.

You think I should just top them today?

 

[Why Doe]

I have never heard of not topping until 12" that just seems bazarr to me. Only thing I've heard is top every 3-4 nodes or just when you need other branches to catch up. It's really on a case by case bases but yes I would defiantly top now.You shouldn't worry much about the strength of your stems as there's not a lot you can do for that and it dosent really matter that much anyway as you can always support them with nuremous different things like bailing wire hung from the top. For the best results I find focusing on the different training techniques works best.

LST hard at work

 

[Tmo88]

Again, very nice!

Really? Damn, so I've been kind of fuckin myself with that?
I do have a lot of spots that are ganna be bud sites. But damn, that sucks.

I'll def be toppin tonight then!

N the other thing about the slow light change, I also figured that that's how it would happen in nature. Slowly each day, the sun would set sooner.

N also, how do you know when to top? Is it just when you want to, or certain signs?

 

[Why Doe]

Yeah and that's where I kind of figured it derived from, either way you want to do it im sure will be fine. This one is personally an autoflower, but will be trying my first photoperiod after these girls finish up. If you LST like I did and push the whole plant over it gives the side branches time to catch up much like topping does. Since this is an autoflower and they grow fast I only had to top the main stem once and it just hit flowering. Obviously you don't want to top during flower because you would just be killing a perfectly good flower. There are no certain signs to look for just simply top when a branch is getting to tall above our canopy to stop the growth and allow everything else to catch up.

 

[Tmo88]

Ok, sounds good. Will I mess anything up if I add the two hrs I've already taken off the light?

Bc tonight I'll go back to 18, n I'll top

 

[Why Doe]

No you will be fine

 

[Tmo88]

Thanks bud, you're the man!

That'd actually be a cool experiment. Grow two plants, n crop one early, n the other late. N do a few things different, n see which would yields better.