Hokay, so. I have done a few grows prior to this one. The strain im using is Nirvana Autoflower feminized bubblicious. I am also using CFL bulbs (3x23w, 1x42w) all 2700K. My plant has 25-30 bud sites, and the buds are looking good. it's at about week 7 (from seed) and the plant always seems to produce lots of leaves and buds with LOTS of leaf matter. This is not only a pain to trim come harvest, but it also shades my lower buds. Right now, I still have it in a ~1 gal pot, but will be swtiching to a 3 or 5 gal in a couple days. My question: 1) is there anything I can do to reduce leaf matter in my buds? - trim a few? - transplant to 3-5 gal pot? - more CFL's? I have attached a few photos ...
I say leave the leaves alone but the subject of defoliation is very hotly debated on GC. I don't see any real point in defoliating the buds themselves either. Myself, if I had an issue wherein I had tons of leaves shading lower nodes and tucking them away doesn't work, I'd stagger the harvest to allow the lower buds to develop a little more. Side note: Don't transplant autos. They do not like being transplanted. You're really supposed to start autos in whatever you plan to finish in (At least 3gal). That's not to say it can't be done. It can and will work but the problem is any stress received due to the transplant could slow growth and time is everything with autos.
I would start autos in rockwool cubes or peat o ucks for the first week or so and drop them right into a 3 gallon container. I'd also avoid Nirvana's gear... maybe things have changed in the last year or two but my experience is that they are more pollen chuckers then they are breeders. Rather unstable strains with numerous phenos and some are just plain crap. Just dropped one of their beans I had kicking around for a couple of years and she reminded me why I don't buy from them anymore. Thing looks like it has down syndrome or something while all the other girls are cruising along.
trimming bud leaves will cause the plant to bleed out a little, greatly increasing your chance for moldy buds. I don't suggest doing it just take the extra time trimming.