I have an AfghanKushxWhiteWidow from Barneys thats 3 weeks old and bushy. Need advice on if I should trim shade leaves 2 or 3 to let shoots get through (see pics). I did this on my 2 week old Liberty Haze and she recovered fine but has taken longer due to a stem issue where I thought she was gone. She does have browning on her tips and some purple stems that I believe has to due with temp. She is under 300w of CFL whereas the AKWW is under 400w CFLs and in a warmer area due to my setup so far. I am needing to get a flower area prepared and thinking of moving to MH/HPS when $$$ permits. Any advice would be appreciated as I am hoping to learn from the pros here. FYI. in the pics I have used a stick to show which leaves I was thinking of trimming. If anyone has ability to mark-up photos on where to cut or if I should just let her go Im all ears. Peace
I pull leafs off all the time. Do a search for 'defoliation' on any board. There is usually a big ass post about it everywhere. I do it. The plant doesn't seem to care.
I wouldn't pull the leafs of her cause that is where she draws her energy.(mpo) Just top and lst her. LSTing would open all the nodes up to light and your not losing any energy do to leaf loss. If you want to top her cut the stem right above the new set of nodes. There are stickys with pics like you ask for in them. I believe it's in the advanced training section. Good luck and your looking good so far. Nice and green!
beautiful straing. looks like a half and half mix of sativa and indica. i would love to buy a bean one day thats a fat sativa! dont cut anything man..come on now. also trimming is not a "big" deal. its a bit of unnecessary stress which ultimately puts you back in the long run. lst may benefit if it really makes the lower nodes think theyre also tops. topping probably benefits too. id say do it too in veg, hurry
Thanks for the comments. She is darn bushy for an 8" tall plant with almost a 3/4"" thick main stem at the soil. I wish I lived where I could take this outside and plant. She has so many shoots so close together on every side Im not sure which way to bend her since those bottom shoots would be in the same predicament trying to get to the canopy?? I took off two shade leaves to experiment, one on each side which you can tell from the pics. It didn't bother her and those bottom shoots came up overnight. Im thinking of taking the other two shades on top off once the shoots grow a bit more off the node. Im not sure what else to do. Im going to try tying some of the offshoots to the side of the container in lieu of trying to bend her over to one side. Any other comments are welcome. Id love to take her to a good home in IN where someone had room for her to grow under big lights to see just how big she could get with HID lights. I don't have a room for that yet and am still planning on where Im going to flower her. I have thought about buying a grow box online. Id like to get one under $1,200 for soil that had HID lighting and great built-in odor filtration, fans, etc. Does anyone know which are the best for the money? I looked at Dealzer, and the Roommate at BC Northernlights. Any others boxes people recommend? For now Im going to continue experimenting to learn, tie down the off shoots and perhaps try trimming just two more shade leaves since the last two did not slow her down.
I have to say, for CFL's grow, those are STELLAR plants. Those 400 CFL pack a punch! raise them UP a few inches and the plant will elongate some and make LST easier.
I used 4 x 100w CFL's with a spliter for each clamp on reflector to save $$$. The strain turned out to be very nice and she's really producing some nice shoots. However, I wished I would have begun the LST at the 2nd week - grow and learn as this was my first grow ever. The thickness of the main stem and incredible bushiness of the strain made it hard to LST her at this point. I am however tying down the shoots to try to open her up as much as possible. If I get an oz or more off her Ill be happy. I may even verg her all winter and plant her out side to see how big of a bush she can become by next oct. harvest. Ill make that decision in the next 30 days by where she is at and if I have the $$$ to buy an HPS to flower her under in a good area and if my Liberty Haze has caught up enough to flower both at same time. I will definately veg 24/7 under the CFL's to start in order to save energy as it allowed me to provide obviously plenty of light at under 100 total watts with conversion. The mini 23W 6500k CFL's are the way to go for those with small areas and under a budget. The afghan kush+white widow strain in the pics came from barneys and attitude seeds. The bank was from world of seeds according to the bag they came in with my order of Liberty haze, which has turned out to be a bit of a harder plant to grow but is coming along. She was germ about two weeks behind the AKWW.Thanks for the help of those who responded. I will post pics once she is in flower.