Can I cut any leaves I want off the plant? Or will this stunt or kill the plant? Or mess it up in anyway? I don't necessarily want to cut any leaves off, they all look healthy right now, a few lighter discoloration but nothing severe. If there is a thread I passed up or didn't see, please direct me there, I didn't see any. Say I just want to shape up the plant... Question: What are the rules on cutting fan leaves? Mostly lower leaves (my idea is to get more nutes/water flow to the higher, more "important" parts of the plant)
They call it lolly popping i think. I do it. All the lower atuff comes off, budsites (clones) and all. Just leaves the plants to focus on the upper stuff where the lights full strength. I do it the week b4 i switch tho 12/12 and i just remove and leaves as they begin to die off too bro (in flower that is)
But can it be done safely at anytime during veggie state? Or does it have to be done at a specific time to prevent any damages? I would like to trim up some leaves to let light and air get to certain branches and to clean up the bottom (make the plant look nicer).
I have been defoliating my plants since I got them due to light and space limits. I pruned a good amount of fan leaves from the plants one week before flowering and once again three weeks into flowering. I even went back just this morning and cut off a few lower branches because I felt they were not getting enough light and I'm 5 weeks into flowering. I started a little journal of my grow on this site if you want to check it out. I had some over-fert problems early on with some of the plants, but they are doing better now. I will be posting updated pictures of the entirety of the plants tonight, but for now the only full plant picture I have is Pineapple Express, the rest are top cola shots.
like the very low bud sites that are much smaller than the top colas? Does this cause the top colas to get bigger? seeing as the plant doesnt have to try and make those low light, lower small colas..it would seem that way.
That's exactly what I cut. It was suggested by someone on this site that I remove the lower growth to improve light absorption by the top colas. I would assume this will allow the plant to focus more of its energy on creating huge top flowers rather than popcorn bud at the bottom of my plant that is more vegetation than anything else.
According to the book I've been studying by Ed Rosenthal I can use the branches as clones if put under 24 hours light for a few weeks to root and return to the vegetative state. Unfortunately I don't have the proper setup for cloning right now, but within a few months I hope to have a cycle set up so I can have a perpetual flowering room.
Prune the bottom of the plant is one thing. Cutting Fan leaves is another. Fan leaves are the key component to form what we are after, the 'Buds'. Pruning should be stop after the second week of the switch to the light cycle. For example Lolliopop techniques is excellent. But cutting 'FAN' leaves is not Lollipoping. You focus in removing the bud sites, that you know won't grow enough and light will not penetrate. That is what you need to prune, not the Fan leaves. My 2 cents HTH