i have always had a large garden and i know when you prune the buds on any flower or plant will grow larger. Is this true for marijuana? I have never trimmed my plants and was wondering if it helped. thank you.
Well, I think you'll find quite a few schools of thought on this one. Personally I only rarely prune my outdoor girls, because despite what you might hear about topping etc. most of the time it does more harm than good. If you have very large, bushy plants, then it might be a good idea to prune away all the branches that are 'inside' the plant (not the main branches but the smaller ones that don't get much light). This will help the outside of you plant grow becasue resources aren't being wasted on slow, pointless internal growth. That said, if you have a height problem (peeking over the fence?) then it won't hurt plant's that large to take the tops off.
some strains only want to send up a main stalk and no side stems. Its a good idea to top these strains so the side stalks fully develop and your yield increases.
thanks for the feedback comrads i greatly appreciate it. what you told me was my real gut feeling i just wanted some confirmation before i unsheath the shears! once again thanks. OVERGROW THE GOVERNMENT!
you dont need to top (prune) but it helps. pinching the top while the plant is about 3 weeks old does wonders, but you can also train your plant once while its young and this will even out the growth allot. Also you can transplant your plants at an ange away from the sun and the plant will do most of the training for itself.