Time to flower, help with topping and pruning? Too late?

Discussion in 'First Time Marijuana Growers' started by malufizzgig, Feb 27, 2014.

  1. So I have eight plants started from seed in a four by four tent and it's getting way too full in my tent and watering is a hassle! The plants are all female and just started showing preflowers late last week, about 18 inches tall from the medium to the tips.
     
    I have never grown anything before, and a lot of the opinions about topping, pruning, training, defoliation and other techniques I read were conflicting or assumed a level of experience that I felt like I didn't have, so I decided to let them grow out to learn for myself about how they grow naturally. 
     
    Is it too late to FIM or top my plants now that they are this tall and ready to go to 12/12? Will topping or fim'ing them now increase my yield? I was thinking of topping half and fim'ing half just to see what happens unless someone has any other advice? 
     
    What about pruning the lower branches that aren't getting enough light? It's packed in like a Sea of Green in there and I can barely get at the base of the plants to water them and it's hard to see when the medium is dry and i feel like the lower branches aren't going to get enough light to matter. How should I prune them? at the main stalk or? I'm not really sure where or what to cut, everything I read says something different.  
     
    Can someone advise me on what I can do right now?

     
  2. I know it cause stress and could initiative a hermie problem..

    I have little experience with pruning at this stage and am curious myself.
     
  3. So here's my favorite site/tutorial regarding LST: http://growweedeasy.com/lbh-4-way-lst-tutorial
     
    As far as fitting 8 plants in a 4x4, it's possible.  Here's a pic of my current grow in a 3x3 inside a 4x4 tent.  You may notice that the two in the middle are wide and flat.  These are the ones trained like in the tutorial I mentioned.  The 8 around the edges are clones which are about two months from the time I got them.
     
    SAM_0564.jpg
     
  4. If your not in flower yet, train them sure, but what if your in the flowering stretch or near the end?
    is it still safe to LST or prune?
     
  5. Thanks that's all well and good for next t
     
    Thanks for the input, I was actually reading that tutorial for next time when I would like to SCROG my plants. But for now, this time, I am still not sure what I should do, right now. I don't really understand how to train them this late in the game at that height with the plants, space and materials I have right now or if I should even bother. I have read on multiple articles that I can top them and wait four to five days and then convert them to flower. But I'm still not sure if i should top them, if/how I should prune them, or if I should just leave them alone. 
     
  6. A pic would help, but I'd say if you haven't flipped to flower and you have height room for double the plant size (safe height), then top them and give them a week or two to grow more tops. When the tops are a couple inches long, go ahead and tie them down, GENTLY. Here's a couple of pics of what it looks like after you top.
    2012-06-22_14-13-43_408.jpg 2012-06-22_14-15-28_992.jpg
     
    ...in a bit, you'll end up with two distinct tops. (I didn't tie these down, had no idea what to do. This was my first grow.)
    2012-07-10_12-11-46_911.jpg
     
  7. Okay here's some pics. Also...and sorry for my novice, how to tie them? Which part of the plant to tie? To what? I've read all kinds of guides and they all seem to assume that I've either already grown or that I started training WAY earlier. The Cervantes grow bible was heavy on the don't prune and just let it grow naturally rhetorric, and since I never grew anything before I had no idea where to start. I just don't see how these plants are going to yield enough without doing SOMETHING right now, so I'm really confused. 
    View attachment 5697
     
     
     
  8. And yeah, I can grow out to about 150% of the size they are now. I have an air cooled 1kw HPS in a magnum xxxl on a dimmable ballast. Right now I'm only running the metal halide @ 50% but I have all the headroom I need for a garden like this so if I have to use all six feet and 1000w in flowering if they get way tall, I can. 
     
  9. I use either pipe cleaners or "bread ties" which comes in a spool at the dollar store.
     
    SAM_0475.jpg
    IMG_0415.jpg
     

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