PRUNING to increase upper bud yield??

as for the original poster's original question, I would pinch out some of the small under developed shoots that you think will not come to anything. these growing shoots are a strain on the plant. higher ones will form big buds but the bottoms ones will unlikely come to much. however, don't cut off leaves, it's the leaves that feeds the rest of the plant so it can produce bud

 

If the plant knew everything we wouldn't technically grow it now would we? It could just grow itself, which it pretty much can but practical experience and science tells us there are things we can do to increase yield such as nutrients, lighting, co2, air to the roots etc..

when you eliminate a shade leaf, you are eliminating a source of sugar to the plant. The leaves should only be removed for specific purposes. Leaves at the bottom of the plant receive little light and prevent air circulation. They are often trimmed off to increase air flow. Leaves which are shading a growing bud can also be removed. This allows more light to the LEAVES at the site of the developing bud, increasing its growth rate. You can trim leaves to increase yield, trimming isn't bad and if you don't trim you could be sacrificing yield and that is a FACT. It can help with air circulation and light penetration to lower branches and their leaves.

 

I was intrigued some time ago why people thought that crippling the plant's resources could actually help productivity. I have a hypothesis for this, However I will stick to the facts and show you two photos. one of them had its fan leaves stripped off, and the other were all left intact. I'll let you guess which is which lol

 

Why do people write before they read??

Taking of the small lower branches frees up energy to the buds that remain!! Why so scrogs work so well? I have plants in the go that are STRIPPED under the screen (70cm) and the buds are HUGE???

 

I have full on intercourse with the girls before harvest. The buds look SO frosty!

 

Straight up. 300 O'block!!

 

I trim all my lower growth off that doesnt get light. But I most def. Do not take all the leaves off. In my experience from what I have seen stripping it of its leaves dramatically retards growth and bud development.

 

I've never understood why people cut off fan leaves, just let the plant do its thing, how would u like it if somebody came and cut one of your fingers off?, you probably wouldn't respond well to that and a plant being a living organism as well probably doesnt respond well to having one of its leaves cut off. Here is my guess you cut some leaves off and instead of growing fatter buds the plant is probably going to try to grow its leaves back taking energy away from flowering. I'm not trying to be profound or anything just my opinion, I've never cut a fan leaf off until harvest time, I don't worry about the lower buds cause I make hash with em anyways...

 

Here here.
Finally, a common sense approach. Something that I think was seriously lacking going by some posts by the rest of these DICKS that have chipped in with so called advice.

Good job on the plant mate, looking good

 

Saying don't trim fan leaves is just not true. Don't trim all the fan leaves but if you are growing indoors you should be trimming some because your plant will have little air circulation and humidity will rise, neither are good things.

I trimmed a small trash can full of leaves, and took 15 clones off this one plant DURING FLOWERING. Does it look like its having issues? haha I will argue with someone who says trimming fan leaves hurts your plants yield. Maybe if you don't do it correctly and just trim off all the fan leaves or over half or something, it may. I have never thought to take that much from a plant.

Penetration is pretty important if you want any of the lower buds to turn into larger heads. The picture below is just an example of where you could trim, but getting light to branches below will make them rise to the light, thus increasing their yield. I didn't ask this plant to have 20+ heads, they reached for the light because I properly tied it down and removed leaves that were in the way. Everyone has their on strategies on trimming, I tend to trim more in the middle of the plant because the reflection of the tent should get the outer edges good, but the fan leaves in the way of the middle growth had to go or I wouldn't, I repeat, I wouldn't have seen this many heads sprout from the middle.

I would take the exact advice I posted from Ed Rosenthal in the previous post. It looks like very few read that post but responded anyways as if it didn't detail why you should trim some fan leaves, when you should trim them, and when you shouldn't trim them.

 

well now people are discussing two different things. cutting off healthy hard working fan leaves so light can get at the bud, and a separate discussion of cutting shoots and leaves at the bottom of the plant that won't receive any light anyway. confusion is brewing when people are getting these two confused

 

Exactly buddy. As I said. Common sense.

 

Parkoursome , your plant didn't have enough growth on it to hinder any light source . i only remove fan leaves at the end of the life cycle when they turn yellow and will fall any way . if you think a leaf or branch is in the way tie it out of the way and the light will penetrate .try not to stress them as little as possible .
pic on Left is White widow 5oz and right is LSD 5.5oz harvested 2 weeks ago only trimmed real yellow fan leaves ,not a great amount but about average --Erb

 

It's so easy to tie leaves together to occupy the same space facing opposite directions to take in light while allowing light that was being blocked to penetrate further. Why not throw some small lights down there and harvest the top first then let the rest mature a bit more. Unless you're using autos, it works perfectly fine. I like to get the most out of every bit.

 

I cut all my lower groth early in flower and make sure nothing keepson coming back all the way through giving all my top colas nice bulky mass and all the nutes I call it pruning for profit others call it lollipoping. either way it increases air flow to the bottoms of your plant and you are getting rid of suckers.. but You should do it early flower or late veg.

 

I have a fan on my guys blowin right thru em and tie together any leaves blocking light so the lower leaves get it. Zip ties or string works great. Just leave the zip ties a little loose so the branches can get bigger. Looks almost like pruning after finished but the lower popcorn bugs get a ton of light after that. The lower branches always catch up to the other branches, stretching up. They don't get as big but they are still very frosty half size nugs. Using a 400 watt led btw. The light on it penetrates far. The plant can only take in so much energy at once, leaving more leaves lets it take in more than if leaves are stripped and there are so many ways to keep the leaves, branches and get the same effect now. The most I do is fim, tie leaves and harvest in stages. It just makes the popcorn nuts bigger, juicier and soo much better for bho

Now dying leaves are different. Wasted energy by leaving a half dead leaf. Also some tend to start dying when they are close to harvest.