2 1/2 Weeks From Harvest ... Should I Trim Leaves OR Wait Til They Autumn Off???

I will take some pictures in just a sec here, but basically my White Widow is BY FAR the most compact girl in my greenhouse. And being that she is the shortest/bushiest and is kinda tucked in the middle, there's no way she can get enough light anymore to support full on growth in the lower branches as I had planned, otherwise I would have just gone for a full on lollipop before flowering and let her devote all energy to develop some big colas.

With 2 1/2 weeks left, what is everyones opinion on whether or not I should trim some leaves to allow some extra light to penetrate further down to the smaller nugs so they can get some more size? There's already so many leaves to use for photosynthesis and to feed on for nutrient/carbo stores at the end, so it's not like I'd be depriving them. I'm just more worried about introducing any form of stress and paying the price for it with seeds at the end. Rather than cutting a whole leaf off, I kinda wanna just go around all the big fan leaves and cut 1/2-1 inch of the tips off so they're just shortened, allow more light thru, and will stimulate the plant to eat those specific leaves first for nutrients over others.

OR

I guess option #2 would be to let them run their course for the next 2 1/2 weeks, flush in the final week and try to get the leaves to naturally autumn off as much as possible, and let the first real stress that I introduce them to be a 1st harvest of all the top colas and just kinda layer into the branches, and then I'll leave the base/lower growth for another week+ to finish and see how that works? I've done this multiple harvest in my earlier years and I know it works, however, I already had a late hermie n didn't catch it in time leaving me with seeds in my harvest before the multiple cut. So there was no way for me to tell how much extra stress that really caused. Regardless, I multi'd to get extra weight so that i could make hash and I still got a handful that lasted quite a while.

Yield def seems like it's gonna come in under expectations, but atleast I'll have a nice cannabis cup winning strain to stash and bust out for special occassions, right?



Anyway, opinions on what to do on the leaf trimming or multiple harvest scenarios would be much appreciated!

One Love

no leaf trimming...i learned the hard way that the leaves give your plant energy to flower,,so if its green then its producing energy,,if its crispy and dying then yes go ahead and take that one off....just my opinion.

For sure ... I have not been giving them reverse osmosis water yet, and when I do @ the rate they are feeding I should be able to get her to autumn off in no time. I'm going to aim to do 2 more PK & Carboloading feeds along with some Humic/Fulvic acid, and Vitamin B complex, and then switch to a flushing schedule Oct 6-7 that will consist of Carbos, Final Phase chelating agent, and RO water.

I still think that cutting some of the tips of the leaves off would be okay, as it's still leaving a good portion of it on there for feeding and still allowing light thru, but I guess I'll let things run their course and hope for the best yield wise. If they end up swelling due to overall high plant energy then that'd be great, I just have a feeling these lower guys will barely even be popcorn nugs if I don't get them some more light.

thats why i tie branches away ,down,back whatever it takes to get the light to them lower buds,,,,im not saying cutting off the odd leaf will kill your yeild,,im just saying i wuldnt go nuts hacking fan leaves...and yes i would start with tips if they were discolored..good luck.

Thx for the advice bro!

And trust me, branches are tied best I can, yet I'm still crawling on my hands & knees just to get around haha shit is THAT grown in. I mean, the plants have been going from seed/clone since Jan/Feb, and have been under bright blue skys in a professional grade greenhouse since June 1. I really could have used a GH 4-5x the size I'm working with =)

Ive always gone with if they show resistance than leave them on, no matter how yellow, but if a little more than a shake breaks them down, its like giving a 100 year old man a little shove down some stairs. They're ready to go, they just need some guidance.

wilsoncr17 said:

Ive always gone with if they show resistance than leave them on, no matter how yellow, but if a little more than a shake breaks them down, its like giving a 100 year old man a little shove down some stairs. They're ready to go, they just need some guidance.

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I agree, that's the same rule I've lived by for years. I had buddies clip leaves from start to finish throughout flower and let them know how retarded I thought that was. They ended up getting bananas on every single bud in the room. Lesson learned. Again, I was talking about cutting maybe 10-15 leaves off the top to allow light through. I'd guess they'd have another 300 leaves or something to have as support? So while I don't think the 10-15 would be anything substantial and cause much stress, I decided that because I started my flush and they are beginning to autumn off that I will just leave them and they should be fallen off in another couple days. By the time they do, the hairs & trichomes are look like they will have another week to finish which will allow the lower growth some more time to finish with some extra light.

Still not gonna get anywhere near the yield I wanted on this beautiful lady, but that's what I get for not having a big enough greenhouse. Def need to upgrade next year and space them out much better. I was just so limited on room this year.

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Well, it seems the MULTI-HARVEST I am attempting on my White Widow was well worth it and is going to add much more weight to the final yield. It is @ 5 days and I just clipped a small sample nug and blazed it out of my Typhoon and DAMN that's some strong indica. I know widow actually says it's genetics can be more sativa dominant, but this clearly was a more indica dominant phenom. I enjoy it tho. And the organics really worked well, as the flavor is already amazing and it has yet to cure in jars and lose all it's moisture/chlorophyll.

awsome grow mazar, buds are looking tasty

pocw94 said:

awsome grow mazar, buds are looking tasty

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Thanks homes!

You grow outdoor at all?

And do you have any opinion on cutting leaves at any point during flower to allow light penetration to lower buds, or do you agree of letting them stay put? My idea was to let them stay put til the final weeks, but instead of doing that I just took some of the top colas as they were pretty much done and I wanted them to have more of a head high, and let the lower go longer and get more amber trichs for more of a couch lock. That way it'll be like two diff grades of White Widow that I can either use for am/pm.

Any experience with multiple topping?

Research Defoliation. Some growers SWEAR by gradually removing just about ALL fan leaves throughout the cycle of the grow. This causes side branching and development of smaller fan leaves. Remember, as long as you have a good root mass, you can afford to take fans off, they will grow back because your plant is stable and has a good root system.

I personally haven't tried the defoliation technique, but I will be starting it during my current run to experiment. So pretty soon I will have some photos and such.

PistilPimp said:

Research Defoliation. Some growers SWEAR by gradually removing just about ALL fan leaves throughout the cycle of the grow. This causes side branching and development of smaller fan leaves. Remember, as long as you have a good root mass, you can afford to take fans off, they will grow back because your plant is stable and has a good root system.

I personally haven't tried the defoliation technique, but I will be starting it during my current run to experiment. So pretty soon I will have some photos and such.

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Thanks for the tip!

I actually tried that on one of my plants during veg this year while it was indoors, but discontinued that technique after transplanting outdoors and topping, as the topping reduces the size of fan leaves produced and just gives you a lot more smaller ones on all the various branching. IDK about removing all throughout the flower phase. I had a buddy stress his plants and get bananas/seeds late in his grow due to all that, so I wanna prevent too harsh of a stress.

Removing my top colas that were done really exposed a lot of lower growth and will make a huge difference. Much better than say, just leaving the colas on and removing the fan leaves. I think I made a good decision there. And being that I'm blazing some White Widow right now, I can say for sure it was done, tastes great, and was well worth it regardless of the yield coming out less than expected. It def is a stash strain!