Thick, or Thin it out?

Here is what I'm working with. I'm ready to flower them at any time. I have 16 plants in a 7' x 7' area, under 5 400w lights. Here it is:

Which would give me a bigger yield, keeping them as they are, or thin them out so that the lower branches get more light? And if I do keep things as they are, will I get any substantial bud development down below?

Thanx.

TLP

everyone on here has their own opinions of pruning. I have found in my own experiments, that if you only cut off a few of them, no damage should be down..but you always have to think, if you cut leaves off, it's taking away from the plant....because those leaves are what feeds the plants....think about it...then cut.

Just leave them alone, I found that the less you mess with the plants the better they do.

NoDrama said:

Just leave them alone, I found that the less you mess with the plants the better they do.

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I don't cut anything off the plants themselves, if it doesn't fall off, it stays on.

I was wondering more about thinning the herd rather than thinning the plants. Will I get a larger yield like this with 16 crammed in there or would I be better off with like 12 plants that get light all the way down?

Rather than throwing them out, just bring them down to me, LOL. Actually, they look great to me but they are going to get pretty bushy. I'm sure you'll lose some of the lower branches as they get bigger and as they finish they aren't going to need those big fan leaves anyway.

Are they clones guaranteed to be female? if not you'll probably get a couple of males which'll cut down your number anyways. You can always "Selectively Arrange" the plants by pushing the fan leaves under growing shoots or tying them in bunches to allow more light to the bottom, but without killing any leaves.

BornGreen1987 said:

Are they clones guaranteed to be female? if not you'll probably get a couple of males which'll cut down your number anyways. You can always "Selectively Arrange" the plants by pushing the fan leaves under growing shoots or tying them in bunches to allow more light to the bottom, but without killing any leaves.

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bingo!

BornGreen1987 said:

Are they clones guaranteed to be female? if not you'll probably get a couple of males which'll cut down your number anyways. You can always "Selectively Arrange" the plants by pushing the fan leaves under growing shoots or tying them in bunches to allow more light to the bottom, but without killing any leaves.

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They aint from clones, they're from seed, but since I have yet to get a male out of this batch of seeds, I have no reason to think I'll get one now.
How much could I yield as is? Or would I be better off with 10-12 plants spaced further apart? Yeah, if the last grow was any indication, I'm gonna have to use a machete to get into the room. My lights are 18" from the ceiling when fully raised, so The tallest I can reasonably do is about 5'.