trimming lower branches/nodes to promote bigger/faster cola growth?

GreenphoeniX said:

Feel free to checkout the setup in my link. It's not that poor. Can't b bothered adding CFL's and shit for the undergrowth, not that important to me.

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Actually it looks like a rather nice setup, far better than most I see here or on other similar sites.

About the only thing I would want to change if it were my setup is the white reflective material. If it were my setup and I had gone to the effort and the expense that you obviously went to I would use Mylar or Foylon.

The increase in reflectivity could be anywhere between 5% and 20% depending on which brand of white plastic sheeting you used.

If I knew for sure that it would only increase reflectivity by 5% I may feel it is not worth the cost but much more than that would be enough for me to make the change.

So other than that all I would say about your setup is bravo.

I'm sure if I grew Indica strains they wouldn't be popcorn, but seen as I only grow strains that are 70% or more Sativa these days, the naturally light and fluffy buds easily become popcorn buds in shade - However what you and I consider popcorn buds may differ quite significantly...

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I can see where a 600 watt HPS and growing sativas or predominantly sativa strains could result in a slight lack of light to the lower portion of your plants since those sativa girls are tall and leggy, as the very most beautiful of women so often times are.

I can also understand why you may feel you do not care to add additional lighting for the lower branches. If you yield enough without the lower branches producing for you I can see why you would not bother to improve their production but I still disagree with the removing of the large lower fan leaves due to how much energy they absorb and transform into energy for the entire plant, including the upper portion, to use for growth.

For someone with a lesser more generic setup while popcorn is not at all preferable it still is a small amount of additional productivity.

When I was new to growing I would often times get a air amount of popcorn and of course I wanted to make changes so that would not be the results but then at times that popcorn was what got me through until the next crop was dried and cured.

So while the popcorn was not what I wanted or hoped for or intended to get it still existed and because of that I was smoking instead of standing there looking at my plant and thinking why the heck won’t you hurry up and mature so I can harvest you.

So while popcorn is not something to brag about and it is not something to stick in a baggie and sell is it not something horrible for the average grower, especially the average grower who only grows for personal consumption, to end up with on the lower portion of their plants.

A little bit is better than nada.

Actually it looks like a rather nice setup, far better than most I see here or on other similar sites.

About the only thing I would want to change if it were my setup is the white reflective material. If it were my setup and I had gone to the effort and the expense that you obviously went to I would use Mylar or Foylon.

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Haha, it's funny you should mention that, coz between the last grow I did and this one I was considering changing to Mylar, but didn't (laziness I guess ) ... May do so after this grow, but no promises. The reason I used white was because in The Cannabis Grow Bible, it says white is better than mylar, after talking to my hydro guy, I'm thinking I should have gone with mylar lol ... oh well - The white plastic is from the hydro store and is said to be the best as far as water proof, reflective white plastics go haha.

If you yield enough without the lower branches producing for you I can see why you would not bother to improve their production

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Yea I got 10 ounces dried and trimmed (popcorn removed lol) and trimmed away from stalks for storage in glass jars - 10 ounces lasts me quite a long time.
My new Aero setup (much like that one in the pic, but with many more smaller plants) will yield 10 ounces so long as each plant produces 1/4 ounce - which shouldn't be hard seen as I will be growing the Sativa in the pic, White Russian, Kali Mist and Super Lemon Haze lol (10 of each - 40 plants total - 1 to 1 and a half week veg - 10 weeks flowering - Like I said, many, smaller plants lol)

A little bit is better than nada.

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That it is!

Sorry for hijacking your thread dude! - Back to your question!!!

GreenphoeniX said:

Yea not bad for 5 weeks old lol ... That's the advantage of Aero/DWC ... But I'd recommend a few soil grows before you step into that realm if you're new to this!

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At least we share one thing in common, a love of ‘true marijuana,’ and that is of course a sativa or predominantly sativa cross.

Personally I would agree with the advantage of Aero/DWC statement. I have always been a hardcore soil grower and I have an online friend that is a fantastic soil grower and I have mentioned that I would like to switch to Aero and he just asks "why when you know the results of soil when it is properly done?" Well I do believe plants do grow somewhat faster, maybe not tremendously but still somewhat faster in certain other growing systems.

I have had tremendous luck using soil. It is not all that uncommon for a crop to appear to be slow and lagging behind where they should be at some early point in the growing cycle but almost all the time suddenly they take off faster than an Ethiopian who just heard that there is a free all you can eat steak and lobster buffet in the next village, so I have stuck with it so far but that is likely to change before all that long.

The other head start you have over many is growing from clones. In a way it is not a true head start because if you factor in the amount of time it takes to clone and root and grow until it is time to veg and then flower the difference is really not usually all that great but since you can do the preliminary steps while another crop is flowering in a way you do still get a head start and most likely save about two weeks when compared to what someone else can do. That is of course a plus, a production line system is always going to at least appear to be faster and from the actual date of switching from the cloning room to full veg and flower and then harvest will of course be shorter. Still though if you factor in the time previous to that the difference is not as substantial.

Again though all I will say is bravo because you do have a much better setup than most here, and also on other similar sites, do.

Oh, I would also agree with the advice to begin to learn using soil. It is easier and more forgiving and there is not as much equipment to break down and it is inexpensive in comparison to other systems for growing so it is a better way for people to get their feet wet and to learn.

They will of course have to learn new things if they make the jump to Hydro or Aero later but by then hopefully they will have learned to ‘listen’ to their plants, they will have sharpened their eyes so they can look at their plants and know if everything is fine and if not know precisely what it up and what needs to be done.

That in itself is the most important thing for anyone to learn to do, to be able to read their plants themselves.

GreenphoeniX said:

That it is!

Sorry for hijacking your thread dude! - Back to your question!!!

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haha
no worries.

i take it all in.
any expieriences and setups are knowledge to me man.

thanks for sharing!

GreenphoeniX said:

Haha, it's funny you should mention that, coz between the last grow I did and this one I was considering changing to Mylar, but didn't (laziness I guess ) ... May do so after this grow, but no promises. The reason I used white was because in The Cannabis Grow Bible, it says white is better than mylar, after talking to my hydro guy, I'm thinking I should have gone with mylar lol ... oh well - The white plastic is from the hydro store and is said to be the best as far as water proof, reflective white plastics go haha.

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There is nothing at all wrong with high quality white plastic since it does have a reflective capability that near rivals that of Mylar. It is only the lesser brands/types that people need to stay away from.

If you upgrade at some point I would suggest considering Foylon. It is a more durable version of Mylar, made of spun polyester fabric and reinforced with foil laminate. Foylon is resistant to most solutions, won't tear or fade, and can be wiped or washed clean.


It is a great solution for growers who are interested in long term use, and though it may be slightly more expensive than Mylar, its durability will more than make up for its cost. It has the ability to reflect about 95% of the light and approximately 85% of the heat energy, so a good ventilation system should be used in conjunction with Folyon.


The recommended method to attach Foylon to the walls would be using Velcro, as it makes taking it down for cleaning much easier and reduces the risk of tearing, creasing or bending it. If this is used for your walls, making sure you get it flush with the wall with no pockets of air between it and the wall to prevent hotspots.

Yea I got 10 ounces dried and trimmed (popcorn removed lol) and trimmed away from stalks for storage in glass jars - 10 ounces lasts me quite a long time.
My new Aero setup (much like that one in the pic, but with many more smaller plants) will yield 10 ounces so long as each plant produces 1/4 ounce - which shouldn't be hard seen as I will be growing the Sativa in the pic, White Russian, Kali Mist and Super Lemon Haze lol (10 of each - 40 plants total - 1 to 1 and a half week veg - 10 weeks flowering - Like I said, many, smaller plants lol)

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That sounds good. I also like your choices. I have some Nevilles Haze to use on my next run so I am looking forward to that.

That it is!

Sorry for hijacking your thread dude! - Back to your question!!!

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Ditto ... sorry dude .. now back to our normal programming.

removing lower branches assists with air movement beneath the plants... especially important in sog setups.. i just make sure there is a thick canopy that doesnt let any light through... at about week 4 or 5 i will remove some of the upper fan leaves to let light inside the plant... keep in mind what you want to do is expose as much plant material to the light as possible... i have noticed the more light on buds the fuller they get... just an observation from my humble experiences...

Ok. I decided to take some pics, not with the best camera, but they might give you a better idea of what I like to do. I just did some more tying and trimming today on the 5 gallon buckets(5 gal's).















The 5 gal's are about 8 weeks old from clone and the small ones are about 4.5 weeks from seed. They are 1 week into flowering in fox farm ocean mix. You can see on the 5 gal's how Ive tied them since early veg. and done a lot of trimming the past week. For the babies Im going for single cola style and hoping their height almost catches up to the 5 gal's. I have trimmed 2-3 sets of leaves from the babies in the past week also. I am adding gh nutes this week starting at 50% str. and working to about 125% str. later. Ok GL!

wow!

looking great man.

i understand what you are trying to say now too.

thank you for all of your help!

Well I do believe plants do grow somewhat faster, maybe not tremendously but still somewhat faster in certain other growing systems.

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I stuck to soil for a long time, but then you can also look at it like this; go to my Aero grow thread: https://www.rollitup.org/hydroponics-aeroponics/167131-greenx-aero-trials-grow-1-a.html ... Now look at the pictures on the first page, there's the aero tub, and then all those other plants are in soil - The interesting thing about those soil plants vs. those aero plants is that they're all the same age, they're clones or the exact same age ... I loved soil growing, but when you look at the size of those aero plants compared to the soil plants of the same age, same growing environment etc. you have to admit, maybe aero has got a bit of an edge to soil lol

Not that soil can't be nice too!

Oh, I would also agree with the advice to begin to learn using soil. It is easier and more forgiving and there is not as much equipment to break down and it is inexpensive in comparison to other systems for growing so it is a better way for people to get their feet wet and to learn.

They will of course have to learn new things if they make the jump to Hydro or Aero later but by then hopefully they will have learned to ‘listen’ to their plants, they will have sharpened their eyes so they can look at their plants and know if everything is fine and if not know precisely what it up and what needs to be done.

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Some good advice. 'Listening' to your plants is a key to highly successful growing, and can only be learned via experience - You can't really learn it from a book.
Once you find a strain you really like, or even a particular phenotype of a strain that you want to use as a mother plant... Grow that pheno a few times over at least! - You'll learn it's likes and dislikes and your grows will just get better and better!

I'm very new to aero/hydro so I'm still learning a lot about it and have already learned a lot of things that simply aren't learned in soil growing because it's useless information in a soil setup lol.

If you upgrade at some point I would suggest considering Foylon

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I've looked into Foylon. It's currently not available in the country I'm in (not in grow shops or hardware stores anyway - not that I can find at least lol) ... If it were available I'd still be very wary of that extra cost it has over mylar, that cost would be the number one thing to put me off I think...

I have some Nevilles Haze to use on my next run so I am looking forward to that.

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That will be one massive, bushy plant!!! haha

removing lower branches assists with air movement beneath the plants... especially important in sog setups..

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A good point. Good air movement is always a good thing when it comes to growing! - And drying! ... SOG and ScrOG are two methods that probably benefit the most from the ol' lollipop method! - In ScrOG especially, there is really no major need for the under growth.


An added note, Indica varieties tend to have less leaves anyway, they flower with a high calyx to leaf ratio and lollipopping is likely less necessary with them as they let more light through anyway. For those who have experienced Sativas and how massive and bushy they get, I'm sure you can understand how removing the lower growth could benefit the plant, personally when I remove any growth from a plant (other than when cloning), I remove the growth that looks the weakest, most spindly, thin and/or just generally weak looking. Much like a tree or rose is pruned to improve the overall shape and health of the plant, you only want to keep the healthiest and most promising looking parts of the plant, if something looks dead, damaged or diseased - It's out! - That's some other parts of my inner gardener coming out and being incorporated into the wonderful world of Cannabis cultivation lol

Cheers!

Greenpheonix: In your soil plants vs areo plants did you ever transplant the soil kids? They look root bound which would slow and nearly stop their growth. Im not saying soil can catch up to the oxygen exchange in an areo garden, but there are things that can be done to help like aerating the nutes well and adding perlite. It doesnt look like they are getting as much light as the areo plants either. Maybe a little bias towards the aero set up there?

that side lighting is pimp! i would love to see this is full flower!

I started a journal for this grow. Ill be doing weekly updates. Those T5's are usually for veg. but its the last time at this place so I thought why not.

Greenpheonix: In your soil plants vs areo plants did you ever transplant the soil kids? They look root bound which would slow and nearly stop their growth. Im not saying soil can catch up to the oxygen exchange in an areo garden, but there are things that can be done to help like aerating the nutes well and adding perlite. It doesnt look like they are getting as much light as the areo plants either. Maybe a little bias towards the aero set up there?

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Well they both received the same amount of light to start with .. Then the aero plants simply got too big, too quick and shaded them out. Yes they've been repotted etc. Yes the mix has plenty of perlite etc. ... Like I said, I used to only grow soil, got it pretty well sussed now. Gave aero an attempt and was blown away by the results. I'm not one of these hydro dudes that goes on about how awesome hydro is compared to soil. This is my first attempt at aero, and as I said, both plants were given an equal start, the aero simply outshines the soil too quickly. All my soil growing is organic (Earth Juice nutrients and worm castings etc.) - That may be worth a note as my aero grow is far less organic lol

GreenphoeniX said:

I say good advice. I do it. Specially with big bushy plants ... I hate dealing with that little popcorn bud shit ... Just don't prune the lower branches after you're 2 weeks or more into flowering.

Check out the link in my sig. Those plants have their lower branches pruned off. No point having nutrient draining branches in complete shade where they're guna turn out crap anyway lol

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Dam i just cut some lower branches after 16 days flowering. Hope i didnt hurt them. I had cut some after 7 days flowering as well. Basically i now have bottom 1/3 of plants cut off now.

Dam i just cut some lower branches after 16 days flowering. Hope i didnt hurt them. I had cut some after 7 days flowering as well. Basically i now have bottom 1/3 of plants cut off now.

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That's sweet as man. Bottom 1/3 of the plant won't really matter, and only 16 days into flowering is sweet as in my opinion. I usually do my final trim 14 days into flowering so a couple more days won't matter.