GSC Autos, 3rd week. Should I trim the fans or wait?
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Goal? Clones? LST? Waiting will not hurt, this week.
FANS are solar panels, why waste, unless deformed and touching/rotting at soil.
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Agree with Dave.
Why the idea of taking off leaves persists is perplexing to me. I know there are two camps on this topic.
The main thought is that the plant will focus its energy on growing bigger buds. But think about this. What energy does the plant itself have? The only source of energy is the light. So by taking away the leaves which use the light to make the actual food for the plant to grow and you are handicapping it. The food you feed the roots are only the primary ingredients for photosynthesis to make the complex sugars to form new growth. As the plant grows you may need to remove enough to keep air moving and cut down on the risk of mold growth. Once the leaves are fully grown they are not “Taking” anything but are providing the rest of the plant nutrients.
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Id wait. But defoliating indoors is definitely better. Ive always yeilded more off defoliating bottom third of plant then without. Outdoors is not the same, ppfd is consistent unlike a grow light, therefore not as important. But why waste energy for growth at bottom of plant that is seeing nowhere near adequate ppfd. To each there own on this topic, every case is different, as to the view.
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Indoors it’s better to trim. Always yield more when I trim the fans. Above pics I started trimming at 3 weeks. But when you trim you need to feed right after and get creative on your nutes, because as someone said earlier it does take from the plants light source but with right nutes mixture you can create energy that will surpass the energy lost from trimming the fans. Just don’t get “crazy” with the trimming. Con on trimming is it does take longer topically from seed to harvest on autos. All depends on if you trying to grow huge prize winning buds or if you going for yield! Again i’m speaking on Indoor crops.
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@NCgrower I’ve seen pictures of your plants on other threads and the same thought keeps pooping up in my head. You need better lights if you want dense buds.
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Look into green beams!!
Like @Spiney_norman and @DEEPDIVERDAVE said, leaves provide energy. A lot of folks say trim them, they’re blocking bud sites…but I see no buds! Hell, not really any branches yet!
Leave the leaves, let them provide the energy so those branches can grow strong and be able to support some big buds. The branches should grow long enough that the tops (where the big colas will form) will NOT be blocked by those fan leaves.
Once the branches have grown long enough, the fans will start to point downwards, rather than upwards. That’s when I trim them off, as the branch will now be longer than the leave itself and have several other leaves on it which will provide additional energy for growth.
And then once you have your shape you want, then you can trim the bottom third off and flip to flower. Look more into LST than just trimming fan leaves. Let those side branches grow, and when you top your plants, you can bend those branches downwards so that all the tops are on the same level, making a nice even canopy. Buds will grow and ripen better if they are the same distance from the lights. Looking at @NCgrower 's plant, his bottom flowers are twice the distance from his lights than the top flowers.
This is just after I heavily trimmed mine, I try and make them wider rather than taller. This is a 4x4 tent, 5 plants.
They are only about 8" to a foot tall.
So rather than snipsnip, bend 'em like Beckham!
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what is ppfd?
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Measurement of light in a 24 hr period. Easier for me to just go off DLI, personally. Download photone app. Hope this helps
I would get your girls healthy before you do anything. They look hungry and thirsty. Very nice view! Keep going buddy
Picture was taken right after a slasher session, just before watering and feeding. Don’t worry, they are growing like crazy! Check out my grow here
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My mistake. Looking forward to following along!
No worries, they do look haggard from the side view. The Death Bubba plants have such thick and heavy leaves, they just hang there so they look thirsty a lot. They’ve grown a few inches since those pics were taken, need to go in and take some more. And of the clones upstairs that are going crazy!
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Show us them girlies!
If big leafs cover grow spots and I can’t tuck them anywhere I cut it
Can anyone tell me if this White Widow is ready to harvest, I don’t really care for the couch lock,if you know what I mean. I don’t want to let it go too long
3 more weeks imo
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If not more imo
Man,I wish I could see what y’all do,they’re still drinking good, I read somewhere on here that they will slow down on the water when it gets close,but they’re getting a lot of brown hair is why I asked