Marijuana plants are pruned for several reasons. The most important reason for pruning is stealth. Keeping its size down helps make sure it won’t stick out and be spotted. In addition, pruning also improves yield if done correctly. Short or shaded branches take resources away from more productive plant parts that are in bright light. Taking these unproductive branches will improve the plant’s vigor and increase the yield in the remaining branches.
It is important to prune your marijuana plants while they are still in vegetative growth. Early pruning allows the plant to halt any resource production in areas that are inherently non-productive. Fan leaves are the plant’s sugar factories, and sugar is a key component in both metabolism and growth. Clipping off the shade leaves produces less growth and, eventually, smaller buds. Shade leaves should only be removed or trimmed when they are blocking light from getting to the growing buds. If the buds are shaded by only a portion of the leaf, then you can just trim the leaf instead of removing it outright.
Robert
There is not set amount of times to prune. Some growers feel you should never prune. unless you have issues. Other growers swear you should clip and train and prune throughout the entire vegetative period.
This is all a matter of personal choice and necessitated by day to day changes in the growth of your plant.
im still unclear on what leaves to prune… some shade leaves are bigger than my hand my plants are 4 weeks old and very fat and bushy I don’t need them any bushier, I don’t want to remove any leaves that will mess up any growth for final outcome… will pruning done correctly help make the plants a little more compact they are starting to take over the grow space !!! any advice would be helpful !!!
Pruning is a delicate subject. Some believe you should never do it, and others claim to find extra vigor in the plant by pruning.
Fan leaves / Suckers Are the heart and soul of the plant. It is the respiratory system for the plant.
When I prune; I start below the cross section of large branches at the bottom, and remove all the small new growth to allow for better air circulation. I also may consider pruning away any small weak new growth. Do not over do it, and remember; You have to take the plunge. We can keep advising you, but you have to make the cut Let me know how you do. Peace
No problem … i down loaded the digital version almost a year ago . but i am old school and still enjoy sitting down to a good read and refresh And reflect .
I grew some of the White Widow Auto flowers. I got a good yield with minimal work. Not worrying about the light cycle allows you to concentrate more on learning how to care for your plants.
Method: I grew my WW autos flower seeds hydroponically in a homemade Ebb and flow tray. They were started in 1.5" rock wool cubes. Hope this helps!
I will say this about pruning… and the 100% Free Grow Bible:
First on the subject of pruning, if you learn what you are doing and do it right… the results are astounding and amazing, not just for the MJ plant, but trees and things well… but if you don’t know what you are doing and get it wrong… OMG things can easily take a sharp turn for the worst and I’ve seen people even kill off their plants/trees because they didn’t know enough about what they were doing. So like it was pointed out it really is a touchy subject, and the best advice I can offer you on this subject is simply this. If you do decided to start learning to do pruning, only start by doing it to just one plant, that way if you do good or not you will learn a lot and only be risking one plant until you get the hang of it. The results you get from pruning will greatly depend on your personal skill level of it.
I would strongly suggest you also take a bit of time to learn about pruning, and making sure you sterilize your sheers between each one of your plants, so you do not spread issues from one plant to the next.
On the ILGM Grow Bible… I really wish they’d put it into a paperback copy myself, because I’d line up to buy at least a couple of copies myself, one to read, one for a backup. I have the 100% FREE digital copy myself and it is like all of Robert’s articles is simply put, full of loads of amazing information, and don’t forget to read the other information here that is also post not just in the Forum, but also in the Guides and if possible even sign up for Bergman’s Lab, I have a lot of books from gardening books to books written specifically for MJ, including collage books on the subject and I am finally getting clarification over there on things I’ve been searching for a long time now. In my personal opinion it has been worth every penny spent on joining Bergman’s Lab, and it will save me at least that in issues and problems and failed crops or lacking yields.
Let me know how you do. Peace