thanks so much for the detailed answer loaded dragon! and no i didnt know much of what you said so its always great to learn. Im really not sure what is comparable to to fox farms here all we have is a heap of potting mixs with slow release ferts and hardly any state the ingredients. so not sure what to do there ? i will get some hay though, i have a bail of pea straw that should work?
as for the trimming, how many fan leaves should i remove? a friend who grows removes heaps of the fan leaves, but ive read conflicting reviews on that. I will get to work this afternoon on cutting of the spindly branches down below. As for the fertiliser it is just cheap all purpose soluble fertiliser and is probably pretty rubbish, you get what you pay i suppose. But where i live there is only one hydro shop and all it stocks is hydro nutrients and at nurserys and garden centres they tend to have all the same cheap shit. I should really buy some maxsea of ebay that looks like the go. Anyway ill let you know how it all goes and hit you up if i have any problems. thanks alot for that loaded dragon i appreciate it
MaxSea would be perfect for your grow, and will compliment my suggestions well. I am not sure what your countries requirements are as far as labelling and listing ingredients. cant you order some FF HF online?
the idea of removing the fans from the inside of the plants is very complex and actually does boil down to a scientific/mathematical method. Typically, those leaves store minerals and nutrients that are "mobile" as well as use minerals and nutrients that are "immobile" (mobile meaning they can be transferred elsewhere in the plant, slowly draining the leaf) (immobile, like boron for example, build cells that are necessary for the physical structure of the plant and may not be transfered to other parts of the plant). If the stored mobile nutrition is not necessary for the recovering health of the plant (recovering from bad weather or a storm for example) then they arent quite as useful. I have noticed that for a lot of growers that reduce the amount of N during flowering, those leaves yellow faster and more often (the N that is stored gets converted and transfered elsewhere) which is one reason why I recommend that people stay consistent with supplying N during flowering. That being said, the stored nutrition wouldnt be as useful, and if the leaves are not receiving sunlight and producing energy from that, then they are using energy/nutrition/water to sustain themselves, and that energy can by used elsewhere by the plant if you pick them.
So, both arguments are valid regarding removing the leaves. I find that success is measured in the balance of the two. Remove the leaves that you Feel will draw unnecessarily to the plant, and leave the ones that you think will create more energy/photosynthesis and continue to be useful to the plant. You can take too much, especially at one time.... as you remove each leaf from the plant pretend you are scratching it.... scratch too much and it will be injured
scratch just a little and you will sooth it and promote a positive reaction
...... got really really baked since my earlier posts I hope that all makes sense lol.
and Based on your pics I wouldnt take any more than 5-10 good size inner fan leaves and 5-10 inner branches at a time (and only the scraggly branches
) maybe just two or three times a week until the beginning of flower (only pick the already dead and drained ones after that
)