Does my plant need pruning or trimming? pic incl.

Its 25 days old and though rather short (5in.), its looking rather cluttered around the stem. I have a little over 3 feet of actual plant grow space (vertically). Should I trim anything at this point? Given its current size, will topping be necessaryand if so at what height should i top if my max plant height before harvesting has to be nomore than 38 inches? Theyre in 3 gallon pots.


Sorry, decieving title..it seems like I asked too much but i rather this than make 15 threads lol.

Heres a quick pic of another of plants. This one i had to remove the first set of fan leaves because of bad nute burn and it really stretched out. It sprouted a week before the other one. When should i top?

Just wanted to add, The second plant is 10 inches high.

Im having trouble editing my original post

IMO they look great. I wouldn't touch em. Good leaf/stem color, hearty stems, leafs not discolored or curled. If you had 1,000 of them you would be tripping! *)

For height at no more than 38", ... I'd top em at about 24 inches. They shouldn't get too bushy at that height.
That would give the plants another 14 inches to top out provided your light isn't too hot/close and keep from burning cola buds.

Keep the faith n relax.... Sometimes when I'm sitting around the ladies I blow on them to give them a kiss from nature...

dont trim the plant

If that is 25 days in you should think about adding more light. If you plan to flower it you are not going to get very much with your current lighting conditions.

As for topping/pruning, here is a good guide I use with great success and recommend.
https://www.rollitup.org/advanced-marijuana-cultivation/151706-uncle-bens-topping-technique-get.html

Opm said:

If that is 25 days in you should think about adding more light. If you plan to flower it you are not going to get very much with your current lighting conditions.

As for topping/pruning, here is a good guide I use with great success and recommend.
https://www.rollitup.org/advanced-marijuana-cultivation/151706-uncle-bens-topping-technique-get.html

Click to expand...

Thanks, the plant does seem a little short but its very wide so im not sure if its a lighting problem. Its a 2x3.5x5ft (lxwxh) area where i have them and have 11 26 watt cfls (17,500 lumens). I see no stretching in the stems so i assumed lighting was not an issue. I was planning on keeping the same amount of lights just switching out the spectrum during flowering. Heres a birds eye view of the plant.

yes you should fim them or top them now. its when i do it. 4-6 nodes in.

Opm said:

If that is 25 days in you should think about adding more light. If you plan to flower it you are not going to get very much with your current lighting conditions.

As for topping/pruning, here is a good guide I use with great success and recommend.
https://www.rollitup.org/advanced-marijuana-cultivation/151706-uncle-bens-topping-technique-get.html

Click to expand...

Thanks, the plant does seem a little short but its very wide so im not sure if its a lighting problem. Its a 2x3.5x5ft (lxwxh) area where i have them and have 11 26 watt cfls (17,500 lumens). I see no stretching in the stems so i assumed lighting was not an issue. I was planning on keeping the same amount of lights just switching out the spectrum during flowering. Heres a birds eye view of the plant.

Your lights will work fine for what they are. Obviously a better light could be used, but IMO you'll get a pretty decent harvest off that amount of cfl power if done properly. I keep mine as close as possible to the plants, unless some stretch is desired. Your bushiness is likely due to a mostly indica strain though.

I'm not the biggest fan of topping, but now would be a good time to do so to let those lights penetrate as much as possible. Personally, I'd lst them untopped.

Thanx. I wish i didnt have to stop its vertical growth too but iust dont have the space

I usually let em grow 4 nodes than chop it down to 3 nodes. that alows the branches from the second node to catch up to the 2 new tops I got from toping it at the 3rd node. Then after they grow another node on each of these 4 tops, I top all 4 of them and that gets the first nodes branches to catch up and gives me like 10 tops. I also try to keep the bottoms nice and clean so all I end up with is those 10 fat colas. the node that grows from the cotyledons doesn't count I keep them picked off too a lot of people probably disagree with picking off good growth but If you understand the growth habits of the plants you understand the benafits of this method.

This is why I personally top.

^ really good pic opm.. I didn't top my first and regret it. If you are growing in a tight area with minimal side lighting you need to get as much canopy grow as possible.