help 3 weeks in flowering but buds seem tiny

i recomend trimming the lower bud sites BUT NOT the fan leaves. heres what i do -

heres before



heres after



now your going to want to keep your light in mind when trimming the undergrowth. a 1000w lamp will penetrate deeper into the canopy than a 600 and a 600 better than a 400. i keep about a 6-8" budding canopy at the start of flower and by the end its a 10-12" canopy. but if good light is hitting lower bud sites leave them, its all about the light.

heres what i have @ 5 1/2 wks trimming the way i do



and heres the harvest. there is no buds missing from these 2 shots, this is what i end up with....there are NO POPCORN FLUFF BUDS. 3 oz dried

very nice. i trim all my fan leaves off during the first 2 weeks in flower and get that same result. awesome grow their.

when you say all of them, do you mean ALL OF THEM? or all of them below a certain point?

got any pics?

audi07, sorry for the threadjack.

no problem silk erm another thing so your saying any of the tiny flimsy bud sites i got now trim em off the plant will this cause any serious stress ?

about trimming fan leaves the strange thing is some people say do it some say dont

right this might sound strange ive never asked this before but you no the bud sites am i wrong in thinking the leaves around these are new fan leaves and that i can chop the big long huge fan leaves off so to get more light bursting my cannopy?

audi07 said:

no problem silk erm another thing so your saying any of the tiny flimsy bud sites i got now trim em off the plant will this cause any serious stress ?

about trimming fan leaves the strange thing is some people say do it some say dont

right this might sound strange ive never asked this before but you no the bud sites am i wrong in thinking the leaves around these are new fan leaves and that i can chop the big long huge fan leaves off so to get more light bursting my cannopy?

Click to expand...

I have 10 plants going right now and I might just try trimming 5 of them and see what the yeild difference is. I've always suspected that although the popcorn buds are just that, they do make up a considerable amount in the end and I don't want to lose them.

I JUST started flowering so it would be a good time to test. I also have 2 different strains with COMPLETELY different pheno's so I should be able to get some fairly good comparisons.

audi07 said:

no problem silk erm another thing so your saying any of the tiny flimsy bud sites i got now trim em off the plant will this cause any serious stress ?

about trimming fan leaves the strange thing is some people say do it some say dont

right this might sound strange ive never asked this before but you no the bud sites am i wrong in thinking the leaves around these are new fan leaves and that i can chop the big long huge fan leaves off so to get more light bursting my cannopy?

Click to expand...

very true the only leaves i take off are the ones that come right off the main stock where the branch comes out. all the leaves on the branches i leave alone.

hi mygirl so your saying that you have never had any consequences from chopping off the big huge fan leaves?? im at week 4 now and i know to me it makes sense to chop the big leaves off to get more light but people have told me that they carriers of important sugars and the photo process???

all i can say is i have seen better bud growth from taking off the fan leaves, and bigger buds.

again you should train a plant during veg and not cut a thing during flower

thats just whats best for the plant

use your light correctly and those leaves wont be in the way

it your not gonna train a plant corectly think about vertical hid lighting

with horizontal lighting you need an even canopy to properly use all the light

audi07 said:

no problem silk erm another thing so your saying any of the tiny flimsy bud sites i got now trim em off the plant will this cause any serious stress ?

about trimming fan leaves the strange thing is some people say do it some say dont

right this might sound strange ive never asked this before but you no the bud sites am i wrong in thinking the leaves around these are new fan leaves and that i can chop the big long huge fan leaves off so to get more light bursting my cannopy?

Click to expand...

trim them over a week or so, do a little each day. they should be okay with the stress thing.

i am not a fan leave trimmer. my thoughts on this are that leaves are the solar power facilities of your plant, flowers are power storage facilites. if a leaf is shading a bud i dont worry, there is far more photosynthesis taking place in that leaf than in the shaded bud. when they yellow i still dont remove them as the plant is pulling valuable resources from the leaf(hence the yellowing). i wait untill a gentle tug dislodges the leaf to remove it, it it doesnt come with a light tug the plants not done with it.

also, something like 40-50% of usable light passes through leaves so your canopy isnt blocking as much as you think.


as far as increased yield with under-trimming it doesnt happen, your yeild will be basically the sam as no trimming. the benifit come from the fact that you dont have to trim any small fluffy shit buds. plus we all know that top buds are better smoke, so why not grow only top buds.

i hear what your saying makes sense to me

say if i leave most fan leaves on the plant and just trim one or two that really really seem like its blocking light from lower buds would this do any harm?

well i have had lower buds get dam near as big as the colas and were hard ass buds. just as good as the colas. thats why i trim my fans off to get those lower limbs to grow out and up.

no disrepect to anyone but mygirls got the proof in his pictures so i am listening

this is the way to learn opinions advice and methods and then i mix and mix then i find my path to big buds i hope lol

any one used pk13/14 to boost the the bud and does it work or do buds just naturally swell in size?

audi07 said:

no disrepect to anyone but mygirls got the proof in his pictures so i am listening

this is the way to learn opinions advice and methods and then i mix and mix then i find my path to big buds i hope lol

Click to expand...

here is last outdoor. i do not cut any bud sites off at all. the buds way down low are big and dence and this was my 2nd grow indoors after i trimed all the fan leaves. again no bud sites were cut off. from top to bottem hard ass buds . light is every thing

audi07 said:

any one used pk13/14 to boost the the bud and does it work or do buds just naturally swell in size?

Click to expand...

this is what i use. you see what i get. im sure thei is better bloom nuts but i will stay with what has been producing.

The guys above has given you your answer They are perfectly normal for that stage, infact look very good indeed. Relax and enjoy them! take it from a grower in his fifties whos been doing this a LONG time.

I agree about training though, well worth your time next grow to work on that maybe.

*Edited* I apologise, I see this thread has progressed a lot since you posted that initial question!

audi07 said:

no disrepect to anyone but mygirls got the proof in his pictures so i am listening

this is the way to learn opinions advice and methods and then i mix and mix then i find my path to big buds i hope lol

Click to expand...

none taken, but i feel like my pics were proof too.

you have to consider the variables. mygirls had more than twice the light i do. also, how long does he veg for? i veg for 4-5 wks, not very long which enables me to have more harvests in a year as opposed to someone who vegs for 7-8 wks.

also, we have similar yields from our two very different plants. i avg 3 oz per plant and can fit 4 under my light.

not saying my shit is better by any means, just different.

SlikWiLL13 said:

none taken, but i feel like my pics were proof too.

you have to consider the variables. mygirls had more than twice the light i do. also, how long does he veg for? i veg for 4-5 wks, not very long which enables me to have more harvests in a year as opposed to someone who vegs for 7-8 wks.

also, we have similar yields from our two very different plants. i avg 3 oz per plant and can fit 4 under my light.

not saying my shit is better by any means, just different.

Click to expand...

yes they were. theirs a lot of good info and one really bad one. LOL