Removing lower bud sites

I just cant see it producing bigger more potent keeper top canopy buds. Thats not why i do it anyways. I do it to open up the bottom. Its a humidity and temp trap down there. And for bug reasons. But i have seen absolutely no difference is in size or quality of final dry weight keeper product.

since1991 said:

I just cant see it producing bigger more potent keeper top canopy buds. Thats not why i do it anyways. I do it to open up the bottom. Its a humidity and temp trap down there. And for bug reasons. But i have seen absolutely no difference is in size or quality of final dry weight keeper product.

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Maybe I was a little too enthusiastic about the benefits, it's not gonna increase the potency beyond what the plant is capable. The thought process is just if you're not wasting energy on lower popcorn buds than that energy should go to your mid and top colas, hopefully making them larger.

All the strains I work with are ones that respond really well to higher stress training techniques (topping, pruning, etc.), but all strains won't necessarily respond as well.

Yeah its got to be strain dependent. Some stuff i dont prune lower at all. My Blue Petrol for instance. Its a low yielder by nature and i train it low and wide in veg. It stretches quite a bit in early flower and grows a ton of secondary wirey branches. But these branches grow half dollar coin and quarter sized rock nugs of fuelly kushy indica goodness. Even the way down lows. I dare not chop these in early flower. No way. I smoke these and they are quite potent. But most of my gear....little tufts of airy bullshit.

since1991 said:

Yeah its got to be strain dependent. Some stuff i dont prune lower at all. My Blue Petrol for instance. Its a low yielder by nature and i train it low and wide in veg. It stretches quite a bit in early flower and grows a ton of secondary wirey branches. But these branches grow half dollar coin and quarter sized rock nugs of fuelly kushy indica goodness. Even the way down lows. I dare not chop these in early flower. No way. I smoke these and they are quite potent. But most of my gear....little tufts of airy bullshit.

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Yea I've definitely had strains that did not like being touched at all. But with the exception of a blackberry pheno I've got I usually found something to not like about the those particular strains and quickly nixed them from my library. I had a chem99 cutting that I put to a rest a couple of years ago that just would not produce unless it was topped frequently. And my blue cheese pheno loves to be pruned. I've got a new strain that's a cross between my old favorite chem99 cutting and a lemon Thai kush male, it's loves to be topped and bent just like the chem99 did. I like to test the limits of my strains and see what they can take.

HI FLOWKI!

the tops buds will commandeer resources at the expense of the lower branches/buds without any help.

Not only does the main stem hog resources it releases anti growth auxins to the lower part of the plant just so they don't even Think about rising above their station

Slab said:

HI FLOWKI!

the tops buds will commandeer resources at the expense of the lower branches/buds without any help.

Not only does the main stem hog resources it releases anti growth auxins to the lower part of the plant just so they don't even Think about rising above their station

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Haha that gives me the feeling of a military operation. Poor lower guys.. will not be able to shake the thought every time I see them now, ''trench buds''.

Flowki said:

What are the effects of doing this in such a way as to keep all the lower leaves in tact?. In other words can you keep all lower leaves and have them direct energy to the top.

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its getting that energy to the lower leaves in the first place

thats the issue, weak COB's , small hids, cfls even T5's all are great budding lights

but penetration is shit

any more than 6-12 inches from the light

the light(lux) levels are too weak to stimulate any photosynthesis

for this reason its best to remove stems leaves(cuttings)

once snipped, shuffle them to your DIY bubble cloner

for 10 days of rooting, then shuffle your original plants to your bud room

as the lower cuttings now clones are moved into your current space

good luck

ps the basics of a home style sequential grow ...lol

Remove them for the better..

DemonTrich said:

The plant will focus it's energy on the upper buds and not waste it on the lower garbage.

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If that is true then where does the energy come from that grows back the lower buds?

I used to pinch those lower buds off and cut em off but they keep coming back. So i wonder about this this energy transfer business...

Thats beacause people make shit up in there head beacuse thats the only way they can try and understand that whole dealy. "focuses energy to the tops" is bro science... thats all it is and ever will be. Just like flushing the media towards the end of harvest...black ash vs white ash....small pinhole light leaks causing "hermies" and a slew of other stoner grower theories that get perpetuated as fact on stoner pot growing forums. Soon....with ful out legalization...we will see real scientists and botanists in fully controlled rooms and greenhouses put a stop to alot of the bullshit practices we stoner basement and tent growers employ. Hell...might even prove them right...but i doubt it.

since1991 said:

Thats beacause people make shit up in there head beacuse thats the only way they can try and understand that whole dealy. "focuses energy to the tops" is bro science... thats all it is and ever will be. Just like flushing the media towards the end of harvest...black ash vs white ash....small pinhole light leaks causing "hermies" and a slew of other stoner grower theories that get perpetuated as fact on stoner pot growing forums. Soon....with ful out legalization...we will see real scientists and botanists in fully controlled rooms and greenhouses put a stop to alot of the bullshit practices we stoner basement and tent growers employ. Hell...might even prove them right...but i doubt it.

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Can you say for 100% certain on forums that you know energy is not focused on "Tops"...
http://mjgrowers.com/book_lets_research.htm

Trimming fan leaves and lower, shaded branches focuses the plant?s development on main top buds (Che Bleu, 03.13.2002). A plant wastes precious energy several ways. A tall plant needs to use energy to build extra stem, and then use extra energy to move water up higher, this is why I believe “scrog” methods are productive. An untrimmed bushy plant causes the plant to expend energy to build elaborate branches and leaves, and then has to use excess energy to supply all these structures. Careful trimming to remove unnecessary branches (which wont produce nice buds) and unproductive suckers will leave more energy for a larger yield. Suckers do exactly as their name suggests, they suck needless energy from the plant which can.

Maybe you know more than Ed Rosenthal about growing cannabis. Maybe he chose to print this for millions to see it was bro science.

Better yet still google is easy to use to find out, if such practices are true amongst other frutting plants, but call me crazy

Ed Rosenthal is far from a botanist and plant horticultural scientist....quite the contrary...he was a hippie from the 70's that just happened to get in and and figure out marijuana cultivation in the early days....when no one else was....and publish books about it. Ive read everything he and the rest have written...and iam talking ALL the books...especailly the older ones from back in the eighties. Alot of it is good...alot is utter bullshit. If i based my grows totally on what he and a few others were suggesting...i would have subpar quality and quantity...thats a fact.

since1991 said:

Ed Rosenthal is far from a botanist and plant horticultural scientist....quite the contrary...he was a hippie from the 70's that just happened to get in and and figure out marijuana cultivation in the early days....when no one else was....and publish books about it. Ive read everything he and the rest have written. Alot of it is good...alot is utter bullshit. If i based my grows totally on what he and a few others were suggesting...i would have subpar quality and quantity...thats a fact.

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I understand that part. Just talking about the lowers

I always lollipop heavily the lower 2/3 of my plant. And up to week 2.5 to 3 weeks I still continue to clean up the lower garbage. I'd really like to try a new tek, cut ALL the larfy crap and only leave the main colas and a few others that might show potential. Should produce the same yeilds, but with out any popcorn.

DemonTrich said:

I always lollipop heavily the lower 2/3 of my plant. And up to week 2.5 to 3 weeks I still continue to clean up the lower garbage. I'd really like to try a new tek, cut ALL the larfy crap and only leave the main colas and a few others that might show potential. Should produce the same yeilds, but with out any popcorn.

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This is what I do. The runs where I didn't didn't have as many ounces of "bag appeal" bud, but yields weren't drastically different. The labor on the nonpruned rounds was dramatically higher. A good extra 20 hours to get through a crop of similar yield.

I do a minimum 4 hrs a day, 7 days a week, 365 a year in my garden. A little more work for better yeilds and ease wen harvesting is well worth it in my book. Harvest time is 3x 18hrs days, the 10 hrs to stake, clean up and flip.

grow vertical and those pesky popcorn buds will be 2 gram buds........

Dont WASTE the popcorn!! Let it grow and up your hash yields!

FTW

My last run i pulled 48 zips dry of tops and mids, dry.

BUT!! All the primo sugar leaves and popcorn came to a WET weight of 1350 grams, which translated to 61 grams of dry ice hash. Upped the yield by 30 to 40%. Coulda been more if i hadnt been lazy...

since1991 said:

Ed Rosenthal is far from a botanist and plant horticultural scientist....quite the contrary...he was a hippie from the 70's that just happened to get in and and figure out marijuana cultivation in the early days....when no one else was....and publish books about it. Ive read everything he and the rest have written...and iam talking ALL the books...especailly the older ones from back in the eighties. Alot of it is good...alot is utter bullshit. If i based my grows totally on what he and a few others were suggesting...i would have subpar quality and quantity...thats a fact.

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more then one of the pre 90's boom weed growing books give urine as a possible nitrogen source if you get out to your guerrilla grows and see yellowing.....

ya just pee on it... water AND fertilizer all in 1!

Rasta Roy said:

This is what I do. The runs where I didn't didn't have as many ounces of "bag appeal" bud, but yields weren't drastically different. The labor on the nonpruned rounds was dramatically higher. A good extra 20 hours to get through a crop of similar yield.

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This^^^ it makes a much easier to hand trim plant later...and opens up the lowers portion of the garden for humidity and pest reasons. ...nothing more....nothing less