Sea Of Green: If I chop branches below the first node, will a bud still grow at the intersection?

Reading an old Al B Fuct Sea Of Green thread on pruning on week 1 and of flower, all branches below 1 inch. Would it be before or after a node? If I chopped at 1 inch but the node was past 1 inch, would a bud still grow at the intersection with the main stem? Just don’t want to kill my yields. I’ve got 1 gallons vegged to 9 (I know clones are ideal, will clone from the best of this batch)

This is from the thread and what I need clarifying “A couple of things need to be done to produce the SoG 'lollipop' style plant. In SoG, clones are put into 12/12 with no veg time post setting root, aside from time they spend in the clone box under fluoros, where no appreciable growth occurs. All branching on the lower 1/3 of the plant is removed; pruning is done in wk 1 and again in wk 3. Any branch that's more than about an inch long gets nipped off. This forces the plant to grow only the big nugs that are attached directly to the mainstem- and they will be larger and denser on average than unpruned plants- the plant will put resources into growing the top that would normally have gone into the fluffy, wispy lower buds. The top buds are denser than any other on the plant and produce the least amount of bud leaf per bud mass. This makes them a lot easier and faster to manicure come harvest time.”

Since the first branches start at the first node by definition, there would be no branches beneath the first node to chop. What they are saying is to chop branches longer than an inch long, and force just one big cola rather than let the branches grow out as well.

Thanks. So to clarify then (i’m still vegging), that on week 1/day1:

I chop at the red line on the side branch, at the 1” mark before that first node on the side branch and then whatever grows back by week 3/day 21 I chop at the line, 1 inch and buds will then grow where i’ve marked orange. chopping before the first node on the side branch is ok and will force the buds to grow on the stem.

Is that right?

Hook Daddy said:

Since the first branches start at the first node by definition, there would be no branches beneath the first node to chop. What they are saying is to chop branches longer than an inch long, and force just one big cola rather than let the branches grow out as well.

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replied, forgot to quote you^

I think you are miss-reading to leave an inch or cut it with an inch left. It does not say that, it says; "All branching on the lower 1/3 of the plant is removed; pruning is done in wk 1 and again in wk 3. Any branch that's more than about an inch long gets nipped off. "

So you cut anything longer than 1 inch

I followed AL.B Fuct when he was actively posting here. It encouraged me to run a SOG garden, which I did for about 10 years.

Alphaganjaguy is correct you would remove any small branches that are over 1inch right at the main stem.

I used to put my clones into flower at about 7-8 inches tall. I would remove any side branches like discuses right when I put the clones into flower. Usually that was enough and I didn’t have to do a second trimming. The plants would grow to between 20-30 inches with one big dominant main bud and several smaller nice dense nugs along the main stem below it.

Thundercat said:

I followed AL.B Fuct when he was actively posting here. It encouraged me to run a SOG garden, which I did for about 10 years.

Alphaganjaguy is correct you would remove any small branches that are over 1inch right at the main stem.

I used to put my clones into flower at about 7-8 inches tall. I would remove any side branches like discuses right when I put the clones into flower. Usually that was enough and I didn’t have to do a second trimming. The plants would grow to between 20-30 inches with one big dominant main bud and several smaller nice dense nugs along the main stem below it.

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ALPHA.GanjaGuy said:

I think you are miss-reading to leave an inch or cut it with an inch left. It does not say that, it says; "All branching on the lower 1/3 of the plant is removed; pruning is done in wk 1 and again in wk 3. Any branch that's more than about an inch long gets nipped off. "

So you cut anything longer than 1 inch

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Thanks both. You’re right, I was thinking of it as leave 1 inch of sidebranch.
Correct me if i’m wrong. ill cut it here right on the purple line to any branch that is over 1 inch and leave the branches that take off the bottom 1/3. Buds will then form at they nodes on the main stem.

and to clarify, you pruned on day 1 and day 21 (week 1 & 3 mentioned but doesn’t specify if at the very beginning of the week, when I schwazzed plants I did day 0 and day 21)

I know this method usually goes best with clones. I’ve done seed this time. Do you think i’d be best to defoliate the largest leaves (they’ve been under HLG650R with co2 and VPD dialed in perfectly)? the leaves are large for 12 days veg, the clones from photos ive seen have had smaller leaves prior to flowering.

Thundercat said:

I followed AL.B Fuct when he was actively posting here. It encouraged me to run a SOG garden, which I did for about 10 years.

Alphaganjaguy is correct you would remove any small branches that are over 1inch right at the main stem.

I used to put my clones into flower at about 7-8 inches tall. I would remove any side branches like discuses right when I put the clones into flower. Usually that was enough and I didn’t have to do a second trimming. The plants would grow to between 20-30 inches with one big dominant main bud and several smaller nice dense nugs along the main stem below it.

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This is from the al b fuct thread page 1, this lady has asked if she should chop at the line and he’s said yes. Confused. Did you chop right in at the main stem at the start of flower? where I illustrated in my previous reply (purple line)

I think you're overthinking it, whether you leave an inch nothing or three inches doesn't matter. Most of us would snip it at the main stem but use caution not to damage the future bud site. That may be why they suggest cutting where they do in that thread

Not speaking from experience doing a SOG grow, but from keeping moms that I have to trim frequently to keep them small - if you trim a branch and don't leave any growth on that branch between the cut and the main stem, i.e. it's literally just a stick coming out of the main stem, the stick will dry up and nothing new will grow from that node for a looooong time.

Or to put it another way, whether you cut at the purple line or the red line, you won't end up with a bud in the orange area.

Buds that grow directly along the main stem are from branches that are just very very short. If you want to avoid side-branching, then yeah cut all branches off the main stem longer than 1 inch. But if you do cut them off, don't expect a bud to grow in their place.

Someone with experience doing SOG can correct me, and it may also vary from plant to plant since they all have slightly different growth habits, but that's what I've experienced and what I think others are trying to tell you.

Wulbo94 said:

This is from the al b fuct thread page 1, this lady has asked if she should chop at the line and he’s said yes. Confused. Did you chop right in at the main stem at the start of flower? where I illustrated in my previous reply (purple line)
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I typically cut at the purple line you drew in your last post. I only removed the branch not the leaves fyi. i wasn’t worried about lower branches trying to make one little nug. I also flowered my clones waaaay sooner then that picture. My plants were only about 8 inches tall when they went into flower. They only had a few nodes on them in the first place so there wasn’t much I needed to remove. I took off the lowest ones and let the plant start focusing on single stem growth.

I didn’t usually need to do a second pruning. Once in aWhile depending on genetics a plant might try to spread out lower branches but I’d cut those as soon as they started getting bigger then I wanted, not on a specific date.