Should I be trimming suckers?

Is it recommended to trim suckers (growth between stalk and stem) as you would with tomato plants? If so, how soon? My plants are about a month old.

No way, those are new auxiliary shoots. If anything, clip the apical meristem.

Grow a plant or two without scissors to see what's up.

Lollipoping is one thing if done for a good reason but your way early for that.

It depends. If you want to have lots of small plants, cut the suckers. This is a technique called lollipopping and it makes sense when you're trying to fill a canopy with a large number of small plants. Topping would make more sense if you were trying to fill out a canopy with a small number of large plants.

Whatever you do, don't cut off any of the fan leaves!

How and where you cut is more of an art than a science. I'm a big fan of aggressive lollipopping, but I know exactly what to expect when the stretch is over. It takes a few times growing before you know what to expect doing various things.

Shawangunk Skunk said:

Is it recommended to trim suckers (growth between stalk and stem) as you would with tomato plants? If so, how soon? My plants are about a month old.

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Basically, all those shoots will compete for unshaded light, and will become long stretchy branches until they reach the canopy level. This could be seen as desirable (want big plants), or undesirable (want many small plants).

Thanks all for the input and quick responses. I think I'll leave 'em alone, this is my first grow and things seem complicated enough for me right now. Plus, with only 5 plants I'm going for fewer but bigger plants.

"Suckers" I thought that was a term only my buddy uses for big fat otherwise healthy leaves that store sugars and energy that the plant uses and feeds off of during its lifetime.
....He cuts a lot of his off too
....then yields a dry weight of 1/4 oz <--no shit its true.

no they will be bud sites later on

plant on far left in photo needs some nitrogen from the looks

and as far as trimming leaves go.....not sure why people trim but its generally not a good idea..leaves are the powerhouse of the plant cutting them only reduces the amount the plant can convert into sugars....sugars are the real food for the plant...less food = less growing....so if you want to stall growth then cut away if you want the plant to grow and function as it was genetically designed to leave them alone.

Thanks for the input! I appreciate the help. Is that because if the paler green color? I've been using an 18-18-21 fert. Was planning on switching over to 30-10-10 (MG orchid food) this week.

most veg nuts people use are a 2-1-1 ratio. MG doesn't have magnesium, at least the stuff I have doesn't.

nrc.nerdzo said:

most veg nuts people use are a 2-1-1 ratio. MG doesn't have magnesium, at least the stuff I have doesn't.

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Here are 2 pics of what I was using (18-18-21) which did have a small amount of magnesium, compared to the 30-10-10 which I just switched to that does not.
Would you recommend I switch back to the 18-18-21 every few feelings so they get a bit of magnesium? Will this be an issue later down the road?

versus

Shawangunk Skunk said:

Here are 2 pics of what I was using (18-18-21) which did have a small amount of magnesium, compared to the 30-10-10 which I just switched to that does not.
Would you recommend I switch back to the 18-18-21 every few feelings so they get a bit of magnesium? Will this be an issue later down the road?

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I would recommend it...

Or even better 1/2 dose of each each feeding...