Shoulder I trim this?

Trim the fan leaves?

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    10
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PnutBear

New Member
OK guys, first time grower in a tent. Never completed grow cycle. I gave plants to friends to flower. Asking what you guys think about what I want to do. Pics included. Not asking about grow setup. I'm using what I have. I'm thinking that I should trim my fan leaves. The reasons being the branches are all taller than the fan leaves right above them. The top of the plant seems to be mimicking being topped. New growth is turning yellow on the top. What are your opinions?
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If anything, trim off those lower branches, not the fan leaves.

When you switch over to 12/12 flowering, the plant will stretch tremendously and new branches will grow. These bottom braches you seem to value so much at the moment will become shaded and therefor the buds that grow along them now "useless eaters". So you trim these branches so energy can be funneled to the top, where the light is. And you leave all the fan leaves on, as these are reserves of nutrients.
 
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Hello,
You plant is looking healthy, nice work.

I would not trim any large fan leaves, they are your solar engines that generate the energy for new growth. If she is to be a mother plant pinch the very top tip to remove the Auxins*. The mother will bush out and give you more clones. Once you pinch the top the lower branches will catch up to the top and when they are level pinch them as well.

*Auxins promote stem elongation, inhibit growth of lateral buds (maintains apical dominance). They are produced in the stem, buds, and root tips.

Handy searches: fimming, Topping, LST, bonsai mothers.

Cheers,
Will
 
Good confirmation of my plans. I do fim. The thing with her is that she is acting as if she has "choked her throat" with the new growth. No noticeable top growth change and the branches are growing . Is the "choking" syndrome possible? FYI - I have nothing to do with her growth but water and 24hr light (2x 150 watt hPS last 2 weeks). She was in a cup on the window sill. Brothers cat knocked it down. Found it, put it back in soil and watered it. This was at about one week from sprout. A few days later the cat nipped at the stalk. It hung virtually lifeless for a few days. Gave her 24hr t5 x 5 bulb (24watt bulbs). all 5 plants were planted from seed at the same time. 3 had no torture, and the smallest one was in the cup with the big lady. After they fell they got separated. The small one went to my brothers room for a couple days. No light. Oops. It stretched like a mother. Put it outside and was gonna let it go. Left it out for around 3 weeks in the LA sun never getting watered. Still here and stopped stretching so we'll see. Since getting 24hr light and water, The only things growing visibly are the leaves.

Sorry for the long read. Here's my setup:

2x 150 watt GPS bulbs

4x4 grow tent - Open frequently for air exchange. Till I get more stuff.

3 gallon pots

Yellow sticky paper (fungus gnats - also catching springtails)

Mosquito bits (fungus gnat larvae)

Hydrogryme - used once
 

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PnutBear said:
Good confirmation of my plans. I do fim. The thing with her is that she is acting as if she has "choked her throat" with the new growth. No noticeable top growth change and the branches are growing . Is the "choking" syndrome possible? FYI - I have nothing to do with her growth but water and 24hr light (2x 150 watt hPS last 2 weeks). She was in a cup on the window sill. Brothers cat knocked it down. Found it, put it back in soil and watered it. This was at about one week from sprout. A few days later the cat nipped at the stalk. It hung virtually lifeless for a few days. Gave her 24hr t5 x 5 bulb (24watt bulbs). all 5 plants were planted from seed at the same time. 3 had no torture, and the smallest one was in the cup with the big lady. After they fell they got separated. The small one went to my brothers room for a couple days. No light. Oops. It stretched like a mother. Put it outside and was gonna let it go. Left it out for around 3 weeks in the LA sun never getting watered. Still here and stopped stretching so we'll see. Since getting 24hr light and water, The only things growing visibly are the leaves.

Sorry for the long read. Here's my setup:

2x 150 watt GPS bulbs

4x4 grow tent - Open frequently for air exchange. Till I get more stuff.

3 gallon pots

Yellow sticky paper (fungus gnats - also catching springtails)

Mosquito bits (fungus gnat larvae)

Hydrogryme - used once
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I'd suggest going to an 18/6 light cycle. I'd get a fan on her if you do not have one and I'd give Spinosad 15cc/gallon with 1 drop of dish soap as a surfactant to control your gnats, good luck she looks nice. I'd also leave her fan leaves alone and take those side shoots for clones.

I don't keep mothers. When I put my veg plants into flower around 2 weeks into flower I trim the bottom 18" of the plant of everything. I use those side shoots for cloning.
 
I do open the tent and use my big house fan and am ordering small ones but haven't really found any I like. I just started with the mesquito bits, I'll see if it works. I'm mothering the plant because I want a bit of a higher turnover and I love they bud. Maybe 4 a week.
 
Maybe a once off mother. Let her get a large amount of grow tips, trim a very large amount then flower what's left.

Is it better to clone in veg or flower? Why?
 
One more thing, The branches are now longer than the fan leaves. I am turning/twisting the fan leaves - at the stalk - just enough to allow the branches to grow past and get more light.
 
PnutBear said:
Thanks. That was my impression. Good reason to mother
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Another option and the one I have chosen is to veg a plant to the size you wish to flower at. Put that plant into flower and take a couple of clones. Less mothers = less plants = more productive use of space. If you wished to grow different strains a mother for each turns into a ball ache real quick. Unless you need a boat load of clones all at once I think mother plants are redundant. If you are using this plant as a mother to fill up your flowering tent. Do it just until you have the amount of plants you need and then flower the mother. When you flower the clones you can get your next batch of clones from them. Rinse and repeat.

Cheers,
Will
 
PnutBear said:
One more thing, The branches are now longer than the fan leaves. I am turning/twisting the fan leaves - at the stalk - just enough to allow the branches to grow past and get more light.
Click to expand...

Yeah but the structure of the plant already does that for you. There is a reaction plants have called shade avoidance https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shade_avoidance
If you are looking for a squat little bush bend her over and tie her down (this is in no way a sexual reference).

Cheers,
Will
 
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That's exactly what im doing. The other 4 plants I have are from a male critical mass and an unknown female. Don't know my path with them yet.

I am mothering "Sharon" (cause I have a black lab named Ozzy) for a large harvest of clones. My brother has a 4x4 tent that we are setting up for hydro with a 3x3 tray. Right now, it houses a couple chem dawg clones under the t5 setup mentioned earlier with a fan and high humidity
 
pinch the stem about mid ways but dont break it too much or cut it. it will let the lower branches grow up some. after the lower branches are more pronounced you can bend over the branch. here i have the branch bent down with a wire as im training it. as you can see i now have 3 branches im getting to be around the same height. I have a penny in the pic to show you just how small the thing is. photo 1 (1).JPG photo 2 (1).JPG
 
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