Removing lower budsites that don't get much light?

[Mañ'O'Green]

There is real science about this so we do not need to speculate and those lower buds are the result of a full spectrum light with lots of photon energy being emitted. A photon will bounce around until it is absorbed and gives up its energy, mostly as heat. If you have a highly reflective environment they will bounce around more and more of them will hit the plant from different angles to be absorbed by the plant. This is regardless to the frequency (color) of the photon. Where this penetration idea comes from is that many lights have narrow frequency bands IE. red or blue. Photons emanating from a narrow band will have similar energy and will be absorbed at a similar given layer in the canopy. Red and Blue are absorbed high in the canopy (assumes poor reflectance in the space). Green light actually penetrates deeper then the rest and there is evidence that it is utilized by the plant. If your light does not have any green light then the bottom leaves are not getting much light. Ok so if you have poor reflectance, Low energy and narrow spectrum light Blue/Red then removing the bottom growth will have little effect on the growth of the plant but if you have high reflectance and or full spectrum light only prune the lower growth for air circulation. Air movement is important to prevent molds and bud rot. In most cases those lower leaves and buds are getting more light than you think.

 

[Growtogrow]

Wow that sounds like a lot of stress to the plant lol. Either way, if I decide to start taking the lower sites off is it better to do it in veg or pre flower stretch? 3 of my girls are in their stretch and 1 is in veg still

I grow 98% organically . But no matter how you grow organically hydroponically permaculture no-till it doesn't matter.

Inside or out.. keeping your plants trimmed manicured and manipulated ie. Lollipopping super cropping LST manifolding scrog netting will give you higher quality yield and better quality bud. Bending them over so all that the bud sites can get good amount of light add proper nutrition proper airflow enough of CO2 enough water and your plants will give you everything you can dream of. If you don't do anything you'll still get something but you won't get near as much as if you work for it. If You don't work for it you won't get the bounty thats possible.
Start manicuring and manipulating early and keep it up through the entire grow. You won't be sad.

Happy growing

 

[Greengrower]

Thank you all so much for the information! (There's a lot to take in lol)
I think what I'm going to do is have a real good crop down on my girl that's still in veg (3 are in pre flower 1 isn't)
Be interesting to see the results. She's very bushy so she's best suited for this anyway.
Thanks again everyone!

 

[Greengrower]

So this has happened, only time will tell if it was worth it, lots of leaves and 6 bud sites removes. How long until she bounces back? Going to feed her shortly.

 

[31drew31]

Within 24hrs they perk back up, usually within ~10hours you can already see the difference.

 

[Growtogrow]

Yup

I started super cropping some of these a few days ago. I put them in the ground yesterday inside my outside Greenhouse with a little light over top of them make up the extra daylight hours they don't get. 17 and a half hours of light now with 2 t5 light. They turn around fast. There hard to kill. Photos.. But autos are a little bit different you don't want to put as much hurt on them as you can with a photo plant but there's still a lot of manipulating you can do with an auto ....

a lot

So this has happened, only time will tell if it was worth it, lots of leaves and 6 bud sites removes. How long until she bounces back? Going to feed her shortly.

Within 24hrs they perk back up, usually within ~10hours you can already see the difference.

 

[Greengrower]

I fucked up, when tying her back down I must have put too much pressure and caused her to snap. It's bad, like she was hanging on by a millimeter or two. I've taped her but she's not perked back up. Been 3 hours since I taped her. Would it be better to just get rid of this now? This was the main cola

 

[31drew31]

I fucked up, when tying her back down I must have put too much pressure and caused her to snap. It's bad, like she was hanging on by a millimeter or two. I've taped her but she's not perked back up. Been 3 hours since I taped her. Would it be better to just get rid of this now? This was the main cola

Oooph! Doesn't look good for the main but the rest of the plant might rally around it and do alright. Id keep it around for a week or so and see what happens. If the top starts to die off then Id chop it off and let the rest of the plant grow. When you're bending them over, squeeze the stem between your fingers a few times and twist it a bit, it will break the outer membrane and allow the plant to bend rather than break. This is how you supercrop but you dont need to take it as far if you're just tying them over. Good luck and let us know how shes doing in a day or two!

 

[Greengrower]

Oooph! Doesn't look good for the main but the rest of the plant might rally around it and do alright. Id keep it around for a week or so and see what happens. If the top starts to die off then Id chop it off and let the rest of the plant grow. When you're bending them over, squeeze the stem between your fingers a few times and twist it a bit, it will break the outer membrane and allow the plant to bend rather than break. This is how you supercrop but you dont need to take it as far if you're just tying them over. Good luck and let us know how shes doing in a day or two!

I think we're about 10 hours on from when I found her snapped. From where she snapped it's not looking good, rest of the plant looks fine. My other girls are looking amazing though so should be a decent yield overall regardless.

 

[Growtogrow]

I fucked up, when tying her back down I must have put too much pressure and caused her to snap. It's bad, like she was hanging on by a millimeter or two. I've taped her but she's not perked back up. Been 3 hours since I taped her. Would it be better to just get rid of this now? This was the main cola

Dam well that happens now and then.
@31drew31 is very right on how to snap branches.

I've broken many and lost a few now n then

When I go to snapping neaks. I always have at the ready (duck tape or electrical tape, Popsicle sticks or the alike also some longer sticks that can act as a propping tool and some hydrogen peroxide 3% same stuff you can get off drug store shelf).
And because I snap main stocks too. I also keep a pair of pliers with duck tape on the jaws (to pad them so not to dig into the plant). Ok have all of this stuff ready.
This is Y when snapping branches or main stocks you want all these things right at your hands reach. Because what happened when you snap that main you snapped her too much and she broke on you possibly didn't see it at first and it happens. But you got a hard Bend you always want to put some tape around it to help the membrane on the outside from snapping wide open. It's still probably going to snap wide open but the thing of it is you want to give it some stability with a duct tape. It has a much stronger skin on the tape and I will help a plant from losing it's battle to live. The plant will live pretty easily most of the time when you snap them hard like that. But with a popsicle stick the duct tape and a propping stick you can save just about everything if you have that stuff right at your ready because it is snaps off and falls to the floor well you better get on fast you can save it if it's worth saving even. You do a hard snap like that it's kind of like grafting at that point. I haven't lost too many but I'll lose one now and then it's a little trade off. The fox is still worth the chase.

So what I put in some pics. This is my latest Super Cropper plant. So I super crop this plant inside about 6 days ago maybe. And I planted her in the ground 3 or 4 days ago. I'll snap main stocks branches. I top branches and main stocks too. I don't always do the very top of the plant and other times I do.

if you have any questions or need any help just give me a shout anytime man I'll try to help you out best I can.