Pruning during flowering ?

Hi All,

I'm nearly 5 weeks into flowering hawaiian snow so I've about another 7+ weeks to go. On one plant there is quite a lot of small buds growing on the lower branches and they are stretching for the light.

I'm in 2 minds whether to prune some of the lower branches now to let the the full energy of the plant be directed to the tops and for air circulation reasons. But the other half of me is thinking leave well enough alone as the tops are doing quite well as they are.

I wondering if anyone in the growing community has any experience of pruning their plants at this stage of flowering and was it a good idea or not.

Thanks for any advice

Jack

It really depends on your lights and how well they are penetrating the canopy. If they are developing nicely and you still have good air flow, I would leave them to do their thing.

i did this i didnt seem to effect them butremember fan laefs arelike solar panels for your plantkeep em

Thanks for the replies - just to clarify it's the whole branches I am thinking of pruning. Really I should have pruned in veg but I didn't.

The buds are tiny, maybe one tenth the size of the buds higher up. The branches are growing strong but with small buds and small dark green leaves because they are not getting enough light.

I'm a tucker and a bender when it comes to the higher branches to optimize light usage but no tucking or bending will help these lower guys. So I'm thinking about all the energy and resources the plant is putting into these lower branches and wondering should I just cut 4 or 5 of them off at the main stem.

As I mentioned I'd do it at the drop of a hat during veg but I've never pruned during flowering and would like some advice on whether I'm going to set my plant back or is it a good idea and doing it would increase the overall yield. I've never grown anything with such a long flowering time either, I got another 7 or 8 weeks of flowering left so I can only imagine what these lower guys are going to be like then, and the amount of energy they're gonna suck up so I'm really tempted to chop them now.

Thanks

Jack

PS - plants are 6ft tall, 600w HPS , air circulation ok at the moment bit worried about air circ in the future if the lower branches keep growing

.

I think that is called "Lollipoping" Jack, I've seen pictures of people cleaning off their bottom branches to concentrate the plants energy on the top. The lollipopped plants look great, but I've never done it.

How many plants do you have? Have you thought about stem training yours? Click on my Grow Lab thread link at the bottom of this post, I've got some pictures of plants with 7'-8' stems that I bent horizontal for better flowering.

.

Thanks hobbes. . . Its amazing what information you can get when you know the right search term to use

help much appreciated

jack