Pruning

Fellow farmers,

I am about to switch to flowering. I read a little here and there about pruning. Some say leave them alone and let them go natural. Others insist pruning or topping at the right stage produces much higher yields.

So, should I prune or top? If so, what will I gain and what will I lose? How should I do it and when?

Thanxz...

-ngtybear

plants can/will grow fine without being pruned, however, as i have recently expierenced myself, depending on your lighting situation, it is much better to try and get all your branches at the same height. when you top the plant, it allows the bottom branching to catch up to the top. there is also LST (low stress training), that involves slowly tieing the top down, this will trigger the same thing topping does, allowing branches to catch up, and not cutting off anything. personally i like the cutting off the top effect, i get better cola branches.

i recently harvested and many branching on my bagseedlings that were low and now getting as much liek as the topper ones were pretty much worthless and insignifigant. i used a 400 watt hps. they do great, they just can penetrade 18 inch-24 inch plants ALL THE WAY down, so, by getting all the branches level, you will have equal penetration, more better buds, maybe a better yield.

L.S.T. low stress training, now that I have done it I wont do it any other way, comparing it to topping. 1. because it definately slows down the process 2. (I read this once on here) if it were wild and something leaned against a plant, it would bend it over, causing it to only come back stronger.
3. topping isnt natural

A interesting note, which may be related to LST. The last time I pull the plants to do some work on the case I damaged one of the plants putting them back into the case. When it recovered (on light cycle), it started another shoot and may have increased it's growth rate. Could be no connection, but interesting.

I will do some more research on LST. Please feel free to advise on the topic. I will switch to flowering in about 1 week.

Thanks,

-michael

One other note,

I am building a system to provide intense light under the canopy. I am very interested in seeing of it addresses the problems mentioned here.

-ngtybear