pruning during 12/12 - how much??

well i'm on day 14 of 12/12, doing a ScrOG grow.

My question is, how much foilage is safe to prune off to allow more light to the budsites? I've been training every day or so, and i've been tucking the fan leaves under as much as I can to open up the light. i've pinched off a few leaves here and there. but....it's getting pretty crowded, and there are lots more budsites I would like to expose.

How much foilage can I trim back, without stressing the plant or slowing growth?

I've also been pinching off a single finger from some larger leaves, when possible. I'm assuming that is alright?

There is a raging debate over this question and with no clear winner as far as I can see. My short answer is I have no idea but here are some things to consider....

I think the argument goes like this - the more fan leaves means the more light can be absorbed by the plant so the bud sites will benefit from more fan leaves. This argument is bolstered by the "never prune during flowering mantra".

The other argument is plants use valuable energy on maintenance and nutrition for fan leaves that would be better spent on buds. This argument gets a lift when you consider that there are leaves right in the buds that can do the job of the fan leaves.

Like most things, maybe a mix of the two (lightly pruning but leaving plenty of fan leaves on the plant) is the right way to go? That's what i do but i have no clue as to whether this is correct or not.

Wow! that was very long-winded way of saying I don't know!

so you say you personally do some pruning? would you say a good philosophy is always try to tuck leaves under, but prune if absolutely necessary?

ihavefeet said:

so you say you personally do some pruning? would you say a good philosophy is always try to tuck leaves under, but prune if absolutely necessary?

Click to expand...

I personally do a lot of pruning but i seem to do quite a few "not recommended" things so you may want to wait for others to have their say before making any decisions.

Can you take a pic of the stalks?

You wnat to limit the amount of stress on the plant during flowering, because you don't want to risk herming the plant. That, of course, is the risk one takes when stressing the plant. As far as I can tell, your plants look ok. As long as your bud sites are above the canopy you're going ok.

at your request.....

as you can see, there are lots of budsites below the screen, and it would be nice to get at least some light down there.

i learned for next time that I should have put the screen about 3" lower. it is about 7" from the base of the plant, i think 3-4" would be more suitable for this size plant....

Just trim of what is not above the screen. not too much though just a few branches at a time. dont go crazy your plants look good