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Quick advice

Blitz527

Blitz527

So, if you check out my glog, my plants are starting to get quite big for their area. I am very limited on space and sufficient lighting for them so do I:
A) prune lower leaves and keep them growing upwards.
B) Top them
C) both A and B
D) Let them be and keep them the way they are.

Any and all opinions are welcome.
Pics are in my glog, I can post some here for ease of opinion though. Let me know.
 
I am pretty sure my area is 4 wide by 2 deep and I have it enclosed to be like an indoor greenhouse. Something like 80-90 plants
 
Hmm. Well, topping them is only going to make them bushier, which will just cause more of a problem.
I don't know how good of an idea taking off lower leaves is, they provide a lot of surface area for photosynthesis. I would just let them grow, they will be able to tell when to stop throwing themselves out into a specific direction once they start rubbing up against each other. 
 
I'd personally just let them do their thing. If you see two plants in nature, if they are extremely close they won't grow any branches in that general direction. 
 
Judging only from what I've read on pruning, I would leave the top, leave the bottom, and prune the leaves in between. Leave at least 1 or 2 sets of true leaves on the bottom for photosynthesis.
 
Bhuter said:
Judging only from what I've read on pruning, I would leave the top, leave the bottom, and prune the leaves in between. Leave at least 1 or 2 sets of true leaves on the bottom for photosynthesis.
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I was thinking if that as well. I think I will probably take a few sets of leaves off most of them, leave a few the way they are. Not 100% sure yet
 
That many plants so far from last frost, your gonna be in trouble.
This is 88 plants occupying 4'x7'.
And I still have 50 days of indoor grow left.

20170321_211019.jpg
 
Yea I know, I was planning on not having anything germ for a while because everyone I talked to said a month minimum for the super hots.... They popped in 5-7 days....
 
Yea I see that now HAHAHAHAHA it's all good. I'm selling a couple here and there to clear space. I want to get a few in the ground and a few in containers. Seeing as it's my first year with these I want to experiment a bit. I've been pruning a few, going to let a few go all natural. We will see.
 
I was told last year to keep my light closer to the plants so they won't try to leg out as much. Mine will get a purple colored suntan also from the lights.  Keeps them nice and short and the leaves get bigger.  I always clip the cotlydons after a point because once they get some growth to the plant they seem to have outlived their use and start dying off naturally anyways.  Also since i'm growing Scotch bonnets the leaves can get rather big, most so big that they are hanging outside the cup, but if they try and stay near the dirt I clip them off, to prevent possible soil born diseases.
 
Topping them will just make them bush out and it doesn't look like you have a lot of room for that.  You may want to clip blooms off though if they try to fruit on you before they are outside.  I also keep an oscillating fan on mine which really helps stiffen up the stalks and keep good ventilation.
 
 
I did pinch off the "cotydons" if that is the word you mean for the first leaves. The point in which they are connected st first is buried. When I transplanted them I buried the stem up to about inch below the first set of true leaves. They are all doing extremely well. I guess I over prepared in the event that I lost some... Well fortunately I did not lose any, but it's kind of unfortunate as well as now I am out of space HAHAHAHAHA. I'm going to clip 2-4 sets of leaves from the center of the plant, keeping the tops in tact and leave the lower leaves for photosynthesis. I also am looking for a couple cheap desktop fans but cant bring myself to spend 12 bucks a piece on them as I'm currently laid off. Being broke sucks lol
 
twiasp said:
the leaves can get rather big, most so big that they are hanging outside the cup, but if they try and stay near the dirt I clip them off, to prevent possible soil born diseases
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One thing I do when the leaves get that big, is lay bamboo skewers (or long toothpicks) across the top of the cups to prop the leaves up. That way, you don't have to snip the leaves off, and they stay out of the dirt
 
Blitz527 said:
I did pinch off the "cotydons" if that is the word you mean for the first leaves. The point in which they are connected st first is buried. When I transplanted them I buried the stem up to about inch below the first set of true leaves. They are all doing extremely well. I guess I over prepared in the event that I lost some... Well fortunately I did not lose any, but it's kind of unfortunate as well as now I am out of space HAHAHAHAHA. I'm going to clip 2-4 sets of leaves from the center of the plant, keeping the tops in tact and leave the lower leaves for photosynthesis. I also am looking for a couple cheap desktop fans but cant bring myself to spend 12 bucks a piece on them as I'm currently laid off. Being broke sucks lol
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cotyledon
 
For fans you may try college dorms near the end of the semester, especially when graduates leave.  They throw away almost all their belongings to move on.  Can find dorm refrigerators also lol.
 
Blitz527 said:
I did pinch off the "cotydons" if that is the word you mean for the first leaves. The point in which they are connected st first is buried. When I transplanted them I buried the stem up to about inch below the first set of true leaves. They are all doing extremely well. I guess I over prepared in the event that I lost some... Well fortunately I did not lose any, but it's kind of unfortunate as well as now I am out of space HAHAHAHAHA. I'm going to clip 2-4 sets of leaves from the center of the plant, keeping the tops in tact and leave the lower leaves for photosynthesis. I also am looking for a couple cheap desktop fans but cant bring myself to spend 12 bucks a piece on them as I'm currently laid off. Being broke sucks lol
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Hey, Blitz! Did you end up clipping some center leaves off? Just curious as to how they are progressing. I'm at a point where I'm out of "sideways" room and I'm thinking about clipping some, myself.

-Adam
 
Bhuter said:
Hey, Blitz! Did you end up clipping some center leaves off? Just curious as to how they are progressing. I'm at a point where I'm out of "sideways" room and I'm thinking about clipping some, myself.

-Adam
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Adam, yes I did on a few plants, I am not seeing much recovery on them yet, it has been about a week or so. They are still very very healthy. I did however pick up some fish fert that I am going to switch to next feeding. Hopefully that helps with some side shoot Re-gen. So, as far as if it hurt or helped the plant. I can say that it did not hurt it as they are still growing vertically, but they aren't producing much for shoots off of the clipped spots.
 
Thank you, Alex! That's exactly what I wanted to know. I have leaves overlapping all over and my grow space is only under a card table. Lol. I understand that trimming the leaves (in the proper way) will cause the plant to bush out. What I want to know is if the side shoots will grow slowly enough to not cause overlapping by the time I plant out (6weeks). I guess there's no way of knowing unless I try. That's great news that they are still very, very healthy! I hope they start bushing out for you. Thanks for the great info!
 
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