Pruning

[Matriumcauthon]

I've just harvested my first plant, and noticed that a good deal of what I got were the little leafy buds in the lower half of the plant. I expected as I realized about halfway through flowering that I should have done more pruning. At that point I was afraid to do any as the flowering phase already seemed to be far behind where I thought it should at that point and I was afraid of stunting or shocking my plants.

So my question is this, how late is too late to prune those little suckers off the plants without causing problems? Up to the switch? Up to the end of the flower stretch? Some other point? I'd like to see if I can do better with my next plant

[homegrown]

I start trimming those little sprouts off usually the first time i do a defoliate in veg. I'll do it again just before flip(clean up the clones), once their in flower, just keep pinching them off as they pop out.. Heres a plant i just cleaned up a bit after 12/12 switch. Im trying to avoid as much popcorn bud as possible.

[SoOrbudgal]

Yep homegrown told you correctly. Very good to trim lower half, less chances of mildew with these types of bushy plants. What gal doesn't like a bit of wind under her skirt........LOL

[Matriumcauthon]

Thanks, I'll make sure to do that for my next set

[quirk]

I begin my node count with first multi-finger leaf set and when I reach a healthy node six I bend main stem 60-70 degrees to break apical dominance and remove all growth under node 4. For me, this eliminates unproductive growth and allows for easier feeding and training.

[gbauto]

I've had a similar experience to yours.
As I accumulated more grows, I found that clearing out smaller tertiary branches is best.
All of those small sucker sites won't receive adequate light intensity to develop decent nugs.
As to what to remove...that's your judgment call.
I've also done staged harvests by removing the top colas and allow the lower bud sites more time to ripen. Not always worth the effort, so this is where you will need to decide if that shoot has any potential.