Lower Budsites in Manifold - Remove or Not?

[TOKABIGONE]

Trying to decide if I should remove these lower bud sites to encourage more growth in the 12 original cola tops established by my manifold. Which would give the most yield? 12 colas alone or with many smaller ones? Not like it's a SOG cuz there's only one root ball, right? Thanks for you best opinions!

[MeEasy]

Personally I think the extra leaves help with growth but I remove it once the mains turn up and start shadowing the lower stuff once it's in shade it won't help anymore. Here's a couple pics of how mine progress. These are the same day before n after

[dphipps1020]

Leave them. That's what grows into colas. I have been making the mistake of removing most of them and I hurt my yields by doing it. Once they get to the size you want them, then I would look at removing a few nodes here and there. I just tied mine again and they're coming along nicely. Should be done growing them wide in a week or 2 and then I can work on height. I tried to group the pictures together, there's 2 pictures of 2 different plants. Been removing the big fan leaves as they grow to focus more energy to the bud sites and help promote faster growth. Seems to be working pretty well so far. They look good though, I wish mine were that big already.

[TOKABIGONE]

You're coming along nicely, the hardest part is to relax and be patient I think. You are a bit tied up with twisty wire I see. I had a few ft of 14ga electric wire left over from a project so I bent a small hook on one end and just pushed them into the coco where I wanted them to go. Worked well. The pic is 3 weeks ago.

I'm thinking where there are two tips at a node, I will remove the smaller one so the bigger gets more juice and room. Have to think about it a couple more days.

[TOKABIGONE]

Anyone else have thoughts on this?

[Ckbrew]

It all depends on what you are trying to do. Fewer n bigger colas, or multiple n smaller. Look at the plant and see what does n does not get light. No light, trim it. Listen to the plants. They will tell you what is best for what you want. Then go with the flow.

[Ckbrew]

Is that crushed stone under your bags? What is the story with that?

[TOKABIGONE]

It's pea gravel to allow drainage and air under the bags. I have a tray from an old wire dog cage slightly elevated in the back so runoff comes to the front and I soak it up with a towel to remove it. I have an inch of gravel in the bottom of the bags too.

My original manifold is 12 tops per plant which I trained out to the edge and now growing upward. The lower or center bud sites I will trim selectively the ones that come into shadow. Switching next week at 11 weeks veg.

The one on the left I defoled more heavily to see what it would do. It is now growing a little slower than the other 2 so I'll just let them go for now and carefully remove fan leaves as needed to restrict shade.