pruning

[demcc3]

Good morning everyone! Is there a general rule of what and how much to prune? My White Widow is 7 weeks from germination and am wondering how much (if any) of the lower fan leaves could be removed

[MeEasy]

Here's an article/tutorial from the main site on defoliation it is better detailed than what I could share with you here

https://www.growweedeasy.com/defoliation

[YYCannabis]

Evaluate the plant and decide which are the biggest, oldest leaves that are covering the heart of the bush. Remove those then wait a couple of days before doing any more. This gives the plant time to recover, and prevents the gardener from pulling too many at once. 👍

[dilvish]

let it grow out a week more then consider removing the largest leaves on the bottom only. Look the plant over every week to see where lower colas are shaded and trim the odd top leaves accordingly. The fan leaves are light sponges - they soak up the light for the plant to grow so the fewer you remove the better.

As an alternative, try some plant training. You should have started that a couple of weeks ago but it can still work if this is a Photo strain. White Widow can be either Photo or Auto.

[demcc3]

Thanks for your response! I did Indeed start to train them already! I might tweak the trained branches a little bit this coming weekend...and maybe train a few more

[DaGreenBlazer]

For my 2 cents, i would also say that it's a nice shape already now that 1 top of the main tip would let those side branches crown out real nicely and give it a good even canopy.

As for trimming the rest, me personally i like to trim a fair bit so i would snip off most of the fan leaves coming off the main stem from the bottom up, just leaving top 2 sets, so as to improve air circulation & light penetration. And then at bottom of stem end upwards I'd also snip off any smaller side branches that don't currently reach/stretch over the sides of the pot - probably just the bottom 1 or 2 branches will cover it, and basically leave the bigger, similar length branches that will come up good together as part of the crown. If you don't fancy topping tho, then i agree just light trim is best, plus it'll possibly stretch up a fair bit in flowering which will open up internodal distance for air & light anyway.

If you're not too sure with trimming, best idea is go lightly as can always take more off but can never put it back on again! Also, I'd recommend doing it early after lights come on rather than doing it just before lights go off for night, as gives them better recovery position.