When to Start Removing Leaves?

[flytier]

I have a White Widow that I'm doing some LST on. It's been growing for close to a month and there are well over a half a dozen new growth stems coming off it by now. Now most of these are buried inside the dense foliage. What I'm wondering is this: is it alright to remove some of the bigger "main" leaves to allow light to get to them, or should I keep them on and sort of cut my losses with regard to the stems that are shaded? Here is a picture of the plant a few days ago; it's grown a bit since then.

Thanks in advance for any info, and happy growing.

[Jibblerjoe]

Raise your light a lil so plant stretches out a lil.

[Jibblerjoe]

Remove the big fan leaves, the ones shading the lower growth.

[Sammy]

Don't be afraid to remove leaves especially the big ones just do a couple at a time to see how the plant responds. Definitely move the light let that little girl stretch.

[oldjarhead100]

hey flytyer you can remove the big fan leaves and move the light a little , I like my girls short and thick like that in the beginning easier to manage,but I can spend time in veg to get them the way I like ,I would also top her to give those side shoots a chance to take off

[Green75]

I'm sorry..but she looks like a runt...she's full of genetic defects...this is not what a month old plant typically looks like...

Yes..take all her fan leaves off except the one attached to the very tips of the tallest tops... your harvest will be small due to her genetic failure but you will have some buds non the less...is she your only plant? If so I guess keep her..if not , cull her and transfer your time to the others... either way Good luck and don't get discouraged!!

[flytier]

I'd have to say that it's not genetic; probably a result of nutrient burn from using enriched soil at the beginning. I have another one that's even smaller than this. The growth on this one is actually speeding up now that it's getting a little older. About 50% of the soil it's in now is still enriched stuff. Perhaps I should transfer it to some organic mix that I have made up for my next lot? If so, should I do that first, remove the fan leaves first, of get it both at the same time? Thanks for your response.

[flytier]

Thanks guys; it seems to be a pretty unanimous "yes". I'm also going to get it out of the nutrient-enriched soil and into some organic mix that I made up.

[Green75]

I'm referring to the leaf structure and it's balled little frame...that's not due to nutrient in soil...transplanting into organic won't change the plant structure itself...it will grow yes..but will never be what it should be... good luck and have fun!!

[flytier]

Oh, I see what you're saying there. Those leaves are very rounded, aren't they? The newer leaves, although still quite broad, do have the point at the tip. It's just difficult to see in the dense foliage. I'll have a bit better idea of what's going on WRT that part when my next WWs get a bit bigger.

[flytier]

Just as a sidenote, when I got home from work I only had to remove one leaf to expose a lot of the new growth tips, and there are a load of them. Didn't get a good count, but I didn't want to go rooting through the foliage too much. Let's just say I'll be able to get a few clones in a couple weeks. I also moved the lights up, as everyone has been telling me. What I have are a combination of CFLs and screw-in LED floodlights, and they are about a foot above the plants now. I was half considering getting rid of the enriched soil, but I don't want to take the chance on wrecking the plants, and anyway, it's growing pretty good now. So with one leaf gone and the shoots wired down, this is what I have, although some of the shoots are still hard to see in the picture:

[CCisme]

I couldnt ever get my cks ww to stretch the nodes are stacked and I had em 6 inches from the t5. I reffered to it as my cabbage plant. My fat leaved one isnt quite as rounded though.

[flytier]

Wow, that is a bushy one too. I'll just keep picking around with the lighting and see how/if it affects the stretching. I have a couple more WW seedlings on the go and they are starting out basically the same way as this one did. Real short internodes and somewhat slow growth. Once again, I play the waiting game.