It has been about two weeks since I flipped the lights to flower in my tent and the GDP has gotten massive as it prepares to begin flowering. The past few days, I have seen some great stretching as the branches push up over the canopy and are getting ready to support the buds that are in the process of sprouting out.
There are so many different branches that have pushed up above the rest and I am pretty excited about this plant because it is MASSIVE compared to all the others I have grown. These three lights on this plant are really working wonders on making a large, healthy plant.
The only problem with the plant getting so huge is I have a lot of work to do in trimming off some of the larger fan leaves that are blocking the light to the lower nodes. So I spent quite a bit of time this morning going through and trying to find the leaves that should be trimmed. If I don't trim off some of these leaves, anything underneath them will not get any light and will not grow. Defoliating also helps to divert nutrients across the whole plant.
As you can see, there are a lot of flowering sites under the top of all these leaves, so it is crucial to begin removing them once the preflower stretch is done and before the buds start coming in. You don't want to wait too long and then start trimming off any flower because that is all just wasted nutrients and time that the plant used to create them.
You can see here that the buds are already beginning to show and it is just a matter of time before this plant is covered in some pretty massive buds. I can't even imagine how strong the smell is going to get in my grow room because there is going to be more buds growing in there than there ever has. Plus, I have some nutrients I am trying that are supposed to enhance the smell and help to produce more terpenes in the plant.
Another thing I spent time on was pruning up the under canopy. Anything that is growing underneath the canopy is a waste of nutrients because they will not get any light.
All of these little leaves and some of the tiny branches that are flimsy were removed. Another really important reason to defoliate your plants before they go into flower is to help increase airflow. Mold is a growers worst enemy, and if you have too many leaves that restrict airflow across the plant, you run a higher risk of developing mold on your buds, so be sure to selectively prune your plant in a way that helps improve airflow.
One thing to remember when pruning is not to prune off too much all at once because that can stress your plant out, which could cause it to herm. That is when the plant becomes too stressed and starts to develop male traits in an effort to preserve itself. This can cause the plant to essentially impregnate itself and stops producing new flower so that it can focus on producing seeds. The best way to prevent this from happening is to reduce the amount of stress you introduce to your plants.
This may look like a lot, but I didn't remove too much from the plant. If you remove less than 1/3 of the leaves during defoliation and give at least a week between defoliating, you should be also not defoliate too many times or too far into the flowering cycle.
Now this looks a lot better than before. Light should be able to get through the canopy a lot easier. I think I will begin to see the buds begin to grow this week. I am going to be installing the second layer of the netting to support the upper branches as they begin to get weighed down by buds.
The Green Crack in the small tent is starting to open up and spread its tiny leaves. The first couple weeks are always really boring since there aren't many leaves soaking up the light, but once there are a few leaves that have spread out, they begin to explode with growth. It will be interesting to see how different the leaves are on this one compared to the indicas I have been growing.
I have about six to seven weeks of flower left for my GDP and the Green Crack has about eight to nine weeks left until it is ready for harvest. Things are going to get really exciting in the grow room soon. Thanks for checking out my post. Hopefully you learned a thing or two and liked my photography. Growing cannabis is a lot of fun and has so many benefits.
