Lots of folks get real nervous about touching their cannabis plants once they start showing those pretty flowers. I used to be one of ’em. I’d read all sorts of things, you know? ‘Don’t stress ’em out!’, ‘You’ll hurt your yield!’. So, for my first few attempts, I pretty much just let them be, like a wild jungle in my tent.
And what did I get? Well, sure, some nice tops. But everything underneath? A whole lot of nothing. Tiny, airy little buds that weren’t worth the trim time. It was frustrating, man. All that effort, and half the plant felt like a waste. I’d look at those lower branches, barely getting any light, and just sigh.
Then came this one grow, I had this strain, can’t even remember the name now, but it was a real bushy one. We’ll call her ‘The Beast.’ She was just exploding with leaves, even a couple weeks into flower. I was getting worried, seriously. Couldn’t see through her, airflow felt non-existent. I kept thinking about mold, pests, all that bad stuff. I was losing sleep over this plant, no joke.
One afternoon, I just snapped. I grabbed my clean snips, took a deep breath, and thought, ‘Okay, something’s gotta change here.’ I was still scared, mind you. Felt like I was about to commit a crime against my own plant. But I started slow.
What I Actually Did With ‘The Beast’
First, I targeted the really big fan leaves. You know, the ones that were acting like giant solar panels but were completely shading several bud sites below them. Snip, snip. I’d take one off, step back, look. Take another. It was nerve-wracking at first, I swear.
Then I looked lower down the plant. All those little spindly branches that had a tiny tuft of hair on top but were clearly living in the shadows? They had to go. I figured, there’s no way these are gonna get enough light to become anything decent. So, I carefully removed them, trying to make clean cuts close to the main stem.
I also looked for any leaves pointing inwards, towards the center of the plant, or any that were just cluttering things up and blocking airflow. The idea was to open her up, let the light penetrate deeper, and let the air move freely.
I didn’t do it all at once. Maybe over two or three sessions, spread out over a week. I didn’t want to shock her too much. Each time, I’d just take a bit more, focusing on:
- Big fan leaves blocking lower bud sites.
- Small, weak lower branches that wouldn’t produce much.
- Any leaves growing inward or causing too much congestion.
The Big Surprise
And you know what happened with ‘The Beast’? She absolutely loved it! It was like she could finally breathe. Over the next few weeks, those lower buds, the ones that were previously shaded, started to actually swell up. They got denser, frostier. It was amazing to see.
When harvest time came, the difference was night and day compared to my earlier grows. The buds were much more consistent in size and quality from the top to the bottom of the plant. Less of that airy, popcorn stuff. And guess what? No mold, no pests. The airflow really made a difference.
That experience with ‘The Beast’ completely changed how I look at pruning during flowering. It’s not about butchering your plant. It’s about being smart, helping it focus its energy on the buds that have the best potential. It’s about light penetration and airflow. Simple as that.
So now, yeah, I prune during flowering. Usually around week 2 or 3, I’ll do a decent cleanup. And maybe another light touch-up a couple of weeks later if needed. I don’t go crazy, I just remove what’s obviously in the way or not going to amount to anything. It’s made a huge difference in my harvests, and my plants seem happier for it. Took me a while to get brave enough, but man, I’m glad I did.
