After at least four sets of true serrated leaves have grown on your rooted clones or cannabis seedlings, it’s time to do your earliest trim.
The place to cut is on the newest growth at the very top of a stalk. When you cut just below that point, later growth creates two separate branches, each with their own secondary and tertiary branches.
Always make cuts using a clean razor blade, trimming scissors, or scalpel, and it’s a good idea to wait a day or two for the cuts to heal, and then foliar spray your marijuana plants with a 120 parts per million, 5.8 pH foliar solution containing B-52 and Rhino Skin.
You don’t want to do straight cuts, because those can collect moisture and debris.
Instead, use a 45-degree cut, as these will tend to heal faster.
As your marijuana plants grow to maturity, you can give them multiple rounds of trimming. Some of this trimming is merely to shape the plant rather than to top it so you get multiple heads out of what was once just one head.
You always want to be careful about making too many cuts that encourage an out of control, over-bushy plant.
You want your plants to have an open structure so air can move freely through the plant canopy. This helps your cannabis plants breathe, and also deters molds and fungi from taking root on your crops.
Branches that grow too close the soil should be cut off close to the main stem. However, if these lower marijuana branches or other branches are looking good, consider rooting them.
If you see branches that are clearly too weak and spindly to support themselves upright, those aren’t going to be able to support heavy buds later on, so cut them off.
It’s best to do all cutting before you flip your marijuana plants into flowering. If you cut a significant amount of plant material just before or during flowering, you may delay harvest maturation, sap the plants of vital energy, and redirect plant resources that would have gone into bud formation.
Be sure to check out the videos in this article, and other helpful articles on Big Buds about cannabis pruning and trimming, so you gain mastery over this valuable method that increases your marijuana yields.
