Why Over-Trimming Can Ruin Your Hemp Plants
What is Trimming?
Trimming an essential procedure to the successful cultivation of cannabis, the same way it’s important to all plant cultivation. As plants grow and develop, they benefit from the skillful eye of the cultivator who will trim off parts of the plant for the purpose of maintaining the plant’s optimal health, enhancing vegetative growth, and optimizing eventual harvest.
Some of the leaves and stems may no longer be viable, and are in fact dying. These plant parts are of no use to the plant in this condition, and in fact, detrimental. As they struggle for survival, they sap the plant of vital life energy that could be used for new plant growth.
As a plant grows and develops, its upper leaves begin to shade some of the leaves below. Perhaps by removing a few of these higher leaves, it might contribute to a healthier plant in the long run.
Be Careful of Over-Pruning
While pruning is a constructive process, over-pruning is not. All of the plant’s parts serve a purpose, and are required for the plant’s health. By removing too much of the plant, the plant’s growth could be slowed down and stunted. Over-pruning could even result in the plant’s death.
You should be especially wary of doing either of the following:
Never trim a leaf that is growing out of the plant’s basal stem, before the plant has had the chance of developing secondary stems off of the basal stem.
Never strip all of the leaves off of a single branch.
Additional Trimming Precautions
Never over-trim. In cannabis pruning, it is best to err on the side of too little pruning, especially if you’re not sure how much you should prune.
Always use sharp tools to prune with. Never ‘pinch-prune’ with your fingers. Rose trimmers are good, but a good set of scissors will work too. Your tool should also be disinfected with alcohol. Each cut creates a wound, and a dirty tool can introduce pathogens to the plant.
A dull tool, or no tool at all, will create a ragged wound at the trim site. The plant will then need to invest extra energy in repairing the wound you created. This expenditure of energy will result in less energy being available for new plant development, which will slow and retard the plant’s growth.
Have a plan in place for how you want your plant to develop, and follow the plan. If you just trim a little here, and a little there, with no plan, your pruning is more likely to harm the plant, rather than help it.
When you top off growing points, or trim back stems, always trim just above a node. If you prune at the bottom of the node, you will leave a segment of stem, which now plays no role in the plant’s life and growth. This stub will now require extra energy in order to die gracefully, extra energy that should be available for new growth.
And finally, never prune two days in a row. Give the plant sufficient time to recover from each pruning ‘trauma’.
Thank you for taking the time to read this article.
Greenlife Organics