trimming leaves from bottom HELP!

[krenshaw]

how do i go about trimming the lower leaves? here is a picture of where i started to trim some of them on one of my plants but i didn't want to do too much or go too far w/o knowing what is good practice. You can see in the front plant that i trimmed some of the leaves on the outer-most bine just about a foot up. Should i do that for all of them, and how high should i go? for refernce the shortest of the 3 is now at about 12 feet off the ground with about 6 feet left to go

 

[duboman]

Curious as to what you are trying to achieve by trimming the lower leaves? IMO/IME it's not necessary...........

 

[sweetcell]

trimming the bottom 2 or 3 feet of leaves is common practice. it allows air to circulate which prevents certain molds from taking hold, and it reduced the chance of bugs crawling up and munching on the plant.

To the OP: how to trim? you can uses scissors, or gardening shears, or just your thumbnail if it's long enough. trim relatively closely to the bine (stem).

 

[Yankeehillbrewer]

I trim mine up 2'-3' like Sweetcell mentioned. Don't worry about cutting into cone production. That happens around the 6-7 foot mark or even a little higher. My plants seem healthier because of it.

 

[sweetcell]

you won't be hurting cone production at all. cones aren't produced that far down the plant.

 

[krenshaw]

does how i trimmed that one in the foreground look right? just wanted to make sure i wasn't trimming off too much

 

[sweetcell]

does how i trimmed that one in the foreground look right? just wanted to make sure i wasn't trimming off too much

no, not at all. in fact you should trim a little more. you want to remove the bottom 2 or 3 feet of leaves.

 

[krenshaw]

no, not at all. in fact you should trim a little more. you want to remove the bottom 2 or 3 feet of leaves.

sorry, i meant close enough/not close enough to the actual bine.. didn't want to do further up if i wasn't doing it right

 

[sweetcell]

sorry, i meant close enough/not close enough to the actual bine.. didn't want to do further up if i wasn't doing it right

looks like you're doing just fine on that, too.

 

[Jon73]

I use a good pair of scissors, as long as SWMBO doesn't catch me. I look at it as the plant has established it's height and can put energy into producing cones instead of leaves that are no longer necessary.

 

[Rahahb]

I use a sterile razor blade. I've let them go long enough to where they turn yellow and pull off easily. Might not be the best practice. I bet in the wild they don't get trimmed at all.