Marijuana Horticulture: The Indoor/Outdoor Medical Grower's Bible

leaves.
    Most successful growers do not prune at all, especially if growing a short clone crop that is only two to three feet (61-91 cm) tall. Short clone crops require no pruning to increase light to bottom leaves or to alter their profile. “No pruning” is the easiest and most productive method when growing short crops.
    Pinching back or pruning tops (branch tips) causes the two growing shoots just below the cut to grow stronger and bigger. This increases the number of top or main buds. Pruning tops also diffuses floral hormones. These hormones (auxins) prevent the lateral buds from growing very fast. All lower branches develop more rapidly when the terminal bud is removed. The further a branch is from hormones at the plant tip, the less effect the auxins have.
    To pinch back a branch tip, simply snip it off below the last set or two of leaves. Pinching off tender growth with your fingers helps seal the wound and is often less damaging to plants than cutting. When the main stem is pinched back, side and lower growth is stimulated. When all the tops are pinched back, lower growth is encouraged. Continually pinching back, as when taking clones from a mother, causes many more little branches to form below the pruned tips. Eventually, the plant is transformed into a hedge-like shape. Most growers do not pinch plants back, because it diminishes the yield of prime, dense tops; but it may not affect the overall weight of dried smoke.
    Supercropping is a form of pinching back or pruning branch tips. We are not sure who or when the term or buzzword was coined. We do know that there are several different versions of supercropping “invented” by innovative growers.

The main growing tips of this large patio plant were pruned off, which stimulated lower growth.

Floral hormones are concentrated in four main branches.
    Supercropping can also incorporate FIM pruning which is explained below. It can be combined with bending, too. Some peoplego to the point of mutilating plants by breaking branches a few inches below main buds. Removing healthy leaves so that “budding sites get more light” is also practiced by some supercroppers. See “Stress” in this chapter for more information.
    Pruning all the branches or removing more than 20 percent of the foliage in a short time frame stresses plants too much and diminishes harvest. But if taking clones, some growers effectively prune a mother down to stubby branches and let her recuperate for a month or longer.
    Pruning too much over time may alter hormonal concentrations, causing spindly growth. This is often the case with mother plants that provide too many clones. The mother must rest and gain girth, because small, spindly branches root poorly.
    Remove all but the four main branches. The meristem (central stem) is removed just above the four lowest (main) branches. Removing the central leader concentrates the floral hormones in the four remaining branches. Fewer branches are stronger and bear a larger quantity of dense, heavy flower tops. Remove the stem above the four main branches; do not remove leaves on the main branches. Select plants with three sets of branch nodes about six weeks old, and pinch or prune out the last set of nodes so that two sets of branches remain. Move plants into the flowering room when they are about 12 inches tall. ‘Skunk #1’ and similarly robust bloomers should be set in the flowering room when about six to eight inches tall.
    The FIM Technique was coined by an anonymous High Times reader from South Carolina in the July 2000 issue of the magazine. The technique became legendary on www.overgrow.com. ever since the grower wrote: “this pruning technique could revolutionize indoor gardening.” The South Carolina grower tried to pinch the tip of a plant and said “Fuck, I Missed!” when he did not remove the entire bud and coined the acronym FIM.

FIM Technique

The drawing on the left shows the traditional method to top a plant The entire growing shoot just below the bud is removed. When the entire growing shoot is removed, the two buds located directly below the cut grow faster and stronger. The drawing in the center and the close-up on the right show the FIM pruning technique – the bottom ten percent of the bud remains intact. This is the key to FIM pruning. Many different flowering tops form as a result of this single pruning. According to FIM afficionados, terminal buds put on much more weight and are more dense.
    Bending
    Bending is