First and foremost we would like to say that every grower has their own personalized way of doing things and there are many different ways to do it. They are all centered and concentrated around one particular thing which is getting bigger and better buds from your plant.

To prepare the plant for flowering we need to flip the plant; i.e. change the lighting period, lollipop, defoliate and super crop the plant. If the plant is on a 18/6 schedule, change to a 12/12 lighting period. 12 hours of darkness and 12 hours of light. When we “Lollipop“ our plants we remove the lower 1/3 of the plants branches and leaves. Everything that is not getting sufficient light should be removed. The object is to increase yield, get more light to the buds and get better air circulation.

If you are going to start with low stress training early on, you should mainline your plants. And the plant to the right is just about ready for that, otherwise let it grow until you are ready top flip it. Once you lolly pop and defoliate the plant, (if it has been growing like a pine tree), you will have to twist and bend the top cola down so it will be basically the same height as the rest. This is called super cropping. Or top the plant once and get numerous branches and then super crop it. Super Cropping is the process of bending the plant to get a more even canopy and at the same time get the colas to grow bigger. The object is to get the canpoy of the plants as even as possible, because we don't want the plant to grow like a pine tree or xmas tree. When the canopy is even, the colas all grow basically the same size in height, which is what you want.

Remove the branches and fan leaves from each of the main colas, all the way up and leave only the top of the plant or the first 3 nodes. All of the fan leaves that are pointing towards the center of the plant should be removed, and all of the fan leaves that are pointing away from the plant should remain on plant.

After lollipopping the plant let the plant recoup for a few days or so before changing the lighting schedule. Be sure to fed your plant during this stage. You have to remember that the plant is damaged and need to recover as quickly as possible which they always do.

Between day 18-21 of flower we want to defoliate the plant again and take off all the fan leaves except the ones which are feeding a bud. In general, we also want to remove all branches that do not reach the middle of the plant in height. After this second defoliation, just feed and water your plant per your schedule. Remember, a plant that is in flower needs more Phosphorus and Potassium.

Another way to do it is to send the plant into flower and after 18-21 days or so, lollipopped, defoliated and super crop. There are numerous videos surrounding this subject that you can find on Youtube.