Should I bend plant?/ Cut leaves?

Ok so one of my plants is getting close the top its only the 3rd week of flowering. The thing is its not under light directly. (Look at the 1st picture) So if it keeps growing, won't it just start growing outward instead of up when it reaches the top? And it won't burn because its not under light directly. So theirs no need to bend right. But i also heard you shouldn't stress the plant out at all when the lights are off. If the plant reaches the top and starts growing outwards is that going to stress the plant out if its goin on when the lights are off?

Ok now Question two. My setup is getting crowded. (See Picture 2) Especially with the plant thats about to hit the top. Some of the leaves are blocking lights from getting to the bottom. Should I cut these leaves? I heard you need the leaves because the plant is using energy from the leaves. Any advice? And if you say cut the leaves I shouldn't cut all the extra leaves should I?

Thanxs for the help

It's hard to tell exactly what you mean from the first pic and your description so I cannot yet comment on whether to LST or not. As for the leaves, I wouldn't cut any leaves that are green, they are there to absorb light energy and convert to sugars by photosynthesis. My understanding is that if some of the leaves aren't getting enough light, the plant will canabalise nutrients from the unused leaves and they will go yellow/brown and die. Once the leaves are dead they can be removed. This is just my take as I personally wouldn't remove any leaves that are green.

Good luck! :thumbsup:

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Loafyboy

It's hard to tell exactly what you mean from the first pic and your description so I cannot yet comment on whether to LST or not.

Good luck! :thumbsup:

---

What Im tryign to say is......ok one of the reasons to bend plants is so that they wont get too close to the lights and burn...but this plant (picture 1) is not under light directly....so if it keeps getting taller wont it just grow outward and not tall once it hits the top and its not under lights directly so it wont burn.....so then theirs no need to bend right....but then I heard your not suppose to stress the plants at ALL when their in darkness and if their being forced to grow outward once it hits the top isnt that stressign it out? I coudl just bend it during the day and unbend it when its time for darkness? Or shoudl I jsut let it grow and hti the top and it'll grow outwards.

I hope that makes sense

Ok, if it were me, I would just let it grow, it will bend on its own accord once it hits the top, and I doubt it will stress it. It will then bend by itself toward the light source I would think. I don't think you need to worry unless they grow into the lights themselves.