Pruning techniques should be implemented at all stages of plant growth. As the plants develop, care should be taken to accurately remove the inner lower branch sites, often referred to as "suckers". They get this name because they often only serve the purpose of "sucking" the energy out of the plant. The more energy that goes into the suckers, the more energy that will get taken away from the "leaders."

The titles speak for themselves; leaders are also referred to as "head sites" because they are the branches that will produce the colas every grower dreams of. "Suckers" are the opposite, they are the small inner branches that will never amount to anything, and in fact take away energy from the head sites.

The answer is both yes and no, these giant fan leaves are basically solar panels, and are the workhorses for photosynthesis. They take in the most amount of energy to help the plant grow. That being said, there is a time and a place for them to shine. Once the plant is established, you may begin to remove just some of the giant leaves. Start by pulling off the ones at the very bottom and aren't receiving much light. As the plant creates more head sites, pull the large fan leave up top that may be shadowing other important sites. Removing leaves is referred to as defoliation vs.

There's nothing worse than giving a friend or employee a pair of scissors, telling them to go for it while you run errands and come back to find your plants massacred. Be sure to give explicit, hands-on training to anyone you hand a pair of scissors to.

To limit infection of plant wounds, all shears and scissors should be sterilized before use with isopropyl alcohol and the cuts should be made at the base of the branch being removed where it meets the main stem. All waste should be removed from the cultivation areas and composted.