^ yep like that. Those side branches will often be like one big cola with the main one. Think of a rocketship kinda shape 
And yes nodes are where branches meet the main stem.
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Thank you for the advice. I left the plants like they are because in Cervantes book the cannabis encyclopedia I did read that you should only cut when in vegetative cycle because after the cutting the plants would loose lot of flowering hormones and also be shocked for some time.
But next vegetative cycle I will trim them.
Would you also remove the fan leaves below that point?
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The plant will, technically, still be in a veggative state for three weeks or so after the flip, often called the stretch.
Yes I would, especially if you plan to run these at 4 plants per square foot. It will improve airflow.
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Ok maybe I still will cut the branches. After I decided what to do in another matter, because it seems my plants didnt take the switch from sealed to external air too well.
Could you give me an answer in this matter, especially I can or should switch back to vegetative cycle?
You could tie the main stem down and the “side-shoots”will all stretch up the way and you will have lots of tops ; hopefully that makes sense to you .!
Good luck with this …
Gaz
Edit what have you done since last update .?
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Because of some trouble with my plants I had to revert them to veg. The branches started to grow a lot. But now I switch the plants back to flower. Yesterday I cut all the branches. Only left the upper third of the plants.Of the best plants I used the branches for clones.
You vegged a bit more than nevessary for a SOG run w 4plants per sq ft.
Once they stretch they will be all over eachother.
Not the end of the world but you will NEED good airflow and prolly have to thin them out a lot in the first month of flower.
My lst SOG i vegged 2wks from clone and got ~10g/plant.
Good luck!!
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Thank you! I guess my plants at the beginnng of flower are now the size of your plants at end of flower 
I cut everything but the upper last third or quarter of the plants foliage and branches. The look very naked now. Lets see where it gets.
Do you have any idea why some of the plants can’t hold their own weight already and the stem is like rubber when I touch them? Maybe something with nitrogen?
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You might consider adding silica product like ProTeKt.
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It is now 21 days since flipping.
Now I need to defoliate them again, yes? How much leaves can or should I remove now after 3 weeks?
Sorry just have pictures of my shittier plants…
.
Whats the problem with all that leaves… They not serve a purpose?
These leaves are using up the nutrients?
Some of the plants already have side shoots with flowers. So should I also cut lower side shoots with the flowers, or dont remove shoots but just defoliate them? What you suggest? (Removing the side shoots, would be called lollipopping?)
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I wouldn’t go crazy with the lollipoping, maybe remove the bottom couple nodes. Looks like they have some sort of deficiency from those light leaves
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Is it normal that the most bottom leaves die?
What do you think could they need? Potassium, nitrogen, …?
Or maybe something too much is in the solution???
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It’s not unusual for the odd smaller bottom leaf to die off but those are pretty large fan leaves. What are you feeding them?
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I wouldnt cut anything. That’s the structure you want with a SOG.
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General hydroponics Gro, Micro and Bloom dosage like in the chart for bloom. Also I am doing my calmag myself. Always keep the ph to 5.8 daily before watering. @ReikoX said if I keep the ph on 5.8 every day, it cause lockout of potassium and magnesium.
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ok guys, the new batch coming!!! the new clones are put into flower.
they grow big now. Not even a week into flower!
They show side shoots now. Look at the pictures.
Should I cut the side branches now or let them grow?
I was thinking to cut all side shoots and only leave the fan leaves.
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pls give me advice again on trimming these plants. Should I wait? I am scared when I cut off the side shoots that the plant will get no buds there???
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All looking good mate! Nip the first and second sets off IMHO. Also there is no hurry, you could flip and leave them for a couple of weeks to see what the lower branches do.
SOG is imho a bit more challenging for new growers, for example it’s reasonably strain dependent as not all strains will develop good yield with just the one central cola doing most of the work and the structure of many strains is not very well suited to it. I have found the AK and critical + strains to be quite good, and there are a good number of indica that will work nicely. In SOG uniformity of the plants is key, and so in my experience, (admittedly limited with big SOG setups) clones are the go if you want decent yield. I have never tried it but I reckon autos would be well suited.
I am sure many OG folk would have recommendations for good indica SOG strains.
When the plants are tightly packed as in SOG, it will restrict light that gets to the base and cause the plant to stretch more than it might otherwise, for this reason I will only give them max 2 weeks of veg time, which typically means topping is off the cards because there is not enough time for the plant to recover, and when you do the end result is often 2 very small crowns instead of one big one. Also I use LED strips and normally keep them about 2 inches from the tops at all times, again to reduce the plant stretching by reaching for the light. I also trim the pretty hard at the base to get rid of all those smaller branches, just like you have done already.
This is currently being used as a breeder setup for seeding so in this case being Tangie/Haze and heavily Sativa so I have tipped them and let them veg longer, but this is how I do SOG with DWC.
This cost me $12 to make.
By way of comparison this is a Skywlaker OG using SCROG with DWC.
In both examples I use a lot less nitrogen that most people would because I find they keep more compact and as you can see are still obviously getting everything they need.
You are well on the right track, maybe I would veg for shorter period, and if possible get the light closer to keep it from stretching but also don’t overdo the nitrogen as more than the plant can use just turns into more inter node spacing stretch, which is a pain in SOG.
Also go easy on defol after flip time, it fks with the auxin levels and can result in stingy buds that don’t fill out, auxin’s and apical dominance are the reason for crowding stretch as well btw.
IMHO, the recommended levels are too much, result in excessive stretch and are a waste of money because chances are the plant is unable to use them. Fortunately you have exactly the right nutrients you require for the “Lucas Formula”, which I still swear by, I have tweaked it a little over the years but if used as is you will get NO nutrient issues. So I’ll throw you this to read.
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haha yes the lucas formula. I already switched a couple of weeks ago to that. super easy. Just throw the fertilizer in the rez and done! 
yesterday I started cutting some side branching of some plants. EVERY side branching. Also on the top. But the side branching on the upper part of the plant is needed for the main cola? Will I reduce yield when debranch all? (Anyways its only of some of the plants, so will be interesting to see the different between the plants).
These clones got 2 to 3 weeks to root. And then got flipped. So they are flipped, maybe already a week ago I guess.
So when do you suggest should I defoliate/debranch them the last time? (concerning not messing auround with auxins and stuff)
Thanks for your help 
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Yep, and unsurprisingly plants still use the same nutes as they always did so there is nothing new under the sun. When/if you are so inclined, you can tweak it by adding some fulvic and kelp, mychoriza etc these all help efficiency of nutrient take up among other things, but I have done plenty of grows right the way through with the standard formula. If you do, less is more 
And as @ReikoX has noted, if you religiously keep ph on 5.8 it’s not ideal as the optimum uptake of the various nutes varies between about 5.6 - 6.2, fortunately if you are using a rez, the answer is to be lazy lol. Drop it to 5.6 and let it drift back up to 6.2 ish over a number of days as it typically will, especially if topping up from regular tap water.
Above a certain node, unless it’s getting in the way, I would normally just let them grow, and then it’s prune sparingly to make space, however I strip them bare bellow that node.
Well it depends, I sometimes defol right up till a few weeks before harvest but increasingly lightly, and at the end only the yellowing leaves, MANY people don’t touch them at all, reasoning that during senescence i.e. leaf yellowing and loss, the plant is actively reabsorbing resources from the leaf as it yellows. I can see the reasoning, though for me because I am using strip lighting, the canopy penetration is less than for HID or COB’s, so selective defoliating can go some of the way to getting more light into the canopy. I reason that at some point in a leafs existence, especially if it is shaded, the resources required for maintenance of the leaf probably outweigh the input it has to the plant. This is only my speculation though, as they say, your mileage may vary.
In short, IMHO, only defol if you need to because they are getting crowded out, there is probably little inherently beneficial in stripping the glucose factories off the plant beyond what you need to to optimise the amount of light vs the amount of leaf area. Think of your leaves as one big stretched surface area for catching photons, the more surface area exposed to light, the more chloroplasts can utilise that light and the more efficiently the plant will grow. Heavy defoling also has a BIG impact on root growth and can sometimes lead to roots not only stopping, but actually dying back, which then slows everything down for a while. This also has implications for any reticulated system because now you have decaying roots in circulation or blocking up everything. Again this is likely due to defoliation messing with the levels of auxins, wich then has downstream impacts on other phytohormones like cytokines as gibberillic acid etc.
If I have a very leafy plant and need to defol it heavily, I often treat the roots with 2ml of great white mychoriza slurry, and also 2ml of a mix of 0.05g/l of Indole acetic acid, 0.05g/l of Naphthalene Acetic Acid. These are both plant phytohormones that encourage feeder root growth and hugely speed up root repair for any damage caused by defoliating. This mix of acetic acids is sometimes found in products designed to reduced transplant shock i.e. ‘multicrop plant starter’ etc. Mychoriza a bit like kelp IMHO is a general balm that that makes practically everything better.
If you really want to dig into the effects of defoliation on plant physiology, this is reasonably well researched… consider pasture management and the defoliation effect that cows/sheep have for example.
Here is a good paper on this exact topic
Always good to share it around, that’s why we here bro
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