Ok, serious issue that I need to adjust for the next time. As you can see, these girls are growing at a pretty good rate in this environment. However, this is only week 9. I want to keep them in veg for another month so that the one in the back can grow a bit and catch up (I’m actually considering putting her in another tent and planting 3 more around her so she will be for the next round.).

But ANYWAY…should I cut away some of the lower leaves of the other three before taking out the smallest one? Or should I just take the small one out and deal with these three, and slow down the growth of the smallest one with my second plan?

Pull that small one out. Those big three are gonna explode when you flip to flower anyways

I would also give them a solid defoliation and a major lollipop

When you say “Solid” and"Major"…We talking army recruit haircut? LOL

Army recruit lollipop, decent defoliation on the top after lol

Your plants are so big and healthy I wouldn’t even worry about it. They’ll be back to where they were in like a week

Im with @Mjcalifornia on that one, without a good strip they are going to get so bushy its not funny. While that sounds like a good thing in a way it’s also a nightmare in others like humidity. The sooner you go to flower the better with those 3 the better i think.

The little one can be slowed down easier for the next round than trying to hold back the big girls for another month

as an extreme example of what the plants can handle, here’s one of the strips I did on my last grow. You don’t need to do anywhere close to this but you get the point. Not even lying when I say they were bushes again 2 weeks later

For the small one, I’d prop it up on a box or cinder block, I’ve even seen books used.

Yeah, I decided to take the little girl out and put her with some seedings so I’ll have 3 in the smallish stage with the three in the tent exploding. This evening I’ll get in there and start trimming. I plan on flipping to flower in about 3 weeks so they can recover from the haircut.

Keep in mind that the trim is going to stimulate growth, waiting 3 weeks to flip is going to put you right back to where you are now just bushier. If it was my tent I would strip them and flip within a few days as soon as they look like they are happy again.

I do my thinning out the same day that I change the light schedule but that’s just what works for me

Strip, flip, strip again at day 21

Well…one of the girls didn’t like her haircut and she’s a little wilted. Time to play doctor for a week.

After trimming, you should also keep in mind that the plant now has less leaf mass to support. This can easily lead to overwatering if you continue to use the usual watering amounts afterwards.

It’ll be fine

What beautiful bushes

It’s on an autowater system, so hopefully it won’t take up more than it needs to.