Home Growers Corner
Pruning, Trimming, and Manipulating
Cannabis Plants for Maximized Output
No Fimming Required
by Gerry Donovan, contributing writer
First, I must address one of my Pet Peeves of the modern era of know-it-all online growers— Fimming is not a thing!
Please stay off Reddit when trying to grow cannabis. The acronym( FIM) stands for F ** k I Missed when trimming. If you are trying to cut a specific part of the plant and your scissors slip, or you’ re not paying attention, and you cut the wrong( unintended) part of the plant, one might exclaim,“ F ***, I missed,” hence the phrase, I Fimmed that!
OK, cool, understood. However, if you are intentionally trimming or pruning your plants, you are not missing; in fact, you have a game plan for what you are about to do, so the idea that you are ever going to intentionally“ FIM” a plant is, in and of itself, a fallacy!
Now, let’ s get back to things! You will address your plant’ s pruning needs throughout its whole life if you wish. Remember that all my suggestions are just that, suggestions; there is no“ correct” way to grow a plant.
It is very tempting to let a plant grow naturally when you first start home growing.
The plant generally grows straight upward, with a main Cola Bud leading the pack. Below that are the secondary bud sites and branches, and below those are the tertiary buds and branches. This resembles a Christmas tree in stature. It is very beautiful and quite picturesque. When you have a new, awesome-looking plant with healthy growth, getting in there and thinning out branches can almost feel like you are chopping off your child’ s arm; don’ t worry, once you see the benefits that you reap from pruning, you will never hesitate to do it again.
You can grow“ all” natural, but I would not recommend it because you will not get maximum output from your plants. Our main goal in pruning is to refocus the plants’ energy and get it more evenly distributed across the bud sites. The main Cola Bud tends to get quite big, and inside very large buds are where botrytis( bud rot) likes to form. The tiny bud sites( tertiary, little annoying energy sucker popcorn buds) rarely get to full maturity because they do not get full sunlight, are generally of lesser quality, and use up lots of good energy and nutrients that the plant could have focused on the other main bud sites.
22 July 2025
I like to employ a process that I call Topping, Chopping, and Pruning, although it also includes some bending, breaking, tying, and supporting as well. To achieve energy focus and balanced light distribution, the goal is an even, flat-topped or rounded canopy of uniform buds without lower bud sites. We are essentially transforming a Christmas Tree of different-sized buds into an octopus of like-sized medium buds by way of bud site removal, bending, and branch thinning. It is a good idea to start doing this to your plant when it is young so you can decide how it grows before it stretches too tall.
Three often overlooked benefits of uniform bud size are: 1. Easy Trimming
● Trimming Hint: It is only fun the first time you do it! When you trim buds, every plant presents itself differently and requires adjustments to how you handle and cut the buds.
● Once you get into a rhythm, it is far easier to handle and trim buds of the same size than those of many different sizes.
2. Ease of Drying
● Getting your bud site to form an even canopy allows all the buds to develop to a similar size.
● Tiny buds dry very quickly, while large buds take a longer time( mold alert).
3. Consistency in Potency
● Main Colas have the most THC concentration, and the popcorn buds have the least.
● Our canopy turns every bud into a main bud.
The best way to see the difference between an“ all-natural” and a pruned plant is to grow a plant from seed: Take two cuttings( clones), grow those clones in the same type of soil, using the same nutrients, and in the same room. Let one grow and flower“ naturally” while you top, prune, and bend the other into a nice, manicured canopy— then compare the ease of trimming during harvest. Observe the overall bud maturity, meaning all are fully mature, not just the top ones, leaving lesser quality“ bottom buds.” Also, notice when drying if all the buds finish at the same time. This technique is called“ sideby-side” growing— it is the best way to determine how changes to the environment, nutrients, etc., might affect a plant.