if a shade leaf is covering a budsite should i chop it off.

Depending how far into flowering you are, if you can tuck it away under the bud site that would be better, chopping wont cause any real harm but it does make the plant use energy to heal the wound, if you have to chop it then chop it but if you dont have to then leave it. Ive chopped in Flower many times.

im a while into flowering now the girls are covered with trichomes id say its been 3-4 weeks since 12/12 how long would you guess flowering will take one is a short bushy indica and i have two rather tall sativas

Flowering is real hard to guess at, but I will anyway, I like a challenge. Indica - 9 weeks, Sativas - 12 weeks.
Im glad its coming along well mate, its lovely to see that THC build up, you should get a Loupe or get a magnifier from Starlite, its another world when you look at it close up.

i've spent many an evening pot-holing in the crystal caves.

haha, I like it mate. Its a lovely place to visit.

lol ya - people think it takes ages to grow plants but the truth is you spend most of your time up there fuckin around with them lookin are how cool they are ...

Yeah ive wasted many hours just sitting looking at my girls. Its amazing to think I used to spend time looking for weed, now its FREE FREE FREE and the quality is 2nd to none (Even if I do say so myself lol).

thank god i thought it was only me who did that i can just sit in the growroom looking for ages at the nicely formed buds smelling them looking deep into all the different parts i spend at least an hour a day looking at them i could look after them adequetly with 5minutes attention every couple of days.

I'm pissed right off that i can't start another grow for a while when there all gone i don't know what i'm going to do with the time (apart from smoking them obviously)

when they are finished, don't just smoke them as soon as they're dry.
do them the justice of a proper slow cure for a month or so, it'll be hard but the end product will be absolutely 100% worth it.

ill smoke abit of it as soon as it's dry but most i'll cure for ages should i leave them hung upside in the dark for a month or do i take them down and put them somewhere. anyway im fucked now.

no way, if you hung them for a month they'd turn to powder. dry them until the stalks snap when you bend them over 90 degrees(bout a week- big buds=longer). then put them in a sealed jar or freezer bag in a dark cool place and open the bags every few days to release moisture, after the first couple of weeks you'll only need to open the bags once a week. what curing does is distribute the moisture still left in the bud, kidding the plant into thinking its still alive. this makes it convert the remaining chlorophyll(dark green= lots of chlorophyll, light green= cured) into sugars and make the bud tastier to smoke or smell. thats my quick guide to curing. enjoy.

Ok you're most likely going to say im a dick for doing this but while quite high i decided that there were too many lower buds on a couple of them so i snipped a few off they don't smell or taste like green at the moment what should i do with them dry them properly and just smoke it or mix them in with the dead/pruned leaves and make some hash.

Yeah, its truly harsh to smoke but it scratches the itch.

i wouldn't say your a dick, i reckon its a good plan, diverts more energy to the main colas. as to what to do with em, if your desperate whack them somewhere warm for a couple of hours and toke away on the harsh-non burning spliff that ensues. you can't really make hash from that little material, the dead leaves will have no glands, the buds will have very fem immature ones. what method were you thinking, if it were oil, i'd wait until you harvest and do all your trim in one go, it'll be more rewarding. and don't just use any lighter gas, can't remember what the best is(collibri?) but if you squirt a bit onto glass or mirror and it doesn't leave a residue it'll be fine.