Defoliation: Hi-Yield Technique?

[Xare]

Clones, 1 week into flower:

Day 21 Before stripping:

Day 21 After stripping:

Day 28, One Week After:

Second stripping update of my Hempy SOG.

25 clones of White Widow x Durban Poison that have been defoliated. Usually I do a them with a lolly pop cut, single cola style and get 11-12 oz under this 600 hps.


Day 45 of flower Before Defol:

Day 45 After Defol:

 

[blazeoneup]

Have you tried it? No, thats what I thought! You obviously do not know what happens when you defoliate. It creates more bud sites, keeps the plant more squatty. This is in VEG.

In flower defoliating gets light to more areas of the plant. Because you have more budsites from defoliating in Veg...you have more bud sites in Flower than if you grow normally. Nobody said it creates more budsites in flower, ever...it gets more light to parts of the plant...thus bigger buds everywhere.

Do some homework, read this thread. By defoliating in veg, your plants will be much shorter, but more branchy and way more bud sites. Now train those branches out so the extra bud sites get light. Do you know what a scrog is? Tell me 2 of your lolly pops will yield more than 2 scrogged plants....my ass! More plants does not always equal more bud. Fewer nice plants with tons of equal sized buds will yield more every time.

You could do a side by side if you only defoliated in Flower and never in veg. Defoliating in veg changes the plants structure. The plants not defoliated will tower over the defoliated plants, creating an uneven canopy. The light would be farther away from the shorter plants....not a good experiment. Only way to compare is 2 indentical rooms or tents, with the light the same distance away from each. That factor alone will favor the taller plants. Defoliating in Veg controls the stretch and in my opinion is perfect for people lacking height or need to keep plants short for extended periods of time.

Until you have tried it, you have zero experience. Therefore you have zero right to claim anything. If you do not agree...dont do it or try it for yourself. I have done it both in Veg and in Flower and I will be the first to admit...it is strain dependent in Veg. My Indica's do not like it and I will never do it to them again in Veg. My Sativa's love it and I will continue to do it to them in Veg from now on. In Flower if done after stretch, they all respond well and had a 25% increase in yield. Sorry if you disagree, but I have proof that it works for ME..and that is all that matters! Might not be right for everyone, but to make claims without trying is unfair and proves nothing. BTW I gained an average of an OZ a plant vs previous rounds same everything...except defoliating just in Flower and the Colas were bigger than normal and there was ZERO waste.

You dont have the slightest clue of what I have or have not tried lmao. So dont tell me what I have and have not done.

Do you think defoliation/leaf pruning is some new tech that just popped onto the scene? and because I dont currently defoliate, I never have? Please....

I tried this shit 4 years prior to you registering on this site maybe even longer then that! You know why I dont do it, Because from my experiences it was never worth while, As long as you have 40+ wpsf this shit really dont do much unless you pack em tight and prune or prune/top/veg longer your wasting your time.

So again dont tell me what I have and have not done, I have tried many many things over the years. My first experience with what you call defoliation was years ago, I pruned some ladies because I had some major overcrowding taking place on day 23 of a 30+ day veg cycle.

Lastly, You said you dont even defoliate during veg so dont go telling me what it does, I know what pruning leafs does for internodel growth. I know about training pruning and growing nice plants and canopies. You act like you know me personally and what I have and have no done lol. Get it straight I been doing this plenty long enough to have tried this and much much more.

I'd reccomend your sir, Just set back take it slowandeasy and one day you might be on my level, Till then blazeoneup and have a good day!

 

[B.C.]

Right on Blaze!

Right on Blaze!

You don't grow fer decades an not learn anything. BC

 

[slowandeasy]

You dont have the slightest clue of what I have or have not tried lmao. So dont tell me what I have and have not done.

Do you think defoliation/leaf pruning is some new tech that just popped onto the scene? and because I dont currently defoliate, I never have? Please....

I tried this shit 4 years prior to you registering on this site maybe even longer then that! You know why I dont do it, Because from my experiences it was never worth while, As long as you have 40+ wpsf this shit really dont do much unless you pack em tight and prune or prune/top/veg longer your wasting your time.

So again dont tell me what I have and have not done, I have tried many many things over the years. My first experience with what you call defoliation was years ago, I pruned some ladies because I had some major overcrowding taking place on day 23 of a 30+ day veg cycle.

Lastly, You said you dont even defoliate during veg so dont go telling me what it does, I know what pruning leafs does for internodel growth. I know about training pruning and growing nice plants and canopies. You act like you know me personally and what I have and have no done lol. Get it straight I been doing this plenty long enough to have tried this and much much more.

I'd reccomend your sir, Just set back take it slowandeasy and one day you might be on my level, Till then blazeoneup and have a good day!

Actually if you read my posts better you would see that I do defoliate in VEG...duh read before you post! I SAID I will Not do it in VEG on INDICA plants. I said I HAVE to defoliate in VEG to not outgrow my tent. Show me examples of SOG plants that yield 1/2 pound per plant.

I could care less how long you have been growing, it is obvious you are just talking from your own experiences. Nothing wrong with that, but if you did something 30 years ago...I would hope you are a better grower by now.

If you actually read instead of defending yourself, you would see that I think it is only a good method for certain people...obviously you are not one of them. Just like Scrog, SOG, LST...they each have their place. So to say one is better than the other really depends on your personal set up. Claiming one method to be superior is subjective to personal growing conditions.

So instead of getting hyper in your diaper and all defensive like, maybe you should chill out and take a second to read. I never claim this to be the best method and infact it can be counter productive to certain people....but for certain people it is a great method. Don't come in a thread without reading it and expect to make a claim without having proof. I have proof that it helps me, it might not help you.
Also, If you read my previous threads you will see that I agree with you. If you have enough light or larger lights, I do not see the advantage of defoliating hardcore. The whole point is to get light further down to places that never get light. If you have a bunch of 1000 watt lights, you already have a ton of penetration. Now if you have a 400 watt light in a small tent, even tho you have a lot of wpsf....the light does not penetrate as far as stronger lights...so defoliating helps!

If you cannot see that it can help for certain people to defoliate in veg, I am sorry. Doing it just in Flower is completely different. I am not saying this is the best method or for everybody...but to say it does not work well is false. Just because you did it in the past does not mean it does not work well. I apologize if you got upset over my post....but you obviously have not followed this thread and just jumped claiming it does not work. You are right, I have no idea what you have done in the past and I really do not care. But I have defoliated in Veg and Flower and I have documented proof. To claim one method to be better than another is subjective to the grower. Claiming one way will yield better every time is subjective to the grower. Too many variables. If it works for your great! If not, don't do it.

BTW, Why are you acting like you are superior to me? Some day I might be on your level? Like you said to me..." You have no idea what I do or have done" Don't be an asshole, I am not here to argue....only to post my experiences. I never claimed to be better than anyone. Having more plants or more lights does not make someone better. You are being cocky and adding nothing of value to this thread. If I ran 4000 watts I would not defoliate either, but I would not go into a thread and make false statements either.

 

[slowandeasy]

you are wrong friend.

So your lolly pops yield over 8 oz a piece? That is one big Donkey Dick!!!

 

[blazeoneup]

Actually smart ass if you read my posts better you would see that I do defoliate in VEG...duh read before you post! I SAID I will not do it in VEG on INDICA plants. I said I HAVE to defoliate in VEG to not outgrow my tent. Show me examples of SOG plants that yield 1/2 pound per plant.

I could care less how long you have been growing, it is obvious you are just talking from your own experiences. Nothing wrong with that, but if you did something 30 years ago...I would hope you are a better grower by now.

If you actually read instead of defending yourself, you would see that I think it is only a good method for certain people...obviously you are not one of them. Just like Scrog, SOG, LST...they each have their place. So to say one is better than the other really depends on your personal set up. Claiming one method to be superior is subjective to personal growing conditions.

So instead of getting hyper in your diaper and all defensive like, maybe you should chill out and take a second to read. I never claim this to be the best method and infact it can be counter productive to certain people....but for certain people it is a great method. Don't come in a thread without reading it and expect to make a claim without having proof. I have proof that it helps me, it might not help you.
Also, If you read my previous threads you will see that I agree with you. If you have enough light or larger lights, I do not see the advantage of defoliating hardcore. The whole point is to get light further down to places that never get light. If you have a bunch of 1000 watt lights, you already have a ton of penetration. Now if you have a 400 watt light in a small tent, even tho you have a lot of wpsf....the light does not penetrate as far as stronger lights...so defoliating helps!

If you cannot see that it can help for certain people to defoliate in veg, I am sorry. Doing it just in Flower is completely different. I am not saying this is the best method or for everybody...but to say it does not work well is false. Just because you did it in the past does not mean it does not work well. I apologize if you got upset over my post....but you obviously have not followed this thread and just jumped claiming it does not work. You are right, I have no idea what you have done in the past and I really do not care. But I have defoliated in Veg and Flower and I have documented proof. To claim one method to be better than another is subjective to the grower. Claiming one way will yield better every time is subjective to the grower. Too many variables. If it works for your great! If not, don't do it.

Yeah I was just letting you know, You dont know what I've done is all.

I never once said that this tech/method/defoliage wouldnt work for some people. Actually what I said is this method is better for people who run lower wpsf, It will allow them to pack more plants in and in turn increase their yields, Or it will allow them to keep the numbers down veg longer and top/prune/defoliate to achieve higher yields.

That's where it ends though, Either way its nothing new and you certainly can have an opinion.

See heres is the thing I personally have a nice knowledge of plants in general and how photosenthesis works, Chlorophyl is directly responsible for absorbtion of photosenthetic active radiation, This is how plants get the light energy, There is more chlorphyl in a single fan leaf then there is in a nice cola. So when you remove leafs regardless of what you think your reducing the ammount of photosenthysis taking place. This is why heavy defoliation causes slower growth.

The plants simply are not absorbing as much energy as they were with all those chlorophyl packed fan leafs. There is a balance act to this technique. It was described pretty good at some points in this thread. If you remove one fan leaf that was shading 3 leafs this will boost photosenthesis because the 3 leafs can absorb more "PAR" than the single fan that was blocking the light out. However removing all 4 of those leafs wont be helping increase the rate of photosenthesis it would be slowing it down. If you know what your doing and you prune with this in mind you can increase your plants rate of growth and also the bud size and density in the lower canopy. Abuse this and you will be doing nothing but stunting your plants. While your busy stunting 2-3 crops a year others will be busy harvesting 5 times per year.

This is why I was using the lollypop analogy. If you just remove all bottom branches and leafs all that will do is prevent the bottoms that normally wouldnt fill out properly from developing at all your tops wouldnt get any fatter then usual. However if you remove just the budsites and leave all those lower leafs it will cause your tops to swell up fatter then normal, Why because it is getting more energy then it otherwise would. So in turn all the energy produced in the lower leafs helps feed the top cola's so in turn they get fatter then normal. Energy transfer is what is happening, The energy that would normally do towards feeding under growth goes to the tops.

Same principle with heavy defoliage it not only slows the rate of photosenthesis down but it also reduces the ammount of energy the tops and plants recieve in general which is why heavy defoliage will not result in fatter tops, This is also why you get tighter internodel growth which in turn equals more budsites.

Take it for what its worth learn to balance this tech and get some good results, Or pluck all those fans and slow your fucking growth down and lose out on a crop or two per year makes no difference to me...

P.S I know some of the spelling may be off but I was just trying to post a quick opinion

 

[slowandeasy]

Pros and Cons

Pros and Cons

I am making a list of Pro and Cons for everybody. I have defoliated in Veg and in Flower, so I know how my plants react to both situations. I see a common theme happening in this thread, and hopefully this list helps people see both sides of the coin.
First the common theme is that most of the people who chime in and dog this method have huge spaces and multiple 1000 watt lights. These people have a different view on growing than smaller set ups. If I had 1000 watt lights and a huge space, I would not waste my time on defoliating in Veg for sure...but would experiment in Flower only.

In Veg, defoliating will basically stunt your plant. For some this is a God send if done right...for some it is a stupid waste of time. For someone like myself, who takes clones before flipping and has 8 weeks to veg and a limited space...keeping things the right size is a necessity! My veg time is 8 weeks, so I am never ADDING veg time. If I only had a few weeks of Veg before I could Flower...I would NEVER defoliate in Veg. Like others have said, if you are adding weeks onto your total grow time, it might not be worth it. To truly benefit from Defoliating in Veg, you must Veg for longer than 4 weeks. Again, this is why it works perfectly for me since I have a long veg time. Also in Veg, it is strain dependent and can ruin your plants for sure. Indica's seem to not like it as much for me. My sativa's love it and so do I.

In Flower, if done after the stretch and just a few times...it gets light to more parts of the plant than usual. This is more important for low watt growers or small spaces. Personally I think if the thread was named " Light Maximizing Technique " it would make more sense and people would not get so pissed. Basically what you are doing is maximizing light penetration...that is what is increasing yield IMO. Light intensity is so much greater with larger lights plants will naturally grow bigger and faster than lower intensity set ups. Anyhow, here is a list of pros and cons.


Pros
-Can increase yield
-Controls size
-Increased bud sites
-Tighter nodes
-Increased light penetration
-Excellent method for height restricted growers
-Can decrease Flower time by up to a week


Cons
-Can lower yield
-Shorter plants
-Increased Veg time for some
-Strain dependent
-Can stunt plant beyond repair


So there you have it, a complete list of what I have seen first hand. Not speculating! If you have huge lights and tons of space, I suggest trying a couple in Flower once...if it does nothing for you, well atleast you tried. No matter how you grow defoliating in veg will require longer veg times than non-defoliated plants. Unless you plan of Vegging for more than 4 weeks...won't be worth it IMO.

This method is not for everybody, but is excellent for others. Please read the Pros and Cons above and decide if it could help you in anyway. If you are a new grower, don't even bother doing it at all. Get your basics down first before you tweak shit! Having your set up dialed in is key to proper comparison.
Please all of the haters, see it for what it is. Good for some and Bad for others. Just like any other method, each has it's place. To say it is the best is False...to say it does not work is False. Stop arguing and just do whatever method works best for yourself...that is all that matters in the long run!

BTW, Just like any other method...my results may differ from others. This is a list of what I see.

 

[JWP]

Can increase yield?

I have not seen that, in fact none of you have yet you keep saying it.

That is the only disagreement here..

Just because it is said does not make it so.

And now maturing time can be decreased by defoliation? You have got to be kidding. Sexual maturity is genetically determined. You cant physically change that!

You guys really need to stop talking sh*t

 

[slowandeasy]

Can increase yield?

I have not seen that, in fact none of you have yet you keep saying it.

That is the only disagreement here..

Just because it is said does not make it so.

And now maturing time can be decreased by defoliation? You have got to be kidding. Sexual maturity is genetically determined. You cant physically change that!

You guys really need to stop talking sh*t

I have documented proof of increase yield. I also have documented proof that my plants could have been pulled earlier. How can it decrease flower time? More light to more parts of the plant. Ever see the Trichs on lower stuff vs top Cola's? The bottom migh not be done and the top could be amber. Obviously you do not bother to look at things closely. My plants could have been pulled 5 days sooner than normal. Just because a breeder claims a strain to finish in 8 weeks, does not mean it will. Environment, stress, light, food, etc all play a role in when your plants finish...not to mention Pheno's Your telling me nothing can change finishing time on plants? Another factor is hormones, defoliating obviously changes the plant...hormones play a key role in flowering. Obviously you are not very experienced.

I am not the one talking shit....you are! I have proof...you have none! Until you try it, you are the one who looks stupid.

 

[JWP]

Defoliation:The mystical bullshit thread.

I cant understand for the life of me why this thread is not in the bin, rather it is a sticky!

Ok dude two clones side by side and the defoliated one will finnish faster than the non-defoliated one?

Keep talking...

 

[slowandeasy]

Defoliation:The mystical bullshit thread.

I cant understand for the life of me why this thread is not in the bin, rather it is a sticky!

Ok dude two clones side by side and the defoliated one will finnish faster than the non-defoliated one?

Keep talking...

Again...have you tried it? I said it COULD...not WOULD...and yes it COULD finish faster. A plant in the hot spot of a light will finish faster than one in the shade. Check it out sometime. Until you have tried it...you keep talking. I have one thing you lack....Proof

 

[bs0]

Relax folks.

 

[JWP]

For years many people have been selective breeding to reduce flowering time and increase yield.

How could they have all been so silly and not realized all they need to do is get out the bonsai scissors and cut all the plants leaves off!

Wake up to reality

 

[slowandeasy]

For years many people have been selective breeding to reduce flowering time and increase yield.

How could they have all been so silly and not realized all they need to do is get out the bonsai scissors and cut all the plants leaves off!

Wake up to reality

I have asked you 3 times now...have you tried it? Until that day, your opinion is just that an opinion! If you have grown for a long time...like some of us...you would know that even doing the same cut a few times can reduce Flower time up to a week. Too many factors in each single grow. One stresser can make you go longer....why could the same not be true for shortening flowering?

 

[puff adder]

I've been running one strain for a while now. Since I started defoliating/pruning (whatever you want to call it) after reading this thread, my yields have gone up over 25%. That's all the proof I need that it works.

I have also noticed that the plants finish earlier.

I will continue to defoliate, because it has shown me increased yields, and also because of better airflow and light penetration, I have zero larf, every last nug is useable.

I'm sure it is strain dependent, I bet some strains respond differently, so my thoughts are one needs to try it and dial things in, but you can't just say it doesn't work. It's like growing, too many variations to say there's just one way to do anything.

 

[TruthOrLie]

I have asked you 3 times now...have you tried it? Until that day, your opinion is just that an opinion! If you have grown for a long time...like some of us...you would know that even doing the same cut a few times can reduce Flower time up to a week. Too many factors in each single grow. One stresser can make you go longer....why could the same not be true for shortening flowering?

I tried it and you said I don't have enough growing experience.

I'm no expert, but I can clone, germinate, grow, harvest, dry, cure, water cure, make QWISO, and cook butter into cannabis just fine...

...but I can't defoliate properly.

Ooooooookay.

 

[huntingbb]

I can do it on the next round that clones just hit dirt or I can do it with vegging now but they're already a couple months into veg without any defoliation.

I defoliated last round, yield was lower than similar runs where leaves were left alone.

Plants turned yellow in mid flower but that could be container size choices.

I can do it with a couple BBK's right now 24 inch high since they are so low and branchy. Packed so tight with fans that no light reaches the main stem.

?????

sweet

hey VG i have one that i am doing right now,

I have a cut of Lemon Kush that i am flowering along with her young.... the mother is about 2 months old and the cut is about 1 month, they went in the same time for flower,, one get trim like mad and the other doesnt get touch .... so far they're neck to neck in buds production but you can tell the untrim one has tons and tons of leafs ..


well see how they end up in a few more weeks

cheers,

good luck!!

Yeah I was just letting you know, You dont know what I've done is all.

I never once said that this tech/method/defoliage wouldnt work for some people. Actually what I said is this method is better for people who run lower wpsf, It will allow them to pack more plants in and in turn increase their yields, Or it will allow them to keep the numbers down veg longer and top/prune/defoliate to achieve higher yields.

That's where it ends though, Either way its nothing new and you certainly can have an opinion.

See heres is the thing I personally have a nice knowledge of plants in general and how photosenthesis works, Chlorophyl is directly responsible for absorbtion of photosenthetic active radiation, This is how plants get the light energy, There is more chlorphyl in a single fan leaf then there is in a nice cola. So when you remove leafs regardless of what you think your reducing the ammount of photosenthysis taking place. This is why heavy defoliation causes slower growth.

The plants simply are not absorbing as much energy as they were with all those chlorophyl packed fan leafs. There is a balance act to this technique. It was described pretty good at some points in this thread. If you remove one fan leaf that was shading 3 leafs this will boost photosenthesis because the 3 leafs can absorb more "PAR" than the single fan that was blocking the light out. However removing all 4 of those leafs wont be helping increase the rate of photosenthesis it would be slowing it down. If you know what your doing and you prune with this in mind you can increase your plants rate of growth and also the bud size and density in the lower canopy. Abuse this and you will be doing nothing but stunting your plants. While your busy stunting 2-3 crops a year others will be busy harvesting 5 times per year.

This is why I was using the lollypop analogy. If you just remove all bottom branches and leafs all that will do is prevent the bottoms that normally wouldnt fill out properly from developing at all your tops wouldnt get any fatter then usual. However if you remove just the budsites and leave all those lower leafs it will cause your tops to swell up fatter then normal, Why because it is getting more energy then it otherwise would. So in turn all the energy produced in the lower leafs helps feed the top cola's so in turn they get fatter then normal. Energy transfer is what is happening, The energy that would normally do towards feeding under growth goes to the tops.

Same principle with heavy defoliage it not only slows the rate of photosenthesis down but it also reduces the ammount of energy the tops and plants recieve in general which is why heavy defoliage will not result in fatter tops, This is also why you get tighter internodel growth which in turn equals more budsites.

Take it for what its worth learn to balance this tech and get some good results, Or pluck all those fans and slow your fucking growth down and lose out on a crop or two per year makes no difference to me...

P.S I know some of the spelling may be off but I was just trying to post a quick opinion

ok thread dont go h8n - blaze is the true deal y0! (from what i can gather).

So i've been pondering this, and its not that the technique doesnt work, it's obviously working fine for some, but the problem is the mechanism is definately misunderstood - leading to assumptions all over the place, many of which i'm willing to believe are symptoms or secondary rather than primary causes.


So blaze you described this defol thing at one point as a type of SOG, many many times ppl said the extra weight is due to the extra veg. What if we MERGE those two concepts?

So we're not sog'ing but that's just packing in tons of plants that give higher than normal (read big 6-10 foot bush/tree) percentage of buds to stems/leaves.

Now if we go back to k33f's bit, i believe there was indeed a piece where he mentions NOT JUST DEFOL!!!

1. more veg - tons of it
2. defol
3. supercropping/bending/cracking

1. So - more veg == more yeild, right?

Right! common sense!!

if you don't manage your plant shape/size then you could very well overgrow your area decreasing yield yet again!!



2. defol
defol on its own can decrease yield - just about everyone agreed with that - on both sides [for various reasons], right?

Right!



3. supercropping/bending/cracking
we know these things slow plant growth, there's HUGE debates about HST vs LST in general, but we know this bit can indeed increase harvest - i.e. GPW of flowering, right?

Right!! Common sense! - break her and she SHOULD take time to heal in which she could be growing, and it's easy to accidentally break off a branch instead of just break it - especially at first, right?

Right!!!! (god i hope i'm not the only one :< )

But, this can increase grams per watt in flowering room!! due to harder bigger more awesome nugs right?

Right!!!



There's an unspoken here:

VEG!!


if you have a perpetual veg the real cost in this technique done the way it was originally proposed is a higher total plant count!!


Here's my understanding thus far putting all this together, its a new thing for me and very shiny so forgive if i'm not comprehensive enough:

1. we increase veg time, thus total size of plant, and also yield
2. we defoliate - manages size, forces bitches 2 b 2 bushy
3. we use suprcropping (and/or LST) to shape the plants - this accomplishes putting more raw plant matter that produces percentage wize more flowers per cubic foot of active flowering area!!

Thus once and for all proving that the side by side is useless, the google searches are useless, and the arguments against are pointless.

Besides i suspect plants are better to us when we grow how we feel we should..

Anyway i'm done with the nay-saying, its useful for me, i think i got the basics on how it can be used effectively, i do plan on limiting my total plant count, and do have a perpetual veg area, so w/e ☺

 

[huntingbb]

I am making a list of Pro and Cons for everybody. I have defoliated in Veg and in Flower, so I know how my plants react to both situations. I see a common theme happening in this thread, and hopefully this list helps people see both sides of the coin.
First the common theme is that most of the people who chime in and dog this method have huge spaces and multiple 1000 watt lights. These people have a different view on growing than smaller set ups. If I had 1000 watt lights and a huge space, I would not waste my time on defoliating in Veg for sure...but would experiment in Flower only.

In Veg, defoliating will basically stunt your plant. For some this is a God send if done right...for some it is a stupid waste of time. For someone like myself, who takes clones before flipping and has 8 weeks to veg and a limited space...keeping things the right size is a necessity! My veg time is 8 weeks, so I am never ADDING veg time. If I only had a few weeks of Veg before I could Flower...I would NEVER defoliate in Veg. Like others have said, if you are adding weeks onto your total grow time, it might not be worth it. To truly benefit from Defoliating in Veg, you must Veg for longer than 4 weeks. Again, this is why it works perfectly for me since I have a long veg time. Also in Veg, it is strain dependent and can ruin your plants for sure. Indica's seem to not like it as much for me. My sativa's love it and so do I.

In Flower, if done after the stretch and just a few times...it gets light to more parts of the plant than usual. This is more important for low watt growers or small spaces. Personally I think if the thread was named " Light Maximizing Technique " it would make more sense and people would not get so pissed. Basically what you are doing is maximizing light penetration...that is what is increasing yield IMO. Light intensity is so much greater with larger lights plants will naturally grow bigger and faster than lower intensity set ups. Anyhow, here is a list of pros and cons.


Pros
-Can increase yield
-Controls size
-Increased bud sites
-Tighter nodes
-Increased light penetration
-Excellent method for height restricted growers
-Can decrease Flower time by up to a week


Cons
-Can lower yield
-Shorter plants
-Increased Veg time for some
-Strain dependent
-Can stunt plant beyond repair


So there you have it, a complete list of what I have seen first hand. Not speculating! If you have huge lights and tons of space, I suggest trying a couple in Flower once...if it does nothing for you, well atleast you tried. No matter how you grow defoliating in veg will require longer veg times than non-defoliated plants. Unless you plan of Vegging for more than 4 weeks...won't be worth it IMO.

This method is not for everybody, but is excellent for others. Please read the Pros and Cons above and decide if it could help you in anyway. If you are a new grower, don't even bother doing it at all. Get your basics down first before you tweak shit! Having your set up dialed in is key to proper comparison.
Please all of the haters, see it for what it is. Good for some and Bad for others. Just like any other method, each has it's place. To say it is the best is False...to say it does not work is False. Stop arguing and just do whatever method works best for yourself...that is all that matters in the long run!

BTW, Just like any other method...my results may differ from others. This is a list of what I see.

^^-----------

interesting how some are in both columns

 

[slowandeasy]

I tried it and you said I don't have enough growing experience.

I'm no expert, but I can clone, germinate, grow, harvest, dry, cure, water cure, make QWISO, and cook butter into cannabis just fine...

...but I can't defoliate properly.

Ooooooookay.

Dude, just because you got mold...nobody else has. Tells me it is your set up or your strain gets mold easily...try more airflow..that is what mold is usually from! You are the only one in this thread saying you got mold. And as stated many times, I think it is strain dependent....maybe your strain does not like it. Quit hating and move on. Experience helps anyone grow, you have never told us how long you have been growing. So if you only have 2 grows under your belt....Newbie mistakes are very common. I have had mold before on 1 plant and not the other. It was because of lack of air flow, because the Bud was bigger than a 2 Liter bottle of pop. Even experience sometimes can not control certain factors.

 

[slowandeasy]

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interesting how some are in both columns

That is because they both can be true. Just like any other method, it might help some and others it may not.