Defoliation: Hi-Yield Technique?

[budlover123]

I don't like taking all the leaves off at all, I've seen plants that totally hate that, on the other hand, in the same indoor 400-600 watt setups I've seen great results from removing just some of the bigger fan leaves later in veg,like after a month and a half. get rid of ones that when you fold out of the way you can see lots of leaves beneath it receiving much more light. Once or twice in veg, once later in flower. I say try it on a couple plants both ways.

 

[contra]

This method makes a lot of sense. The plant in nature does this on its own in a more efficient manner. In nature a cannabis plant may only have so much water to use, and being acclimated to this limited amount will sacrifice fans. In extreme cases of drought it will even lolipop itself. So maybe try letting them droop for a whole day before watering. Most overwater anyway and allowing the soil to dry out gets air to those roots. One could look at rainfall cycles and see that dry spells usually coincide with end of vegging and through flowing in most climates.

 

[daheadies]

I don't like taking all the leaves off at all, I've seen plants that totally hate that, on the other hand, in the same indoor 400-600 watt setups I've seen great results from removing just some of the bigger fan leaves later in veg,like after a month and a half. get rid of ones that when you fold out of the way you can see lots of leaves beneath it receiving much more light. Once or twice in veg, once later in flower. I say try it on a couple plants both ways.

I only take off 2/3rds of fans in veg, then in flower I only pluck if they are touching/crowding another leaf or bud,.. I was just saying, for the sake of saying whats possible, that if you remove all leaves, they will grow back..

 

[JWP]

wow is this thread still going???

3 posts in it yesterday... 5 today...

A side by side has been done... here

 

[TruthOrLie]

This thread will continue to draw posters from the crowd who doesn't accept they may be doing something wrong and also the crowd who doesn't take the time to leave ONE PLANT foliated to compared yields.........


...and the folks who improperly manage the timing of their next crop and have to scale down their plants to chill til the flower room is ready.

 

[daheadies]

wow is this thread still going???

3 posts in it yesterday... 5 today...

A side by side has been done... here

Thanks for putting this up.. Pics dont work till page 11/12 but you can still see the end results..

 

[squarepush3r]

looks like the side by side showed Defol is not effective

Maybe we can just cut our entire plant early and get a super yield?

 

[daheadies]

I think its strain dependent.. that was some good photo evidence but There have been plenty of other photo's to support how well it does work...
If you do it right this is how things should look!

I'm not really going to consider this the defoliation done as some of you describe, but I have had really good success doing heavy stripping all the way up to the very top bud site. I remove EVERYTHING, not just leaves which is the opposite of what this thread suggests.

I'm talking drastic where it seems very counter productive to be taking off all of the stuff we worked hard to grow for 2-4 weeks, but the results speak for themselves.

Its not popular but we let the plant grow naturally (aside from the tie down) until week 2 of flower and then stripped like shown below.

From This

To This

upskirt

May be strain permitting, but this is no sea of green. Just 24 ladies that we went wild with the scissors on.

Fuck lower hash making larf - the objective is SoQuick style colas.

 

[squarepush3r]

are yall really gunna copy and paste that same picture over and over? Yes, that is a high yielding plant, but what if that plant yielded higher with more foliage?

 

[TruthOrLie]

are yall really gunna copy and paste that same picture over and over? Yes, that is a high yielding plant, but what if that plant yielded higher with more foliage?

I thought I was the only one.

 

[BongRipkenJR.]

I don't think I am a fan of this technique. It obviously gives some plants a higher yield, but all of these buds look kind of shwaggy. None of them look seriously frosty and a lot of them look stressed. This has to be totally strain dependent. I have done this with Lavender Kush and it stressed the plants out way too badly. To each their own. Just my 2 cents.

 

[budlover123]

wow is this thread still going???

3 posts in it yesterday... 5 today...

A side by side has been done... here

that side by side is usefull, but why would it stop the
conversation as if that the end of it.
this is not the worst idea, people like topping plants for the same reasons, bigger branches

 

[Cheeb]

This thread is too much.. haha..

Instead of all of this senseless arguing why not just try it out for oneself.

There is a lot of talk about NOT jumping into it just because "some guy" on a forum said its a good idea.

Why the hell not? What is the harm in trying it? A possibly slightly lower yield?
Just because its not proven in stone by multiple side by side comparison doesn't mean one shouldn't try it.

I can say for sure that I will never grow another plant WITHOUT removing a lot of the lower bud sites / leaves. I just dont want that stuff - even if counting it does count as more yield.

I try not to participate in this thread much because what I do is not the defoliation method as described in this post - but more of a lolly popping - which is a difference thing altogether. I only posted my pics to show MY experience in drastic pruning to achieve larger more desirable tops.

My apologies for my pics being quoted over and over again. I hate it when people quote pics as well and they really should only be quoting the text if needed.

The cola garden posted was not necessarily a large yielding garden - still not achieving 1lb per 600w as in other smaller grows. The weight it did produce however was what we were looking for - large buds, dense, and quality.

-

The side by side posted above wasn't entirely accurate as I believe the poster still lower pruned what was supposed to be the control plant. I could by mistaken as I couldnt see the pics, but thought I saw in there somewhere that it was trimmed vs. defoiled... so who knows...

And just because one person does their side by side doesnt mean that there isnt room for debate... What works for me might be completely against the grain of others and their methods.

Thats the fun part - its gardening..
Enjoys your gardens people - and dont be afraid to cut and hack on em..
Pruning and Trimming methods are technique used in canopy and plant management - it might not blow you away with increased yields but it definitely has its purpose.

 

[JWP]

What Cheeb is doing is more lollipopping than defoliating.

I think the concept of defoliation is to keep the lower popcorn but to allow light to it...

lollipopping... defoliating... not even close to being related.

 

[El Toker]

This thread is too much.. haha..

Instead of all of this senseless arguing why not just try it out for oneself.

Because we know it won't work, and that's been confirmed in the trial.

There is a lot of talk about NOT jumping into it just because "some guy" on a forum said its a good idea.

That's pretty good advice for anyone on any forum

Why the hell not? What is the harm in trying it? A possibly slightly lower yield?

It depends on how you define "slightly", but I think in terms of grammes per watt per week you'd probably loose 20 to 40%. It may not be that important for you but a reduced yield makes me sad, having it happen as a result of using a "high yield technique" would just be rubbing salt in the wound.

Just because its not proven in stone by multiple side by side comparison doesn't mean one shouldn't try it.

I agree there are many much better reasons than this for not trying it. They've been covered at length earlier in this thread, buried amongst galleries of scrawny traumatised looking plants and warnings by keefter not to listen to the heretics.

Pruning and Trimming methods are technique used in canopy and plant management - it might not blow you away with increased yields but it definitely has its purpose.

It's come a long way from "defoliation - a high yield technique"

 

[TruthOrLie]

You're growing a plant that 5 years ago was the same price as gold ounce for ounce.

You saying you don't want lower larf nugs is like a gold miner complaining about gold dust.

Sure, gold dust sucks if thats all you're yielding. But when you got nuggets, the dust is the extra play time pocket change.

I bet none of you complaining about larf nugs ever takes the time to make anything concentrated from trim.

 

[CatManDoo]

What I don't understand is how the plant can think its being "told" to not grow leaves.

In nature, no one tells the plant to anything, it responds to environmental cues.

What cue would trigger a "no leaf, big buds" response. The only thing I can think of is bugs.

Most bugs I've noticed have a hard time getting at buds... except maybe mites.

How about browsers and foragers? You know- Deer, antelope, hippies, etc.

 

[TruthOrLie]

How about browsers and foragers? You know- Deer, antelope, hippies, etc.

what about them? they typically devastate the whole plant

 

[Cheeb]

El Toker,

By all means anyone who down right doesnt want to try it SHOULDN'T. Its their garden.

But these are plants dude - fortunately we are able to grow and grow, and grow some more. Gives us the ability to try new things - even if they've been "proven" so to speak. I'll suffer reduced yield to PERSONALLY see the difference myself. There are too many un-noted factors otherwise. What you "know" because of some trial doesnt mean shit to me.

- -

I'm suprised you ever intially tried cannabis El Toker. Did you know that it was PROVEN to kill brain cells many many years ago? Yea - trial and studies happened - and lots of the majority believed it until somebody decided to question such proof and do more studies. And then they proved the opposite.

PROOF so to speak can be bullshit.

I guess we just have two totally different thought processes.

-

Just look at some of the contradictory shit that is in old school grow books vs. new techniques and methods..

 

[El Toker]

I'm suprised you ever intially tried cannabis El Toker. Did you know that it was PROVEN to kill brain cells many many years ago? Yea - trial and studies happened - and lots of the majority believed it until somebody decided to question such proof and do more studies. And then they proved the opposite.

PROOF so to speak can be bullshit.

That's what they call a "straw man" argument.

I guess we just have two totally different thought processes.

After seeing your deductive reasoning processes in action, I certainly hope so.