[PetFlora]

Check this out Talk about thinking outside the box

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fD-ZvD1eXRM

[PetFlora]

A grower from a different grow site offers some excellent 411.

I defoliate, but have been doing it wrong. His way is a real head smacker...


I sometimes hesitate to throw defoliation into the mix of challenges for beginning growers and I strongly advise any growers to experiment with defoliation (or with any extreme growth control method) in the vegetative stage only where there is nothing at stake.

That being said, I believe the only reason you should allow a marijuana plant to leaf out completely is in an outdoor situation where you want as large a plant as possible. In that case you can save deleafing for mid to late summer after full-stretch and branching.

The way I practice this method (growing indoors) leaves never get a chance to age. No leaves are allowed more than about two weeks existence. I start at the top in order to remove the shading. Removing lower leaf contributes nothing to the strategy of exposing usually shaded out mid and lower growth to premium light. I still remove older shabby leaves to keep it all tidy
.
And this is where defoliation gets controversial. Many growers feel that controlling their plant in any way during the vegetative stage will significantly reduce yields. And I understand how it can seem that way, especially to new growers, before you've gone through the entire life cycle of the marijuana plant a few times.

Experiments show, again and again, that large plants with intensively prepared structure during extended Veg cycle yield far more than untrained, smaller, force-flowered inpiduals.

Nebula Haze from GrowWeedEasy.com: I've also found this to be the case.
Small marijuana plants that are forced to flower when extremely young are
can be fun as an experiment, but produce pitiful yields. Investing more time
in the vegetative stage to gain girth, while controlling the shape and growth
of the plant, has dramatically increased yields for me.

The truth is, that with marijuana, the real 'secret sauce' to getting enormous yields is when you've perfectly prepared your plants for the flowering stage. As any grower knows, once you're deep into flowering, there isn't a whole lot you can do about huge, out-of-control plants except hold on, pray for the best, and do better next time.

I DO NOT lollipop and advice strongly against it. I use defoliation to skillfully and artfully prepare plants during the vegetative stage, so that lollipopping becomes completely unnecessary. I am on a mission to refocus growing technique to never remove ANY productive growth. I believe only leaves should be removed.

Ultimately, the defoliation technique is a huge tool in the grower's toolbox that allows you to dominate the Vegetative stage. Then it can be used in the Flowering stage to maximize yields.

Much more to the article with lots of before and after photos, including immediately, then 4 days later, then 4 more days later

[budelight]

Thats great advice PetFlora!

I have started removing lower leaves also... but only the ones that come off the main stem.
The ones i remove are typically older than 1-2 weeks. I have been leaving the top 3-4 "stem-leaves" on the plants and bending/breaking them off once new sets have grown above them. You will be able to see this in some of my most recent tester thread photos.

Good luck on your test grow, ill be here for the ride with yah too.
Let us know how your seedlings are doing!

Cheers
BeL

[med-man]

the med-man method actually will give bigger yields and higher quality and less work and or damage to the plants :-)

med-man

[PetFlora]

I sure hope big things come in small packages

And I am aware of it being said as it relates to mj seeds, that size does not matter, but damn all 13 are really small.

Anyway,

I started soaking 7 seeds

med-man method? Got a link?

[med-man]

med-man method = https://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?t=258224

its what in the seed that counts, not fancy packages or size of em :-)

med-man

[PetFlora]

Not even 24 hours- 5/7 are sticking their little white tongues out at me

[PetFlora]

Just finished reading through the med-man method

Implementing finishing techniques in current grow

I thought about using cold water during last few weeks, but never did it.

Over the last couple weeks I have been feeding with < 300 ppm consisting of CaMg+ minerals, like Himalayan Salt. Feeding one day on & 5 days flush sounds reasonable for a small rez, like I use.

Just put rez into a cooler, and added a 1/2g jug of frozen water

Let the final steps begin.

[med-man]

hey pet flora

the cold water is the last 3-5 days in pitch dark, i would say a negative impact on yield and effect / look if you did it the whole flushing period. prove me wrong if you feel like it :-)?

med-man

[PetFlora]

Due to heat here, my rez is running 76-80*. I added a jug of frozen water, after an hour, it is still above 70*

Thoughts?