[The.Cook]

Nice thrad man!

[GET MO]

Good thread! few questions...
Was the whole grow done under LED? Only wondering because from what ive read LED lights dont penetrate as well, so mass defoliation may not be the best choice for a grow where the power of the light dies drastically before it reaches the bottoms anyway.

Also was the defoliation done only during flower or at all during veg? Ive also heard that you must start defoliation early veg for it to be successful because it increases the amount of bud sites.

Great thread though man, I wish more people would do experiments like this. I might try it sometime with a Original Glue or two, see what it do.

[al70]

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04-12-2013, 04:24 PM #15
melro52
New Member

Join Date: Sep 2012
Posts: 1

Pluck those leaves, they're taking away from the buds!
I'm a senior female who has been growing all sorts of plants, bushes, trees my whole life. I learned it from my first generation American mom who grew everything too. When a plant like marijuana, which is a terpenoid, (produces resin no differently than a pine tree), gets to the stage that it is flowering/budding, the plant pretty much ceases to grow. At this stage all plant's energy is going toward producing seed be it in the form of fruit, vegetable, flowers, buds. Every living thing is programmed to PROCREATE if nothing else. Any plant in stress, a tree that is dying, a plant in it's final stages will quickly try to procreate as much as possible.

We prevent female marijuana plants from being pollinated and seeding so buds continue to swell in the hope of being pollinated and the plant procreating. The big marijuana leaves on the plant at this stage are doing nothing but taking resin away from the buds. The plant itself should no longer be growing because it's reached it's pot size potential and we've forced it to bud. The buds are what people want to smoke not leaves, so pinch them off. Use the sticky leaves to make butter, or hash. As for the resin in the plant, it's now known that higher temps, increased sunlight, and decreased water supply really motivate terpenoids to produce resin.

Pinching out the big marijuana leaves allows:

Light and heat to hit all budding sights
Keeps the plant drier signaling more resin production (the hydro in THC is a clue) to protect and nourish the swelling buds.
Alerts the plant that a herbivore may be eating it. Resin is a plants defense. Most critters do NOT like the taste of resin and therefore the plant will produce even more resin.
Allows all the good juju (resin) to go right to the buds and not on the leaves, which no one wants to smoke.

Think about it. Everything in my yard perennials, bushes, trees, herbs, roses, vegetables get thinned out once, twice, some three times over the summer or they suffer. I've flowered a 4 ft. lime tree in a pot. I've got gardenia's blooming on a giant 3 ft bush in my living room in MI right now. Always remember that the top of any plant in a pot cannot grow beyond the root system that supports it so once the plant/tree is mature, cutting back/pinching is necessary, repotting is NOT because part of forcing any plant to bloom is letting it become root bound, taking away light, and restricting water supply. This makes the plant bloom faster and more vigorously because it's all it can do. It must produce seed to maintain the species despite its dire conditions (starvation) and will do it every time.

When my plucked Northern Lights girly gets even more white with resin I'll post pics. She's only into her 4th week of flowering and smells absolutely lovely.

[JOHNWANE]

Originally Posted by Classic Seeds

hi hempfield thanks for taking the time to do this .I know there will always be disagrements about defolitions .we will see what turns out for you in the end of this grow from each group and have a record of the results from these 2 radically different approaches to growing thanks again for furthering all our knowledge about different growing styles aloha cls

[High Grade Only]

if you defoliate, you need to overpack your canopy, like 18 per light

[LyryC]

Originally Posted by High Grade Only

if you defoliate, you need to overpack your canopy, like 18 per lightView Image View Image View Image View Image

killin it Ji!!!

thanks for posting

[Scrappy-doo]

Very nice HGO!

[gaines1016]

Originally Posted by High Grade Only

if you defoliate, you need to overpack your canopy, like 18 per light

very cool

[HuffnPufferfish]

When my plucked Northern Lights girly gets even more white with resin I'll post pics. She's only into her 4th week of flowering and smells absolutely lovely.

when i didnt pluck any it still got more white with resin, its how plants work..

[flamstaa]

Great work and your results show what I've noticed over time in my tent where the plants at the back that has less leaf stripped always produced more. Took me ages to make the connection though