Defoliation: Hi-Yield Technique?

[*mistress*]

interesting tech of thinning foliage. seems can be effective if cull certain leaves @ certain periods of growth/maturity.
increasing night temps close to zero-diff also decreases stretch (elongation) & promotes closer inter-nodes. leaves are also used by the plant for transpiration. this regulates the internal temp if the plant.

have you noticed decrease in dehumidified water from garden, after culling fan leaves?

 

[TexasToker]

here I am almost 3 weeks into 12/12, do you think defoliation would prove a success on my end? or should it not be done if u havnt done it from thje start? I just read the old thread, Jro cuts them off at day 20, and again at day 40.

just wonderin, thanks guys.

I cut them at 21 days, then if needed again around 40-50. I have tried doing some straight from seed and it seems to me that doing it at about 20 days causes more explosive growth. It MAY do the same from seed, but I have not noticed or recorded data.

i have always called it candlesticking. i like defoliation though!

Don't get confused with lollipop'n.

 

[TicalionStalion]

I cut them at 21 days, then if needed again around 40-50. I have tried doing some straight from seed and it seems to me that doing it at about 20 days causes more explosive growth. It MAY do the same from seed, but I have not noticed or recorded data.

those are jackie-O's from clone. 9 clones in the 3x3 table. thanks for the info Tex.

 

[delta9nxs]

mistress, that's a good point about internal temp. after i strip them at the start of the last week i can move the plant closer to the lights as the buds seem to be able to take the heat better than the fan leaves. maybe stripping changes the way the plant regulates temps.

 

[superultramega]

mistress, that's a good point about internal temp. after i strip them at the start of the last week i can move the plant closer to the lights as the buds seem to be able to take the heat better than the fan leaves. maybe stripping changes the way the plant regulates temps.

If I had to guess I'd say it's the water content of the buds as opposed to the leaves. It takes a lot more energy to heat up the dense water filled buds than the thin leaves. Additional circulation also likely helps. I'm interested enough to give this a go with a plant or two. It'll be a while before I get a chance to make that run so don't hold your breath.

 

[Kelly.]

...

 

[delta9nxs]

If I had to guess I'd say it's the water content of the buds as opposed to the leaves. It takes a lot more energy to heat up the dense water filled buds than the thin leaves. Additional circulation also likely helps. I'm interested enough to give this a go with a plant or two. It'll be a while before I get a chance to make that run so don't hold your breath.

makes sense. also brings up the probability that with the increased light on the buds comes increased flow of nutrients that formerly would have been split with the leaves in some ratio.

i can say that my plant puts on a surge of new bud leaf growth after the fan leaves have been removed. this could have an impact on final bud weight.

 

[TexasToker]

I love people who have open minds and try new things. There are many folks here that WILL NOT try anything new, or even try to conceive the notion.

 

[gates3rd]

Thx Sir , very informative thread

 

[puff adder]

I have always taken a few fans, ones that caused crowding and shaded bud sites.

On my present room, I veged a bit too long on a new strain, and things got pretty crowded.
I built a drip system that works well, and if I removed plants it wouldn't work properly.

I also have been dealing with powdery mildew for the first time, so extra ventilation was more important that usual.

I took basically all the fan leaves at day 30. It did stall the plants for a few days, but I will see an increase in yield I think because all the lower growth (these plants were heavily lollipopped as well) is much bigger and dense.

It opened the canopy, allowing light to reach every bud site. It also made for excellent ventilation and air movement. This has helped with my fight with the powdery mildew, and I think is good in any case.

I'll be doing the same in my new room.

 

[Kelly.]

also cuts down on flush time

 

[bs0]

Personally I think that the plant needs the leaves most during the stretch. After that it seems like (total conjecture) that the amount of green area the plant needs is maintained by the budsites.

I think that similar results could be achieved by LST training as well. The end goal that I have approached this with has been to have as many budsites as I can on the plant lit at least partially. This seems to cause all of the lower 'popcorn' buds to swell and darken (as keeftrees has already stated). Full leaf removal would seem to be overboard.

This is the same concept that people talk about with 400w hps vs 1000w hps: light penetration.

Keeftrees takes it to a new level though too, he incorporates supercropping, LST, AND defoliating. The combination of all three can create monster yeilds (as evidenced by his plants).

I've got about 3 more days of flush to go, then the chop. I have 8 plants, half topped and half grown traditional (to match my control grow). The topped plants are responding amazingly to defoil, since the multiple tops can significantly shade eachother's lower buds. I think the bigger your plant is and the denser the growth is the more benefit you can get from defoil.

All of this is just based on my conjecture and observations though. Numbers in about 10 days.

 

[Centrum]

My last run I didn't do it and this run I am. All other variables are the same, including temp, wattage, plants, nutes, and medium.

I'll be able to give a straight percentage gain.

I could do this side by side, have done it too many times inadvertantly by not staying on the defoliating. The leafy clone will rapidly outpace the defoliated one after that first pluck. The leafy one will get 3-5" node spacing once it achieves it's 6th or 8th set of leaves, and be oversized for this kind of compact endeavor. The fan leaves will take over the veg area and the leafy plant will otherwise be ready to flower depending on setup. We want to focus on the defoliated one. It takes preparation and an extra week or two. Extra time in veg should be inconsequential in the long run as veg is a constant operation. All that is being adjusted is the size and structure of the clones in preparation to become 10-12 oz compact finishers.

Awesome ! looking forward!

 

[Centrum]

You know i was thinking about the whole leaf concept, a plant stores food and energy in that leaf and will sacrifice that leaf if it needs food.

Im wondering if by tearing off all the fan leafs if you are forcing the plant to eat more ?

 

[Neo 420]

You know i was thinking about the whole leaf concept, a plant stores food and energy in that leaf and will sacrifice that leaf if it needs food.

Im wondering if by tearing off all the fan leafs if you are forcing the plant to eat more ?

I don't think it will eat more. It will carry on as normal and pull nutes when needed from the other fan leaves (unless it a immobile nute)
This thread is awesome. And makes total sense. What I think people do not realize is when you are growing indoors you are god to plants. We try to keep the environment, nutes and lights to a degree that are exceptional for the plants. I always said to myself " I should pull these fan leaves" but never really put a leave removal policy into place because of what I have always been told. If you are feeding your plants and have no deficiencies, those fan leave that are shading should be pulled (according to what is being said in this thread). I will now explore this option more precisely and implement into my schedule. Make sure everyone reports back their finding!!!

 

[statusquo]

The only issue I am having is that I am still not 100% clear or confident on this method and I would like to be before trying such a drastic measure.

Roughly how many sets of internodes do I let grow before I start picking vegetation?
Do I remove all leaves in veg or just most leaves? What about during flower?
How often should I deleaf in veg/flower?
Do you just cut the leaves off with a knife/pair of scissors and at the base of the leaf or base of the stalk/junction with branch?

Sorry for all the detailed questions but I feel like many other people are feeling the same. I look forward to giving this method a try very soon after these questions are answered Thanks for bringing this to the community for a revisit! I have heard so many conflicting opinions on the subject.

Also, it seems this method is only really effective if started in veg. I think the OP said somehwere that starting this after you flip will not bring the same benefits he is claiming and could in fact be detrimental.

 

[bigghead]

you do slow the growth a bit as part of the process but that can beneficial. the main stem keeps getting thicker so plants will be very sturdy. other benefits are, any bugs will be way easier to kill and prevent, less for them to eat and no place to hide . so less spent . any fungus will have a hard time because of the increase in air flow. less ferts, less watering by not having leaves transpire. by reducing these problems you have time to trim and pack em tight.

 

[Hydro-Soil]

It takes preparation and an extra week or two. Extra time in veg should be inconsequential in the long run as veg is a constant operation.

But it isn't for everyone....


So up to two extra weeks to achieve a larger yield.... Sounds pretty standard, without defoliating. Have you run yield results on a clone that's not defoliated AND also given the extra 2 weeks? Mayhaps use something such as LST to control growth instead?

Stay Safe!

 

[newhiddengrower]

Fuck it, ima give it a try. But im going all out. Im on 6 weeks of flowering i have 24 mini trees. And im going to cut 50% of the fan leaves LETS GO!!!!!!!!!!!

not jk btw wish me luck

 

[statusquo]

Fuck it, ima give it a try. But im going all out. Im on 6 weeks of flowering i have 24 mini trees. And im going to cut 50% of the fan leaves LETS GO!!!!!!!!!!!

not jk btw wish me luck

Please read all the posts. This has been referenced as a bad idea multiple times. Don't remove all of your leaves late in flowering if you have not been using this technique from the start. I would only remove foliage that is directly in the way of bud sites - don't just arbitrarily pick 50% of your fan leaves. Then again you could do it in the name of science.