DEFOLIATION - How Much

[Snook]

Yeah, I'd rather see a timelapse video of that picture. I have a hard time believing that it works like that. When I did it to my test plant it was so pissed and didn't yield shit.

yeah. I suck with a still camera wanna c da shit I can come up with a video camera.. but I'll put up pics and make deductions myself. I just harvested three of those same 4 girls and have a good idea of what to expect. additionally, the additional veg time, I believe, will create a denser root ball which is good. I'm in no rush to the end... and I'd think the tent will be cooler somewhat that will I hope gimme, trout, some denser buds.. have already dropped the a/c to 68*F which maintains 78/79*F in the tent lights on.

 

[Principante 8]

Get to know your strains and you'll see that everything wants something a little different. Any broad leaf like Bubba, socal master, pussy kush, Afghan kush, la con, need to be defoliated continuously and lollipopped all the way leaving no fans. Almost every og needs the big fans removed and cleaned up on the inside or the bottoms won't fill out. Plus they're lanky so you can push them closer together to get more plants on the tables. Green Crack and short skunk hybrids needs 100%defoliation basically or you'll have fluffy larf bottoms that aren't worth a damn. The short skunks I've grown tend to not produce crap unless the buds get direct light. Tall ones it's not so much of an issue. Blue dream gets the big fans plucked but I leave a few small because they don't block buds. I've got some blueberry hybrids going now and they only needed a handful plucked. Look at the gg4 thread and you'll see some plucking going on. Very few cultivars get left alone.

Shady spots in the garden can promote mildew or even mold later on in flower. If you get smaller buds from defoliation then vegging for a few extra days or adding a few plants can fill your space the same but with much denser flowers. Overall I have 63 females from seed in flower at the moment and most got hit hard but for the most part the sativas/nld didn't get touched. Girl scout needs lots of pickin.

I pluck for a few minutes every couple of days because I know what to look for so I'm proactive, which I think helps a bit. I have stripped plants though and do often because I'm lazy so I skip a lot of pluck sessions and have to catch up. Of course some cultivars could care less and some get quite angry and shy about growing for a few days. For the most part if it's short and bushy it needs a serious plucking. Hybrids a little and tall nld/sativa almost none. I've been in quite a few commercial gardens and this is the basic trend, though of course almost nothing is absolute.

 

[Kweku Ananse]

SIDE LIGHTING

 

[Slipnot]

lol different thread same crap haha how much should i take off ??? where should i start ??? removing leafs yielded me more etc etc

Honestly you may see more gains of B grade underdeveloped buds which should of been removed anyways, once bud Set there sucker buds ,,,,, And lets face it in most cases 4 - 5 feet away from the light source ???? Honestly like they were going to amount to anything

But back to wind damage . insects . rodents . damage in the wild comes at all times of the season , so If you choose to de leaf.

Plan it so 15 - 20 percent in veg this is not one time strip her like a cheap whore , this is gradual during veg period.
Sure get aggressive if you like ,,
But remember ... as in all. life there is a threshold. and it goes to all living organisms more aggressive you become the longer it takes a plant to recover
Go to the GYM instead of 10 - 20 one hundred bench pulls with 120 pounds so 200 pound min 60 -90 times once done that then instead of pedling on the bike 4 - 5 km your doing 200 km
then its stair climbing time hahaha

lets see how long it takes you to recover ???? well think of it that way for a plant
strip her and it will take extra weeks to see normal growth again and why well she is in shock ,,,,, And instead of her growing normally
Now she is on repar mode and 0 growth only leaf

Here is some thoughts before you go stripping plant
Where does the plants one of its most crucial elements ???
Where does the plant resperate and transpire ??? these are among the most important things for the plant yet you stripped it to nothing
What about nutrien DEF or TOX by the time it gets to bud leafs lol where your hooped

YES PRUNE TRAIN REMOVE SOME GREENS BY DON'T BE STUPID IN THINKING YOUR GOING TO GET BETTER YIELDS

You might as well monster crop keep in mind from clone to get it close to flower was what 20 - 22 weeks Veg from taking a real monster crop clone under HID maybe save you a week what ever i taks you to do normal clone x2 + for monstercrop clones and why ??? same hing applies plant was doing her thing flowering and clone has the stress



If you have inexperience or a new grower ,,, attempting this is like forget about the yield and conentrate on keeping that plant as green as possible to last week i you can do this then you leveled up
attempt training techniques super croppign LST , Fimming and maintaining plants health

TRuth is Keeping that plant healthy stress free and happy she will reward you
you start raping her and pissing her off guearnteed women always win lol

 

[Slipnot]

Not here to grow leaf lol

 

[DarthFader1]

I like to take the fans off that cover the top of flower sites about a week into flower to give the bud sites direct light, but other than that i leave them on always.

If you top plants ime you will need to defoliate a bit more usually to allow light to penetrate.

Ive seen other examples of people reporting massive gains by defoliating large amounts even up to 90-95% of leaves! I believe it depends on the strain and methods of growing though so there is probably not one set rule to follow.

 

[OG Tree Grower]

Defoliation/pruning for any strain. Any system

Early veg
1- take any known sucker
2- first two nodes on any branch
3- take any branches that are to close to each other. Favour thicker closer noded branches, but leave all the leafs under the branch attached.
4- take any leaf pointing inwards, any leaf bunched up with other leaves that inhibit air flow

Week 2 flower
Remove middle layered shade leaves to the point you can see most bud sites BUT NO HOLES IN THE CANOPY. Keep it green with leaves so you can still phototsynthize.
Wait 2 days, the plant will re orientate remainding leafs to best absorb the light, after this happens you can finish the defoliation, take anything hiding a bud site while maintaining a green canopy with NO HOLES.
Week 3, take any bud that's not the size of a dime or not getting enough light.

Dont touch the plant again until your about to flush.
At this point strip all leaves except very top and very bottom fan leaves
Let the plant finish flushing and your done.

Never remove top or bottom fan leaves
Top leafs keep capillarie action in the plant and keep upward growth
Bottom leaves never block bud sites and serve as energy for the plant, they will also catch any remainding light that made it through you plant so none is wasted on the walls or floor.
Bottom leaves are also good indicator leaves and there is just no good reason to take them.

A properly gutted and defoleated plant will only lose 1/2" of growth that day and should be right back on track the next day. If you stunted it you did to much.

Obviously some strains need it more or less and can handle it more or less but this guide still works for any plant just go easy or hard depending. And don't beet your self up about it. It takes 2 -3 grows with the strain to get a good handle on it .

I always take my plants at harvest and inspect to see if there was anything else I should have done pruning wise but I'm usually satisfied.

I always prune an hour before lights off so they have time to heal up. If you do it at lights on the plant wastes half the day sealing up those cuts before it starts growing again

Remember if the leaf or bud isn't getting good light it's useless anyways so remove it , it's not giving the plant energy it's taking energy away from places you want it to go

If you finish with about 10% more bud than usual and you didn't have to trim any fluff then you know you did a good job

 

[mjlifestyle]

Hey mm, any update on this? Is it possible to show the plants now, 10 days after?