Defoliate?

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skudra

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The attached Zkittlez is at day 63 in the photo. She is super bushy! This is my first autoflower and first indoor grow and thought I would just let it ride without any LST or defoliation. I may be a little late now, but should I defoliate on the next run? Does it potentially shock an autoflower to heavily defoliate? Is it ok to take out some of the big fan leaves now?

154D607C-4788-45B5-B1EE-F95C90033361.jpeg
 
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I have never had an auto herm when I did remove a lot of fan leaves when they are up to their full height. I mostly removed blocking leaves for bud sites. I think that you could remove a few blocking leaves and not worry .:peek:
 
As long as the plants are healthy they'll take a lot more abuse then you would think. Totally fine to defoliate that plant. Take the leaves covering the buds and in the middle 1st and you can pluck a handful a day with no problems. Bushy as that plant is you should do it for airflow inside the bush
 
@skudra :welcome:Welcome to AFN:welcome: I am from the school that does not believe in defoliating. Each leaf that the plant grows costs it energy to make it and each leaf is a little factory to make energy for the plant. Often growers defoliate just to have the plant spend a lot of energy to grow the leaves they want back. You will often hear growers say a few days latter "The plant looks like I didn't even defoliate". Well that is because the plant grew some more leaf :rofl: Now that said there are times when some defoliating is beneficial to getting a good harvest. Airflow in the lowest part of the plant will help to prevent Bud Rot especially in plants with big tight buds. (I try to grow plants with more open buds and not worry about bud rot). Your plant looks to have some fairly tight buds at this stage so I recommend taking only some lower leaves to keep good air flow.

The idea that buds need light to grow is miss-understood and comes from photoperiod plant growing. Once a bud has been initiated from the node it will grow without much direct light as long as the plant has enough energy to send to it. In growing photoperiods that allow a lot of time to train and shape the plant, exposing the nodes to light will encourage a bud at that site. Autoflowering plants do not afford the time needed to train and expose the nodes instead a one time topping above the fourth node will give you the best yield.

ScreenHunter_146 Dec. 11 22.18.jpg


:goodluck:
 
Mañ'O'Green said:
@skudra :welcome:Welcome to AFN:welcome: I am from the school that does not believe in defoliating. Each leaf that the plant grows costs it energy to make it and each leaf is a little factory to make energy for the plant. Often growers defoliate just to have the plant spend a lot of energy to grow the leaves they want back. You will often hear growers say a few days latter "The plant looks like I didn't even defoliate". Well that is because the plant grew some more leaf :rofl: Now that said there are times when some defoliating is beneficial to getting a good harvest. Airflow in the lowest part of the plant will help to prevent Bud Rot especially in plants with big tight buds. (I try to grow plants with more open buds and not worry about bud rot). Your plant looks to have some fairly tight buds at this stage so I recommend taking only some lower leaves to keep good air flow.

The idea that buds need light to grow is miss-understood and comes from photoperiod plant growing. Once a bud has been initiated from the node it will grow without much direct light as long as the plant has enough energy to send to it. In growing photoperiods that allow a lot of time to train and shape the plant, exposing the nodes to light will encourage a bud at that site. Autoflowering plants do not afford the time needed to train and expose the nodes instead a one time topping above the fourth node will give you the best yield.

View attachment 1554094

:goodluck:
Click to expand...
If I may ask something been wondering I know you don't defoliate till very late flower... But do you ever remove any of the first sets of branches or the secondary branches off the lower part of the plant? I had heard/believed that it helped upward growth but I question if it is bro science... I assume your gonna say no but needed to ask :d5: :thanks:
 
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Lil Dab said:
If I may ask something been wondering I know you don't defoliate till very late flower... But do you ever remove any of the first sets of branches or the secondary branches off the lower part of the plant? I had heard/believed that it helped upward growth but I question if it is bro science... I assume your gonna say no but needed to ask :d5: :thanks:
Click to expand...
No and here is why:

_DSC2399_InPixio.jpg


There was a little better than an zip from the lowest branches. This plant was defoliated at harvest for her beauty pictures :crying:
 
I’m fairly new also.
My last grow was way better, no defoil, no topping. The picture shows a defoil before harvest and the branches have their supports removed.
I pulled 11oz dried from her that included 1 oz of lower bud, buds in cure at moment, it was a super silver haze auto

840D208C-8BFF-4D74-B98A-38C5053A06C6.jpeg
 
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