Correct me if I'm wrong but I believe the agricultural industry uses the process of defoliation to remove any unnecessary "suckers" as they're called.
These suckers are the branches and leaves that are in the shade or not developed enough to reach the canopy by fruiting/floweing.
These "suckers" will reduce yield, and I'm not the one that invented the said term.
In the cannabis industry this is called lollipopping and usually practiced heavily by the scrog growers.
The scrog growers will adamantly tell us that the canopy is the key. Otherwise they would leave everything under the screen or not even use one. These suckers get trimmed to let the even canopy benefit.
Defoliation in veg is not recommended.
suckers and defoliation of leaves are two different things, but yes what you are refering to as "sucker removal" "can" benefit the upper growth, sometimes and unfortunately often not enough to justify the loss of said lowers/suckers, depending on growing style and lighting of course, again "environment"
my lighting coverage mimics the outdoors as best as possible, i use more "lights" not necessarily more "light" i use multiple horizontal and multiple vertical lights and my floor is also highly reflective, not just my walls, i do not run more watts, just more lights kept closer, the plants are being hit from every angle possible
also, many years ago suckers were only dead and dying leaves and branches, nowadays they are considered as any lower leaf or branch, older people still call the dead and dying ones suckers because even a dead leaf that is still attached is sucking goodness from the plant, as accepted as the meaning is nowadays, i come from a time that wont let me change the meaning, lowers are lowers, not suckers IME, but even with that said, a dying leaf should not be pulled until it is dead, the plant most often is sucking that leaf dead and if you pluck it the plant will find a new leaf to suck on to get what it is after, a lot of the time there is a minor deficiency and the plant chose that leaf to get what it needs, if you pull that leaf too soon the plant will sacrifice the next best leaf and so on and so on
good discussion, thanks everyone for not resorting to name calling and such like i see on other forums
It seems to crop up every other week!
