Auto Defoliation Myth Test

[twentyeight.threefive]

Defoliation of any healthy plant is fine, including autoflowers. Myth busted.

 

[WildBill]

Defoliation of any healthy plant is fine, including autoflowers. Myth busted.
View attachment 1285238

Juice all that, give the juice diluted to your girls and give the plant material to your worms.

 

[twentyeight.threefive]

Juice all that, give the juice diluted to your girls and give the plant material to your worms.

Coco grow. No organics or worms here. Found springtails in my new grow for the first time though lol.

 

[WildBill]

Coco grow. No organics or worms here. Found springtails in my new grow for the first time though lol.

At least ya have some helpers.

 

[saskraider12]

I not only have no compunction to strip out leaves by the armload at any stage of the growth but if the situation warrants it, I will also strip out masses of healthy branches full of buds if this is needed.View attachment 1274183View attachment 1274185View attachment 1274186

But it's horses for courses. Sometimes you hardly have to remove any leaves at all, other times it might be branches only. So while defoliation does not harm a healthy plant how much and how far you go is plant dependent.

In the end I ended up with 18 zips from this Think Big auto that had a lot of stuff removed.

View attachment 1274188

Nice plant, is that driftwood or a dinosaur bone in the background?

 

[twentyeight.threefive]

At least ya have some helpers.

This is the plant it came off. Hasn't seemed to mind lol.

 

[billymac]

I have read many many posts on defoliation and seems overall more tend to shy away from it, but then many swear by it, my opinion, if it works for you, go for it, every technique used, every question asked will result in many different opinions, it is my choice which to go with, the only way to know for sure is try it, myself if fan leaves are too big and blocking light, i just tuck them away somewhere. The one thing that speaks the most against it is this: (Glenn Johnson - Linkedin)
"The simplest fact that I think we can all agree on, is that leaves are the solar panels that gather energy from light and convert that energy into food, which is then used to grow the body of the plant.
If you take the leaves off, you reduce the energy gathering capacity of the plant, and since you are on a limited time schedule, you don't have time to pause to recover, so you've limited the final size of the end product.
This defoliation myth requires us to believe that a SEVERELY defoliated, super stressed plant, can not only recover, but then come back and EXCEED what it would have done naturally without that stress. This is the part that defies physics.
You simply can't get something from nothing. If you manage to prove you've done it, I'll happily attend the awards ceremony where you get your Nobel Peace prize for disproving one of the most fundamental laws of the universe."
HAPPY GROWING!

 

[twentyeight.threefive]

I have read many many posts on defoliation and seems overall more tend to shy away from it, but then many swear by it, my opinion, if it works for you, go for it, every technique used, every question asked will result in many different opinions, it is my choice which to go with, the only way to know for sure is try it, myself if fan leaves are too big and blocking light, i just tuck them away somewhere. The one thing that speaks the most against it is this: (Glenn Johnson - Linkedin)
"The simplest fact that I think we can all agree on, is that leaves are the solar panels that gather energy from light and convert that energy into food, which is then used to grow the body of the plant.
If you take the leaves off, you reduce the energy gathering capacity of the plant, and since you are on a limited time schedule, you don't have time to pause to recover, so you've limited the final size of the end product.
This defoliation myth requires us to believe that a SEVERELY defoliated, super stressed plant, can not only recover, but then come back and EXCEED what it would have done naturally without that stress. This is the part that defies physics.
You simply can't get something from nothing. If you manage to prove you've done it, I'll happily attend the awards ceremony where you get your Nobel Peace prize for disproving one of the most fundamental laws of the universe."
HAPPY GROWING!

That's why I qualified my statement "any healthy plant".

I don't think anyone is trying to say defoliation of an unhealthy plant will increase your yields.

 

[Capt.Quirk]

A man can't be a woman. Myth or no? These autos have had their solar panels removed.

 

[Death The Cultivator]

That's why I qualified my statement "any healthy plant".

I don't think anyone is trying to say defoliation of an unhealthy plant will increase your yields.

A lot of claims that defoliation on a healthy plant with the result being Larger Yields. Rather it can save yields in mold prone situations.

I figure if the plant made 200 leaves to get to harvest then the cultivator has to ensure there is enough light and resources to facilitate all that vegetative growth. Many gains could be made getting 6-700ppfd throughout the whole plant without removing leaves and triggering vegetative responses.