Defoliation question

[Blalack55]

Hey guys I'm on my 3rd grow and in my last grow I defoliated too much and affected my yield, now I know we defoliate for light penetration but besides that does it help like lst, supercropping, topping, fimming, ect with yields and growth and trichs? What I did last time I guess I defoliated too late and can tell where the buds were supposed to grow together but because I took off the fan leaves there was gaps in the buds where I didnt they connected together, now i could be wrong but this is my personal experience and i have talked to others that agree and are against defoliating if not needed, so please any info or links please let me know. And yes I will be clearing the lower parts that cannot get any good lighting but that's it.
My plants day 27

 

[Rwg111]

There are alot of different opinions when it comes to defoliating autoflowers. Personally I do alot of leaf tucking untill I start seeing budsites and even then I only remove the fans that are swallowed up by the growth. I will also remove the small budsites from deep within that never amount to much. I have some young plants I will throw some photos in here as they progress for an example.

 

[Rwg111]

Looking through your pics I see nothing that couldn't just be simply tucked outta the way but that's just my practice.

 

[Proph]

There are sooo many variables as to when and why to defoliate. Removing some fan leaves should not have a big effect on how the bud grows. Im not sure how that happened to you. Maybe I don't fully understand what happened... But I've never seen removing fan leaves effect the yield. (Unless you removed every last fan leaf, or close to it).

Removing leaves has several benefit.. Better air flow, better light penetration, humidity control, ect. Not to mention that it lets the plant focus it's energy making buds, and not making/maintaining fan leaves. Defol is often used instead of doing LST. It's personal preference.

Plants grow waaay more leaves than they will ever need or use (out in nature, animals and insects come along eat these leaves). So they expect to lose some leaf material. But a few fan leaves, removed or not, shouldn't have any effect on bud sites..

 

[Death The Cultivator]

Hey guys I'm on my 3rd grow and in my last grow I defoliated too much and affected my yield, now I know we defoliate for light penetration but besides that does it help like lst, supercropping, topping, fimming, ect with yields and growth and trichs? What I did last time I guess I defoliated too late and can tell where the buds were supposed to grow together but because I took off the fan leaves there was gaps in the buds where I didnt they connected together, now i could be wrong but this is my personal experience and i have talked to others that agree and are against defoliating if not needed, so please any info or links please let me know. And yes I will be clearing the lower parts that cannot get any good lighting but that's it.
My plants day 27

I would do all my pruning before the stretch right into the first 1-2 weeks. The most I do now is remove the weak, skinny, stretchy branches but I've stopped removing leaves.

The leaves help the roots transport water throughout the plant in combination with osmotic pressure. The leaves also store, photosynthesize, and transport nutrients during abcission to the rest of the plant. Pruning can affect hormonal responses that can trigger vegetative or generative effects.

LST or fimming or pruning during veg plus first week of flower otherwise they really just need to be left alone. Environmental control is going to contribute more than pruning will to final yield. Outdoor farmers have more generous yield despite just letting plants grow in various environmental conditions and I haven't seen any that really mention defoliating. None of my botany books mention the type or benefit of said pruning technique and they all advise again disturbing the plant if it isn't necessary. Lastly, the plant takes in photons for photosynthesis so it is irrelevant where the photons land but rather than the leaves are getting which to convert for metabolic processes so light penetration isn't really an answer.

Excerpt from Robert Connell Clarke - Marijuana Botany - An Advanced Study_ The Propagation and Breeding of Distinctive Cannabis.pdf

Large leaves serve as photosynthetic factories for the production of sugars and other necessary growth sub stances. They also create shade, but at the same time they are collecting valuable solar energy and producing foods that will be used during the floral development of the plant. Premature removal of leaves may cause stunting, because the potential for photosynthesis is reduced. As these leaves age and lose their ability to carry on photo synthesis they turn chlorotie (yellow) and fall to the ground. In humid areas care is taken to remove the yellow or brown leaves, because they might invite attack by fungus. During chlorosis the plant breaks down substances, such as chlorophylls, and translocates the molecular components to a new growing part of the plant, such as the flowers. Most Cannabis plants begin to lose their larger leaves when they enter the flowering stage, and this trend continues until senescence. It is more efficient for the plant to reuse the energy and various molecular components of existing chlorophyll than to synthesize new chlorophyll at the time of flowering. During flowering this energy is needed to form floral clusters and ripen seeds. Removing large amounts of leaves may interfere with the metabolic balance of the plant. If this metabolic change occurs too late in the season it could interfere with floral development and delay maturation. If any floral inhibitors are removed, the intended effect of accelerating flowering will probably be counteracted by metabolic upset in the plant. Removal of shade leaves does facilitate more light reaching the center of the plant, but if there is not enough food energy produced in the leaves, the small internal floral clusters will probably not grow any larger. Leaf removal may also cause sex reversal resulting from a metabolic change. If leaves must be removed, the petiole is cut so that at least an inch remains attached to the stalk. Weaknesses in the limb axis at the node result if the leaves are pulled off at the abscission layer while they are still green. Care is taken to see that the shriveling petiole does not invite fungus attack. It should be remembered that, regardless of strain or environmental conditions, the plant strives to reproduce, and reproduction is favored by early maturation. This produces a situation where plants are trying to mature and reproduce as fast as possible. Although the purpose of leafing is to speed maturation, disturbing the natural progressive growth of a plant probably interferes with its rapid development.

To Defoliate Or Not To Defoliate

The issue of leaf removal for cannabis through the process of defoliation has troubled growers for a long time and will probably continue to do so re...

www.cocoforcannabis.com

 

[Blalack55]

I would do all my pruning before the stretch right into the first 1-2 weeks. The most I do now is remove the weak, skinny, stretchy branches but I've stopped removing leaves.

The leaves help the roots transport water throughout the plant in combination with osmotic pressure. The leaves also store, photosynthesize, and transport nutrients during abcission to the rest of the plant. Pruning can affect hormonal responses that can trigger vegetative or generative effects.

LST or fimming or pruning during veg plus first week of flower otherwise they really just need to be left alone. Environmental control is going to contribute more than pruning will to final yield. Outdoor farmers have more generous yield despite just letting plants grow in various environmental conditions and I haven't seen any that really mention defoliating. None of my botany books mention the type or benefit of said pruning technique and they all advise again disturbing the plant if it isn't necessary. Lastly, the plant takes in photons for photosynthesis so it is irrelevant where the photons land but rather than the leaves are getting which to convert for metabolic processes so light penetration isn't really an answer.

Excerpt from Robert Connell Clarke - Marijuana Botany - An Advanced Study_ The Propagation and Breeding of Distinctive Cannabis.pdf

To Defoliate Or Not To Defoliate

The issue of leaf removal for cannabis through the process of defoliation has troubled growers for a long time and will probably continue to do so re...

www.cocoforcannabis.com

@damien thank you so much and as always very helpful so thanks I truly appreciate it! Very helpful information!!!

 

[Mushinronsha]

@Blalack55 Here ya go mate. Best article I have ever found on defoliating and pruning on the internet. Its not to bad of long read and it destroys a lot of the misconceptions out there and actually explains the science behind it. If your like me, you would prefer the facts vs hearsay. (Leave your poor plants alone lol) Enjoy!

To Defoliate Or Not To Defoliate

The issue of leaf removal for cannabis through the process of defoliation has troubled growers for a long time and will probably continue to do so re...

www.cocoforcannabis.com

 

[Blalack55]

Awes

@Blalack55 Here ya go mate. Best article I have ever found on defoliating and pruning on the internet. Its not to bad of long read and it destroys a lot of the misconceptions out there and actually explains the science behind it. If your like me, you would prefer the facts vs hearsay. (Leave your poor plants alone lol) Enjoy!

To Defoliate Or Not To Defoliate

The issue of leaf removal for cannabis through the process of defoliation has troubled growers for a long time and will probably continue to do so re...

www.cocoforcannabis.com

Awesome reading thank you very much!!!

 

[jackMgood]

Leaf tucking seems to work good in instances where the stems are flexible to hide the bigger leaves under the new budding sites to help with penetration.

 

[Olderfart]

On my current grow, I removed a pile of leaves and minor branches this morning, not in order to increase yield, but because the plants were so bloody dense that I figured I was cruising for mold of some sort. I couldn't care less about maxing the yield, I just want what I get to be healthy, good sized, and mold free. If my plants had a more open structure, I would have just continued leaf tucking, but leaf tucking alone was not working out this time around.