defoliation

[Polo702]

I've got a couple of northern lights af in my 2x2. They are very leafy. I have been removing leaves sparingly to expose bud sites. But there still is so much leaf. How many leaves should I remove?

 

[Kazman420]

Hey Polo702,

I recently posted a similar question about removing leaves and have been reading up on it as much as possible. The general consensus that I got was that it's best to leave the leaves alone unless absolutely necessary and you should really wait until the final stretch is over, removing only 2 or 3 leaves at a time. Leaves that are more than 50% dead can be removed. A great tip that somebody posted was to only remove 1 leaf from any given node. I've been sticking to the above info and it seems to be going well. Also try and employ as much leaf tucking as possible.

I'm a new grower so definitely wait until somebody more experienced can chime in.

 

[Hashsloth]

I think it depends a bit on the strain etc.

I know there are strains out there that can't handle much defoliation. I have a couple growing right now that were getting to bushy,so I took a bunch of leaves off and some shoots....and it bounced back easily and grew even more. I've had to do 2 or 3 heavy defoliations and it still hasn't shown any sign of slowing down.

So I guess the best bet is to take a little off at first and see how the plant responds. If it doesn't show any signs of slowing down,chop some more off.

 

[GMEtotheMoon]

Can you post a photo?
How old are your plants?
What light are you using and how far above the canopy are they?

 

[Bruce Campbell]

Reasons to defoliate include:

1) Exposing bud sites to more direct light
2) Reducing net transpiration to reduce / better manage humidity
3) Improving air flow through the canopy (both to reduce local humidity and increase CO2 circulation to inner leaves)
4) Eliminate low-producing leaves / branches (e.g., to prevent larf) and/or redirect growth efforts into larger branches

For the most part, it's debatable whether / how much either of those work. There's no clear consensus, and it depends on your conditions and how / how much you actually defoliate. Here's some other discussions on the topic:

https://www.autoflower.org/threads/the-science-of-leaf-pruning-defoliation.69227/

https://www.autoflower.org/threads/defoliation-criteria-200-mmol-m2-s.85024/

 

[Imagine]

Here's a couple of Fast Buds Wedding Cheesecakes at 47 days. Two different phenos. They were both topped at about two weeks and I have removed fans in spots a couple of times. I removed a whole shopping bag worth of leaves and stalks two days ago and you can't even tell. I think it's completely dependent on the individual plant.

 

[CannabisMingus]

The general consensus that I got was that it's best to leave the leaves alone unless absolutely necessary and you should really wait until the final stretch is over, removing only 2 or 3 leaves at a time.

Good rule of them. However, with some plants you will need to do more just based on the sheer number of leaves. I am currently trying to get an AvT across the finish line that fits that description (see link below) - at one point I was removing 10-20 a day - but that was exceptional.

 

[Polo702]

I would like to thank all the growmies for your help. I'm a new grower. This is officially my 3rd grow. My second had to be terminated in like my second week of flower, which was going pretty well. So I've gone from the desert to the northeast. Which I'm learning about environmental differences. I've been listening to so many podcasts, reading books, and of course Youtube. At 1st very confused, but now I have a much better handle on what I'm trying to do. But because my experience is really so small I have to grow into what I think I understand. So I will lean on all of your experience for guidance. So again thank you all.

 

[Polo702]

Here's a couple of Fast Buds Wedding Cheesecakes at 47 days. Two different phenos. They were both topped at about two weeks and I have removed fans in spots a couple of times. I removed a whole shopping bag worth of leaves and stalks two days ago and you can't even tell. I think it's completely dependent on the individual plant. View attachment 1379600

Thanks for the photo, it help me out with what I thought to be a possible dilemma.

 

[CannabisMingus]

because my experience is really so small I have to grow into what I think I understand. So I will lean on all of your experience for guidance.

Good call. AFN is a great resource for that. Your learning curve here will be steep.