New Grower First ever grow, Northern Lights auto. Wish me luck!

[Smoking Frog]

I did MAJOR defoliation 10 days ago on a 50 days plant with a lot of small buds that had so much leaves that no way light was getting down past the first layer of canopy.I removed every leaves that the stem was visible without digging in the buds and left only smaler bud leaves.
48 hrs later,i swear,half the leaves were back.5 days later buds were growing like crazy,even the lower\smaler buds were growing like hell! Light was getting to every part of the plant!
There was no fan leaves left but man,the plant responded so well that i did the same,althoug a bit less radical to her sister NL right as she started budding couples of days ago.
All that after seing a Youtube video from some Professional grower in Cali.

My thoughts were:I smoke buds not leaves so let's get rid of them.

 

[MoonUnit]

Day 69: 3L of ph 5.59/1600ppm with RO of 6.38/1.88.

@Smoking Frog I've read conflicting things about aggressive defoliation. It will get light further into the canopy to help mature bud sites, but buds don't have photoreceptors, they need leaves to generate energy for growth and flowering. If you chop all the leaves, it seems to me that the plant then has to expend energy on growing more leaves instead of focusing on flowers. (see https://www.cocoforcannabis.com/community/photons_corner/to-defoliate-or-not-to-defoliate/)

That said, I did decide it was due a significant haircut so here she is before and after.

I took ALOT off and she's still a bush

 

[hairyman]

looking good,,, right decision on the not too heavy defoil,,,,that cant be an auto in that vid

 

[420Forever]

Day 69: 3L of ph 5.59/1600ppm with RO of 6.38/1.88.

@Smoking Frog I've read conflicting things about aggressive defoliation. It will get light further into the canopy to help mature bud sides, but buds don't have photoreceptors, they need leaves to generate energy for growth and flowering. If you chop all the leaves, it seems to me that the plant then has to expend energy on growing more leaves instead of focusing on flowers. (see https://www.cocoforcannabis.com/community/photons_corner/to-defoliate-or-not-to-defoliate/)

That said, I did decide it was due a significant haircut so here she is before and after.
View attachment 1131791
View attachment 1131792

I took ALOT off and she's still a bush

lookz exactly the same ppp

 

[MoonUnit]

lookz exactly the same ppp

I know right! ...and that was about an hour and half of trimming

 

[Smoking Frog]

So much conflicting tips on Youtube and the net but removing a lot of leaves worked fine for me.
Also read that it is the growing new leaves that help most with photosynthesis...Again,true or false.I don't know...but plant look good!Will post a pic :smoking:
@hairyman first ever grow here.Are you saying the growing tips for photos don't apply to autos?
Trying to learn ...
Edit:That's how she looks 11 days after heavy defoliation.She really took off 24 hrs after...Sorry for the threadjack.

 

[dwizzlex]

Day 22: Took off another pair of leaves to try and get more light to the nodes underneath. She's a compact girl right now!
No water today.

View attachment 1113533
View attachment 1113534

As a 1st time grower, I'm enjoying your excellent journal. I have considered pruning some larger leaves in my grow but am a bit anxious about damaging the plant / grow. What snipping equipment do you use and where do you snip? I will carry on reading your journal now....
Cheers

 

[MoonUnit]

@Smoking Frog So I'm no expert so make of it what you will. When leaves are developing, they are 'sinks' i.e. they require more energy than they produce. Mature leaves are sources, they export more energy to the plant than they take in a form that is easier for the plant to use.
The plant has to work harder to turn nutrients into food than it does the sugars that mature leaves can provide.

Therefore, aggressive defoliation causes the plant to work harder to convert nutrients into food and also produce leaves. Therefore less energy is available to flower, it can stress the plant and slow maturation.

Without running a test with two plants, one not defoliated and one with, it is anecdotal that the buds do better without the leaves than with them. The increased light penetration and air circulation though is def a bonus so whatever works for you.

Personally, I'll opt for less extreme chopping and accept the larf that will likely come with it.

If I had a do-over, I'd prob do a few things diff now.
1) Keep light higher and lower output for longer to encourage stretch
2) For my next non-timelapse grow, I might try 20/4 schedule (again for a bit more stretch)
3) I know now NL is bushy, I'd top her between 4-6th node or supercrop
4) I'd do less of a wet/dry cycle - coco has the best water/oxygen ratio when fully wet I've learned and I was a little too rationing once past the seedling stage.
5) I'd pop the seed a little deeper (if you see how she started, she came up still with her helmet on)
6) trim some of the small lower tops early on which really won't develop to avoid her wasting energy on them.

All part of the learning and fun of my first grow though

 

[MoonUnit]

As a 1st time grower, I'm enjoying your excellent journal. I have considered pruning some larger leaves in my grow but am a bit anxious about damaging the plant / grow. What snipping equipment do you use and where do you snip? I will carry on reading your journal now....
Cheers

Thanks, glad you are enjoying it. I'm using regular ol' draper snips from amazon for my chopping. Seen plenty of videos of folks just using their fingers though. I've read not to cut too close to the stem as it could a) damage b) get infected. I usually leave a wee stump around 1cm or so.

Obviously depends on your strain/plant but as you can see how bushy mine is and how much/many leaves I've been trimming the whole time, she doesn't seem to mind at all.

 

[dwizzlex]

@Smoking Frog So I'm no expert so make of it what you will. When leaves are developing, they are 'sinks' i.e. they require more energy than they produce. Mature leaves and sources, they export more energy to the plant than they take in a form that is easier for the plant to use.
The plant has to work harder to turn nutrients into food than it does the sugars that mature leaves can provide.

Therefore, aggressively defoliation causes the plant to work harder to convert nutrients into food and also produce leaves. Therefore less energy is available to flower, it can stress the plant and slow maturation.

Without running a test with two plants, one not defoliated and one with, it is anecdotal that the buds do better without the leaves than with them. The increased light penetration and air circulation though is def a bonus so whatever works for you.

Personally, I'll opt for less extreme chopping and accept the larf that will likely come with it.

If I had a do-over, I'd prob do a few things diff now.
1) Keep light higher and lower for longer to encourage stretch
2) For my next non-timelapse grow, I might try 20/4 schedule (again for a bit more stretch)
3) I know now NL is bushy, I'd top her between 4-6th node or supercrop
4) I'd do less of a wet/dry cycle - coco has the best water/oxygen ratio when fully wet I've learned and I was a little too rationing once past the seedling stage.
5) I'd pop the seed a little deeper (if you see how she started, she came up still with her helmet on)

All part of the learning and fun of my first grow though

Great info, much appreciated.
I've carried out some minor LST, so will probably stick with that for now (Day 26).
My light (VS LED) on full spectrum is about 24" from canopy. Small and bushy Mephisto plants. Not sure if I should raise light to encourage vertical growth. I'm pretty much 24/7, but give it the odd hour of darkness now and then.
Feel that I should be watering more, but desperate not to over-water.