New Grower Head First... Learn quicker than the auto grows journal!

[Mushinronsha]

Are you thinking about defoliating?

Question about pruning... I know you can remove the smaller sprouts to reduce popcorn buds but what about fan leaves? How many of those do you want to leave, if any and at what time? Ive basically just been removing a dozen or so every few days, as I feel like my ladies shouldn't be wasting energy on growing leaves at this point. But Im also worried that Im shaving her down and she is spending time to heal vs grow.

 

[davisgirl]

Gosh I wish I knew the answers. Defoliation is like the final flush — passionate feelings on both sides. I’m a big fan of defoliation, but I’m learning as I go. I honestly think your plant will tell you. Some people do a handful every time they see the plant. I tended to attack and then sit back and see what effect it was having - I had that luxury only because they vegged for so ducking long.

One good rule of thumb is, if it’s shading a possible bud site, remove it. Another is, if it’s not getting light, remove it. But if you did that you’d have no leaves.

Watch some YouTube videos, there are a lot on defoliation. Then take that information and see what works for your ladies.

 

[Mushinronsha]

Gosh I wish I knew the answers. Defoliation is like the final flush — passionate feelings on both sides. I’m a big fan of defoliation, but I’m learning as I go. I honestly think your plant will tell you. Some people do a handful every time they see the plant. I tended to attack and then sit back and see what effect it was having - I had that luxury only because they vegged for so ducking long.

One good rule of thumb is, if it’s shading a possible bud site, remove it. Another is, if it’s not getting light, remove it. But if you did that you’d have no leaves.

Watch some YouTube videos, there are a lot on defoliation. Then take that information and see what works for your ladies.

Yea.I kind of got the same thing. Seems like a devisive question. I try to play it by ear but i get this kind of ocd thing going on where i dont want any of the leaves touching lol. Maybe ill try to leave her alone from here out. Ive trimmed off a lot of the bigger fan leaves and everything seems like it getting light. Sometimes less is more it seems. Thanks as always for the quick feedback!

 

[Mushinronsha]

Evening all. My week end update and things have slowed down tremendously. These flower sites haven't changed in almost 3 weeks it seems... We are at day 49.

Not sure if they are ever going to start growing buds. We can see the hairs but seems to have stalled. Stopped by our local hydro shop and the owner threw me some Fox Farm "Open Sesame". I havn' t heard much about these products but she swore that it would help them bloom. Everything else condition wise seems on par so I'm not sure if this is normal progress or not. Im worried some of our past mistakes have put us too far behind and we wont get anything out of her.

In other news we have moved the light again and we are completely out of places to move it if this doesnt work out lol

Well thats really all I got for this weeks end. I'd love to hear anyone's thoughts on this fox farm stuff if you have ever used it?

Also, Meant to ask @EvilScotsman about I thought I saw you mention kelp for hydro in one of the forums but couldnt find it. Could you maybe fill me in on what product you use the how/why etc?

 

[Iriee Vibez]

Question about pruning... I know you can remove the smaller sprouts to reduce popcorn buds but what about fan leaves? How many of those do you want to leave, if any and at what time? Ive basically just been removing a dozen or so every few days, as I feel like my ladies shouldn't be wasting energy on growing leaves at this point. But Im also worried that Im shaving her down and she is spending time to heal vs grow.

I am not even going to answer that, as you know where I stand on defoliation since you visited my current journal!

 

[Iriee Vibez]

Evening all. My week end update and things have slowed down tremendously. These flower sites haven't changed in almost 3 weeks it seems... We are at day 49.View attachment 996350 View attachment 996351

Not sure if they are ever going to start growing buds. We can see the hairs but seems to have stalled. Stopped by our local hydro shop and the owner threw me some Fox Farm "Open Sesame". I havn' t heard much about these products but she swore that it would help them bloom. Everything else condition wise seems on par so I'm not sure if this is normal progress or not. Im worried some of our past mistakes have put us too far behind and we wont get anything out of her.

In other news we have moved the light again and we are completely out of places to move it if this doesnt work out lol View attachment 996353 View attachment 996354



Well thats really all I got for this weeks end. I'd love to hear anyone's thoughts on this fox farm stuff if you have ever used it?

Also, Meant to ask @EvilScotsman about I thought I saw you mention kelp for hydro in one of the forums but couldnt find it. Could you maybe fill me in on what product you use the how/why etc?

The plant looks great, man! Love the leaf size and color! Looks like she wants to produce monster buds for you! I wouldn't worry about major defoliation until it starts to flower, and you see what you have. I have seen some folks trigger flower by giving them 24 hours of darkness. That might do the trick, but if you have no height concerns, I would let her go for a couple more weeks. You can then switch to 12/12 if she hasn't responded. I saw where some plants would Auto after day 60. Right, @davisgirl?

 

[Mushinronsha]

I am not even going to answer that, as you know where I stand on defoliation since you visited my current journal!

I saw that. I don't think I'm much better honestly. If you look at the one picture of the under growth I have basically lollipop'd these ladies and I was told from another grower that once the stems turns redish/purple it means the fan leaf is stressing the plant out and to prune it. I guess the best I've seen is someone's quote along the lines of.. " I grow buds, I'm not a leaf farmer!" lol. I guess we will just wait them out at this point. But also height is a big concern. We are out of space, thats why our light is on the side of tent at a 45. Just maybe she is a late bloomer . Fingers crossed!

 

[Iriee Vibez]

I saw that. I don't think I'm much better honestly. If you look at the one picture of the under growth I have basically lollipop'd these ladies and I was told from another grower that once the stems turns redish/purple it means the fan leaf is stressing the plant out and to prune it. I guess the best I've seen is someone's quote along the lines of.. " I grow buds, I'm not a leaf farmer!" lol. I guess we will just wait them out at this point. But also height is a big concern. We are out of space, thats why our light is on the side of tent at a 45. Just maybe she is a late bloomer . Fingers crossed!

I didn't notice you had the light tilted due to height restrictions. Now is the perfect time to supercrop her, in my opinion. I would definitely do that before tilting the light. I found the most important thing for bud density and development is giving them direct access to the light. The buds on the other side of the plant will suffer and be airy if you don't supplement lighting, or at least get the one you have straight over the plant.

By supercropping now, you will create more bud sites, expose them to the light, and lower the height of the plant to half of what it is now. Hmmmm...

 

[Iriee Vibez]

If that were my tent, I would also clip those fan leaves on the tall plant that are growing over the shorter plant. I had that situation during my first grow, and ended up having to buy a cob to hang lower and dorectly above the smaller plant a small the larger plant was still shadowing her from the overhead light. I would also try to train the branches away from the middle of the tray to give the smaller plants as much light and room as possible. They can be monster bud producers if they don't get overshadowed! Pardon the pun!

 

[EvilScotsman]

Haha shit mate you better get her tied down. Still gotta double in size! I’m not even kiddin. An easy foot of growth still to come. Could supercrop as Iree pointed out but I’ve dabbled in it and it’s not as simple as it sounds. Easier and more reliable to just tie the tops down from my experiments. She’ll go crazy bushy a few days later though so prepare yourself. Might have to give a good hard defol.
Wasn’t me with the kelp I’m afraid. I’m strictly chemical nutes so to speak.
Big fan of defol though. Key is not to take both leaves off any node that you want to see grow. Cos it won’t lol.
Start from the middle and focus on the leaves that are blocking light. If removing them isnt going to benefit something you want to see grow lower down then don’t touch. No point removing leaves from the outside of the plant iether.
Little and often is better than lots at once. Some strains really don’t like it so gotta break em in gently till your sure. Any more than 30% defol and your entering the danger zone. Can fuck em right up if you take too much off and trust me it’s heartbreaking lol.