Removing fan leaves

[2budz]

What week are these, amigo? I’m still getting a feel for what the progression of autos should look like. I do suspect that I experienced some delay in early flower and an extra long stretch... so I’m trying to get a visual idea of what week I may actually be on now. With that adjusted time table I can properly adjust my feed schedule

Day 33. These plants are a little stunted, I had a watering issue in the beginning. I didn’t even think they were gonna make it.

 

[Suki]

Partway through this girls haircut (legs went numb after a while from sitting/kneeling so I had to stop partway through) shes been defoliated countless times and is still bushy AF. She was also topped at 3 successive nodes, starting at the second and didn't even blink. Old pic but illustrates what I did.

She got her first topping at 10 days.

 

[Suki]

An older side shot so you can see how much under canopy I take.

 

[olbobcat]

Topping seems to be one practice in particular that’s heavily debated on autos and based on my experience cultivating cannabis in general; I can see how the timing Of when you top would Be crucial for autos. I’ve also seen breeders stating that certain auto cultivars don’t respond well.

it’s definitely a chore that needs done multiple times a day early on in VEG but I’ve had great results doing some creative LST. My 5 Gallon DWC buckets have adhesive hooks on the lid all around the Net pot as well as the outside edge of the lid. I use wire tie early on to bend the top down and then rotate the tie down location around the circle to avoid an extreme 90 degree angle on that branch. This effectively breaks that top cola dominance.

Worked on all Of my autos but one on this current run. The one that didn’t respond; I ended up simulating a super crop using wire tie downs withoutActually breaking or weakening the stem

The point of the supercrop is not to manipulate the stem for design purposes, but to stress the plant and it will have a hormonal reaction that causes the bud to grow bigger. If you super crop a stem and don't tie it down it will recover sometimes within hours, not even a full day. If I was not lazy about it. I would try to do every stem of every plant.

 

[420autoflower]

I've never seen this before how old would you do that on your girls its not something id do but I'm very interested also @Gdiddydank I remove leaves and any age especially if shes gonna stop airflow but only if a plant is very healthy I also top and supercrop and have had great success and I feel you need to try stuff as that's how your learn what works just go easy

I do it when the plants are midway through flower (weeks 4-5) and already have frost on them, to avoid touching the colas. The leaves that I’m shearing off are the ones deep inside the buds that I can’t pick off. I’ve always grown SOG and basically do the same routine to all my crops and haven’t had any problems yet.
I’m probably wrong… but my way of thinking, is that the colas are already covered with green plant matter to absorb energy, and really don’t need the big fan leaves that are blocking all the precious light and air flow. Maybe some of the energy keeping the fan leaves alive is directed to growing the buds.
Who knows!!!

 

[2budz]

I do it when the plants are midway through flower (weeks 4-5) and already have frost on them, to avoid touching the colas. The leaves that I’m shearing off are the ones deep inside the buds that I can’t pick off. I’ve always grown SOG and basically do the same routine to all my crops and haven’t had any problems yet.
I’m probably wrong… but my way of thinking, is that the colas are already covered with green plant matter to absorb energy, and really don’t need the big fan leaves that are blocking all the precious light and air flow. Maybe some of the energy keeping the fan leaves alive is directed to growing the buds.
Who knows!!!

I think you're probably right my friend. I'vs seen your tents, you definitely know what you're doing.

 

[420autoflower]

I think you're probably right my friend. I'vs seen your tents, you definitely know what you're doing.

Thanks 2budz!

 

[Suki]

The point of the supercrop is not to manipulate the stem for design purposes, but to stress the plant and it will have a hormonal reaction that causes the bud to grow bigger. If you super crop a stem and don't tie it down it will recover sometimes within hours, not even a full day. If I was not lazy about it. I would try to do every stem of every plant.

I will start at the bottom of a stem and repeated supercrop to form it how I want. The trick for me is to create a bend with a <90* angle (tips pointing down, not straight out). Sometimes it sticks the first time, other times I have to repeat it to get it where I want it. May not be as precise as tieing them down but a hell of a lot quicker lol.

 

[MonteVerde]

I was looking into this earlier and came across this thread: https://www.autoflower.org/threads/the-science-of-leaf-pruning-defoliation.69227/

There's arguements for and against, the view I found most interesting was referenced in this post:

https://www.autoflower.org/threads/the-science-of-leaf-pruning-defoliation.69227/post-2049034

If you read some of comments by Dr Photon they state the difference between pruning and defoliating.

I think it makes sense to prune some of the fan leaves to improve airflow and reduce the risk of mould as opposed to defoliating indiscriminately in order to increase yield.

Excellent read, thank you!