Should I defoliate my autos?

[Myskellos]

HI everyone, as thread title, my babies are 30 days old, the Fat Banana (bigger one) is stretching as much as 1" each 2 days, maybe even more. The quick one is not really stretching, and it's a little droopy,maybe due to a bit of over watering.

Should I defoliate at least the Fat Banana? It has a really crowded canopy, a shit ton of fan leaves. I've read mixed opinions if defoliation is a good thing for autos. Also timing is disputed. Any advice?

Thanks!

 

[Olderfart]

I remove leaves only to make sure I have good air movement through the canopy.

Since you are not flowering yet, mold on buds is not a risk, but if your RH is on the high side, powdery mildew is. I would open things up if your RH is on the high side (say >60% or so), but if less than that, I would let them stretch more to see what the structure is once they get bigger. And, of course, keep that air moving. If they are still dense once flowering, I would get out the scissors and open things up low in the canopy to make sure you have good air movement throughout.

OTOH, I am relatively new in this mischief, so if you get different advice from one of the gurus, you should ignore me.

Beautiful healthy plants by the way, nice work so far.

 

[Arthur]

Looks like she could use some leaf removal. Leaves are the banks of the plant, make sure to leave a savings account.
I'm a tucker before removal, but removal is normally necessary. As to timing, I try and avoid any stressors during transition to flower.

 

[Capt.Quirk]

With my autos I will bend, tuck and tie down, removing as a last resort and then, only a small percentage.

 

[BII]

I only remove a leaf if it's sickly looking and blocking other leaves or a good-sized bud, mostly just in mid and later bloom phase. To me, all healthy green leaves are good, no reason to pluck them.

 

[Myskellos]

I did not remove any leaf yet, except for dead ones. I tuck and bend them when needed.
Message clear, I will defoliate only as last option, and in case, in late blooming, not in stretching


Thanks!!

 

[OttoCBD]

A good rule of thumb that I go by is to remove only inward facing secondary fan leaves if they can't be tucked away.

 

[Duceduck]

My girl is about the same age as yours and is also short and bushy. I've done some tucking but did go in to prune away some fans. That was about a week ago and she's recovered but has also bushed up again blocking new shoots. The fans are much stronger than the new shoots so it looks like they push the shoots around a lot by blocking them or reaching over the top of the shoots. I may be going back in this week to snip a few more away. Trying not to stress her out too much, i've also tied down some of the fans to keep them from stretching up too much and more to the side.

 

[low_and_slow]

I tuck until the stretch is 99.9% done (18-20 days after calyxes first appear usually), then cut away any large fan leaf with a long long petiole, usually targeting leaves that are about the size of my hand. Start from the top down to prioritize the leaves covering lower buds. Going bottom up 'lollipop' style is more of a photoperiod trick.

Try to remove less than 1/3rd of the total above-ground leaf matter at a time.

 

[Myskellos]

Thanks for the reply everyone! Appreciate the effort

Question aside: is it normal during the flowering stage (now day 32) that the flowers are so stretched?