Should I defoliate or lollipop my plants because of how bushy they are?

I'm considering taking off most of the very bottom growth because of how little light it is getting and to help improve airflow. My RH is usually 67 - 71% and I'm on day 50, so it should be lower.


I am lazy so I do not defoliate much but you have the right idea. Defoliate underneath for air flow.

I cannot be sure because of the video but it looks like you may be having a little bit of micro-nutrient deficiencies. The plants in the right rear look a little lime green. You may need to up the nutrients a bit or check the PH in the root zone.
 
I'm still new to this, so that being said. Unless you have another tent to put i couple in, I say defoliate em.

Happy grow Happy harvest :toke:
Those plants do look a little hungry. Plants in stretch need nutrients. I like 2-8-4 at this stage. Teaspoon of epsom salts in the water once a week.
I like to make calcium carbonate from eggshells and vinegar (you tube) and use a teaspoon of the liquid once a week as well. Are you using any microbes?

I would pop off everything from the soil line to 6"-8" up including any popcorn nugs.

TBH before the lower stuff I would take each plant out and look straight down. Pretend you are the light. Any large fan leaf that is significantly blocking a lower potential good cola site take it off.
I dont take more than 5% of leaves off at any one time and always give a couple days for recovery after. So remove fans and 2 or 3 days later trim up the bottom. You can always tuck some fan leaves to keep from having to take too many off at once.
That is what I would do.

Plants look great by the way!
 
I cannot be sure because of the video but it looks like you may be having a little bit of micro-nutrient deficiencies. The plants in the right rear look a little lime green. You may need to up the nutrients a bit or check the PH in the root zone.


So, the plants are showing signs for two deficiencies, but I've addressed them both. The discoloration is light bleaching, and I was able to move my lights up and dim them slightly. The brown spots are from cal/mag issues - either a deficiency or a lockout caused by too much cal/mag - and I've switched cal/mag sources, plus I tinkered with the dosage, so they should be fine now.


TBH before the lower stuff I would take each plant out and look straight down. Pretend you are the light. Any large fan leaf that is significantly blocking a lower potential good cola site take it off.
I dont take more than 5% of leaves off at any one time and always give a couple days for recovery after. So remove fans and 2 or 3 days later trim up the bottom. You can always tuck some fan leaves to keep from having to take too many off at once.
That is what I would do.

Plants look great by the way!


I did some relatively light defoliation and lollipopping. I say "relatively" because I had a bag of leaves and spindly stems that I harvested mostly from the bottom of the plant (far beneath where the light penetrates). This noticeably lowered my RH by about 5% and visibly improved air flow, so I think it was worth the trade off of stressing the plant. I most likely won't be going back for more, though this strain seems to yellow leaves and have them fall off naturally (perhaps more so because of light penetration issues) so I'm sure it'll naturally defoliate itself a bit more before harvest.


I'd say she has about another 3 weeks to go minimum. The breeder says it'll be done week 8, but I'm in week 8 and only one plant's pistils have just slightly started turning red, so I doubt it.
 
I have a full bottle of cal/mag. Never use it. 2 totally different things. Obviously. Calcium LO happens from PH and a conflict with Potassium. I do not think you have hammered them with Potassium so...
I'm sure you are keeping the microbes up. Like I said i do once a week tsp of calcium I make and 1 tsp of epsom salts once a week. Not same day. There is a potential conflict with Sulphur and calcium in solution. They can bind and create something that the plants can not use
 
I have a full bottle of cal/mag. Never use it. 2 totally different things. Obviously. Calcium LO happens from PH and a conflict with Potassium. I do not think you have hammered them with Potassium so...
I'm sure you are keeping the microbes up. Like I said i do once a week tsp of calcium I make and 1 tsp of epsom salts once a week. Not same day. There is a potential conflict with Sulphur and calcium in solution. They can bind and create something that the plants can not use

Actually, I have been giving them Bud Explosion, which is a PK booster. That could be causing lockout issues with calcium, no? But that wouldn't explain the brown spots, which I believe are magnesium. Just thinking out loud here.
 
Yes potential potassium is antagonizing the calcium. Magnesium will be a lightening of the leaf area between the veins. Not the veins.
 
Interesting. I think I'll try lowering the dose of Bud Explosion. I guess it's a little too much K. I was already below the 1 g/gal recommended dose, so I guess this strain is a light feeder.
 
Back
Top