I hadn’t because he’s already helping me on an issue with a plant and the man is so busy I didn’t want to add to his workload. But, since you tagged him, I’M IN!! Lol!
Oh trust me, I'd be willing to bet he mouthed some swear words when he saw I tagged him in here
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Dammit Beavis!! I'ma start chargin' $$ anymore....
... actually, I saw this earlier, and was trying to remember where I saw some series of pics of a grow-op' that did some serious defol'ing, and did get great results,.. plants looked funny as hell, "lollipoped" too, but the bud load was looking A-OK to me,....but these folks had been dialing in their methodology for some time, and in a
well optimized environment... I can't remember WhTF I saw it here, it's been a while now,... but I admit I was blown away by the end results! I've seen others do similar things, and
lament it,...
Big picture, I think it's a very conditional thing and depends a lot on just how much you remove, and at one time as well (shock/stress issues),.. some light defol' is fine, a few leaves here, a few there, won't have that significant of an impact on the plant overall, if it's otherwise healthy. I do some on my plants, mainly to when the tops become compacted and congested, which opens up better air flow (and all that helps with) and get better light into the tighter spaces,... Sometimes really squat plants that smother themselves and the lateral growth can benefit from some select leaf removal, to get them to stretch and open up more, sooner... In nature, some leaves would normally be snacked on, or lost by other means, so that's part of a plants compensation/tolerance deal,... Talk to some folks that have had deer or other vermin "prune" their plants for them-
- sometimes you get a funky bush that still grows and yields well, other times (like Vlad here this last guerilla season) they get hammered hard, grind their way back, but are much reduced in production,...
The other side of the coin: Keep in mind the leaves are the primary energy factories, CO2 uptake, water/transpiration sites, and do house most of the mobile nutrients "extra's",....so hacking away at them pell-mell is more likely to TARFU them than help! I'm no expert on this, and as mentioned, some growers find success in doing this, others don't, and there's a huge tangle of specifics and variables that play into the pro's and con's behind it.... thing risk-benefit analysis,...
For you case, some nip and tuck should see you just fine,... Personally, I do tend to leave the fans on upper colas alone, as they are local reserves for mobile nutes that come in handy late bloom; mobilizing nutes is energy costly, and they don't always tap into the lowest leaves to get them, Mama nature is smarter and more efficient than that,... That said, (RE: Q 1) taking a couple to reduce shading right below is OK,... in the second set, thos fans sticking out could be taken, but why, they don't seem to be problematic (but then I can't see the whole angles/perspective either)
Q2: nawww, it won't do harm, small losses aren't that impactful,... Now, it's smart to remove a node or two's worth of scruffy lower bud sites that won't amount to squat, more of that selective pruning thing,.. carried out to more extremes, this is the lollipopping thing, getting rid of resource wasting parts and getting more put into primary bud sites,... nobody likes larfy shit!
..Oh another side concern, I (re)learned the hard way outside this season: if you take a leaf, leave some of the petiole behind; I had some botrytis move into the main stem from the "wounds" left behind by nipping too close or yanking nearly tapped leaves off! That is a instant shit-show, as bot's will travel via the vascular system right up into new territory, doing it rotting from inside out-
.. nothing to do there but weep and cut like it's gangrene
.... So leaving a bit od stem can help reduce the opening size, and the distance traveled to get to main stem tissue,.. the petiole will dry out soon too, halting potential progress,... otherwise I use a powdered Sulfur product made into a think "paint" and basted onto open surfaces to clog access and kill pathogens,....
ause:
ause:
ause: ... gotta go, BBL,...
