New Grower What do you think about defoilation?

[witchyhour]

Im for it as well and start light defoliation in veg( as early as 10-15 days),then continue thru flower.Autos can take it,but then again I top,fim,mainline and scrog autos.....

You're a beast! [emoji106] [emoji122]

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[oldcoot]

Wow. Sorry, rough day yesterday.
Didnt realize you were in flower.
Bad day all around yesterday.
I have no choice but to pull leaves in a small cabinet.
When i started growing, everyone said dont touch leaves.
My 1st and second grow, didnt touch leaves and got around 2 to 3 oz.
Now i average 6 to 9 oz.
I lst, supercrop alot and remove whole branches .
Hope that helps.
That pic of mine was plucked 5 times so far.

 

[oldcoot]

I aint no pound grower but i think 9 oz from a itty bitty space is pretty good .
Works for me anyway.

 

[oldcoot]

One last thing i am in hydro, plants react alot faster than soil grown plants.
@babnik. Its up to you.
Some say not to in flower but i do right up to harvest if i have too.
And remember i still am a noobie .
The old masters still say not too.
Good luck

 

[M_C]

I defoliate as required but I usually don't take anything until the stretch has stopped & I can see the final shape of the plant

 

[G.Leave]

My automazar grow is very bushy. It seems like the LEDs penetrate quite ok. Considering some defoilation, but I won't until I get some proper advice and instruction.

@oldcoot, @912GreenSkell, what about writing a tutorial for us children?

What would you do here?

View attachment 600103

Though I did put a defoliation section in the training guide I wrote(link in sig), I don't feel I would be experienced enough in defoliation to write a specialized guide(only started defoliating last summer). Its something I certainly will be playing with more in the future. Honestly I think @HolyTHC should be throwing in some input!!

 

[Dr. Babnik]

I'd go for the big fan leaves, remove a few each day.

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One last thing i am in hydro, plants react alot faster than soil grown plants.
@babnik. Its up to you.
Some say not to in flower but i do right up to harvest if i have too.
And remember i still am a noobie .
The old masters still say not too.
Good luck

Though I did put a defoliation section in the training guide I wrote(link in sig), I don't feel I would be experienced enough in defoliation to write a specialized guide(only started defoliating last summer). Its something I certainly will be playing with more in the future. Honestly I think @HolyTHC should be throwing in some input!!

I did as @witchyhour said. It looks more crowded than it really is. I removed 2 leaves on one plant and 1 leaf on another. That was all.

Our Lady of the Balcony, on the other hand, got all her major leaves removed. I will chop her Thursday due to need of weed. She should go 2-3 weeks more, but milky trichs will do. The small, low grade sample buds gave s nice, energetic high.

 

[oldcoot]

I have been plucking, bending, cutting, twisting, wedgeing, and whatever i need to.
Ive only done this the last two years and thats only out of necessity and whether it makes a difference in soil, perlite whatever I dont know .
Im willing to bet if i tried a grow in soil
It would be a disaster.
Im a noobie and just saying from my experence.
All i really know and still learning is dwc in a controled cabinet.
Thanks though

 

[Dr. Babnik]

Thanks, @oldcoot! Wait until you see pics of the stem. I was told it would be big, so it underwent training to grow in circles around her self. The stem is rotated into a spiral shape. It is my coolest plant when it comes to training.

 

[HolyTHC]

Okay, here are some advises on defoliation, maybe it will help.

For photos:
in veg - whenever, whatever, it will grow back.
in flowering - week after switching and in 4th week

For autos:
in veg (preflower) - totally not recommended.
in flower - strict defol not recommended, but you can remove a pair of some leaves here ant there every 3-4 days.

General advises:
Never remove a leaf just to remove it. Only remove leaf if there are buds under it.
Never remove more than 30% of green mass.
It is better to cut once in few days, than every day.
Cut only these fan leaf and only ones with stems longer than 1-2 cm.
Never cut any of sugar leaf.
Try better to remove not whole leaf but few fingers, which has buds under it. This will make plant think that it's attacked and push efforts to regenerate green mass in bud sites, but without losing all leaf, so there is some balance for plant to not freak out because of cuttings and to give all energy for further growth, that is natural defense mechanism, like terpene profile.
Always triple check your tea when defoliating. Tea that was good for untouched plant with many leaf could be too strong for defoliated plant and can easily burn your buds. This is mostly important in 5th week of flowering. Always lower some EC together with defol. You can also give some pharma vitamin B to teas, that will help with stress relief.
Remember, that defoliated node almost stops to grow after defol.
Remember, that non -defoliated plants have bigger buds (that does mean bigger yelds).
Never cut plant which is not completely healthy!
And last and main thing: if you doubt about cutting - do not cut it!