New Grower What do you think about defoilation?

[oldcoot]

When i started growing autos in that cabinet, i was lucky to get 3 oz off a plant.
Now with defol and other methods i get 8 or more.
Maybe its me i dont know but 8 is a hell of a lot better than 3.

 

[Resinhound]

Dosent look like your in a small cabinet either my friend.

On the contrary I'm in a 2x2 with very low vertical clearance. This is why I've learned to maximize my product by creating bud growth as far down the plant as possible . I learned early on since I don't have the height to grow tall plants, I needed to learn how to grow buds as far down as possible. And stripping leaves isn't the answer, intelligent pruning is.

Anecdotal evidence is one thing, science is another.

 

[oldcoot]

Ah ok. Didnt think that was grown in a box.very nicely done then.
Well im still learning my self so once again i stand corrected.
Thankyou

 

[Cat]

Well I don't think I have a choice.
I have defoliated big time on this girl. Sometimes I had to take leaves off days apart and every time she took off.
if not she wouldn't have grown more than a foot high, she was that thick with leaves.
I have also cut a lot of lower branches off, again no choice and as you can see I should have took off more lower branches.
I have got her naked at least 3 times.
Now I have never topped any auto but when you get a girl that goes gonzo like this, that will be included in future grows if needed.
Almost every top you see has been broke over 3 to 4 different places 90 degrees till they snapped ( supercrop ) to slow down growth as I'm now about 9 inches from my lights.
And the plants took off. I have seen no ill effects to this except this might be why all my grows take 3 months or more to harvest.
But if I keep getting 1/2 pound or more off one plant in that little grow box, I'm good with it.
I am a big fan of supercropping.
I am now hoping she is done growing and in the fattening stage.
Everything I have read says this is a 70 day strain, I'm now at around 75 and maybe a month to go.she is a candy kush.
And by the looks of her now, yeah I'll get a another nice harvest.
If they fatten up thick, i'll guess 9 to 10 oz's.
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That's a lovely plant you have there. I follow a couple of people on this forum who defoliate and supercrop, with no bad effects. It makes so much more sense to allow as much light as possible to the buds, especially when the plant is sooo bushy. I'd be jumping with joy at 9oz.

 

[Cat]

...Come to think of it, I'd be jumping with joy for 1oz on my first grow

 

[oldcoot]

Thanks cat. I do what i have to do.
Twice now ive been told im doing things wrong.
Im done here, i really was just going from my experence but i am still new and learning.
It works for me as of now but im open to learning better ways.
Anyway thanks.
Im outa here !

 

[Eyes on Fire]

done what wrong by what by who? plant looks fine to me,we all learn and those that think that defoliation is either wrong or un needed or just wrong or an undesirable trait to learn,well thats just someones way of saying theyre close minded is all and not willing to learn a better and very useful tool in the growers toolbox thats HIGHLY necessary to use and understand. its a simplistic photosynthesis principle thats required for light penetration. LST is a similar thing too its just dont with branches,but again, moving or pruning whole branches is a lil more of a Medium stress thing, and wont always solve the penetration issue or if a bud ,node is hiding under(RIGHT UNDER) a big ole leaf and light green..ya gonna snap that branch? nah I think not. LOL!

 

[Resinhound]

There are 2 main arguments I always hear for pro defoilating and those are both incorrect and based off flawed logic.

1.leaves block light.
This is perhaps the worst offender and nothing can be further from the truth. Leaves absorb light and the compounds created from that photosynthesis are not just used locally but throughout the plant. In addition the cells of a leaves are not fully opaque and it has been demonstrated that up to 24% of light passes through the leaf entirely, this is WHY plants have evolved over millions of years to LAYER leaves.

2.buds need access to light.

Again another fallacy based on flawed logic. Buds are sinks, leaves are sources. There are very few photoreceptors present on buds and reduced chlorophyll, reduced everything that's needed for active light exposure.

When you lollipop for example, all you are doing is forcing the plant to only grow buds vertical. Which I learned a long time ago is bad if you have tight headroom. I train my plants to grow bud all the way to the dirt, and they are solid.

Intelligent pruning and training is one thing, stripping leaves is another. If you want to grow alot of bud in small spaces learn to properly prune shoots to direct energy. Don't just strip leaves. Have a plan, and not just "so buds can get light" or for "better penetration".Plants layer leaves for a reason, it's called diffuse light and they know what they are doing.

 

[Eyes on Fire]

leaves block light?LMFAO dude Im sorry but your wrong bro, I went around and around with a guy and the testes were inssued with stress testes as well as pictures of LIGHTLY green leaves obviously lacked in light so that there is 100% incorrect firstly ,I Im not talkng about buds,Im talking about energy performance within the photosynthesis aspect of growing a bud NOT the bud itself. so that statement is full of holes bro.

 

[Resinhound]

Leaves do not block light, they absorb it.

Leaves are layered for a reason for efficient photosynthesis. When you remove the plants ability to layer leaves you are only reducing the total surface area of energy producing matter. Plain and simple . You don't want a lot of light hitting the dirt, you want that light Passing through as many layered leaves as possible.

These are not my assumptions, this is fact. It's called botany.