I trimed on a couple colas just to see. Actualy ended up more leafy than the others at the end. Ill stick to leaving the leaves till after I cut the colas. Then do I nice trim to ripen the popcorns at the base.
Yes For indoor and no for out. Indoor the light is constant. Defoliate indoor to have a good air circulation between the plants. When the leafes touch themsels the humidity get into the leafes. Sent from my GT-I9505 using Grasscity Forum mobile app
Defoliation goes against the principle of plants. You need the leaves so the plant can preform photosynthesis. Lower bud sites tend to be smaller because the leaves around them don't get enough light. Instead of defoliating try lsting the leaves so each one gets the light it needs to grow healthier sized buds. Or add supplemental light to the lower sites. Never cut healthy leaves EVER!
Defoliation high yield technique,google it,read the article good,and you'll discover a new level off growth and yield,definitely yes iff you're an advanced grower,long story short,u can triple and quarter your yields,I'd recommend it with indicas or indica dominant,frosty is wright....
indoors, yes, as light penetration is such a huge issue, some defoliation is a good thing but outside, I highly doubt a triple yield from pulling fan leaves off.
Depending on the strain sometimes you have to take some leaves off. Some strains are just too leafy and stubby and none of the buds except the top buds will ever get light if you don't take some of the fan leaves off, a few here a few there. If you have a number of plants, tying down each leaf individually is not an option. Other strains don't have a lot of leaf, like if you took fan leaves off GSC you'd have no leaves left.
Thanks everyone for your contribution to this thread. I was thinking about de-foliating this year, but I read more than 1 blade saying that indoor, yes, and outdoor, no. So since I have an outdoor grow, and it's so late in the season, I will leave them be. But thanks for the info you guys!
I'll have to give that article a read. I was always under the impression that defoliation will result in the plant trying to produce more leaves so it can release gases that are toxic to it. Less leaves = less stoma, less gas exchange. I can understand doing that with indoor grows since the inverse-square law is a major factor. I have however heard of removing just the margins of the leaves to increase the total photosynthesis rate (Research was not done on Cannabis) but resulted in much less root development. I'd link it but I read it years ago and copying what they did but on Cannabis may yield different results than theirs. But yeah, for outdoor grows, there's no point in excessive defoliation since the inverse-square law is so insignificant. Either way, I'd give it a shot just to see what happens. Maybe you really would get better yields.
joe60, Best answer I've ever seen to this question. I get the whole leaves are solar panels thing - plants need 'em. But another thing to consider is this: and abundance of fans leaves late in flower reduces airflow & traps moisture making a great place for mold to start. IMHO and experience, thinning them out a bit as your plant finishes can be a great preventive measure. I aslo remove any leaves that have yellowed or have any dead patches on them - mold loves wet, dead stuff. Big leaves can help a plant get big and healthy, but later on, I believe those same big leaves can be part of what can develop into a crop yield reducing problem. Also by thinning those leave out a bit, you will inspect parts of the plant you never saw before, and maybe find some dead leaves or a small patch of bud rot before it gets too big. It's about balance and preventive foresight. Peace. Jules
thats how I grow my plants and the point you made about thinning the leaves out is right but I also remove a lot of the weaker streched shoots, no point keeping them there like sucker on a tomato plant, just make the plant weak and yeild less a few days a go I got spider mite, (2 spotted) and my room temps are 75 night and upto 89 day, with a low humidty so If my plants where not finned out and I did not keep a close eye on my plants I could have lost the hole crop in a couple of weeks but as I could spot them really quick, I only got a few spider mites on my plants and sprayed them, so the plants are still heathy and I don't think this will have much impacked on my yeild,
joe60 & others, Here's what I'm talking about. These are my first public pix of the girls - right before the 48 hours of darkness before the chop. Defoliated just enough (after they stopped growing) to maximize airflow and reduce places where moisture could gather and lead to mold. I started this grow late 6/14/13. Flowered on 8/12. I'm proud of my first outdoor effort. Peace. Jules
I only defoliate, leaves that look like they're hurting more than they're helping. This includes, shriveled, dried, yellow, unhealthy, bug eaten leaves, or leaves that are blocking major light from buds (later in the budding, close to harvest) Our plants get pretty stripped near harvest, due to increased yellowed leaves, which is normal, and opening the plant to bring in more light to lower buds. We also bend large branches away from the main stem and support them, in order to allow more light to reach the buds and inside of the plant.
Jules.....source leaves are responsible for photosynthesis...not flowers. Defoliating.... I mean REALLY defoliating is great, IF you want to allow the time to do it. If you want to grow big ass bushes and have the time and space then go for it. Many people in smaller spaces have little use for it.
sorry zulkadir I was on and off this site for many weeks trying to show any growers how to veg/train in a small veg room and lst under a screen and flower, as a perpetual grower the last thing I wanted to do is use the flower room for 4 weeks to train the plants in the screen but at the same I want to pull that top yield a scrog alway gives you so I worked a way round it and now I can get an extra 2 crops a year and its cut my electic bill by over 10% per year I like to take my cutting just before I turn over to flower, so this gives me about 2-3 weeks to root and 5-6 weeks to get them in shape. you can go as low as 4 plants per 600w hps ( 4ft x 4ft screen) and get some great results its all about the trainning the plants in early veg, topping, removing leaves to slow top growth down, get as many shoots as you can off the main stem I can get more than 4 main shoots with the plant being less than 3" tall so these are 2 of my 9 plants 3 weeks in veg (cutting taken on the 16th sep) with 5 main tops, the first plant is only 2" high by 3" wide so now I will let them grow for the next 2 weeks and re pot in 3-4 gallon pots veg in the flower room for 2-3 days and flower, when you re pot them you want to pull the main shoots down,as low as you can so tha canopy is low and very wide, over the next 3-4 weeks you will get all the nodes on the main shoots, to grow vertcal, depending on the strain, they can grow from 6" to 2 ft in flower so adding the screen at the right time will be more of a guess on the first go lol on a second thought the bonsia top trim is a quick easy way to get 4 tops often train my plants like this for a screen (just the first and second pic)
I am not an expert grower by any means but I have been experimenting with defoliation on two of my 4 plants in my current grow and so far I have had great success. When I actually get into flower, I will post more pictures in this thread. The grower I got the clones from actually recommended heavy defoliation on my Dawgs Waltz plants (indica dominant). I spoke with him, and he echoed what a lot of people who are in favor of have posted. His summary from what I remember (we discussed it at length): Do Nots Sativas generally DO NOT LIKE defoliation - he has rarely if ever had success with this technique on sativas NOT ALL PLANTS can deal well with being defoliated. It will be obvious if they take poorly to it. If your plants are not in tip-top health, DO NOT defoliate - it will only make them weaker. DO NOT defoliate within 2 weeks before you intend to begin flowering - this will make them weaker during the initial flower since they need to recover from losing leaves. DO NOT pick fan leaves that are directly connected to a newly budding node, it slows that new node down significantly. Do Use to make plants bushier and more dense. Defoliate on Indicas and Indica-dominant hybrids, even some 50/50 and 40/60 (indica/sativa) hybrids do well. Pick off fan leaves that are established with a stem connecting them to the main shoot of at least 1" long. Be aware that defoliating will slow a plant's vegetative growth down a fair amount, at least for about 3 - 5 days afterward Defoliate in specific periods of time, he usually does it twice before flower during his 4 - 6 week veg period, and then relentlessly post-flower stretch. He also said that he is happy most people don't defoliate, because it means his yields are better. After seeing his grow room, I can attest to it which is why I am trying with my own plants. I really do not understand why some people just say NO! ABSOLUTELY NOT! Yeah... fan leaves photosynthesize! Of course! But depending on what you're doing, you can at least experiment and not risk killing the plant if you defoliate during veg. Anyway, disclaimer: the statements above are of a master grower who has used the technique for about 5 years with great results. I just typed out what he told me. I can't wait to experiment more and more with the technique!
Updating with veg pics, before and after comparisons Strain: Dawgs Waltz (a perfect selection for defoliation) Notice the extremely tight node spacing, bushiness, and lack of stretching. Minutes after defolation, plant #1 5 Days later, plant #1 Minutes after defoliation, plant #2 5 days later, plant #2 Looking healthy and happy. Planning to flip the lights in about a week and a half. I will post another set of pictures once I hit the 21 day post-stretch flower mark, and will continue posting pictures documenting the experience. I think it will all work out great.
@[member="NS89"], i think you will be pleased with your final outcome. I am a firm believer in bonsai/defoliation techniques regardless of what others say on the subject. Nice job on your plants, also. Keep it up!!