I am currently 19 days into flowering and have not defoliated or pruned much at all prior to this point.. I have been scared because I heard that it can stress the plants a lot. At this point I can totally tell where some fan leaves and stuff are blocking buds from light and air. I have heard about a week 3 flower defoliation before, but thought I would hop on here to ask for some opinions. Should I defoliate at this point? If so, how heavy should I defoliate, Cheers Sent from my iPhone using Grasscity Forum
Best times to defoliate (if need be) is right before you flip to flower, not necessarily after. If done after, then that's when the stress will really kick in. You want your flowering plant to go through as less stress as possible. You can try to pinch off a fan leaf or two a day once in flower to avoid stressing her out if need be, but I don't recommend a full defoliation once in flower. Just my 2 cents. Got any pics?
I cut suckers all the way to time of cutting. If they need light penetration and air movement I'll selectively cut em Pic's would be very helpful
Looks like a jungle in there lol. On a serious note, have you first tried to just tuck the fan leaves under the trellis and out of the way so that the top-most colas can get better light penetration? Also, you may need to pull that trellis a little tighter around the tent. It looks like a mess in there.
Trim them big en's out and allow light to penetrate, don't go plum wild all at once. Experiment a little on one and see how you like the outcome...