defoliating for HIGHER YIELDS

Discussion in 'Plant Training' started by ecsd, Sep 20, 2010.

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  1. great stuff p38..so in nature with its designs on redundancy...the plant produces many more leafs than it needs to ensure it gets plenty of leaves with the proper lai......am i gettin this:smoke:you book read weiners..thank god for ya...and your abilities to put it to practice...thanks guys..one of the best and most informative threads i can remember...where can i learn more about par...dam sure not on the golf coarse...lmao:D
     
  2. So what's the exact technique for doing this(if there is 1:)). I have a 4ft white widow and a 3ft afghan that have been trained but space is still a little cramped. I already chopped everything off the bottom 1ft of each plant for clones. There 2 weeks into flowering do I just want to start hacking away at the leaves? Should I leave the top leaves alone or would they need to be cut to allow light to penetrate down?
     


  3. Perfect! Here mrgoodsmoke is growing DWC, which in itself takes more than a casual knowledge, and he employs trimming and pruning for canopy management and is producing flowers - BudZ. Just one more great example of managing the canopy through selective pruning. Great job man! IMO.



    Ya know deke, I think that's probably right. And think about the perennial plants that lose all their green stuff every year, survive the winters, and come back strong with new green the following year. It's in their genetic makeup. Annual plants have their unique growth characteristics and when we are cultivating indoors there is a specific role we play by creating the environment and managing it for our desired outcome. We aren't growing corn or beans in a field LOL!

    Also think about this. Land level at the equator solar energy is measured at around ~400w per meter squared. It moves off that power curve as it is measured north and south of the equator. Photosynthesis is estimated to utilize ONLY between 1% - 4% of this direct solar energy! That's not a whole lot in the grander scheme of things when you think about it. There are places you can go on the web to determine what the solar energy measurement is wherever one is located. So, replicating that intensity indoors is not so difficult and this is where PAR light really becomes important to us indoor growers. It's just one more piece of the puzzle and a real important one to get right.

    If you google "par light" that will get you started in the right direction to understanding it. The focus on PAR light for growing versus lumens (brightness) in LED grow light technology is how we are all able to witness some pretty amazing grows with a 90w LED panel. Once the power of the LED is moved up to a 4w standard and the price for a 4w LED array comes down I will be switching from HID lighting for sure. The manufacturers of these LED panels have designed a microchip on each LED and tune it specifically to a PAR wavelength. Pretty cool stuff all in all. But the gist of it all is that plants can only use PAR light for photsynthesis. The rest is heat and luminosity. The plant could care less about either of those.

    Let's smoke a bowl on that one... :bongin:
     
  4. Hi guyz.

    Heres the 1 plant that I defoliated 2 dayz ago. It hurts. It truly does. Ive never done this in 30 years lol. Shes a full-blown Indica Kush. Her LST is coming along very nicely. She should have a great frame for heavy budz, if what y'all are sayin will happen.
    She is in a 3 gal pot
    My own soil mix (Possuum - youd be prouda me man lol). FFOF based.
    My own compost mix
    Nutes are FF Grow big
    Lighting is top and sides 250W T5 Floro tubes, 6500K
    Ph is a constant 6.6
    and of course there are no bugz present.

    I will post a weekly updated pic of her. I just couldnt do the other 2 plants.

    Notice what I have aptly titled her.

    Freak
    :eek::(:smoke::hello:
     

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  5. Well Bro-Freak I'll say this, DAMN! You have taken "selective trimming" to a whole new level man! Beautiful job LST'ing and shaping. Seriously nice. What happen to the meristem bro? Not sure where you are at on vegetative cycle but give her a couple of weeks at least to recover. In the end I think one thing is for sure, when flowering starts and the buds start forming you will have perhaps driven the last nail in the whole discussion of 'to trim or not to trim'. It may look hideous now but she's going to come back strong on ya!

    Rep'ing ya for jumping in and showing your stuff man! Nothing like a bro that lays on it on the line. That's the mindset of a champion; All or nothing. And if it makes you feel any better just keep telling yourself that you did the experiment in the spirit of 'science' for all the rest of the folks to see.

    Nice job dude!
     
  6. Haha, this thread is awesome...

    It's really cool to see someone go against the grain of everything they have learned for the sake of experimentation. Thank you Freakbro1, for having the balls to try something new!

    Jinn420: I think you might be a little late to start trying this. I have heard that if you have left a plant unmolested all throughout veg and jump into chopping a bunch of fan leaves during flower, the stress on the plant can be overwhelming, as it isn't yet used to getting trimmed up. If you do anything, selectively trim a few fan leaves that you think are shading the most important budsites. Next time start in veg and go as nuts as you like!
     
  7. Thanx.

    Sincerely y'all, Im not doin this for rep or congrats or nuthin, but for taking a plunge into something I have never tried.

    Everything I have ever learned in school/university goes against this. So, I guess Im facing a fear lol. I am a creature of habit and am quite set in my wayz.

    If I didnt have "coaches" like some of u awesome growerz, I wouldnt feel comfortable doin this.

    Shes goin on 18/6 today.

    Oh ya, that stem...when she was at 4th node, I topped her, and spread her wide open, as u can see. Those tops have been topped, and they are now doubles (and triples) lol.
    No more topping now. Maybe 1 more level of FIM and tighten up the LST, and thats it.
    Just more clipping...lol.

    Freak
    :smoke:
     
  8. hmmm. Considering trying this just have to VEG a tad longer.
     
  9. Yeah that's what I was thinking, I just took a couple big fans off the top of the afghan that were completely obscuring a lot of bud sites. Appreciate the warning dude I don't want my ladies dropping balls or anything:eek:
     
  10. #90 BudFlow, Oct 9, 2010
    Last edited by a moderator: Oct 9, 2010
    Update: 4 weeks since 12/12 under actual 366w CFL full str. technaflora nuts. Thru out veg. and flower stages I've been taking off little by little all the fan leaves until 2 weeks into 12/12 then I havn't taken anything more off. Buds are slightly smaller (due to the trimming stress thru out her growth) than her twin sister which I did nothing to except trimed inner leaves to allow more light to penitrate to base. They should both start to fill out more this next week an into the 6 th week before preharvest flush. I keep updates in my journal. Just posting my defoliating test plants.
    P.S. I did leave the very top 2 sets of fan leaves but those are the only leaves on it besides what are growing out the bud itself.
     

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  11. hats off bro:hello:....test run looks great as do plants...you get the nadds of steel award along with freakbro for steppin' up and playin' tall with your grow...plus reps:smoke: dam...now i feel like defoliating somethin'...come er bean:eek:...lol
     
  12. BudFlow that's AWESOME man! Those plants look beautiful. Certainly they would look "bushier" with all the greenery left on but look still how healthy and proud those are. Beaucoup bud sites everywhere. How old are they total from seedling?

    So man, what is that room you're taking those pictures in?!?! It looks very, very nice mi amigo!
     
  13. Thanks Deacon just had to find out for myself on this subject which gonna be better for me :D
     
  14. Thanks Possuum and it's a bathroom with a garden tub an a seperate stand up shower where I have mother. The twins are clones that I took 7 weeks ago. Mum is just a year old now an healthy, could prolly get a dozen clones off her an still be ok :D
     
  15. i want a bathroom grow room..its perfect...:hello:

    yep..i'm a doing it myself to see guy too...but i'm not brave enough to post cause anything outta the norm draws flack...and i'd get banned for goin off on grow droids;)
     
  16. Yes this is a good thread. A one stop, pot info shop.

    BudFlow, youre just the man I'll be talkin to, to get some hints on how the bathroom thing works. Im in the process of planning something like that too, right now. I want it as the central room of 3. They are all joined, so the first room would be my clone/seedling room, middle room is the bathroom, for veg, and the 3rd adjoining room would be for flower. The plan's in my head right now - where it makes sense lol :rolleyes::smoke:.

    Freak
     
  17. Yes, this looks beautiful.

    LMAO - is it just me or does it look like a "mall" setting that they are in.
    To me, the first pic looks like its in a mall and people could be walking by it
    and looking in the shop windows. The lighting matches too. Imagine - one day.

    Freak
    :smoke: nice job BudFlow :smoke:
     
  18. #98 Inthedirt4good, Oct 10, 2010
    Last edited by a moderator: Oct 10, 2010
    lol!

    'Hey Hun.. why don'tcha pick yerrrr'self out some new body spray at victoria's secret..... i'm gunna pop in real quick to Flow's Boutique'
     
  19. One day soon hopefully, vote YES ON PROP 19. Now if only I lived in Cali:smoking::hippie:
     
  20. Update in my Journal with pics on my Defoliation Test. 5 weeks since 12/12 switch:D
     
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