So ive been experimenting, and researching the subject of trimming (strategically defoliating leaves) during flower, and this is MY conclusion: Ill start by saying this, if your growing OUTDOORS, youre light source is significantly further and more intense, than when growing indoors under a bulb, and its highly unlikely (unless your growing a 10-footer, which in case, have fun trimming that lol) that any leaves are being deprived of light. Also trimming doesnt cause hermaphrodites, stress causes hermaphrodites. Some genetics can handle stress, some cant. Get to know your phenotype, if you want to know how it CAN grow. Some genetics produce more cannabinoids when stressed. I cant speak for you but i prefer more cannabinoids, so DEPENDING ON THE GENETICS, i will not only trim, but i will also cause other forms of stress during flowering. Indoors, DEPENDING ON THE GENETICS, removing around 75% of the leaves, right when stretching begins, will stunt the growth. the goal of stunting growth at this time, is to cancel out the stretch. This results in shorter internode length, thus more attractive buds, and it allows more headroom for a larger yield. Trimming large established leaves that block budsites throughout the flowering phase, DEPENDING ON THE GENETICS, allows lower budsites to mature along with the colas or dominant buds. This results in in no larf or "food grade" buds. I am interested in something specific that i cant seem to find any information on, so ill probably have to try it soon, in which case ill record the process on this forum. During the final flush, the objective is to force the plant to "cannabalize" itself, so that it doesnt have too many nutrients stored that could cause a harsh smoke. So, if this is the goal of flushing, wouldnt trimming every remaining leaf at the beginning of flush, assist in removing those nutrients? Would this also speed up the flush, meaning fewer days of flushing? Im very interested in this and would love any input at all, just as long as its from someone who trims during flowering. If i read a response to this, and i see the words "solar pannel" anywhere in there, its likely that i will not read your response, as i grow plants, not solar pannels. Untill people start putting solar pannels under hps lights, i dont want to hear about it. I am capable of discussing photosythesis without comparing it to something it isnt. My bad if this is a little ranty but every discussion of any sort of trimming, on every forum, turns to shit because A; no one seems to consider that their plants genetics might not be able to handle the same stress that a phenotype of the same strain might benefit from. B; theyre not fucking solar pannels, and theyre not getting any sun. Lovin yall (= Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-N920A using Grasscity Forum mobile app
I'm finishing my first harvest now and love doing research, reading, talking to people etc to learn more about growing techniques. Just to confirm, flushing is important to remove as many nutrients from the buds as possible before cutting?...I think that keeping a normal amount of fan leaves on the plant will actually assist in ridding the buds of nutrients because those leaves will need to search for food/nutrients and hopefully draw them from the buds...I could be totally wrong but just a thought
Im pretty sure the buds draw nutrients from the leaves, please correct me if im wrong. flushing is getting the nutes out of the medium tho, not the plant. Flushing forces the plant to "cannabalize itself", using up a significant amount of the nutrients it stored before the flush. However, i feel i should also point out, if you are using nothing but microbes and carbs to feed your plant (living soil), flushing is debatably not required lovin u (=
Funny thing is, whenever people debate over whether to trim before or after drying, the common arguement for trimming after drying, is for flavor and smoothness. And i think everyone pretty much agrees that its harder to mess up a cure if you trimmed after drying. This makes me hesitate hesitate to trim during final flush, even for the sake of science, because i simply dont have enough plants to make such a gamble. But i think its worth discussing, and itd be cool if someone else out there had more confidence and more plants than me, to test it out a time or 2. Untill then (or untill someone can convince me that it actually is benificial) ill keep trying to improve my grow, and hopefully soon i can afford to test out things like this.
First off, in the years I have been growing, I've learned that using good soil and smart potting really cuts down on the amount of nutes that my plants have to have to remain healthy and thrive. I am one who subscribes to the theory that constantly jacking your plants up with chemicals throughout it's entire life isn't healthy for the plant or the smoker. I use very little nutrients in my plants, primarily during the flower cycle, since I've developed a method to get them almost all the way through the veg cycle with no added nutes. And I do not flush my plants at all before harvest. I've tried defoliation during flower because it seemed to make perfect sense. It was just too stressful for the strain we were growing and they developed seeds. I too did some research and talked to some aged growers who did do it and we did another test run with another strain that didn't seed up, but for the amount of work it took to maintain the 5 plants we tried it on, it simply didn't make that much difference in yield. We generally can get between 2 and 3 oz per plant (post cure) from a normal healthy plant. Every one is different, has it's own personality and no two plants will grow and do the same just because they came off the same mother. So, you can't really batch guess anything with this stuff, but we ended up with 5 very stressed plants that their growth really slowed down and in the end, only had to flower longer and the yield was no more or a couple were even less than the plants we just left alone to grow. So, MY theory on the whole thing is that if you have nothing better to do than sit there every night and trim off leaves on your plants, then go right ahead. If you feel it makes your plants grow more or better, that's great. We just deal with way too many plants on a regular basis to make it worth our while. We generally flower off between 25 and 30 every 10 weeks and it's a lot of work to tend that many plants. I think constantly stressing your plants all the time isn't good and they grow just fine the way God created them to do. But if it works for you and you want to do it, great. Hope you can double your harvest. But everybody else who reads this needs to remember the "DEPENDING ON GENETICS" line in this post because lots of these strains cannot take the constant stress that this type trimming does to the plant and WILL go to seed. So all these inexperienced or flat out newbie growers, need to really study up on your particular strain of MJ before you start doing this. TWW
I agree with everything you said except the god part, lets leave imaginary friends out of this (= i think that u can tell how a plant responds to trimming in flower, by how she responds to a heavy trimming a week or 2 before u flower her. Or if u supercrop the piss out of her and she startes growing FASTER (not stretching), then, i believe, thats the phenotype u should try whatever methods youve researched or been taught on trimming during flower, if u dont already practice it lovin u (=
Also if ur plant goes to seed, its not garbage, theres still around half of the cannabinoids in there. Sure seeds taste like shit, but u can pick em out, and im sure someone out there would appreciate some free meds, seeds or not. If no one wants it then put it back in the soil (thats most of the available nutrients to grow a whole other plant). Seeds suck unless youre a breeder, but dont throw it in the trash lovin u (=
That stunning before the stretching phase seems like a great way to handle a sativa in small spaces... Must try it! Nice post!
I trim almost all fan leaves at day 21 of flower. And lollipop over half the plant. Worked for me so far. Sent from my SM-N910T3 using Grasscity Forum mobile app
Ive never defoilated that much.not saying my way or anyones way is right.same plant,same nutes,same environment n 2 differnt growers will get 2 differnt products.i take 3-4 fan leaves a wk in that wrks for me.just seems that instead of just flushing 2wks try 3 instead of cutting every leaf.i lolly pop,lst and flush 2wks like normal(im n dwc tho),but id love 2 c pics of this,u got me interestd
Ok you believe in something from nothing? Can you make me a universe? I have to defend my friend by saying God is not imaginary. He is real. Do you at least believe that there is a creator? A higher power in the universe than yourself? God loves you even if you don't like it. The herb found on Solomon's tomb was to be the healer of all nations. Have you ever damaged a plant so bad you did t think it would flower? I dropped a fan on one right when the pistols came in. Buds look frosty now and getting thick. Stress helps depending on phenotype. Interesting.
I dont "believe" in anything. You can tell me theres an invisible unicorn right beside me, just the same, i wont "believe" you Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-N920A using Grasscity Forum mobile app
Hi OK so I new to indo. Grew outdoors in AZ. I trimmed all the small sugar or water leaves off. I thought it would help the buds swell more. Don't know if true. Anyway what grew back are ALL Budsites Tiny kolas size of my finger @ the very bottom of plant. I using for butter & or hash. Check it:
One more thing. I trimmed my own idea. The strain I have is extremely hardy. I only have 3 plants so anything new I try very carefully & only on one plant @ a time. Thanks!!
Do you believe in gravity? Saying you believe in nothing idk man. Do you believe that coffee exists? I'm not talking about someone I personally made up. If I said to you, here is my imaginary friend you'd say I'm crazy.
The universe does not care if you believe in gravity or not. Walk off a cliff. Bet you'll believe in gravity then.
There is evidence for gravity. Therefore it is real whether i "believe" in it or not Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-N920A using Grasscity Forum mobile app
No need for the religious talk in here. It's about mother nature. Here pics of how many fan leaves I take off. Sent from my SM-N910T3 using Grasscity Forum mobile app
There is evidence for God, too. I'm not gonna force it on you but just think about it. I can't create something from something. Neither can you. Only one being in the universe can do that. Even alcoholics can admit theres a higher power in the universe bigger than them. Just saying. BACK to the original question. I trim during flower but I try not to touch it too much. When you make cuts or supercrop it's amazing how the plant reacts. Especially in hydro. They say hydro is touger to do, but it's like set it and forget it. My second bagseed that popped ended up having a small fan dropped on it 3 4 weeks into flower. I taped it with electrical tape and used flexible ties to hold it together. It slowed down but now it's frosty and looks healthy. One half of the plant was damaged beyond repair. I did the best I could.