Who recommends defoliation 1 week into flower

Basically take fan leaves strategically. Only the the one that is blocking other main bud site. Do it daily and very few at a time to give the new smaller fan leave time to grow and replace those you taken off.

You can do this till 4th week, after that the plant will focus mostly on bud development and will not produce new fan leaves so make sure you don't take all fan leaves.

If you lollipop the lower section, you can take the fan leaves but be careful not to take small bud site. With some light it should be a decent popcorn or decent small dense nug depending on how much light it is getting.

Sent from my SM-N910T using Tapatalk

 

I did with mine. Careful which leaves you take though. Variables of course with plant bushiness and lights and ventilation/air circulation. I feel I took to many older leaves from mine.


Sent from my iPhone using Grasscity Forum

 

They all grew back just fine and it's back to the messy jungle again, week 1 is a perfect time ( unless it's an auto then idk, I wouldn't mess with it )


Sent from my iPhone using Grasscity Forum

 

Wow there is so much discussion about defoliation. It seems to be a matter of preference. Personally, I chop and discard the lower sucker buds. Or i use them for ripeness testing. I prefer the top colas to the lower sucker buds. The top colas are the freshest and probably get a little more THC, IDK. Good luck with your decision.

 

Yes, you can easily take too much but no worries because the small new fN leaves only take a few days to grow back in size.

Sent from my SM-N910T using Tapatalk

 

Well some people use those lower end bud, popcorn or little nug for other stuff like wax, shake, keif, cooking, oil, and many more.

You are either going to believe in the lower taking away energy from the big bud, or you believe it won't effect the big bud because there plenty of resource because you feed nute. So believe what you like, it is all in the preference of each individual grower and why they grow.

Sent from my SM-N910T using Tapatalk

 

Leave the big fan leaves on top. They're supplying the branches directly above them with energy to grow. If you remove them the buds are left with only the main stem to feed them. If you want to defoliate start at the bottom. Remove all growth from the bottom of the plant until the upper plant canopy is 16" thick max. That the only type of defoliating I recommend unless you have a super bushy strain like my sensi star.

I can't even bud this thing without removing massive amounts of leaves and tops. It's a little crazy.

 

I do my last lollipop 2 weeks in flower usually.

 

Usually fan leave are on both side of the branch. If you do take the top which I do very rarely, I only take 1 side and leave the other side. The reason why I would ever nip the top fan leaves is because it is blocking my other main cola who is slightly smaller and need some light to catch up. This will slightly and hopefully slow down that top branch to give time for the other branch. Once again, try not to take top fan leaves, if you do, only take 1 and not the both. Usually 2 fan leaves at a time on a certain node. Make sure not to nip off budsight that is on the fan leaves next to the stem.

Sent from my SM-N910T using Tapatalk

 

Don't take the whole leaf off. Trim the big blades off and leave some. It works my nodes are vines for bud .

Sent from my HTCD100LVWPP using Tapatalk

 

Sent from my HTCD100LVWPP using Tapatalk

 

I cut lower fan leaves and side buds that don't get much light. Mostly because those fan leaves droop into the soil and I'm paranoid about PM.

 

Soil won't hurt your leaves bro. Mine lays in it on the very bottom limb . They grow in dirt lol

Sent from my HTCD100LVWPP using Tapatalk

 

Only had PM in one grow cycle. I noticed it started in the lower fan leaves of one plant. Gave it a closer look and noticed that the soil was wet and the warmth with little air flow, room was exactly 77 degrees, great environment to activate PM. Last grows I trim just the lowest couple fan leaves and increase air flow down low.

 

Cannabis buds only really develop well if they get good light and air. The more the better they develop. That's the whole idea of supercopping, LST'in, SOG, Scrogs, ect. Spread the plant out so you have more optimal tops exposed to good light at proper distance to the light = best yield indoors. The ideal light distance for best bud development is narrow with indoor lights. You want every bud you can sitting in that hot zone.

The narrow light distance is the idea of lollipopping from the bottom. You only get maybe 12-16" of light penetration depending on your lights where you get optimal development. You can let the bottom of the plant bud as well but since it doesn't get optimal light it will be immature and small not hardly worth harvesting to smoke and will steal energy and mass from the upper more desirable part of the plant. You still get plenty of "larf" with a 16-20" deep canopy.

If you tie it to the side the lower branches will catch up to the top and develop 200% better with the direct exposure to light. The fan leaves will be out of the way, The main top will take a turn right back up towards the light with no issues almost overnight.

 

The best way for you to increase your yield would be to grow a bigger plant and train it wide no matter which of the numerous methods of training there are. Topping/fimming is fun to experiment with but slows the plant down a little. Sometimes a mixture of techniques is best but nothing beats a nice long 8+ week veg and a huge well trained plant going into 12/12. So many people try to bud a plant way too small because they expect it to somehow outgrow the space just because it's budding. I have yet to have a plant do this legendary "tripling" in size I hear of in flower. Not many people are running out of space growing well trained indicas dominant strains even if they bud them large.