removing fan leaves in flower

[BM9AGS]

I have to say some strains persist to yellow some leaves while flowering no matter what but the plant basically stalls and tries to rebuild when pruned or defoliated.

when I started out I defoliated gradually through flower and we all agreed that the buds were growing faster. Problem is. My scale says different every time.

Ya know.... All of this defoliation probably stems from poor growing. They remove burnt leaves which do nothing and subjectively see a better looking plant and think it's the key.

 

[BM9AGS]

I defoliate with great results...1 week before flower and then another about 2 to 3 weeks into flower then one more time at about week 7 depending on the genetics.View attachment 3739207 View attachment 3739208 View attachment 3739209 View attachment 3739210

That looks like it retained its leaves!!

 

[Budley Doright]

I have to say some strains persist to yellow some leaves while flowering no matter what but the plant basically stalls and tries to rebuild when pruned or defoliated.

when I started out I defoliated gradually through flower and we all agreed that the buds were growing faster. Problem is. My scale says different every time.

What strains? I have not had a healthy indoor plant yellow up but most of my experience is outdoors where yup they tend to yellow near the end.

 

[MichiganMedGrower]

Original Black Widow (White Widow) and its crosses in my room.

Also a Yumbolt cross seemed to like eating its biggest fan leaves every time.

I understand plants lose leaves naturally under all kinds of circumstances but I find the frostiness buds in the midst of the canopy often. The shaded buds. Sometimes they are huge. Genetics and how much of its potential determines the results as I see it.

Maybe I'm wrong. I'm only doing what works for me.

 

[Budley Doright]

Original Black Widow (White Widow) and its crosses in my room.

Also a Yumbolt cross seemed to like eating its biggest fan leaves every time.

I understand plants lose leaves naturally under all kinds of circumstances but I find the frostiness buds in the midst of the canopy often. The shaded buds. Sometimes they are huge. Genetics and how much of its potential determines the results as I see it.

Maybe I'm wrong. I'm only doing what works for me.

I haven't grown any of those and not saying your wrong just curious is all. The blueberry I grew for years outdoors would drop every leaf pretty much at the end, great for trimming .

 

[MichiganMedGrower]

I bet I could improve the leaf loss if I ran clones of them for a while. I do keep running new strains every plant. Some of the sativa heavy hybrids are really finicky. I am not so experienced or talented that I can grow without issues.

And I sure don't know everything. New discoveries happen every day. But leaf plucking would only help out doors to prevent mould or PM or even reduce an insect attack. And I would wait til the last three weeks before doing it to maximize yield.

In my experience I should add.

 

[Budley Doright]

I bet I could improve the leaf loss if I ran clones of them for a while. I do keep running new strains every plant. Some of the sativa heavy hybrids are really finicky. I am not so experienced or talented that I can grow without issues.

And I sure don't know everything. New discoveries happen every day. But leaf plucking would only help out doors to prevent mould or PM or even reduce an insect attack. And I would wait til the last three weeks before doing it to maximize yield.

In my experience I should add.

Well most bud rot is caused by bud worms here so not sure if plucking would help. And no plucking leaves outside has never improved my yield but like I said curiosity gets the best of me and I do keep trying lol.

 

[MichiganMedGrower]

I am talking about growing outdoors in Michigan where it is pretty much a gamble.

 

[Budley Doright]

I am talking about growing outdoors in Michigan where it is pretty much a gamble.

Well it's not much different here same weather pretty much.

 

[Enigmatic Ways]

That looks like it retained its leaves!!

Yea I don't rape my plants like the guys in that video that's just ludicrous to me...I guess what I do can be called selective defoliation, as you can see in that third picture the one to the left was defoliated the one to the right was waiting to be defoliated.

 

[whitebb2727]

Im interested in seeing the results.

I prune roses and people prune tomato plants. But ive never heard of people cutting leaves off of them.

I find it a bit strange that the people who do cut the leaves off then have to do it over and over again as the plant keeps replacing them. Isnt that a waste of nutrients and energy better spend elsewhere?

Maybe it will work out the same as defoliating the hairs on your groin. May make your dick look bigger but its still as small as it was before you did it.

There are times to prune cannabis. Mainly with training methods that create a thick canopy that restricts air flow.

Other than that if the plant doesn't need them, it will shed them.

 

[Resinhound]

I defoliate with great results...1 week before flower and then another about 2 to 3 weeks into flower then one more time at about week 7 depending on the genetics.View attachment 3739207 View attachment 3739208 View attachment 3739209 View attachment 3739210

Honestly I don't see anything in these pics that couldn't have been achieved by Not defoilating... You don't have ground breaking results.

Why don't you try growing plants with hard buds all the way down to the soil. It can be done and ya, you don't have to defoilate. Pruning branches makes sense, stripping leaves is just stupid.

 

[Dumme]

NOT defoliation, as leaves are essentially carbohydrate factories, but removing bud sites, changes the low pressure points withing the plant, and "may" redirect carbohydrates threw the phloem, to different areas and possibly increase top bud size (remaining buds). Probably not increase total yield, just making remaining buds bigger.

 

[whitebb2727]

That's the key right there, keep em healthy and promote a good root mass. When people say the leaves fall off naturally anyways .... Well it's been my experience that they only fall off when unhappy and there is a problem. They just don't jump ship when they feel the need lol.

That's the way I grow, green until the end. I'm water only organic and I do get some fade at the end. The good kind of fade though.

Generally with indoors I would worry a bit if I had a plant shedding leaves. My outdoor guerilla is another story. Hell this year they shed a lot of leaves but its been over a 100 and I can only go check every 2-3 weeks.

They will shed a leaf if its not getting enough light. All my plants that get planted in thickets ends up shedding everything under the shade line.

I also wouldn't worry about the odd leaf every once in a while either.

I have to say some strains persist to yellow some leaves while flowering no matter what but the plant basically stalls and tries to rebuild when pruned or defoliated.

when I started out I defoliated gradually through flower and we all agreed that the buds were growing faster. Problem is. My scale says different every time.

Not all yellow is unhealthy. Some strains turn all kinds of fall colors. I've had yellow leaves live weeks.

I usually feel them. As long as it feels healthy and bumping or lightly pulling doesn't remove it, I leave it.

 

[Dumme]

Contrary to pseudoscience belief, leaves don't store nutrients, roots do. Leaves are like small factories... when defoliation occurs, your effectively removing the ability for the plant to grow.

Here's another video of real science, for your pleasure.. just ignore to over-use of the word "basically".

And another...

 

[CouchGouch]

Ideally your plant should look like this

 

[CouchGouch]

 

[Budley Doright]

Bout a pound .

 

[CouchGouch]

 

[Budley Doright]

They said my penis would get bigger