I must be out of my mind! I was having a bit of issue with foliage, here's what a newbie should not

So I had asked around a bit as to what to do about the emense amount of foliage on my girls. Many said to just let them grow, why would they have leaves if the weren't needed.
But then I spoke to a long time friend and pro- herb farmer and he said to strip them of at least 20% of the foliage then snip out the skinny, stretched branches to allow the bigger ones to use the energy those ones were no longer using.
So since I'm kinda an optimistic with pessimistic way of doing things I'm just not knowledgeable on. What I did was strip roughly 40% ( pure estimate ) and now I am not sure what to expect? I am gonna wait a few days before I post any pics.
Before I started I did Google the defoliating techniques that are highly controversial, after I was certain my girls could take something so stressful I went for it. this was what they looked like yesterday! and thus is them now

Oops I didn't mean to post repeats of those pics

Are they in flower? I took a lot of my leaves off after Id switched to flower because I believed in these defoliation techniques. Mine look pretty much like yours only not short and bushy I just let em grow. It hurt my yields considerably. I got like 14g from 2 plants (but I was under a Mars reflector 196 and it was my first grow)
I hope yours recover but they look heavily defol'd man. And I think a lot of people here will put you down for doing it. Just a heads up.
Stand by what you did and hopefully this will be a positive outcome. Make sure to write back with your harvest results and whether you thought it worked out for you

JDMase said:

Are they in flower? I took a lot of my leaves off after Id switched to flower because I believed in these defoliation techniques. Mine look pretty much like yours only not short and bushy I just let em grow. It hurt my yields considerably. I got like 14g from 2 plants (but I was under a Mars reflector 196 and it was my first grow)
I hope yours recover but they look heavily defol'd man. And I think a lot of people here will put you down for doing it. Just a heads up.
Stand by what you did and hopefully this will be a positive outcome. Make sure to write back with your harvest results and whether you thought it worked out for you

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Thanks for that, mine are under 3 1000watt hps so if it dosnt work it won't be because of lack of light

Why?

Alwayslearnin said:

Thanks for that, mine are under 3 1000watt hps so if it dosnt work it won't be because of lack of light

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Well im taking a guess that if this technique is legit it is due to having great light setups. Obviously photosynthesis isn't gonna happen very well with that many leaves and a crappy LED. Hopefully yours will be different. I saw that growweedeasy defoliation thread and was expecting crazy results. I doubt I'll do it again but you might change my mind! Ive got 600w HPS now so who knows

You will be fine. It doesn't look like the plant was going to produce a ton either way. The strain looks like it stalled on the stretch?

Preferably I would have selectively defoliated a few weeks prior to flower to give the plant time to develop more bud sites at the nodes and then again at about this time (which by the looks is two weeks into flower?)

Also I think you done too much at once.

But in regards to defoliation I had an outdoor grow decimated by an animal eating literally everything but the main stem, it took 2 weeks and two tiny leaves had formed. A month later from that I had a massive bush which is about as big as my current indoor soil grow with about 7 tops. Unfortunately my grow was cut short outdoors but It proves that you will have some recovery. (This reveg did occur in the veg period though)

You vandalized your own plants ?

Now they're gonna put a bunch of energy into growing a new set of leaves, not bud.

They will live but you have put a big dent in your bottom line.

Smh ....great thread title

My God they looked so good. now you raped them.

I don't even know what to say.

Man if I accidently knock a leaf off my plant I attempt to tape it back on.
I'm Horrified. Lol

I think you took up the wrong hobby
A butcher would fit you much better.

I am though very interested in seeing how they finish now.

since you already went over board you can consider it an experiment that you can share on what happens when you strip a plant down to flowers only.

post progress pics if you can.

Live and learn. You could still see through your canopy to dirt, it didn't need defoliation. If anything it was near perfect with flat, even coverage. Being new, you should have only done half to see the difference.

this shit should be illegal. poor pretty plants weren't bothering no one.

oooooo this hurt to look at They looked so perfect before and now they look pitiful.

Seems like you did great up until the defoliation decision so go back and do it again but this time leave it alone! During the first week of flower you can nip the tiny branches toward the bottom of the plant just to allow more airflow and get rid of branches that will yield lil airy buds that don't amount to much... but the plant will do what it needs to do and will discard its leaves as it sees fit. When you have a plant with very heavy foliage you will see throughout flower that it will use off the energy stored in the leaves that cannot get any light or are too crowded and will let them fall on their own or with very little effort.

MisterBouncyBounce said:

I am though very interested in seeing how they finish now.

since you already went over board you can consider it an experiment that you can share on what happens when you strip a plant down to flowers only.

post progress pics if you can.

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Will do, I went out a few hours after I did that expecting them to be sagging it what I found was that the leaf that I left were looking happy as I've seen up till now. On my own I wouldn't Ave even considered it but my buddies grandfather who has been growing since 1968 was the one who told me if I do that I will increase my yield by as much as 40%. Since he has been growing for almost 50 years I figured what the hell. He stopped by about an hour after I did it and he said not bad for your first time, but he said he would have taken even more. He also told me to be patient and wait a week then do it again. I don't think I'll do that one again unless he shows me personally

Bose said:

I think you took up the wrong hobby
A butcher would fit you much better.

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Let's see what they look like in a week,