Defoliation?

nicksol86

nicksol86

Well-Known Member
I defoliated my plants yesterday at day 30. To try and fatten the lower buds. I heavily defoliated. Hoping I made the right choice. From what I read online it sounded like a great way to increase yields. Will post pics later when lights are on. They were really bushy before and light couldn't penetrate the lowers. So I hope I made the right move as most people do it in week 3. I waited 4 weeks. What do you think will be the outcome? I hope it's bigger buds like I read and not decreased harvest or Hermies from stressing them so bad.
 
nicksol86

nicksol86

Well-Known Member
I removed lower growth several days back and did a heavier defoliation yesterday, I was scared after I went so hard on them but they don't seem to mind. From what I read your right. It increases bud production and stops focus on growing the leaves so much . Makes sense if you think about it
 
nicksol86

nicksol86

Well-Known Member
I will defoliate some more next run. Like right before I flip then at 3 weeks in. I read at 30 and 45 days can be beneficial also. So I thought id be ok. Just don't want to stress them to hermie . Some people say you can can hermie by stress
like that and other say it doesn't hermie if you do it. Others say it's strain (genetic) dependant
 
OzDankDizzle

OzDankDizzle

Active Member
I am personally sold on defoliating and heavy pruning and other HST techs.
It's hard to be that brutal on the plants, feels wrong, but in my experience it's definitely a net benefit.
 
JSB99

JSB99

Well-Known Member
nicksol86 said:
I will defoliate some more next run. Like right before I flip then at 3 weeks in. I read at 30 and 45 days can be beneficial also. So I thought id be ok. Just don't want to stress them to hermie . Some people say you can can hermie by stress
like that and other say it doesn't hermie if you do it. Others say it's strain (genetic) dependant
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I like to trim a little at a time, more often, than doing a lot at once. Less stress on them.

I tried growing them without trimming, last grow, and wasn't impressed by the yield. I usually do trim, but I wanted to see how not trimming compared. Now, I'm growing the same four plants, and trimming along the way. I can already see how much better the grow will turn out.

Check out the last few pages of my RDWC Grow thread below, to see how bushy my girls were last grow, and the current grow.
 
nicksol86

nicksol86

Well-Known Member
JSB99 said:
I like to trim a little at a time, more often, than doing a lot at once. Less stress on them.

I tried growing them without trimming, last grow, and wasn't impressed by the yield. I usually do trim, but I wanted to see how not trimming compared. Now, I'm growing the same four plants, and trimming along the way. I can already see how much better the grow will turn out.

Check out the last few pages of my RDWC Grow thread below, to see how bushy my girls were last grow, and the current grow.
Click to expand...
I read online you should do it all at once and stress it at once. Verses keeping stressing it over and over or that can reduce your yields too cuz you can stunt growth or bud development each time you pluck. I read to do it all at once so the plant can rebound and do it's thing. I read to do it at the end of veg b4 you flip, then at 3 weeks, then again at day 45 for a total of 3 times. I'm just trying day 30 and 45
 
JSB99

JSB99

Well-Known Member
nicksol86 said:
I read online you should do it all at once and stress it at once. Verses keeping stressing it over and over or that can reduce your yields too cuz you can stunt growth or bud development each time you pluck. I read to do it all at once so the plant can rebound and do it's thing. I read to do it at the end of veg b4 you flip, then at 3 weeks, then again at day 45 for a total of 3 times. I'm just trying day 30 and 45
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Makes sense. I actually trim a few times throughout the grow, not like every other day, but next grow I'll follow this method.
 
Indacouch

Indacouch

Well-Known Member
nicksol86 said:
I removed lower growth several days back and did a heavier defoliation yesterday, I was scared after I went so hard on them but they don't seem to mind. From what I read your right. It increases bud production and stops focus on growing the leaves so much . Makes sense if you think about it
Click to expand...
Lol.....omg


Smh .....
 
JSB99

JSB99

Well-Known Member
Indacouch said:
Miracles I'm sure. Keep removing them and telling yourself that. I bet it will get better every time. Hell, pick some roots out to. Just extra right?


Omg lol
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I'll just add my own little opinion on the matter, and say that with plants grown normally outside as nature intended, it doesn't make sense to defoliate. The power of the sun reaches all the leaves (it has traveled 93 million miles, so a few extra feet is nothing). When grown inside, this isn't the case at all. Many, many things are done to the plants to try and make up for the shortcomings of indoor lights, compared to the sun. Another example of this is how outside plants can handle much higher temps than indoor. The reason is because of the massive amount circulation outside compared to trying to match it with fans.

When you think about all of the things we do to indoor plants, like topping, supercropping, manifolding, scrogging, etc...,why is it so much of a stretch to say that it may be beneficial to remove leaves from under the canopy, where our whimpy lights can't reach, or thinning out the middle, so our whimpy fans can circulate the air throughout the whole plant(s).

I have seen the benefits of trimming, and I think it may be needed more with hydro, especially dwc. With dwc, my plants grow too many leaves during veg, because of how agressive they grow. I'm growing the same plants I just grew with dwc, but in soil this time. I noticed a pretty significant difference in how they veg. Even though they didn't veg the same as with dwc, I still thought they needed to be trimmed.
 
JSB99

JSB99

Well-Known Member
nicksol86 said:
I defoliated my plants yesterday at day 30. To try and fatten the lower buds.
Click to expand...
The goal of trimming indoor plants is to remove lower growth to concentrate growth to the tops, where you have colas. Depending on the light, usable light only penetrates the canopy about a foot deep. That's where you want all your buds to be growing. Its hard to remove everything below the canopy though. Some stuff is just too hard to get to, especially when growing inside.
 
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Greenthumbskunk

Greenthumbskunk

Well-Known Member
nicksol86 said:
I defoliated my plants yesterday at day 30. To try and fatten the lower buds. I heavily defoliated. Hoping I made the right choice. From what I read online it sounded like a great way to increase yields. Will post pics later when lights are on. They were really bushy before and light couldn't penetrate the lowers. So I hope I made the right move as most people do it in week 3. I waited 4 weeks. What do you think will be the outcome? I hope it's bigger buds like I read and not decreased harvest or Hermies from stressing them so bad.
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I don't know what they looked like before but if you do a heavy amount of leaf plucking later into flower your gonna run the risk of stressing a plant out and it hermie on u.
I personally defoliate throughout my veg. I take off those foot long leaves so the lower levels recieve light. And I fim and bend branches over creating a thick canopy. I will do so until about week 3 is over then I don't really touch it. Except to maybe move a bud over to an empty square.
In my outside grows I don't do it as much because the plant is just so much larger but when it starts to show sex i will pluck some leaves but it's not often depends on variety of plant. I pretty much strip my branches to the very end.
 
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