DEFOLIATION . . . . a hands on approach!

Do you defoliate?


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Cannabil

Well-Known Member
I think they said november up there before election they were gonna pass it for recreational. I know couple ppl up there doing there thing. Def a good place to be at for sure. Really laid back nice place to live too
 

Cannabil

Well-Known Member
I got 12-12 down where im at. Wish it was more but its straight. Only loop hole is drying the shit u gotta move it somewhere else cuz the minute it comes down anything over 2.5 ounces ur fucked and lose all ur shit and they take ur property so kinda sucks just gotta be careful and dry somewhere else.

Only thing if u want to do more and get caregiver license but than u gotta get finger printed they take urphoto u got sign up all ur patients its a real pain in the ass. Easier just to be a patient u get 12 in veg and 12 in bloom. No light restrictions or anything so literally u could do 1 plant per light and go hard.
 

Cannabil

Well-Known Member
Im thinking about gettin the 12 bucket cureent culture 13 gallon bucket setup. Add a few more lights and run like 2 plant per light on a 8-10 week veg and run it like that. Just running all the extra equipment get kinda pricey including electricity and all a/c and chiller is expensive. Im thinking about going that route though but still undecided myself. Kinda big investment upfront but def worth it on the back end u know
 

Cannabil

Well-Known Member
Back to the discussion.

Forget flushing lets get back to defoliation.

Ill touch up on a little subject called POLYPLOIDY. If you dont know what this is or what causes this genetic mutation I will fill you in.

Polyploidy is a genetic mutation that causes plants to produce excessive yield. It occurs from constant defoliation which triggers this hormonal response internally thru a mutation of the genes. The amount and cause differs between various strains but provides a simple explanation for why defoliation can lead to a dramatic increase in yields.

Theres also a product on the market which I do not recommend using but is used in the industry but is toxic and must be handled with care. I forget what its called but it begins with a "C" ill have to go thru my notes and look it up.

Other products and PGR such as paclubutrazol also produce increase in yields by regulating the giberellins and auxins internally by altering the genetic of the plant causing them to grow tight internodal spacing, stout bushy plants and increased flower set and bud development. I dont recommend using the shit but I know it does work. It also used for control of fungus but is banned many places.

Back to defoliation. Some strains are more responsive to others regarding defoliation. When defoliation is done at critical times and consistent selective leaf removal is applied, an increase in yield can be drastic. Some growers claim upwards of 20-25% yied increase with proper defoliation.

I have a friend who removes the entire bottom 1/3 of his plants 10 days before flowering. Followed by another clean up after the stretch is completed and than removes all of his fan leaves completely except for leaf sets inside the colas at the 6th week around day 42. The entire plant is stripped down to just flowers and bud sites.

He insists this is his key to getting 2.5-3.0 lbs per light on the kush variety he grows and says many OG, Chem and Sour strains will all respond the same when defoliates exactly like this.

I am actually doing 1 plant in my room right now using this exact method and I will be posting photos and the information when Im done. Im not gonna lie I would do it to all of them if I knew that the sour im running right now would def respond and increase my yield to that extent but I am not sold on this as of now.

In a few weeks we will have to wait and see the results. As of right now the plant is lollipopped 1/3 and was heavily defoliated at day 21. I will say that the plant is the shortest of the other 8 that I am running and does seem to be a little behind growth wise, but does seem to have alot tighter spacing and overall more flower sites. In about 10-12 days I will be stripping all of the remaining fan leaves and undeveloped stems and continue this until harvest.

I will def be puttin up the information and alot of photos when that day comes.

There was a similar article written in BIGBUDS MAGAZINE a few months ago, I believe it was from a medical facility in Michigan who runs an OG Strain that employs the same exact principles where plants are stripped entirely down on day 42. They claim this is a phenomena tha results in excessive yields and have the information and pictures to prove it.

As stated earlier I cannot say for myself this shit is true or works on all strains but im trying it out on a very small scale right now and taking tons of notes and photos monitoring the growth and plant response in a very detailed journal and will be looking fwd to puttin up the results soon as I am done.
 
We got sidetracked by an ignorant troll being paranoid and having delusions of grandeur accusing two of us of being the same person, some shadowy figure from his past he argued with and thinks is stalking him through making new accounts. It was a pretty bad experience as a new member, being baselessly accused of something; irritated and arguing about irrelevant nonsense when all I did was ask a simple on topic question -what were the conclusions if any reached by the experiment. I quickly ignored the troll, but it would be good if you could ban him. Also growing in Maine has a short season more due to late spring rather than early winter. I had plants out last year until the start of december. Cold novembers could be too much and I let them go a bit late to fatten up tiny buds but if I get lucky I'll at least have them out until nov 14 or so. I made a whole thread about my outdoor grow this year, https://www.rollitup.org/t/first-in-ground-outdoor-grow.878121/#post-11770551 fell free to chime in. I just went out yesterday and topped them all, and tied them down further LST ish style. Hoping if I top and also bend them away from the sun I'll get a bushier overall better yielding plant. Still not quite sold on it outdoors I think letting the plant do it's thing is probably ideal. But I'm leaving my two 6 footers mostly upright because they are too big to train at this point. I did tie down some colas and will keep tying down tops probably that get over 6'. I've been putting them in the ground as they reach ~3feet in height, some went in almost a month ago and the last 3 stragglers just went in maybe a week or so ago. I didn't have the option to start early/inside I was given seedlings and can't grow at home. I should have plenty of time though, a 3 footer now will probably be a 6 footer in a month, which would put me mid/late August they will start flowering about then, and have a week or two in august all of september and a week or three in november to flower.
 

Cannabil

Well-Known Member
We got sidetracked by an ignorant troll being paranoid and having delusions of grandeur accusing two of us of being the same person, some shadowy figure from his past he argued with and thinks is stalking him through making new accounts. It was a pretty bad experience as a new member, being baselessly accused of something; irritated and arguing about irrelevant nonsense when all I did was ask a simple on topic question -what were the conclusions if any reached by the experiment. I quickly ignored the troll, but it would be good if you could ban him. Also growing in Maine has a short season more due to late spring rather than early winter. I had plants out last year until the start of december. Cold novembers could be too much and I let them go a bit late to fatten up tiny buds but if I get lucky I'll at least have them out until nov 14 or so. I made a whole thread about my outdoor grow this year, https://www.rollitup.org/t/first-in-ground-outdoor-grow.878121/#post-11770551 fell free to chime in. I just went out yesterday and topped them all, and tied them down further LST ish style. Hoping if I top and also bend them away from the sun I'll get a bushier overall better yielding plant. Still not quite sold on it outdoors I think letting the plant do it's thing is probably ideal. But I'm leaving my two 6 footers mostly upright because they are too big to train at this point. I did tie down some colas and will keep tying down tops probably that get over 6'. I've been putting them in the ground as they reach ~3feet in height, some went in almost a month ago and the last 3 stragglers just went in maybe a week or so ago. I didn't have the option to start early/inside I was given seedlings and can't grow at home. I should have plenty of time though, a 3 footer now will probably be a 6 footer in a month, which would put me mid/late August they will start flowering about then, and have a week or two in august all of september and a week or three in november to flower.
November is pushing it. Lately even down where I am the first frost past few years has happened like early mid October. Snow has hit past 3 years on Halloween as you know.

Just be really careful one it starts getting under like 45-50 degrees at night. Thats when the molds usually start hitting causing bud rot and all sorts of other issues. So just prepare to be ready to chop early October late September depending on strain. Still has plenty of time for a good bloom period. They should start flowering in the next week or so if they didnt already??

If their close by and easy to get too and maintain, you can also start flowering them now yourself. You can use light dep technique, go out at night and cover them up and than go out in the morning and uncover them a little later. This way you shorten that light cycle yourself until it naturally starts shortening the days. Once it starts getting dark again around 630-7 you wont have to do it anymore (maybe like 3-4 weeks tops).

Doing light dep is also better for your plants and leads to bigger yields and more potent buds too!! The UVB Light is highest in July and August. Tapers way down in Sept and minimal in October in comparison. Its also good to light dep because its drier these months and you have less chance running them late into september reducing risks of mold and rot. So it would be good idea if you have access and time to do it. And you get better yields too because the light strength will give you better denser flowers and more potency as well. And you can get em down before the usual police patrol during harvest time and beat the chance of getting them noticed or from potential rippers in search of the garden. So maybe try this stuff out and good growing!
 
We didn't get snow until about mid December last year, and a year or two before that I was landscaping up until almost Christmas. I'm certain all of september and october will be fine. Honestly anything above 35 degrees I'm comfortable with. I don't plan on trying to cover the plants although I will read into it.... I think the plants have been outside for 2 months and have been vegging they probably know when to start flowering based on temperatures and light tapering off. I only have $65 bucks+ labor into them so if either of the 6 footers is female I'll easily have a good return on my investment. All the 3 footers are just gravy. I topped everything and tied them down but they aren't even really showing sex yet but should anytime. I'd imagine they will start flowering within a week or 3. End of august at the latest. That still gives them two solid months to bud and with winter approaching they will know they need to hurry it up! I have heard everything is fruiting early this year so it could be an early winter, I'll have to do some checking on temps and dates but I plan on letting the plants do their thing. general temp data for my zip code;

Oct34-58
Nov26-45
Dec13-34So if it's a warm good year with late winter I could go up till the end of November maybe! I can always plastic them at night or something, or harvest the larger colas and tops earlier as most people do anyway.
 
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Cannabil

Well-Known Member
Heres some defoliation at its finest. If people think defoliation doesnt work and reduces yield than I am sorry to say but your out of your minds. These ladies are just into week 5 (Day 38) and they ade already the size of soda bottle. They still have about 3.5 weeks left until harvest and they are just getting into their bulking phase. So what I'm thinking is by the time they are ready to chop they will be as big as 2 litre soda bottles. Some may even be as large as footballs, serious chunkers in here. These colas are swinging in the breeze. Fruity Chronic Juice YUMMY!!!

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