Effect of Defoliation on Yield - Skywalker OG indoor scrog

redbeard420 said:

Ive been removing fan leaves here and there for the past week and a half now. But still have a shit ton of leaves. Im worried about removing too many. But also worried about airflow, mold, and light penatration. These pics from tonight after removing a few fan leaves. I may neec to remove more. I could use a lil advise. View attachment 3146595 View attachment 3146597 View attachment 3146607 View attachment 3146608 View attachment 3146611

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red I can't really give you advise. if I was certain yanking leaves off your type of plant was the right thing to do, I would not hesitate.
what I would do is lay down on the floor with your head facing up and look for the dark areas of your canopy. pull one to three leaves per plant max and even it out. if I wasn't a scrogger I would rotate my plants 90degrees every few days just to expose them evenly to light. light a plant rotisserie. stay tuned for the experiment and go from there.

OscarLaGrouch said:

red I can't really give you advise. if I was certain yanking leaves off your type of plant was the right thing to do, I would not hesitate.
what I would do is lay down on the floor with your head facing up and look for the dark areas of your canopy. pull one to three leaves per plant max and even it out. if I wasn't a scrogger I would rotate my plants 90degrees every few days just to expose them evenly to light. light a plant rotisserie. stay tuned for the experiment and go from there.

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My plants get a half turn every day. I also tuck leaves out of the way as to not shadow any bud below them. Ive just never grown anything this lush in the past. These girls are hardy. They are Aphrodite x skunk f1's I made last year. So basically 50% Jack Herer 25% Black Domina 25% Skunk.

redbeard420 said:

My plants get a half turn every day. I also tuck leaves out of the way as to not shadow any bud below them. Ive just never grown anything this lush in the past. These girls are hardy. They are Aphrodite x skunk f1's I made last year. So basically 50% Jack Herer 25% Black Domina 25% Skunk.

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I would give them a quarter turn. that way you are sunning four sides of the plant equally, not just two.

redbeard420 said:

My plants get a half turn every day. I also tuck leaves out of the way as to not shadow any bud below them. Ive just never grown anything this lush in the past. These girls are hardy. They are Aphrodite x skunk f1's I made last year. So basically 50% Jack Herer 25% Black Domina 25% Skunk.

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lets move our discussion to a private message so this thread stays true to its title. cool?

Nice Oscar!!! A person willing to possibly lose a bit to see the results! I'm glad to see this after what was one of the first sensible discussions re: defoliation I've seen on RUI a few weeks ago. Although I believe you or others will have to expand on this, one of many true defoliating techniques, to truly find the answers. Subbed for the ride, see you in a week or two lol.

The search for answers is sometimes a long journey lol.

waterdawg said:

Nice Oscar!!! A person willing to possibly lose a bit to see the results! I'm glad to see this after what was one of the first sensible discussions re: defoliation I've seen on RUI a few weeks ago. Although I believe you or others will have to expand on this, one of many true defoliating techniques, to truly find the answers. Subbed for the ride, see you in a week or two lol.

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Thx for your interest. I will post pics of flower size on both tables every sunday.

Journal
Day 11
Sprayed w reverse as preventative.

Wait, what?

There was a sensible convo abput defol on... RIU?

Where?
I have to read this.

waterdawg said:

Nice Oscar!!! A person willing to possibly lose a bit to see the results! I'm glad to see this after what was one of the first sensible discussions re: defoliation I've seen on RUI a few weeks ago. Although I believe you or others will have to expand on this, one of many true defoliating techniques, to truly find the answers. Subbed for the ride, see you in a week or two lol.

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lol i really doubt it

Well I started to do some pruning tonight when the lights came on. I checked my levels, added water with some nutrients and Pro-TeTk and got the pH set and did some pruning of my 2 Cluster Bombs. Tomorrow night I will prune the 2 Sugar Black Rose.

Thanks Oscer

OscarLaGrouch said:

It should be noted that i had a 2.5 hr power outtage in veg. We will see of that fucks up the whole room or not. Opinion?
Happened about one wek into veg.

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my opinion is that it shouldn't matter being in veg. and also i believe it is the lights being ON that can potentially stress / hermie them, i don't think it matters how the lights are OFF.

OscarLaGrouch said:

red I can't really give you advise. if I was certain yanking leaves off your type of plant was the right thing to do, I would not hesitate.
what I would do is lay down on the floor with your head facing up and look for the dark areas of your canopy. pull one to three leaves per plant max and even it out. if I wasn't a scrogger I would rotate my plants 90degrees every few days just to expose them evenly to light. light a plant rotisserie. stay tuned for the experiment and go from there.

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just took about 1.5lbs of leaf and small branches pyramid tutankhmon

RL420 said:

lol i really doubt it

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someone I trust says if its a strong enough genetic, most stuff won't phase it.

m3d1c1n3man said:

my opinion is that it shouldn't matter being in veg. and also i believe it is the lights being ON that can potentially stress / hermie them, i don't think it matters how the lights are OFF.

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I agree that it shouldn't matter in veg. I read about short dark periods in flower being the real problem. I'd be more worried about a light leak than a dark 'leak'. ahah. just wanna make sure.

dark flood?

This is interesting, I've been aggressively defoliating my plants for quite some time now and I get fantastic results, but I remove leaves from the top of the plant to allow for greater light penetration, but I don't grow scrog so it is different. I'm subbed, good luck.

DATA
defoliation has begun. removed 43 leaves with petioles that were shading or crowding budsites. slight Mg deficiency noted. added dissolved epsom salts to ppm of 100 and diluted res to 450ppm for FRIDAY FLUSH DAY.
will spray with dissolved epsom salt foliar feed during lights out to supplement. medium may be too full of K+ which competes with Mg+. runoff ppms at 950 and pH 6.1. since that's what Ive been feeding them I wonder what they are eating if anything but they are growing robustly with dark green leaves. interveinal spaces slightly less dark than veins. OGs are notoriously Mg hungry.

Cool thread. Quick question (sorry if it's been covered). The results are going to be specific to Skywalker and strains with similar lineage, right? Since the effects from defoliating are strain dependent?

Sparkticus said:

Cool thread. Quick question (sorry if it's been covered). The results are going to be specific to Skywalker and strains with similar lineage, right? Since the effects from defoliating are strain dependent?

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absolutely. experiment would have to be repeated on a representative strain to guage the effects on that type of plant. this is a Sativa Dom OG lineage. it would be unscientific and illogical to apply the results to other strains. one would have to repeat the experiment on a given strain to conclude whether or not defoliation enhances yield or doesnt.