This thread is full of negative energy so I've been avoiding it but I wanted to share my results of some defoliating.
First Item in Question: Defoliating to expose light to lower bud sites. Before this experiment I would have disagreed with the "old timers" in here. Here is proof that bud sites do not need direct light. This plant was among many others in very close proximity to one another...close enough that the large upper fan leaves blocked all light from getting down below. The lowest bud sites on this plant are nearly perfectly developed. So I think this shows that bud sites do not require *direct* light
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2nd Item: I have numerous plants where I took a single node (2 bud sites) in which there were 2 fan leaves. I removed one fan leaf and monitored the growth of the two bud sites. Ultimately the results were inconclusive. Most of the plants I did this too showed no discernible difference...a few of them had a slightly larger bud on the site with the leaf and a few of them had a slightly larger bud on the site where the leaf was removed. To me, this indicates that the fan leaves serve the entire plant collectively and are not specifically for the node in which they grow. My 2 cents on the matter from *trying it*.
Yeah i mean thats cool u tried to defoliate but using only one small plant like that really isnt gonna make a difference. Defoliating needs be done on really large plants run in: Sea of green or scrog style or in a canopy with trellising where large fan leaves are blocking alot of under growth from receiving light, to see how leaf removal effects plant growth and bud development.
Ive found that sativas do not like defoliation period they are less likely to have a positive response from removing fan leaves. Since sativas genetically by nature grow thin, elongated stems producing large thin leaf structure defoliation isnt required by such plants. Primarily trying to defoliate a sativa dominant plant will have adverse affects on both plant growth and bud development and severely stresses the plant out which is something you do not want to happen during flowering especially to phenos and strains that are susceptible to hermaphroditing.
While indica dominant or hybrids on the other hand through my trials i have found respond very well to some defoliation during the 2nd and 4th weeks of bloom. In my research i began defoliating throughout bloom at different periods monitoring growth, bud sites and bud growth. I found that the best time to remove fan leaves is around day 10-12 and again around day 28-30. I find these to be critical periods of bud development and providing these sites which have set and are now flourishing the extra light to really take off and blow up compared to ones that had limited light exposure.
In my research it was discovered that removal of only interior blocking fan leaves is what you want to focus on and it is not recommended to periodically pick them off every few days as plants dont fully recover before youre plucking the next set off. Which is why i recommend waiting that 2 week period of time before doing any additional removal and giving plants time to recoup and never removing anything after that 4th week until last week of bloom when i strip everything but main top cola leaves off. I find at this time it is beneficial in supplementing nutrient solution with b vitamin and bene's to aid in reducing stress and potential disease/mold etc from the open surface area where leaves have been cut or plucked off.
Growweedeasy.com uses some of the information on their defoliation page which has a great deal of information regarding the process online in an indepth article on their site.
Defoliation does work to an extent and can be beneficial and absolutely necessary for air flow and light exposure in a heavy and dense leaf canopy and can definetely ncrease yields if done correctly!! Cheers and happy harvesting..
