Should I Defoliate?

IMOP, no not yet:)

yes what stage of growth are you in ? if in veg defoliate just the fan leaves that are blocking furture bud sites here's how it goes:
once in veg remove fan leaves only thru veg stage that block (the light to future bud sites) to plant branches - no more than 5 (+/-) per prune - consider feeding after you defoliate Now one week before 12/12 remove all fan leaves for better light pentration during the transition stage (week 1 of flower) The while i flower remove fan leaves that block light to bub sites or ON day 21 remove all fan leaves a once and then feed - the plant is in aggressive bloom and you want to direct the "engery" of the plant to the bud sites - also the plant as time tpo grow more leaves at this stage. Hope you are not too confused Feel the defoliation is necessary of indoors grows !!!!

It depends on what your definition of "defoliate" is. The defoliation can range from plucking the plant to near stems only, to just taking a few leaves here or there. I prefer using the minimalist approach and only remove top fan leaves that are blocking significant light from reaching new or developing growth sites. This allows you to concentrate the number and size of grow/bud sites while still providing a lot of energy for the plant to use (by not removing too many leaves), as well as getting to "know" your plants on a daily basis while you inspect them for candidates.. The other defoliating extreme is usually done right before or during flowering, but I can't offer any advice on that process. There is a TON of info on the site regarding the plucking process. The photos you showed look good and healthy, but aren't ready for defoliating yet. I usually wait for them to get into full vegetative mode and take the occasional leaf. I also rotate my plants, which can change which leaves are blocking light. I try to leave as many fan leaves on as possible, especially at the bottom of the plant where they aren't blocking any light. During flowering, the plants will pull stored nutrients from them as needed...then they turn yellow and die/fall off. It gets to be fun after a while...but maybe you have to be an old fart to enjoy it. I just sit down with a cold beer under the 1000 watt suns and pretend I'm tending my home tomato patch. :cool:

Jimster said:

It depends on what your definition of "defoliate" is. The defoliation can range from plucking the plant to near stems only, to just taking a few leaves here or there. I prefer using the minimalist approach and only remove top fan leaves that are blocking significant light from reaching new or developing growth sites. This allows you to concentrate the number and size of grow/bud sites while still providing a lot of energy for the plant to use (by not removing too many leaves), as well as getting to "know" your plants on a daily basis while you inspect them for candidates.. The other defoliating extreme is usually done right before or during flowering, but I can't offer any advice on that process. There is a TON of info on the site regarding the plucking process. The photos you showed look good and healthy, but aren't ready for defoliating yet. I usually wait for them to get into full vegetative mode and take the occasional leaf. I also rotate my plants, which can change which leaves are blocking light. It gets to be fun after a while...but maybe you have to be an old fart to enjoy it. I just sit down with a cold beer under the 1000 watt suns and pretend I'm tending my home tomato patch. :cool:

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I agree - with cultivation one get to know each strain - Like anything else one learns as you go -- always best to air on the side of few leaves at one time because you can't replace them. as mentioned need to read lots about it and takes at least a years or so to start to get a handle on it - you learn each time you defoliate also defoliation improves air flow which is important to a plants health

Thanks for the advice guys - They are 4 weeks into veg and I was wondering if I should flower (I have read that plants can sometimes triple in height so I don't want to take a risk). I think I will put the net up when I start to flower and then take off anything under the net/top buds. Do you think it will be safe? Maybe a stupid question to some but I want to be absolutely sure. As a side note they're all Critical + 2.0. I chose that strain because it is said they're easy to grow for beginners and high yielding - my logic being that even if I make a few mistake here and there (and believe me I have lol) I can still get a decent enough amount of decent bud for my efforts.

Thanks again


peace

what is their height ? again depends on strain if a hybrid any were from 16 inches - 12 inches is a bit too soon, had a blue dream I let grow to 21 inches and got a 7.5 foot plant --way to tall for me Then again some 100% sativa's it's recommended to give them only 2-3 weeks veg or start with 12/12 from seed because of the "streach" - indica dominate hybrids do good at 16 inches

hawkman said:

what is their height ? again depends on strain if a hybrid any were from 16 inches - 12 inches is a bit too soon, had a blue dream I let grow to 21 inches and got a 7.5 foot plant --way to tall for me Then again some 100% sativa's it's recommended to give them only 2-3 weeks veg or start with 12/12 from seed because of the "streach" - indica dominate hybrids do good at 16 inches

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they're 70 Indica 30 sativa. at present they're about 12" tall. I do have a parabolic shade with a vertical lamp though. Would ya say another week veg?

Tahnks

I would say do what your comfortable with While defoliation is generally w kore.advanced technique, new growers can partake as well. I would just reccomend only a small defoliation for your first time. Then next time remove more, than again and so one. Your first time will be nerve racking and you'll think your doing it wrong whether it's your first grow or your hundredth doing something new always feels weird. So I'd just give it a shot on a small test run and work up from there. Or dont at all definitely dont need too. Just my 2 cents, hopenit helped

DenzlFregren said:

I would say do what your comfortable with While defoliation is generally w kore.advanced technique, new growers can partake as well. I would just reccomend only a small defoliation for your first time. Then next time remove more, than again and so one. Your first time will be nerve racking and you'll think your doing it wrong whether it's your first grow or your hundredth doing something new always feels weird. So I'd just give it a shot on a small test run and work up from there. Or dont at all definitely dont need too. Just my 2 cents, hopenit helped

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Thanks man

I think I'm gonna leave them for another week and then sgrog and get rid of all the under stuff

peace

BobaJob said:

Thanks man

I think I'm gonna leave them for another week and then sgrog and get rid of all the under stuff

peace

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That's a great plan. Best of luck with that!

BobaJob said:

they're 70 Indica 30 sativa. at present they're about 12" tall. I do have a parabolic shade with a vertical lamp though. Would ya say another week veg?

Tahnks

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Yea ! one more week at least with that strain- your stretch will be what your height of when you flip

If you are in veg a light strip at any time is not going to harm anything.

the.seek3r said:

If you are in veg a light strip at any time is not going to harm anything.

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OK cool... so if I were to remove some of the higher fan leaves (trust me they're massive lol) to allow more light to lower growth whilst in veg they'll be fine? I am going to use a sgrog net and I was going to leave them and then a few days before I flip do exactloy that and which ever leaves i need to maximise light.

Thanks


Peace

hawkman said:

Yea ! one more week at least with that strain- your stretch will be what your height of when you flip

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Cool so double not triple at stretch - that's a relief. thanks for the help it's appreciated.

peace

BobaJob said:

Cool so double not triple at stretch - that's a relief. thanks for the help it's appreciated.

peace

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not really go to Seedfinders.eu" will give you all information of + pictures and grow reports. I use this on a regular basis - it list over 14,000 different strains - use it when I pick next grow's

I personally like to remove the enormous fan leaves blocking light reaching lower buds, and I take everything off from the lower 20% of the plant. Those bud sites down there aren't going to receive much light and will just grow tiny buds taking growth from the bigger ones above.

GrowThings said:

I personally like to remove the enormous fan leaves blocking light reaching lower buds, and I take everything off from the lower 20% of the plant. Those bud sites down there aren't going to receive much light and will just grow tiny buds taking growth from the bigger ones above.

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"Light" defoliation works great and perfer to do you like you

HPS ?
Into a net ?
You are golden.

I like your style bobjob. I enjoy reading your posts .
We can start with a theory, followed by two facts
Here is my idea -the biggest fan Leaf you're looking at there ---it is the boss
it is the champion
it is winning.
Light drives photosynthesis. It is superior at what every other leaf is trying to do .
You asked it to veg- it's winning, don't cut it off.

Facts - Phototropism
Leaves will maneuver themselves to where they want to be. Happens really fast .

Fact phototropism
Bud will maneuver themselves to where they want to be. It happens really fast .

The executive completely defoliated every single fan leaf, on one of these plants. Defoliated at three and a half weeks of veg , they flipped to 12/12 four days later . It appears on the front right hand side of this photo.

It is still flowering at this time. The only observation I can make is the defoliated plant produced the most uneven canopy

hawkman said:

not really go to Seedfinders.eu" will give you all information of + pictures and grow reports. I use this on a regular basis - it list over 14,000 different strains - use it when I pick next grow's

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Nice tip! Thanks for that, that will help immensely!

peace