Defoliate or keep rocking this bush?

[Mr.OrganicGrows]

Quick facts: AK-47 Auto. Day 40. 18/16.

 

[Captspaulding]

It’s still small. Keep it intact until you get some more loft. Then light defol and a lollipop.
That’s just me though. I’m a clown.

 

[Teslajuana]

Keep the solar panels which should give your plant more energy

 

[StalkerAF]

All of the above with moderation in mind

 

[GNick55]

easy on watering too frequently,. she’s looking stunty,..

 

[Putthataway]

I just had captain give me a lesson on defoliation that was fun. I wouldn’t do what he gave me a lesson yet with your pIants I would definitely pull the three leaf, there’s one hanging on the side and that front leaf sitting in the dirt. Then get the small stuff underneath and let the bush grow. I have question for you? 70’s bush was light defoliation? I wasn’t around back then but 80s bush was never defoliated.

 

[Itscheese94]

i only trim the bush, when they need it/ to much leaf to bud ratio.

 

[Putthataway]

I don’t mean to trainwreck your thread but I figured you might get a laugh. I had a nephew over one day who just decided it was good idea to use the electric razor in my bathroom. All proud of his new goatee he had created.

This thing wasn’t set out for him to use. I am thinking uhhhh. Dude. So I look just laughing my ass off. Hey you just used my ball hair trimmer on your face.

 

[quirk]

My thoughts. Auto BlueBerry Domina

 

[RhastaBlasta]

Wow, aint she toooooo small to defoliate?

 

[Fromunda506]

At that size, I am mostly just pinching new side shoots to help establish the main branches and get them growing vertical. I only defoliate in veg if they are socked in with leaves and then generally just to expose the tops of each branch I am going to flower. I will also remove leaves if they are totally blocked from the light. They are solar panels, but if they are in total shade, the plant is using energy to support them and they are returning almost nothing. I don’t do a serious defoliation until post-stretch. I like to leave lots of fans to power them through the stretch and then remove all but the top few on each branch to expose the flower sites all the way into the canopy.

 

[Mr.OrganicGrows]

At that size, I am mostly just pinching new side shoots to help establish the main branches and get them growing vertical. I only defoliate in veg if they are socked in with leaves and then generally just to expose the tops of each branch I am going to flower. I will also remove leaves if they are totally blocked from the light. They are solar panels, but if they are in total shade, the plant is using energy to support them and they are returning almost nothing. I don’t do a serious defoliation until post-stretch. I like to leave lots of fans to power them through the stretch and then remove all but the top few on each branch to expose the flower sites all the way into the canopy.

Hey man,

I’m a new growers, can you give me a tip on timing/ how to truly identify when the plant is stretching?

Cheers!

 

[Fromunda506]

Stretch is basically from flipping to 12-12 until vertical growth stops. Usually 2-3 weeks depending on strain.

My rule of thumb with trimming in late veg/getting ready to flower is to not let side branches start on the bottom half of the plant. Focuses all of the future flower growth into the upper half of the canopy. Also helps develop your main branches by focusing the growth up to the tip. The last thing I do before I flip is pinch off every shoot except the tips of the main branches I am going to flower. You will pick up some weight from those lowest bud sites, but the quality of that flower will just not be there for you.

 

[Mr.OrganicGrows]

Stretch is basically from flipping to 12-12 until vertical growth stops. Usually 2-3 weeks depending on strain.

My rule of thumb with trimming in late veg/getting ready to flower is to not let side branches start on the bottom half of the plant. Focuses all of the future flower growth into the upper half of the canopy. Also helps develop your main branches by focusing the growth up to the tip. The last thing I do before I flip is pinch off every shoot except the tips of the main branches I am going to flower. You will pick up some weight from those lowest bud sites, but the quality of that flower will just not be there for you.

Thank you for the insight, it is appreciated !

 

[Mr.OrganicGrows]

My thoughts. Auto BlueBerry Domina

 

[cannafarmer420]

It’s still small. Keep it intact until you get some more loft. Then light defol and a lollipop.
That’s just me though. I’m a clown.

Listen to the

 

[PGwojowski]

I never trim my plants unless topping. Every leaf matters is my motto.

 

[Natep]

I would not trim yet. Continue topping and lst. When plant gets to be half the height you want it to be when finished. Flip and start trimming.

 

[Bilber]

I'm not sayin to take those very bottom large fan leaves, hanging in or on the container, but, take those two, three, four large fan leafs at the very bottom to promote oxygen/airflow......

 

[Fromunda506]

As you will see dude, there are tons of ways to do it. At one point some years ago, I ran six cuts of the same plant, side-by-side with different defoliation techniques, ranging from stripping basically every fan leaf to full retro bush. The results all came out pretty similar weight-wise until I got to the pretty extreme defoliation, which produced a little less. Quality-wise, the nuggets were generally about the same, although the fully un trimmed bush had a bit more underdeveloped larf. Pretty well every technique I tried between those two extremes produced almost the same bag of weed. my point is, don’t stress too much about it. Find a grower that is killing it (like, I don’t know, maybe some clown) and learn what they are doing. Then, as you gain experience, you can tweak and adapt that to your grow style and environment. Try not to worry that you’re going to do something “wrong“ though. As long as you don’t do anything too extreme, she’ll be fine