Defoliating sadness

[Terpeneluv]

Last night when I got home, I cut literally two fan leaves. Left her for about 30 minutes, and when I looked at her again, she was unbelievably sad, almost like she was under heart stress or over watering. I realize this does cause the plant stress, but this seems extreme. It was so bad, I want sure if she was going to make it. I got up this morning and she bounced right back. Crazy.

I'm planning on flipping the lights here in the next couple days and this leads me to ask everyone a question: If I wanted to clear some for light to bud sites by defoliating, do I wait and doing it during early flower or late flower? Asking in general.

I'm going to have to do something because she is just so crowded fluffy in the middle and everything is blocked. I'm tucking bending time down and doing everything but it seems the only thing that will work it is some leaf removal.

 

[Dirtbag]

I pull leaves that are blocking budsites when I see buds forming, up to about week 3 or 4 of flower. I'll usually remove around half of the leaves, and only the big ones blocking light.
I remove a bunch more the week before I harvest.

 

[Terpeneluv]

Thanks, Dirtbag. That's actually what I was hoping to hear. I really don't want to stress too much so early before flower. Hey, it's a learning experience.

I'm assuming when I take a couple cuttings tomorrow, she'll do the same thing so that will give her two days to recover before 12/12. I can't wait!!!

 

[BigCube]

Lol you would call me a monster. Last defoliating I did, I removed half the leaves off the plant, and a few branches too.

It loved it.

 

[Terpeneluv]

Ha! Yeah, I have one strain that I think could take it, but the other...... no way. I'm not kidding when I said she looked terrible 30 minutes after taking 2 off.

Funny thing. I'm here at work and continuing my research and u got the notification of your post. Anyway, there's definitely in contrasting opinion between doing it during veg. Most I see think 2 to 4 weeks into flower as Dirtbag suggested. I'm thinking a few here and there might ok during veg, but I think I'm following Dbags advice as much as I want to do it now.

 

[Dirtbag]

Yeah I dont remove many if any in Veg. In veg I prune unwanted branches, but I want as many leaves as possible on the branches I keep. If a big leaf is blocking a keeper branch, I'll pull that though. Otherwise I usually dont start pulling too many leaves until about week 2 of 12/12.

 

[BigCube]

Same. I only cut large ones that cover prime growing areas. About 2 or 3 weeks in to veg, and one around when I flush. I plan on doing one soon, but these damn foxtails wont calm down.

 

[FatManatee]

I did a defoliation side by side test by removing top leaves for added light penetration. I got reduced yields on the defoliated side, even though there were a lot more bud sites getting light. I do not recommend pruning leaves for added light penetration.

This doesn't mean that pruning could be beneficial, as there are so many more ways of doing it. I will be starting a lollipopping side by side test in the next month, to see how that pans out.

Defoliation Side By Side - Bushy Plants

I have done A LOT of searching, and as we all know we still haven't got a conclusive answer on whether defoliation is beneficial or not. Most of the side by side's have been done pretty badly. People have defoliated tall plants that don't even fill out the entire canopy, pretty much negating...

www.thcfarmer.com

 

[Terpeneluv]

I did a defoliation side by side test by removing top leaves for added light penetration. I got reduced yields on the defoliated side, even though there were a lot more bud sites getting light. I do not recommend pruning leaves for added light penetration.

This doesn't mean that pruning could be beneficial, as there are so many more ways of doing it. I will be starting a lollipopping side by side test in the next month, to see how that pans out.

Defoliation Side By Side - Bushy Plants

I have done A LOT of searching, and as we all know we still haven't got a conclusive answer on whether defoliation is beneficial or not. Most of the side by side's have been done pretty badly. People have defoliated tall plants that don't even fill out the entire canopy, pretty much negating...

www.thcfarmer.com

Awesome. Looking forward to those results. Are they from the same mom when doing this comparison?

 

[Terpeneluv]

Same. I only cut large ones that cover prime growing areas. About 2 or 3 weeks in to veg, and one around when I flush. I plan on doing one soon, but these damn foxtails wont calm down.

View attachment 884798

Whoah. That looks delish!

 

[FatManatee]

Awesome. Looking forward to those results. Are they from the same mom when doing this comparison?

The lollipopping test will have identical clones from a single mother plant, just like my earlier defoliation test. You can read up the linked thread to get an idea of my testing methods in detail.

 

[Terpeneluv]

The lollipopping test will have identical clones from a single mother plant, just like my earlier defoliation test. You can read up the linked thread to get an idea of my testing methods in detail.

Ha. I was just reading it when I got a notification of your reply.