Defoliating Your Plants

[LadyBuds]

Just would like to hear many opinions on defoliating your plants. I have personally tried it both ways. I would like to hear from others about what your method is, the strain you have grown and the yield you got on average per plant. I look forward to reading all the different ways you guys use.

 

[LittleDabbie]

Both ways?

 

[LadyBuds]

Oh I am sorry defoliating and not defoliating.

 

[LittleDabbie]

Thought you ment like scissors or by hand lol

 

[LadyBuds]

LOL! I always use my hands its faster especially when growing on a large scale

 

[MidwestToker]

I'm a non-defoliator , I can feel them crying every time i'd pluck a leaf off.

 

[velocity]

It can be a very, very,very heated topic either way.

Myself having read numerous threads about it and many first hand experiances I think it comes down to 2 things.

1. Indoors it can be asset since growing indoors is not a natural method by any means due to using a lite source to dictate spectrum and intensity VS the sun. Not saying it cannot help outdoors but really seems to be used indoors more. If your trying to flatten a plant out and control stretch it is a benifit. It is no secret if you go into flower you can pull the all the fans off and stunt a plant and avoid stretch. I have done this many times to avoid stretch all together of the branches and vertical growth. Its really about how you are wanting to manipulate plant growth. The only way I would intentionally stunt growth from stretch is IF I have clones I have taken from a plant right after it has went through stretch and reveg the clones. Yes it is not a fast method it will take atleast 1 or 2 flowering cycles to have a clone I can work with.

2. It is going to be strain specific AND also it is just a method to assist your way of growing.

I have tried this over the years through various growing methods. Does it work every time? No. If the plant is a strain that responds to this in a good way you will gain in yeild but it is mainly due to the fact you have less popcorn and larf lower down in the plants structure. The larf and popcorn issue some use lollipop to deal with this instead or double stack bulbs. The best reults I seen is when I am growing vertical or on a screen flat because I am heavly manipulating structure.

Some strains the really leafy types seem to benifit from it from what I have seen.

Really all I can say is this. If you want to try it then start out in veg and continue on into flower. Until you try it out yourself you just will not know. Only remove fans do not remove leaves from the budsites unless they are shading other bud sites dramacticlly.

If your going for a main cola type of grow it may not be much benifit unless your in the final week then I remove leaves so its easier to trim fans and bud site leaves since the plant is on its death bed. If your after and willing to spend the time in veg to promote lateral growth for more bud sites this maybe a method that may help. For me it really comes down to structure of the plant. I want to encourage as many bud sites as I can get VS trying to have 1,4 or 8, or 16 main colas.

I am 1 that believes that fans indoors are really not needed since the fans do store sugars ect. That can be very usefull outdoors but indoors since I feed constantly I am not relying on the fan leaves to store what the plant needs for a later time to be used. Fans do have a lifespan, by no means am I saying as soon as a fan grows back remove it immediately. IF I defoliate I start in veg, wait until I know stretch is over with day 20 roughly then every 10 day ish from there on out. It is very strain dependant and very dependant on how you are growing your plants. Its not a method for those starting out, YOU HAVE TO KNOW THE STRAIN VERY INDEPTH to have this as a advantage to your grow.

You can look at grapes, fruit orchards, tomoatoes ect honest very documented Ag science and for some instances it is a benifit not a hinderance. You just need to apply the method to your situation and see how it comes out. There is factual honest science behind it.

Strictly my opinion, miliage may vary. By no means am I going to get into a pissing match with anyone that does not agree with me, so know this now I have used it, I still use. I don't care what others that do not use it have to say. My feelings mean nothing, I utilize science and plant repsonse to tell me either way. Plant respone is mainly what I go by, and that is why this is NOT a begginers method.

It works for my garden, my way of manipulating the structure I want for me nobody else. Not be a snob but just not going to argue it with anyone there is no need to argue anything because its not changing my mind at all in any way. I use it as I see it is needed. It is just a method.....

 

[LadyBuds]

Insightful, this is the type of responses I am looking for. I pluck down on day 1 of flower and again on day 21 this is where I have had best results. I do believe you do need to know your strains and know that they will like it. Some love to be plucked down completely others partially. I have never tried this technique outdoors.

I didn't start this thread for arguing one way is better than another I just like to see what others do and how well they like it. I DO NOT think one way is better than another there really are to many factors involved. I am always looking for new ideas and techniques to improve my grow.

Right now with this method I am getting around 2 1/2lbs per 9 plants, per 1000 watt light.

 

[velocity]

Lady I know the arguement is not the intention of you, me or anyone else. I was mearly saying its not going to go there at all so I am not quoted by a troll that wants to argue..This can be a troll fest topic as it has been on so many threads on other boards.

It sounds like you are really on the edge of what you can do with your situation. You are yeilding very well, and you for sure are not afraid of various manipulation techniques at all to get there. How are you growing horizontal or vet? For me it was most responsive using vert methods...It is interseting to see the methods and how they can be used to be honest.

The hardest thing I think is most want to hit that GPW number. You have to train and manipulate most of the time to achieve that as you know well.

My best result was a 4 foot vert not using a screen 2 600's and just broke 2 lbs. Not defoilating I was struggling to get over 1.6 lbs...It is amazing how something even like bending a fan leaf down under a screen can help aswell so not have to actually remove.

I think your in the place most of us are. Were trying to find grams not oz in our grows, and sometimes we beat our head in the walls trying to find that extra 7 grams when we have larf and popcorn under control. Only thing I know to do is add a lite and a few more plants and see if additonal plants can come together as a whole and drive that lucrative yeild number higher...Its such a balancing act

 

[LadyBuds]

I try to get them no more than 4ft high and then I start training them outward. On adding grams that goes a long ways with what we are doing. I run 9 under 1 light in a 5x5x8 grow tent that I use as test subjects for a future run and we have over 300 plants, just running 9 per 1000 watt light. You are totally right with training thats for sure it is a lot of work. That many plants in general is a lot of work so I look for little easy things to try out that might save some time in one area so it can be focused in others

 

[velocity]

Testing is really where you are at. Your trying to find that edge and that I may not beable to help with. There are far better growers here than me for sure. I am just a salty daddy at times, and that doesn't come out right at times through the net..

You sound like you are very much on the right road. I wish I had pictures of my older grows to show but I do not. So I could show how something have worked for me some have not.

I maybe 100% wrong on this but your at the point were the smallest of details do matter that most will not consider.

I have had 150 in veg or in flower at any point in time together before 300 total plant count. The smallest things matter.
When you pinch, when you defoilate,FIM, top, when do you turn the branch under the net to redistribute the hormones all matters. There are far better growers than me here, hopefully they maybe able to chime in. 20 years off and on growing and I feel like a rookie still to this day.

I think it is a balance. Vegging is not really shown by many, when they do what, when. Its always the flower show LOL.The 1 thing I can say about the veg game is to look for plant skelatons. You have enough experiance to know that skelaton can speak far more than anything how a grower sets there game of chess up to run into flowering.

I do apoligize if I seemed a wee bit blunt earlier. This is something very much held tight to any grower worth a salt on the kitchen table and why I put my hand down said hell no to the arguing that could come out because I really want to hear from the better growers to see what that input is. Honestly tho I know the answer already and it is there is no secret except being able to listen to the plant speak to me tell me where it is weak where it is strong.

I never have done side by side nute and lite tests before, thats the only real things I can say is to test, and keep testing. I wish I could have more to say, but be glad to talk any method, but it really comes down to that game of chess and all the factors.

 

[velocity]

If you get into the MPB and vert, trees section I can say honestly if you read those threads you may find methods that may help you. Its not out in the open you do have to look but the vert area really has alot of manipulation involved but most of the times you have to back track what they did.

 

[LadyBuds]

Okay cool and thanks for the email, a lot of info. Things done a little differently than I currently do so I will do a test run with 9 and see how it goes. As for side by side comparisons I would do at least 3 one way and 3 another and take it as an average because no one plant is the same so I try and focus on averages. Also I got where you were coming from earlier I didn't realize this was such a hot topic on the forums, this is my first forum to join. I like to veg outdoors and flower indoors, I have found that makes the girls a bit more durable and they tend to handle stress better. Again just my experiences.

 

[friend]

This is my first run of OG ,
as i set the sog into flower, i heavy defolited
the girls i looked at them and said what the
Fuck have i done :nailbiting:
Now 30 days in i have OG monsters
bigger than me ,
this is also with my first earth juice run,
With heavy defolited plants,
So far no bugs or pm :happy:

 

[LadyBuds]

This is my first run of OG ,
as i set the sog into flower, i heavy defolited
the girls i looked at them and said what the
Fuck have i done :nailbiting:
Now 30 days in i have OG monsters
bigger than me ,
this is also with my first earth juice run,
With heavy defolited plants,
So far no bugs or pm :happy:

Now what type of setup are you running, when did you defoliate, what strain of OG? Also I am very happy that you had success with this strain, however I would suggest trying it on 3 plants instead of your while harvest just so you know how that strain handles it. Every strain is different and I have learned that some some strains thrive when stripped bare and other do better when partially stripped, so just be careful and know your strain and what it likes.

Earth Juice is one that I have never tried. I recently switched from H16 to HR with no drop off in production, so I cut my cost drastically in the nutrients category.

 

[friend]

Now what type of setup are you running, when did you defoliate, what strain of OG? Also I am very happy that you had success with this strain, however I would suggest trying it on 3 plants instead of your while harvest just so you know how that strain handles it. Every strain is different and I have learned that some some strains thrive when stripped bare and other do better when partially stripped, so just be careful and know your strain and what it likes.

Earth Juice is one that I have never tried. I recently switched from H16 to HR with no drop off in production, so I cut my cost drastically in the nutrients category.

I am a small micro grow .
I run Roots organic soil,
A combo of 3-5 gal smart and air pots
I am using earth juice line
Currently i am growing OG KUSH.
(I what i believe to have is OG KUSH not a modern hybrid )
I agree about testing strains before coming to conclusions, although to me it seems the more Indca the plant and the earlier the better
GDP loves it, but i would not try this on
cherry pie :banghead:

 

[noone88]

Miamo.mango advocated plucking fan leaves around day 40ish. He also goes through 1-2 rounds of plucking before that as well.

I have started to do it as well at around day 40-45. It works for some reason. I don't know why. I understand that you are exposing the lower/inner plant to light, but you would think that removing fan leaves would also reduce the amount of light that the plant is receiving as well.

I also prune the plant at around day 0-3 of flower. But it is more of cutting off the lower branches and doing the one node one branch method that Jungleboys / Jackmayoffer recommends.