MONSTER CROPPING x EXTREME DEFOLIATION x SCRoG

[Brettdawg]

Urs look good mate so happy to listen to ur advice. I do think it can be strain dependant. As some cant take the stress as much as other strains

 

[SKPRO]

I’m scared I’m defoliating too much and causing stress. I went harddddd at the start. But now that I’m caught up it’s not so bad.

That guys seeing extreme growth after 4 days. Wow. Mines not that noticeable after 14 days. I also seemed to of taken off wayyy more leaves than he did. So you’re really agreeing that he got that much growth in 8 days???

it’s interesting for sure. How often can you defoliate before the plants get stressed?

How much can you take off at once before they get stressed?

Do you keep trimming those little 1/2” long brand new baby growths on the bottom 18-24” of bare branch?

Once ive established an even canopy with as many bud sites as i can get i strip everything at the bottom. Any new growth or even original stems at the bottom that cant make ot through to light i cut off.

Stress:

Depends on strain and where its at in growth cycle.

Earlier in cycle will have more stress. In beginning i let it grow until maybe a foot tall. Once it starts getting thick with those big fan leaves i only cut if hiding a bud site. If not i leave them so plant can take in good light.

Im actually currently at this step with my 3 plants in this 3x3. I haven't done any defoliation yet, right about to start.

I can share exactly what im cutting and what im training when i do it. This time in 5gal pots will try to see if i can get over 20oz in a 3x3

 

[SKPRO]

I read sonewhere strip them before u put them on 12-12 and then strip again end of week 3 afrer stretch.is this write?
Or do u strip throughtout first 3 weeks

That is a good general rule.

To be honest i play it by vision, how the plant looks whether it seems like there are a lot of leaves but not many bud sites. Then i will trim away.

I usually find when its flower cycle if i forget to trim and it grows too thick i lose out on potential bud sites that wont have enough length now to penetrate the canopy. So i end up sacrificing a lot of top fan leaves to ensure lower bud sites get light to punch through canopy.

Also key note: Lights

I use 2x CMH 315w in flower, and 2x Spider Farmer QBs for Veg

The CMH light penatrates deep into canopy so i maintain a thick layer that i know light will get through. So i dont trim the bottom of stems too high up in case some of the lowers can still get light. That ensure i get a real thick canopy where almost no light gets through to bottom.

Then when u trim as many fan leaves as you can u notice they have breathing space between them, which can allow room for more bud sites to pop through (not leaves, kill those).

And since all fan leaves are nearly gone that thick canopy is nearly allll budd. Thats the ultimate goal, a thick even canopy of pure bud, no fan leaves (sugar leaves fine).

 

[Brettdawg]

Im using 1 600watt hps
But myt swap it for 2x 400 hps.
Space 1.2 x1.2
2 weeks into flower. Ivw got a net on
Net is full ive trimmed all stuff of bottoms that aint gena reach the net. Jus gota take more lwaves off now but was gena wait til end of week 3.

 

[CF89]

Ok I went hard. I defoliated most of the big fan leaves (again) and did some tying down on the one plant.

not sure why they’re so droopy In the after pic. I just fed them too and they got a hell of a haircut.

 

[CF89]

What do you guys do about this small new growth that keeps coming in?

 

[Brettdawg]

Take it off mate

 

[SKPRO]

Here some before and after defoliating for my 2 GC's and AK.

You can see before like nice and beautiful and after looks anorexic about to die almost. Dont worry about how it looks, watch what happens in a couple of days.

I purposely cut off more than usually just to give a good example.

I cut almost all fan leaves facing inward (covering bud sites) and others here and there. I left some to be sure it can still get light.

You see first pic looks like you gonna get good healthy yield, but in reality all you get is what u see in second pic, not very much. Goal is to have it that thick with stems not leaves. Longer veg than usual.

 

[SKPRO]

Also decided to top them since they were stretching longer than id like. All tops split to two. Also starting to bend into their own square. I dont let them pass this line until every square packed (raise when needed).

 

[CF89]

I love the posts. Keep it up man. I am about 2 weeks away from my next grow and I am doing it this way next time too. I need all the tips I can get!!

 

[SKPRO]

Anytime man happy to share.

Heres an update on the Utopia Haze aeroponics setup, can see the after affects in real-time of good defoliation!

Going to run another defo sesh on these soon.

 

[Sh311Sh0ck3d]

Nice job.

 

[boomgagem]

Will be a little more aggressive this time with my defoliating! Thanks!!

 

[CF89]

I was extremely aggressive with mine. Removed all the big fan leaves. Even up top.