Should I "Defoliate" as buds are growing?

[Justadad]

I was told that at this stage of my plants growth & flowering, I should remove/defoliate lots of leaves to allow more light to buds that are growing thereby allowing them to get bigger. Any fact to this?

Any ideas? thanks folks

 

[sky high]

IMO.....

First......Nice plants.

My opinion is no. If you remove anything, go wayyyy down low and remove the smaller buds/bud sites/stem material that will not receive much light. Leave the leaf.....all of it. (optimally, this is roughly 2 weeks into 12/12....but you seem to be growing a sativa based plant and I'd say you have a longer window than that)

Either way, I personally only remove leaves when they yellow and are no longer making the >energy< that feeds the bud. (which is what they do) Think about what happens in nature. Other than a fierce storm....the leaves are only getting stripped by attrition and age.

Keep em healthy and light em up with as much light as you can and you will go farther than stripping them/shocking them in an attempt to let light in. That's the way we play here anyway! Good luck.

 

[CBDEMON]

I am actually in favor of defoliating, especially right before flowering or during the first week. It hasn't slowed my strains any and with high resin plants with a lot of foliage they may be more mold prone without a clean up. I would say see for yourself. If you take clones or have two of the same strain plant in similar stages of growth, try de-leafing on one and let the other just do it's thing. It never hurts to try new things on your plants and the fact of the matter is that what works for one person in a given situation differs from person to person. Cannabis is a forgiving plant and as long as you give it the essentials for growth and have a watchful eye you can expect good results.

 

[below frigid]

Mostly I just take off the yellow ones. With that sativa you have there I definitely would not take any off unless they yellow. You will take off plenty yellow ones. Like sky said if you have easy access to the lower plant which I don't I would take off all those little spindley branches inside the canopy and the lower little bud sights if you have the time and energy. Most Indic'a dom strains that I have grown are not going to miss a few leaves, LOL. I usally out 2 or three in a hole so it lets them breath a little.

 

[Justadad]

Sure do appreciate everyone's feedback. One thing also... I have both Indica & Sativa. Really don't think I can "increase" light naturally. I'm beginning to think that the best thing to do is like most folks recommend, let nature take her course.

 

[Seamaiden]

You can increase what gets to the inside of the plant, or rather conversely you can encourage the plant to spend its energy on growing the best buds, instead of spreading its energy out trying to grow larf along with fat colas.

 

[ncga]

This is a very misunderstood issue.

The plant leaves when green you can think of as solar panels that convert light into what the plant need( very simplified). When the leaves reach the end of there production and start to turn yellow they become storage. The plant then starts to pull the sugars and nutrients out of the leaves back into the plant. That is why they turn yellow. So by removing leaves you MIGHT get more light but what you loose is overall size. I have done two experiments on this. The first which anyone can do is to remove leaves on one plant. Then compare to one that you let the leaves naturally drop and you will see a difference.

The second is by using a sap meter to test what is in the leaves. Even as they are dying they contain quite a bit of available nutrients to plant

 

[geologic]

If you've got the plants--
experimenting is good...

 

[sealed138]

I defoliate the bottoms of my plants around week 3 taking anything that hasnt made it into the canopy. Then around week 6 when things are fattening up I take out the big fan leaves on top to expose the smaller middle buds to more light. It seems to make my yields go up and have less smalls at the end.

 

[woodsmaneh]

This comes up a lot and there are three camps.

Pull at the leafs off and bla bla bla, I'm growing bud not leaf camp. Best of luck guys.

It's OK to pull some off and let the buds get more light camp. Some people just have to do shit to their plants camp.

Never ever take any leafs off camp.

and then there are the lollipopers and they don't belong in any of the above because they grow the plant so they can do this. I'm in this camp.

I think you want to be in the middle of the it's OK to pull a few off and never do it camps.

There are so meany reasons why it's not the best thing to do but lots of growers don't want to educate themselves and just do what Billy Bob told them to do.

The leaves are not just the gas tanks they are the motor too! The motor drives performance just like a car, more is better that's all there is to it. How many farmers do you see pulling leaves off their crops? How many wives tails are there about pulling off leaves to get bigger fruit? Weed growers are the only people who have some strange ideas about how to make bigger plants and buds.

Some people skipped this class in high school, leaves have Stomata on them and they drive the growth of your plant, the more the better. Learn more = grow better

 

[CBDEMON]

This comes up a lot and there are three camps.

Pull at the leafs off and bla bla bla, I'm growing bud not leaf camp. Best of luck guys.

It's OK to pull some off and let the buds get more light camp. Some people just have to do shit to their plants camp.

Never ever take any leafs off camp.

and then there are the lollipopers and they don't belong in any of the above because they grow the plant so they can do this. I'm in this camp.

I think you want to be in the middle of the it's OK to pull a few off and never do it camps.

There are so meany reasons why it's not the best thing to do but lots of growers don't want to educate themselves and just do what Billy Bob told them to do.

The leaves are not just the gas tanks they are the motor too! The motor drives performance just like a car, more is better that's all there is to it. How many farmers do you see pulling leaves off their crops? How many wives tails are there about pulling off leaves to get bigger fruit? Weed growers are the only people who have some strange ideas about how to make bigger plants and buds.

Some people skipped this class in high school, leaves have Stomata on them and they drive the growth of your plant, the more the better. Learn more = grow betterView attachment 337849View attachment 337850View attachment 337851View attachment 337852

Hell yeah man, good solid information! Thanks for busting that out

 

[geologic]

Ed Rosenthal has a good paper on this subject:
http://mjgrowers.com/book_lets_research.htm

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I usta do a lot of "bushing" religiously 4 decades ago (pun intended: RastaForI...),
and that worked fine for me back then.
I haven't cut a leaf in the last 25 years (except for ones with insect eggs on 'em...)--
and that works fine for me now...
　
I saw it posted somewhere around here that The Plants don't use anywhere near the amount of their received sunlight. Rosenthal says it's just 15%!!!

I have plants that, in the heat of the afternoon, elevate their plate leaves (er "solar panels") horizontal to the sun; not receiving any light except on razor edge, and sometimes even a bit of negative elevation so that the BOTTOM of the leaves get a little sunlight--
anybody have a clue on that one???

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> "The leaves are not just the gas tanks they are the motor too! The motor drives
> performance just like a car, more is better that's all there is to it."
　
< What kinda fuel economy am I getting--
< and how big of an engine do I need???...