3 weeks into flower and had to strip leaves, i have never had to do this before

tonythc said:

i have recently started using led lights mixed with hps lights and have noticed that my plants are a lot more bushy where the led lights are placed, so today i stripped most of the big fan leaves that were shading the smaller buds. I dont like doing this but i felt i had no choice.
So i guess my question is, is this normal procedure with led lights as i have seen people go overboard with the leaf stripping

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This foliage growth is caused by the spectrum of light in the LED light you are using. Depending on the NM and wavelength on your lights spectrum chart can play a big part in foliage growth.

For example:
My Ts600 mars hydro trickles off in the 660NM.
My sf4000 SpiderFarmer spikes in that range.

I have slower leaf growth in veg and sped up leaf growth in flower. (When ts600 used in veg and SF4000 used for flower). If I used the sf4000 from veg to flower I would have more of that growth all the time. Although the strengths are not the same, the spectrums make the difference. As long as we are talking about lights being the cause for foliage growth rates.

So when you look at the typical HPS light, the spectrum in the 660NM falls off pretty bad. Notice and compare it to the LED which is probably more close to maximum.

That is why you have more foliage under the LED.

tonythc said:

i have recently started using led lights mixed with hps lights and have noticed that my plants are a lot more bushy where the led lights are placed, so today i stripped most of the big fan leaves that were shading the smaller buds. I dont like doing this but i felt i had no choice.
So i guess my question is, is this normal procedure with led lights as i have seen people go overboard with the leaf stripping

Click to expand...

I always take lots of fan leaves. I lollipop my girls and really train them by tying down the outer stuff and open up the plant. Aside from the obvious bottom 1/2 or so from lollipopping, I also take quite a bit off throughout the plant.
I don’t have a set schedule or any firm rules about when or how much. If the plant is healthy and thriving, it can take it and never miss a beat. If a plant is struggling, for whatever reason, I won’t defoliate at all until I feel it’s dialed back in.
I see in your vid that u have side lighting. That may cause me to defoliate a little less.
I grow 3 plants at a time in a 2.5’ x 6’ space and I always veg a week too long….so they’re wall to wall and busting out of the joint by the time they really start flowering. So, I have no real space for side lighting.
As is, I can get 16-18oz of nothing but dried and tightly manicured tops…..almost zero larf. Could my yield be more if I didn’t defoliate or lollipop ? Maybe, but I detest trim jail and trimming a lb of tops is bad enough…I hate to think of all the bottom growth that would jail me for days.

All that bottom growth should be removed . Any branch that is not getting strong light because its on the very bottom need to come off.
Those small buds popcorn buds will cause you a decrease in yield on the top of the plant bigger buds .

I remove leaves and branches as the plant grows. I pay attention to both light penetration and air flow. Basically, I try to keep the center of the plant open and encourage the plant to grow wide, not tall, with many colas.

Bdubs said:

So when you look at the typical HPS light, the spectrum in the 660NM falls off pretty bad. Notice and compare it to the LED which is probably more close to maximum.

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interesting as im using mars sp 3000's, mars fc 4800's, both 660 nm and my veg cycle was very slow compared to just hps grow cycle