By the way.
About the larf.
I was wondering from start how the leaf removal would turn out.
Not that i have tried like you did but i feel when i remove some bigger leafs, some of the smaller leafs just start to grow bigger.
But maybe it about the timing of the leaf romoval.

trygrowup said:

And it's ok. She can be your favorit too. I'm not the jealous type.

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No worries my guy. Shes like a sister to me.

trygrowup said:

By the way.
About the larf.
I was wondering from start how the leaf removal would turn out.
Not that i have tried like you did but i feel when i remove some bigger leafs, some of the smaller leafs just start to grow bigger.
But maybe it about the timing of the leaf romoval.

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Its sort of a complex topic but I'll give it a go. First, timing is EVERYTHING with defoliation. Lets use the fruity pebbles for a good visual. Another important factor to consider is the canopy surface area. If I remember right its LAI leaf area index or something close. One more thing about leaves to help explain. Leaves provide energy to the growth where the petiole connects first, then to the branch its connected to, and finally into the plants energy "pool".

The before. She has these really big fans and only a couple sets are making up most of the canopy.


Then I remove those sets of big fans to expose the under growth. What you'll notice is that the canopy is back to the same LAI within a few days. This is due to timing. I waited until the plant had developed the structure underneath but not too long that the growth suffered and slowed down a ton.


This is 2 days after removing the big fans. Roughly the same canopy size.


Now to the part about the other leaves getting bigger. This is great and one reason we want to defoliate. By allowing the other leaves to grow and get bigger we are increasing the energy production for those local parts of the plant.

So giant leaves in the beginning had already served their purpose by developing the main lateral branches at this stage. When I remove them I shift all the energy to start developing the smaller growth but at the same time those main laterals still receive energy, they are just second in line to get it.

Almost forgot the root porn. Took these a couple days ago and didnt post.


I saw these and thought its a good visual on air pruning. This root was chasing the nutes and ended up drying out. The lateral roots are the result. Inside the cube those laterals are going in all directions not just out the side like it looks in the pic.

GasPlease said:

Almost forgot the root porn. Took these a couple days ago and didnt post.
View attachment 2644108

I saw these and thought its a good visual on air pruning. This root was chasing the nutes and ended up drying out. The lateral roots are the result. Inside the cube those laterals are going in all directions not just out the side like it looks in the pic.
View attachment 2644109

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But with the sides of the cube wrapped in plastic, could it be acting like a plastic pot? With the bottom cut out?

Oh, and thank you for that in-depth lesson on which why and when to take leaves off. I remember reading about that a couple years ago.

And the worms! I did that 2 years ago but had no place to keep them over the winter, so had to let them go. It was fun and my worm's favorite food was the peeling from carrots.

cpurola said:

But with the sides of the cube wrapped in plastic, could it be acting like a plastic pot? With the bottom cut out?

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In theory yes but the cubes dont seem to work that way. You would think that the roots would grow out the side, hit the plastic, and grow down the side. That doesnt happen from my experience. Ive cut the plastic off after harvest and there arent many roots on the edges. I think the plastic is just loose enough to let air and light down the sides keeping the roots in the rockwool.



Im always happy to help with anything and everything that I can. Just glad it made sense to someone else! Feel like I do a shit job of explaining things.


FYI on the worms. Your bin wouldve been fine. Worms can sense the weather change and will produce cocoons. Each cocoon can have multiple worms. Those cocoons wont hatch unless conditions are right. Youre worms wouldve died off but you would still have worms in the spring. Yep carrots are great. Pumpkins, squash, watermelon, bananas, avocados, egg shell dust, malted grains, dark greens, and of course cannabis scraps. All very good for castings.

GasPlease said:

Im always happy to help with anything and everything that I can. Just glad it made sense to someone else! Feel like I do a shit job of explaining things.

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Nah you did a good job explaining.
Thank you very much.
I'm also going to try using worms.
Just the 420 worms instead.

More genetic building blocks for the vault. Crickets and Cicada website is very bare bones but you can google the abbreviations to get info about the strains if you arent sure what they are. Good additions to the regular seed stash


I found my way to this site after finding a post about a hashplant called puck. One giant rabbit hole of different forum posts later and I believe Mr Bob Hemphill has solid genetics. Overall he seems very well respected in the culture and is known for keeping the old school stuff untainted.

Worm bin is getting active.

Its day 28 for the rockwool gushers. I did some defoliation cleaning her up a little and Ive let the main tip stand up. The laterals are about to over take it for dominant spot so Im hoping main stem will out pace them. I changed timers she'll get a few extra hrs of lights tonight and tomorrow will be first 12hr light cycle.

GasPlease said:

In theory yes but the cubes dont seem to work that way. You would think that the roots would grow out the side, hit the plastic, and grow down the side. That doesnt happen from my experience. Ive cut the plastic off after harvest and there arent many roots on the edges. I think the plastic is just loose enough to let air and light down the sides keeping the roots in the rockwool.
View attachment 2644592


Im always happy to help with anything and everything that I can. Just glad it made sense to someone else! Feel like I do a shit job of explaining things.


FYI on the worms. Your bin wouldve been fine. Worms can sense the weather change and will produce cocoons. Each cocoon can have multiple worms. Those cocoons wont hatch unless conditions are right. Youre worms wouldve died off but you would still have worms in the spring. Yep carrots are great. Pumpkins, squash, watermelon, bananas, avocados, egg shell dust, malted grains, dark greens, and of course cannabis scraps. All very good for castings.

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Nah all good, your explanations are on point.
New run looks fresh af, all is growing soo fast!
Also another monster is rising! Can't wait to see her to grow
My plants take days to notice a change in the current stage. Hope they enter the veg stage soon..