When should I defoliate my plants

[steve970]

I'm a first time grower and don't know a whole lot.i have 2 golden dragon plants that are 2 weeks into flower.i don't know anything about trimming so they are really bushy with alot of fan leaves. Iwas curious if and when I should trim them,and do I remove all the fan leaves. They are 2 weeks into flower with no visible signs of flower or pre-flower. Not really sure what to do!

 

[AZreefer]

Put up some pics for the helpful folks. They can always provide better info with pics.

 

[steve970]

 

[RGWD0202]

I probably wouldn’t touch it. The canopy isn’t dense enough to really need it. Fan leaves are solar panels and hold nutrients don’t want to remove all. I typically clean up the bottoms and thin out the canopy a week before I flip and clean up some dense areas for airflow and get some light to hidden bud sites week 3 of flower. Yours seems to have light get deep enough I don’t think it would be beneficial.

 

[Sunin]

agreed. nothing to defoliate here

 

[RootFarmer]

Those look like sativas. If so then height may be an issue for you. Plants with increase in height 2-3 times during flower and sativas can get much taller than indicas. You may want to consider topping or training. I once grew Arjan's Haze #2 in a SoG set up and it always grew past the lights nearly to the top of the tent. One massive cola as big as your leg. Lol I stopped growing indicas and sativas together eventually. Too much of a hassle with light positioning to accommodate both.

As far as defoliating goes, only leaves that are shading lower budding sites need to be removed. I simply trimmed the big fan leaves enough to allow light to penetrate. The two main goals of defoliating are to increase light penetration and air flow. Until those become an issue don't worry about it.

 

[steve970]

Awesome, thanks for the feedback!

 

[jdog22]

dont defoilate you will only get smaller buds from that. plants nice and spaceous already