tropicalcannabispatient
Well-Known Member
i wonder what works best pros and cons? 
Defoliation vs not what works best? Good or bad?
- Thread starter tropicalcannabispatient
- Start date
i wonder what works best pros and cons? 
CaretakerDad
Well-Known Member
Or read the thousands of threads/comments already posted on this subject. 
Adjorr
Well-Known Member
pretty much thisOr read the thousands of threads/comments already posted on this subject.
reddiamond
Well-Known Member
SecondedOr read the thousands of threads/comments already posted on this subject.
tropicalcannabispatient
Well-Known Member
Thanks zubey i just realize that and found lots of articles about it. But thanks any way. Really the reason that i did this is because i have a plant that has been flowering for 5 weeks already. But i made a terrible mistake before doing this thread. I went and plug 90% of all the leaves and i was thinking that i fuck the plant, i did fuck her flowering cycle like for a hole week and half but now the plant is taking off again !!! New flowers growing fast as hell plus she regenerate her self again with new leaves there small now but theres a lot of new grow, also the first buds that grow on the plant that stopped growing for a week and half are now full of new pistils and getting frosty ass hell!!! Also the lower buds are getting big now and frosty like crazy, also i noticed and increase in smell, but dont get me wrong i didnt did this on purpose and i didnt say what i did was good or anything like that, i just say that i see a LOT of new leaves grow thru all the defoliated colas, plus the lower buds yes those ones are getting bigger, frosty and smeally as hell plus NEW pistils growin from every single bud, i notice also that all my colas are getting frosty starting from the botton working her way to the top. Any opinions?
Sand4x105
Well-Known Member
Yes... you tried to slow her [you did] ...ha.. and you learned a lesson, did you?
Your plant would of already grown all this 'new growth' if you would have left it alone...
Your yield most likely will be effected, the thing is, you have no idea, [no matter how great it looks now], you really do not know how much better it would have been if you would never have tried [h=1]Defoliation in the first place...[/h]Be very happy your plant had a great root complex, and was able to come back...
You are not unlike most newbies, that come on here looking for an OK with something "AFTER" they already did it...
Glad your plant didn't die... Good Luck!
Your plant would of already grown all this 'new growth' if you would have left it alone...
Your yield most likely will be effected, the thing is, you have no idea, [no matter how great it looks now], you really do not know how much better it would have been if you would never have tried [h=1]Defoliation in the first place...[/h]Be very happy your plant had a great root complex, and was able to come back...
You are not unlike most newbies, that come on here looking for an OK with something "AFTER" they already did it...
Glad your plant didn't die... Good Luck!
tropicalcannabispatient
Well-Known Member
SURE I DID!! I LEARNED MA LEASON THE HARD WAY!!! Jaja. But yeah im sure im never gonna do that shit ever, i will never do that again, i learned a lot with this first grow
kratos015
Well-Known Member
Come on guys, I thought this was a forum meant for helping people? What's the point of coming in here and berating him for asking a question? I'm ashamed right now and I'm going to help this beginner (not noob! :/) with his question so that hopefully he may get to the point where he knows enough to answer questions like this for other new beginners.
So your question was about whether defoliation works or not and the answer is a lot like many things in growing cannabis; it depends. Allow me to explain further.
The leaves on the plants act like little solar panels for your plant, each one providing the plant/buds with it's own source of energy via photosynthesis. These leaves will continue to go through photosynthesis until they are matured, note I said matured and not dead. A mature leaf will look almost like nitrogen deficiency. Nitrogen deficiency symptoms include reddening of the MAIN stem as well as many leaves becoming a lighter green in color, turning yellow if severe. The reason I mention the deficiency is because there's a difference between that and a leaf that is ready to be picked. If you look at your plant you'll notice the stems on some of your leaves have reddening going on, but others on the plant do not including the main stem of your plant. Another thing you'll notice is that these leaves are almost always a lighter color than the leaves that don't have this red color to them. If the leaf is light green and has a reddish stem, it's mature and at this point can't even go through photosynthesis anymore as it's nearing the end of it's life. So not only is this leaf now about to be useless, if you let too much of these become dead and don't pick them you'll find yourself with mites, mold, and/or mildew and that would suck!
The reason I brought up photosynthesis is because that's what I meant by "it depends" earlier. You see outdoors you the sun which provides an infinite source of energy for your girls to use, as a result even if fan leaves are covering your buds, they aren't "shaded" because I promise you those fan leaves don't block the entire sun from your buds
Of course many branches can shade the lower branches so you'll still want to remove those even in an outdoor grow as this promotes proper ventilation and better growth up top.
However when you're indoors is when you'll need to go through careful defoliation. The reason for this is because indoors you don't have an unlimited source of energy for your plants, all the plants in there are going to be competing for the light/lumens and if you have a lot of leaves taking in those lumens then not as many lumens are going into the buds. During your veg phase while your topping and training the plants you should begin to see which branches below should be removed. I wouldn't remove any branches after week 4 of flower, and I only did that because I didn't properly remove the bottom branches during veg like I should have. Anyway, you don't want to go insane removing fan leaves of course because this could shock the plant and they are still useful. It's just that indoors, not all of the fan leaves are useful and you can tell by which ones have reddish stems and lighter green coloring. Every day or two when I go in there I remove a couple of said fan leaves, but I leave the newly developed ones alone. If you have enormous fan leaves and they're covering a bud, or worse buds, then you should most likely remove it. Again, this is because indoors you don't have unlimited energy so it's all too possible for your buds to get shaded which will lower your yield.
Many things in growing this fine plant all come down to "it depends". When you read things, don't just follow them because it's what the guide says. Think critically about it and question whether it's right for your situation. For example, I read every guide on drying and curing that said to "hang the plants up in the closet and they'll dry in 7 days". Since where I live in California, this isn't possible because the temps are too high and the humidity is too low. I mindlessly followed the guide without absorbing the knowledge of it. After doing more research I learned what the plant needs at that point and gave it everything, I now have a room that I dry in that's well ventilated and at proper temps/humidity at all times. Never stop researching, do your best to learn about the plant and what it needs throughout its life. This way you'll be able to determine what you'll need for your own situation, not everyone's grow is the same so although you receive advice you should carefully examine it and make sure that said advice applies to your situation or you could end up making a mistake like stressing the plant cause you took too many branches. If it makes you feel any better, I made this same mistake in week 5 or 6 of flower on my first indoor lol. This was because I wasn't applying what I read, I was just mindlessly following it.
I'm sorry for such a lengthy reply, I just recommend doing research because you'll run into people who will mock you for asking a question. Just remember that the only stupid question is the one you don't ask, and don't let the amount of hours you put into research discourage you, it does help. I've spent days googling forums/questions for just one simple topic. Best of luck with your project friend.
So your question was about whether defoliation works or not and the answer is a lot like many things in growing cannabis; it depends. Allow me to explain further.
The leaves on the plants act like little solar panels for your plant, each one providing the plant/buds with it's own source of energy via photosynthesis. These leaves will continue to go through photosynthesis until they are matured, note I said matured and not dead. A mature leaf will look almost like nitrogen deficiency. Nitrogen deficiency symptoms include reddening of the MAIN stem as well as many leaves becoming a lighter green in color, turning yellow if severe. The reason I mention the deficiency is because there's a difference between that and a leaf that is ready to be picked. If you look at your plant you'll notice the stems on some of your leaves have reddening going on, but others on the plant do not including the main stem of your plant. Another thing you'll notice is that these leaves are almost always a lighter color than the leaves that don't have this red color to them. If the leaf is light green and has a reddish stem, it's mature and at this point can't even go through photosynthesis anymore as it's nearing the end of it's life. So not only is this leaf now about to be useless, if you let too much of these become dead and don't pick them you'll find yourself with mites, mold, and/or mildew and that would suck!
The reason I brought up photosynthesis is because that's what I meant by "it depends" earlier. You see outdoors you the sun which provides an infinite source of energy for your girls to use, as a result even if fan leaves are covering your buds, they aren't "shaded" because I promise you those fan leaves don't block the entire sun from your buds
Of course many branches can shade the lower branches so you'll still want to remove those even in an outdoor grow as this promotes proper ventilation and better growth up top. However when you're indoors is when you'll need to go through careful defoliation. The reason for this is because indoors you don't have an unlimited source of energy for your plants, all the plants in there are going to be competing for the light/lumens and if you have a lot of leaves taking in those lumens then not as many lumens are going into the buds. During your veg phase while your topping and training the plants you should begin to see which branches below should be removed. I wouldn't remove any branches after week 4 of flower, and I only did that because I didn't properly remove the bottom branches during veg like I should have. Anyway, you don't want to go insane removing fan leaves of course because this could shock the plant and they are still useful. It's just that indoors, not all of the fan leaves are useful and you can tell by which ones have reddish stems and lighter green coloring. Every day or two when I go in there I remove a couple of said fan leaves, but I leave the newly developed ones alone. If you have enormous fan leaves and they're covering a bud, or worse buds, then you should most likely remove it. Again, this is because indoors you don't have unlimited energy so it's all too possible for your buds to get shaded which will lower your yield.
Many things in growing this fine plant all come down to "it depends". When you read things, don't just follow them because it's what the guide says. Think critically about it and question whether it's right for your situation. For example, I read every guide on drying and curing that said to "hang the plants up in the closet and they'll dry in 7 days". Since where I live in California, this isn't possible because the temps are too high and the humidity is too low. I mindlessly followed the guide without absorbing the knowledge of it. After doing more research I learned what the plant needs at that point and gave it everything, I now have a room that I dry in that's well ventilated and at proper temps/humidity at all times. Never stop researching, do your best to learn about the plant and what it needs throughout its life. This way you'll be able to determine what you'll need for your own situation, not everyone's grow is the same so although you receive advice you should carefully examine it and make sure that said advice applies to your situation or you could end up making a mistake like stressing the plant cause you took too many branches. If it makes you feel any better, I made this same mistake in week 5 or 6 of flower on my first indoor lol. This was because I wasn't applying what I read, I was just mindlessly following it.
I'm sorry for such a lengthy reply, I just recommend doing research because you'll run into people who will mock you for asking a question. Just remember that the only stupid question is the one you don't ask, and don't let the amount of hours you put into research discourage you, it does help. I've spent days googling forums/questions for just one simple topic. Best of luck with your project friend.
tropicalcannabispatient
Well-Known Member
thank you mate!!! Really good info!!! Thumbs up!!! + repCome on guys, I thought this was a forum meant for helping people? What's the point of coming in here and berating him for asking a question? I'm ashamed right now and I'm going to help this beginner (not noob! :/) with his question so that hopefully he may get to the point where he knows enough to answer questions like this for other new beginners.
So your question was about whether defoliation works or not and the answer is a lot like many things in growing cannabis; it depends. Allow me to explain further.
The leaves on the plants act like little solar panels for your plant, each one providing the plant/buds with it's own source of energy via photosynthesis. These leaves will continue to go through photosynthesis until they are matured, note I said matured and not dead. A mature leaf will look almost like nitrogen deficiency. Nitrogen deficiency symptoms include reddening of the MAIN stem as well as many leaves becoming a lighter green in color, turning yellow if severe. The reason I mention the deficiency is because there's a difference between that and a leaf that is ready to be picked. If you look at your plant you'll notice the stems on some of your leaves have reddening going on, but others on the plant do not including the main stem of your plant. Another thing you'll notice is that these leaves are almost always a lighter color than the leaves that don't have this red color to them. If the leaf is light green and has a reddish stem, it's mature and at this point can't even go through photosynthesis anymore as it's nearing the end of it's life. So not only is this leaf now about to be useless, if you let too much of these become dead and don't pick them you'll find yourself with mites, mold, and/or mildew and that would suck!
The reason I brought up photosynthesis is because that's what I meant by "it depends" earlier. You see outdoors you the sun which provides an infinite source of energy for your girls to use, as a result even if fan leaves are covering your buds, they aren't "shaded" because I promise you those fan leaves don't block the entire sun from your buds
However when you're indoors is when you'll need to go through careful defoliation. The reason for this is because indoors you don't have an unlimited source of energy for your plants, all the plants in there are going to be competing for the light/lumens and if you have a lot of leaves taking in those lumens then not as many lumens are going into the buds. During your veg phase while your topping and training the plants you should begin to see which branches below should be removed. I wouldn't remove any branches after week 4 of flower, and I only did that because I didn't properly remove the bottom branches during veg like I should have. Anyway, you don't want to go insane removing fan leaves of course because this could shock the plant and they are still useful. It's just that indoors, not all of the fan leaves are useful and you can tell by which ones have reddish stems and lighter green coloring. Every day or two when I go in there I remove a couple of said fan leaves, but I leave the newly developed ones alone. If you have enormous fan leaves and they're covering a bud, or worse buds, then you should most likely remove it. Again, this is because indoors you don't have unlimited energy so it's all too possible for your buds to get shaded which will lower your yield.
Many things in growing this fine plant all come down to "it depends". When you read things, don't just follow them because it's what the guide says. Think critically about it and question whether it's right for your situation. For example, I read every guide on drying and curing that said to "hang the plants up in the closet and they'll dry in 7 days". Since where I live in California, this isn't possible because the temps are too high and the humidity is too low. I mindlessly followed the guide without absorbing the knowledge of it. After doing more research I learned what the plant needs at that point and gave it everything, I now have a room that I dry in that's well ventilated and at proper temps/humidity at all times. Never stop researching, do your best to learn about the plant and what it needs throughout its life. This way you'll be able to determine what you'll need for your own situation, not everyone's grow is the same so although you receive advice you should carefully examine it and make sure that said advice applies to your situation or you could end up making a mistake like stressing the plant cause you took too many branches. If it makes you feel any better, I made this same mistake in week 5 or 6 of flower on my first indoor lol. This was because I wasn't applying what I read, I was just mindlessly following it.
I'm sorry for such a lengthy reply, I just recommend doing research because you'll run into people who will mock you for asking a question. Just remember that the only stupid question is the one you don't ask, and don't let the amount of hours you put into research discourage you, it does help. I've spent days googling forums/questions for just one simple topic. Best of luck with your project friend.
SpectatorFernFirm
Active Member
Shit happens man. There's not one person in the world that can say they tried doing this with no help and slim to no knowledge of how to and made no mistakes. U should always google your ? First and see what u can find. Most of the time it'll bring you here anyways and you'll see months of discussion on whatever u r looking for. IMO leaving foliage alone is fine and dandy, for someone like me that's impossible . Just don't sit there taking 90% of anything off her again lol. I wouldn't even touch one leaf till chop chop time after what u did. In the future just use common sense and if u feel like taking a few leaves off, so be it. I get the same amount no matter what, so it's a preference thing to me. Some do it, some don't. Either way u smoking at the end. I would do LOTS of research on drying and curing if u want something half way tasty on ur first try. That's where mistakes REALLY count! U can have a piece of heaven or make a wrong turn into a cow pasture and deal with nothing but hey! It's that serious!!! Go on YouTube and look that up as of now so u can be ready when the time comes. You'll be happy u did! Grow420guide is awesome at explaining shit. Check his channel out for some good know how. Very beginner friendly. GL n HG!
. Just don't sit there taking 90% of anything off her again lol. I wouldn't even touch one leaf till chop chop time after what u did. In the future just use common sense and if u feel like taking a few leaves off, so be it. I get the same amount no matter what, so it's a preference thing to me. Some do it, some don't. Either way u smoking at the end. I would do LOTS of research on drying and curing if u want something half way tasty on ur first try. That's where mistakes REALLY count! U can have a piece of heaven or make a wrong turn into a cow pasture and deal with nothing but hey! It's that serious!!! Go on YouTube and look that up as of now so u can be ready when the time comes. You'll be happy u did! Grow420guide is awesome at explaining shit. Check his channel out for some good know how. Very beginner friendly. GL n HG!
SpectatorFernFirm
Active Member
I wish I woulda saw this post before I wrote mine but I very much feel you on this. It bothers me when I see a beginner asking ? And getting slammed for it. Why do that if ?'s r what this forum is here for! Ask away ppl! There will always be ppl like myself and this person here that will be willing to help the best we know how. This here is some legit stuff tho so read this one thoroughly because even I just learned something amazing right now! Thanks for the insight!!Come on guys, I thought this was a forum meant for helping people? What's the point of coming in here and berating him for asking a question? I'm ashamed right now and I'm going to help this beginner (not noob! :/) with his question so that hopefully he may get to the point where he knows enough to answer questions like this for other new beginners.
So your question was about whether defoliation works or not and the answer is a lot like many things in growing cannabis; it depends. Allow me to explain further.
The leaves on the plants act like little solar panels for your plant, each one providing the plant/buds with it's own source of energy via photosynthesis. These leaves will continue to go through photosynthesis until they are matured, note I said matured and not dead. A mature leaf will look almost like nitrogen deficiency. Nitrogen deficiency symptoms include reddening of the MAIN stem as well as many leaves becoming a lighter green in color, turning yellow if severe. The reason I mention the deficiency is because there's a difference between that and a leaf that is ready to be picked. If you look at your plant you'll notice the stems on some of your leaves have reddening going on, but others on the plant do not including the main stem of your plant. Another thing you'll notice is that these leaves are almost always a lighter color than the leaves that don't have this red color to them. If the leaf is light green and has a reddish stem, it's mature and at this point can't even go through photosynthesis anymore as it's nearing the end of it's life. So not only is this leaf now about to be useless, if you let too much of these become dead and don't pick them you'll find yourself with mites, mold, and/or mildew and that would suck!
The reason I brought up photosynthesis is because that's what I meant by "it depends" earlier. You see outdoors you the sun which provides an infinite source of energy for your girls to use, as a result even if fan leaves are covering your buds, they aren't "shaded" because I promise you those fan leaves don't block the entire sun from your buds
However when you're indoors is when you'll need to go through careful defoliation. The reason for this is because indoors you don't have an unlimited source of energy for your plants, all the plants in there are going to be competing for the light/lumens and if you have a lot of leaves taking in those lumens then not as many lumens are going into the buds. During your veg phase while your topping and training the plants you should begin to see which branches below should be removed. I wouldn't remove any branches after week 4 of flower, and I only did that because I didn't properly remove the bottom branches during veg like I should have. Anyway, you don't want to go insane removing fan leaves of course because this could shock the plant and they are still useful. It's just that indoors, not all of the fan leaves are useful and you can tell by which ones have reddish stems and lighter green coloring. Every day or two when I go in there I remove a couple of said fan leaves, but I leave the newly developed ones alone. If you have enormous fan leaves and they're covering a bud, or worse buds, then you should most likely remove it. Again, this is because indoors you don't have unlimited energy so it's all too possible for your buds to get shaded which will lower your yield.
Many things in growing this fine plant all come down to "it depends". When you read things, don't just follow them because it's what the guide says. Think critically about it and question whether it's right for your situation. For example, I read every guide on drying and curing that said to "hang the plants up in the closet and they'll dry in 7 days". Since where I live in California, this isn't possible because the temps are too high and the humidity is too low. I mindlessly followed the guide without absorbing the knowledge of it. After doing more research I learned what the plant needs at that point and gave it everything, I now have a room that I dry in that's well ventilated and at proper temps/humidity at all times. Never stop researching, do your best to learn about the plant and what it needs throughout its life. This way you'll be able to determine what you'll need for your own situation, not everyone's grow is the same so although you receive advice you should carefully examine it and make sure that said advice applies to your situation or you could end up making a mistake like stressing the plant cause you took too many branches. If it makes you feel any better, I made this same mistake in week 5 or 6 of flower on my first indoor lol. This was because I wasn't applying what I read, I was just mindlessly following it.
I'm sorry for such a lengthy reply, I just recommend doing research because you'll run into people who will mock you for asking a question. Just remember that the only stupid question is the one you don't ask, and don't let the amount of hours you put into research discourage you, it does help. I've spent days googling forums/questions for just one simple topic. Best of luck with your project friend.
waterdawg
Well-Known Member
This is a section for newbs (like my self lol) to ask questions kinda like googling and if some people feel that it is a waste of time why bother even looking in this forum? RIU is getting a real bad rep for this crap!!! Actually googling a question will bring you here how ironic lol.
waterdawg
Well-Known Member
One more thing lol. Has any who replied to this thread in a negative way actually ever done a side by side comparison of defoliation? With two exact same plants at the same time? I havent but until i do i would be very cautious saying its bad or good. I broke 3 of 6 plants stalks last week on White Russian plants to keep them out of light, good or bad? Anyone care to tell me the results. FYI i've actually done it before so i already know lol.
Sand4x105
Well-Known Member
and
Careful Defoliation = Oxy Moron...
I have defoliated plants before.... Just to see what happens to one plant defoliated [one of a few clones I ran that day] D plant, stalled, for almost 10 days... then took off but only grew to 3/4 the size of others not defo'd... The bud was fine, just less, and the plant put into bud with the others was just smaller/less....
Now removing a branch in Bud with viable bud sites is WRONG.... If you cut a branch in Bud, there will be that many less buds on your plant, because your plant will not have any time to re-grow, and you put into bud, so less bud sites... will your plant make the same bud, the broken/defo'd branch's bud strength going somewhere else?
No, I have found, if you trim, cut off any growing branch in bud that will be just that much less your plant will produce...
To me Defo'd plants end up smaller less tall than the others...
If you feel that you need to cut off a low branch in bud, which you think will just give you pop corn bud... then do it, however, that popcorn bud, gets you high...
Good Luck...
F.M.I.L.Y
Well-Known Member
There is no rule book on growing marijuana! Do your research and try different things, thats how you learn best and see what suits you and your goals for growing! Its all about personal preference! I have done a side by side comparison, do I defoliate now, no but I am not saying its wrong, its your preference for your grow!
Peace
FM
Peace
FM
topfuel29
Well-Known Member
There is some rules to go by.
Do your pruning in Veg atleast 2 weeks before you go to flower her. Gives the plant time to recover.
Plants don't waste energy growing leaves, shoot, root. Naturally The bigger buds grow at the top of the plant, and at the end of branches. She pollinates by wind, it makes sense to put most of the flower clusters on the outside of the plant to catch pollen. Your flower clusters don't need direct light. the leaves that make up the flower cluster are there to protect, and keep the Calyx viable for pollination. Trichromes are only there to keep the Calyx viable until pollination. Your flower clusters are usually covered with Trichromes. The Trichromes diffuse the light away. so most light doesn't get to the flower cluster leaves, and the calyx. The Big Fan Leaves that grow in flower are there to catch more light to grow flower clusters. The plant goes into high gear. it's only has @2 months to grow 3-4 ounces of bud, Flower clusters, (Fruit). It has to do alot in a short amount of time. If she didn't need the fan leaves she wouldn't grow them.
IMO- in veg cut the lower sucker branches, your big upper branches might have sucker branches on then close to the shoot, get rid of them. The leaves that are closer to the shoot, that are in the dark get rid of them
They should be tiny, pale green sometimes, or even yellow because they are shaded so much. The PoP-Corn buds grow close to the shoot, pinch those off. Your not losing anything by pinching those pop corn buds
off. You just moved the energy used to grow that small bud to the bigger buds. The object in Veg is to leave as many leaves on the plant, you just pruning the interior of the plant. Look at your plant for a while, get
a plan in your head of what your going to do before you start cutting.. It's is easy to get carried away, I did this once all stoned out of my mind. it wasn't good Bro.
Do your pruning in Veg atleast 2 weeks before you go to flower her. Gives the plant time to recover.
Plants don't waste energy growing leaves, shoot, root. Naturally The bigger buds grow at the top of the plant, and at the end of branches. She pollinates by wind, it makes sense to put most of the flower clusters on the outside of the plant to catch pollen. Your flower clusters don't need direct light. the leaves that make up the flower cluster are there to protect, and keep the Calyx viable for pollination. Trichromes are only there to keep the Calyx viable until pollination. Your flower clusters are usually covered with Trichromes. The Trichromes diffuse the light away. so most light doesn't get to the flower cluster leaves, and the calyx. The Big Fan Leaves that grow in flower are there to catch more light to grow flower clusters. The plant goes into high gear. it's only has @2 months to grow 3-4 ounces of bud, Flower clusters, (Fruit). It has to do alot in a short amount of time. If she didn't need the fan leaves she wouldn't grow them.
IMO- in veg cut the lower sucker branches, your big upper branches might have sucker branches on then close to the shoot, get rid of them. The leaves that are closer to the shoot, that are in the dark get rid of them
They should be tiny, pale green sometimes, or even yellow because they are shaded so much. The PoP-Corn buds grow close to the shoot, pinch those off. Your not losing anything by pinching those pop corn buds
off. You just moved the energy used to grow that small bud to the bigger buds. The object in Veg is to leave as many leaves on the plant, you just pruning the interior of the plant. Look at your plant for a while, get
a plan in your head of what your going to do before you start cutting.. It's is easy to get carried away, I did this once all stoned out of my mind. it wasn't good Bro.