Defoliation to distribute light more evenly to bud sites?

I know there is a massive debate regarding defoliation. And arguments stack up in my opinion on both sides. Outdoor I wouldn't want to. But today I bit the bullet for the 3 larger ladies in my tent. Personal reasoning was poor light penetration through the canopy and decreased airflow. Guess we will see over the next week how they do. Took pics yesterday before defoliation and today. I was thinking I was about a month into flower on the big 3. But my calendar says 20 days. Let me know what you think. (stardawg btw if you were wondering what strain. 600w air cooled hps. Wilko soil mixed 1 to 4 with perlite and topped with coco. 5 inch kaizen in line duct fan and filter. 5 inch intake reduced to 4 inch ducting creating the negative pressure I need to remove smells. Ionic base nutes. Used nitrozyme in veg and superdrive as a foliar throughout. Try to keep my PH about 6.5) any thoughts anyone?

Pistils forming nicely

Colanoscopy said:

Pistils forming nicely

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Whyyyyyy.... and here we goo !

I just explained in as much detail as I thought necessary ha. First grow mate so seeing what's what with what. See far too many people on here stuck in old ways. Thought I'd bring my own fresh perspective. If I fuck up its on me. Least it's there for others to see first hand.....and I know they got me awful excited

Be careful mixing soils with soilless mediums like coco, they both like different PHs, watch for calcium deficiencies, coco, especially new coco latches on to calcium and makes it unavailable to the roots.
In my opinion what happens when you defoliate is the sugar leafs grow bigger than they would of to compensate for the lack of solar panels, so it can be a bit of a pain when it comes to harvest and trimming. I base this on growing the same strain for years and twice been put in a situation where a watering was missed mid flower which wilted the plants, recovering from that they drop all fan leaves. The result seemed to be bigger sugar leaf.
Like you say its your first grow so you will have something to compare it to come round two.
Good luck with the grow how ever you choose to do it. I'm sure you will be happy with the end result.

As long as I end up with an alright smoke and a bit of knowledge gained I'm happy. And I thought better to try it 3 weeks in that with 3 weeks left. At least I'd have a bit of recovery time. Enjoying the journey so far. I got a cheeky bottle of plant magic magne-cal if I do ever need to top up Ca

I'm firmly in the 'it's no big deal to pull some leaves' camp.

That said, your plants don't have enough to spare, so in the case of that strain, I wouldn't. When you get tight nodes with a bushier strain it becomes a necessity imo. This was pre defoliation on my current run.

Colanoscopy said:

I just explained in as much detail as I thought necessary ha. First grow mate so seeing what's what with what. See far too many people on here stuck in old ways. Thought I'd bring my own fresh perspective. If I fuck up its on me. Least it's there for others to see first hand.....and I know they got me awful excited

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Honestly most noobies who are growing for the first time say people are stuck in their old ways and they are bringing fresh perspective by trying the EXACT SAME THING EVERY NOOB DOES.

Its cracks me up.

AlaskaD said:

I'm firmly in the 'it's no big deal to pull some leaves' camp.

That said, your plants don't have enough to spare, so in the case of that strain, I wouldn't. When you get tight nodes with a bushier strain it becomes a necessity imo. This was pre defoliation on my current run.

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They honestly seem to have perked up in just a day. Glad to see some folks backing defoliation too. Maybe it was a bad move on my part. Guess time will tell. Can chalk it down to a learners error if things go south and not do it again. You do have some bushy ladies there alaskaD. Get your razor and give them a Brazilian. Ha

Oh I see, somehow I missed the before pic from your first post. Oops.

I would say to not pull more than 10% of healthy fan leaves at any point. IMO it's good for them to start yellowing and dropping some fan leaves during their last few weeks, it means they're taking a bit of their own nitrogen (mobile nutrient) as they need it for bud growth. Again, IMO, but to me that's less nutes that need to be flushed later. It also means they are improving their own airflow and light penetration those last few weeks as the buds get fat.

This pic is from just now, 3 weeks to go on 4 of these, 7 ish on the other two.

AlaskaD said:

Oh I see, somehow I missed the before pic from your first post. Oops.

I would say to not pull more than 10% of healthy fan leaves at any point. IMO it's good for them to start yellowing and dropping some fan leaves during their last few weeks, it means they're taking a bit of their own nitrogen (mobile nutrient) as they need it for bud growth. Again, IMO, but to me that's less nutes that need to be flushed later. It also means they are improving their own airflow and light penetration those last few weeks as the buds get fat.

This pic is from just now, 3 weeks to go on 4 of these, 7 ish on the other two.

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Your plants are looking nice. Even to be at the 3 week to harvest mark would be be nice. Beginning of may mine a re due for the chop(big 3 anyway)Gonna follow you just for a gander at the mugs when you harvest. Airflow and light penetration were really poor in my tent. Plus the 3 smaller plants went in a few weeks behind. So I'm hoping I can keep the canopy low enough to keep the smaller 3 happy if that makes sense. None of my shit is ideal at the moment but when I popped the beans I had nothing more than solo cups and 2 40w cfls in a cupboard. Now I've got a passion....and to attempt to justify my spends to the Mrs haha

I believe that noobs should stick to the basics of growing before jumping into advanced techniques like hydroponics and defoliation.
Once you have some experience with growing then you'll have a basis to compare the outcomes of more advanced and potentially detrimental techniques. That's just my 2 cents.

Bakersfield said:

I believe that noobs should stick to the basics of growing before jumping into advanced techniques like hydroponics and defoliation.
Once you have some experience with growing then you'll have a basis to compare the outcomes of more advanced and potentially detrimental techniques. That's just my 2 cents.

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You're probably right. I've never been one for the easy road though. I'll live and learn I guess. Hopefully not causing too much catastrophe as I go. Your 2 cents is appreciated mate that's what I came and asked for. And they have given me a bit more to think about so nice one.

Just keep paying attention. Take some notes. If what you did fucked up the grow make sure you jot it in your notes. That's money. Unless you don't follow through
Good luck

coreywebster said:

Be careful mixing soils with soilless mediums like coco, they both like different PHs, watch for calcium deficiencies, coco, especially new coco latches on to calcium and makes it unavailable to the roots.
In my opinion what happens when you defoliate is the sugar leafs grow bigger than they would of to compensate for the lack of solar panels, so it can be a bit of a pain when it comes to harvest and trimming. I base this on growing the same strain for years and twice been put in a situation where a watering was missed mid flower which wilted the plants, recovering from that they drop all fan leaves. The result seemed to be bigger sugar leaf.
Like you say its your first grow so you will have something to compare it to come round two.
Good luck with the grow how ever you choose to do it. I'm sure you will be happy with the end result.

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Great advice

Dr Magill said:

Just keep paying attention. Take some notes. If what you did fucked up the grow make sure you jot it in your notes. That's money. Unless you don't follow through
Good luck

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So far luckily I haven't seen any negative effects. Bud sites seem to have perked up a bit now they're getting light further down. Im kinda thinking I went a bit overboard with the defoliation but still early flower so hopefully they recover well enough before harvest. And for the sake of comparable results. The 3 plants that went in a few weeks later I will leave to do their own thing and see how both stack up next to each other

The whole debate is really a bit lame. Defoliate or don't. Maybe we just develop our own styles.

We're all here for the same reasons I guess. Just wanted to grow a bit of smoke myself. Now the learning about the growing itself and the science behind it has gotten just as addictive.

yep

You should stop biting things. Also, no such thing as light penetration. It hits a surface, gets absorbed, reflected, etc. If you get smoke then you can say you got some penetration but you will have bigger issues on your hands.

There is also inter-canopy illumination from the top leaves to lower and inner leaves. Defoliation hurts that.