Questions for Expert Growers, Bro Science?

So

1) Why wait till week 3 to lolipop and defoliate? Is this just for commercial grows to schedule their operations? To me it makes sense to do it earlier when you can blatently see some nodes aren't going to reach the canopy after a week of stretch, so energy isn't wasted on those nodes.

2) The led general consensus seems to say slowly ramp them up during flowering so at the end they don't require more light. Is this bro science?

Should I just blast em at 100 percent throughout flowering if the par readings is not too high? Is there some benefit to holding back the light until the last 3 weeks?

Does that include Master Growers?

PadawanWarrior said:

Does that include Master Growers?

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Actually it includes everybody, because everybody thinks they're an expert anyway Just trying to make the post more intriguing!

Loli when you want.
Light goes up becuase dli goes down from 18h to 12h she can handle more because she gets less

I've never ramped up my LEDs in the flower tents, just leave them alone at 100%, assuming 100% is right for my space, which it is.

Also I can't think of anyone suggesting otherwise.

Plenty of people start dimmed in veg and ramp up through to flip.

The day 7 day 21 trims aren’t set in stone, often it’s predictable how the plants gonna transform as they stretch in which case yes take the time to get rid of anything you don’t want at day 7. It largely depends on the pheno you’ve got and also your experience. Because u don’t yet know what you don’t yet know your timing and selection could in fact be detrimental to some extent.

Among people who lollipop though there is a general consensus that it’s usually done twice and it’s usually around week 1 and week 3. Like I said this varies from grower to grower

For the lighting question I’m a firm believer in doubling the ppfd for flower, so going from 24 hours at 50% to 12 hours at 100% will be the same dli, yes sometimes it is necessary to slowly adjust from 50-100% but this is done over a week max and only when I know a plant will struggle with the jump, for example my plants now handle it fine so I just turn them straight up when I flip.

There are potential advantages to adding more light towards the end of flower, but only when the plants are allready getting sufficient light throughout flower, the extra light at the end induces stress response from the plant. I wouldn’t underlight my crop throughout the grow just to jump to an acceptable dli later in the grow.

hope this helps and this is just my opinion based on my experiences

Blue brother said:

The day 7 day 21 trims aren’t set in stone, often it’s predictable how the plants gonna transform as they stretch in which case yes take the time to get rid of anything you don’t want at day 7. It largely depends on the pheno you’ve got and also your experience. Because u don’t yet know what you don’t yet know your timing and selection could in fact be detrimental to some extent.

Among people how lollipop though there is a general consensus that it’s usually done twice and it’s usually around week 1 and week 3. Like I said this varies from grower to grower

For the lighting question I’m a firm believer in doubling the ppfd for flower, so going from 24 hours at 50% to 12 hours at 100% will be the same dli, yes sometimes it is necessary to slowly adjust from 50-100% but this is done over a week max and only when I know a plant will struggle with the jump, for example my plants now handle it fine so I just turn them straight up when I flip.

There are potential advantages to adding more light towards the end of flower, but only when the plants are allready maxed out on light throughout flower, the extra light at the end induces stress response from the plant. I wouldn’t underlight my crop throughout the grow just to jump to an acceptable pppfd later in the grow.

hope this helps and this is just my opinion based on my experiences

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Great reply thanks!

I found some new interesting reasons for the day 21 trim. It states generally, most plants have finished the stretch and extra fiber production by that time and you don't want to stress the plant during the stretch, better to do it in the period between the stretch and the most bud fattening up.

gubblebum said:

Great reply thanks!

I found some new interesting reasons for the day 21 trim. It states generally, most plants have finished the stretch and extra fiber production by that time and you don't want to stress the plant during the stretch, better to do it in the period between the stretch and the most bud fattening up.

Click to expand...

Yeah I would agree with that too, I have however had to top like crazy to keep certain sativas in check when I was less experienced. It was the lesser of the 2 evils, so again it depends on the grower and experience level. Nobody went to sleep one night and woke up a master at this stuff, the road to success is paved with mistake after mistake and there’s no shame in that.

My opinion of stripping leaves around day 21 is most plants will be done stretching after 21 days of 12/12 lighting. This is when the plant begins to push flowers. Stripping the large fan leaves will allow for better airflow, better light penetration into taller thicker canopies and a more even ripening of the plants come harvest (lower buds won't be as dainty).

Some people are very anti-defoliate and some strip them and make the branches look like twigs, I've done it both ways and find that only removing the big leaves on day 21 is a huge benefit to the plants as well as snipping away lower nodes that are dainty and not going to produce.

"Big Leafing" plants not only makes harvesting easier but it will also make your trim job a lot easier come harvest.

I don't do any of the nature mimicking techniques if that's what you're talking about. I have used light controllers that ramp & dim and noticed no benefit. I personally run my LEDs @ 100% and set them at a distance where I'm getting 800-900 PPFD at the top of the canopy. I personally don't exceed 1000 PPFD because my current plants seem to fox tail and stress from it even with proper temp, humidity, co2 etc..

Have fun and also know all plants are going to respond a little differently to defoliation & pruning. The current plants I'm growing from clone don't skip a beat but I have had some plants in the past that didn't appreciate it at all and took up to almost a week to bounce back.

Myself a neither an expert or master grower, I try not to stress the plants after 3 weeks of 12/12. I find stressing them after that increases the chance of getting late flower cycle nanners. I lolly pop and thin out fan leaves anytime I feel like it prior to that.

Lollipopping is not defoliating, It's pruning the lower stuff. I also prune anything that looks weak and won't equate to much at the end. You lollipop that at the end of veg / beginning of flower.


Defoliating on day one puts everything on equal footing. It also make scrogging easier because you can see what you're working with. Defoliating on week 3 allows for the sites to catch full light, and also allows airflow. Leaves will grow back smaller, but the buds will have claimed their spot. After that I practice very selective defoliation for a couple more weeks.

I ramp up my lights through the first half of the stretch.