To or not to.. defoliate, opinions needed

Hey everyone..

So long story short. week 5 starts on Friday. First rdwc run for myself as well.

I defoliated (in flower) on day 4, and again on day 19. about a week since and WOW are these ladies growing.. so bushy and full. , They are at that point again.. So I ask experts and others like..what would you do...I planned on one last defoliation around day 36 but am thinking possibly tonight/tomorrow and watch to see if it may need one more light trimming to get all the light it can to those colas.

You can see how quickly they came back , there are about 5 days in between that defoliation and the quick grow back...

I tried a major defoliation this round on day 42. Don't recommend that at all. I went hard kn them. The leaves barely grew back; I think I could've upped my yield if I didn't. If I were you, I would just take whatever leaves are blocking budsites, if they can't be tucked

T macc said:

I tried a major defoliation this round on day 42. Don't recommend that at all. I went hard kn them. The leaves barely grew back; I think I could've upped my yield if I didn't. If I were you, I would just take whatever leaves are blocking budsites, if they can't be tucked

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I would say you messed up doing it so late in flower. I still like to leave as much as I can but after week 3 i trim all the lower bud sites that are going to be over an inch or 2 long and alot of the inner leaves to give more light and air to the plant. Keep in mind I do a bush type grow with 8 to 16 colas.

Serverchris said:

I would say you messed up doing it so late in flower. I still like to leave as much as I can but after week 3 i trim all the lower bud sites that are going to be over an inch or 2 long and alot of the inner leaves to give more light and air to the plant. Keep in mind I do a bush type grow with 8 to 16 colas.

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Right. Usually I just take what's blocking light. But remembered that "shazzing" thing. Whatever it's called lol. Didn't even bother to look it up before doing it
But thats my warning to all. Don't fuck up like I did this grow

not much point to leaf stripping after the stretch period is done.

Hardly a point of reference for this, but in all the research I have done, it is generally frowned upon.

Not only are you taking away the plant's energy source, could possibly stress it causing it to throw nanners. Proceed with caution. You have been warned.

BigGreenHulk said:

Hey everyone..

So long story short. week 5 starts on Friday. First rdwc run for myself as well.

I defoliated (in flower) on day 4, and again on day 19. about a week since and WOW are these ladies growing.. so bushy and full. , They are at that point again.. So I ask experts and others like..what would you do...I planned on one last defoliation around day 36 but am thinking possibly tonight/tomorrow and watch to see if it may need one more light trimming to get all the light it can to those colas.

You can see how quickly they came back , there are about 5 days in between that defoliation and the quick grow back...

Click to expand...

4/22 and 4/29, veg

5/21 to 5/29 flower

Finish 6/30

Defoliate 2 weeks before you plan to go into flower. But don't just trim all the leaves, cut out bottom sucker branches too. Clones can be taken now. Only use strong branches for clones. Also take out all low branch leave sites closest to the main stem. If a branch is 5 inches and has 3 new leaf sites, trim out the bottom 2 sites and leave the top only. ( You do this to force the plant energy to a single point.) If in soil replant to finishing container size. You'll get a good bounce in growth.
After you start flower in week 2, do another clean out of lower growth and large fan leaves. You should leave at least 2 leave bud sites per branch. The top branches closest to the light source you can leave 3-4. Anything beyond 18 inches from light (lowest branches) only leave 1 top. And again at end of week 4. At this point closer trimming is beneficial when removing plate bud leaves covering flower tops. Also removing large top fan leaves will get more light to the lowest branches. The remaining leaves will continue to grow and you do want to leave some. Don't be afraid to trim out any leaves that block light (shade) from tops. There is a good time lapsed video on YouTube that shows the process and the increased growth and filling back in. Don't worry, they always do. You'll end up with less small popcorn and larf, resulting in large, strong tops of choice pieces. All the energy will go to those select nuggs. So they will get huge. Why have your light energy go to small lower potency 1 inch pieces when you can have nice 3-5 inch lower tops and 4-17 inch fire log tops depending on strain.

The key is to not take too much at once. Leaves are the power plants/food makers

TheHarvester said:

The key is to not take too much at once. Leaves are the power plants/food makers

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They also store mobile nutrients like nitrogen for use in later flower. You want to see your fan leaves yellowing in late flower, that means you aren't feeding too much nitrogen and making harsh sparkler bud.

You want to leave some smaller leaves that will grow out in the next 2 weeks between trims. It's the week 4 trim that exposes the tops of lower flower growth where you should be more selective of mini leaves and plate leaf. Thin them out. They fill back in anyway. I usually go 9-10 weeks and stop ferts after week 6. The rest are just water except bloombastic, molasses and terpenx. There is a little nitrogen in molasses but it's minimal. Last 2 waterings are always flush quantity of water.

Depending on if I am growing vertical or horizontal I will remove fans at giving periods of growth.
I also have found that depending on strain, if you remove too many fans at the wrong time you will get a shitload of small sugar leaf that is tough to trim. JMHO

This is my single Jersey Fist Pump plant. Today is day 15, and I have cleared out most fan leaves, I still haave a couple I have to get to later on in the day.

By harvest time large cola's will be popping out of this plant. I'll update in the cannarado thread take care.