When to defoliate

Hey All

My plants are entering week 2 of flower when should I defoliate them and do I remove all the fan leaves or about how many fan leaves do I leave on the plant
Here are pictures of my 4 plants they have a pretty big canopy

You might want to know why you are defoliating. Are you doing it for air flow, stress or lighting. I just clean up the bottom for air flow and pest control. Try to make a bowl by cutting the stuff off the lower branches and the inner ones that aren't getting much light.

I am trying to increase my yield and get denser buds, also these are growing in DWC not sure if that make a difference

I wouldn't really remove any leaves unless you notice condensation building up between them which means you need more air flow.

What I would remove is any bud sites and small branches on the lower 50% of the canopy. Maybe not all the way to your netting, but probably any branches that aren't in the netting. And any lower nodes that aren't almost to the netting like 3-4 inchs probably. Its tough to tell the exact scale of your set up.

That would allow the plant to focus its energy on the rest of the main nodes that are in the prime light zone. Keeping as many leaves as possible allows the plant to maintain peak photosynthesis, and provides resources if the plant ends up needing them.

ok so there is no really benefit from removing the fan leaves then

techs21 said:

ok so there is no really benefit from removing the fan leaves then

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Not unless they are causing airflow issues, or are damaged. Otherwise, the plant will get rid of any leaves it doesn't need by using the resources in them and letting them die. Keeping leaves on the plant can help prevent nutrient issues down the road by providing backup to the plant. They are also a KEY way to read the plant and be able to identify any deficiencies.

techs21 said:

ok so there is no really benefit from removing the fan leaves then

Click to expand...

this is not correct.. there are many benefits to removing fan leaves. There are 2 main goals with defoliation. goal 1: defoliate from the bottom getting rid of leaves that arent receiving light and direct the energy to the higher leaves and buds. defoliation here increases air flow and redirects energy. goal 2: defoliate from the top. this is where you have fan leaves that are covering or over the top of other bud sites. you cut these fan leaves off to increase light distribution and penetration. both techniques will increase yield and quality. the key is to take off enough to get these benefits without taking off too much and causing the plant to slow down or stunt growth.

I did half my room with minimal defoliation last run, and half which I pruned and trained.. I would have to say that I got more quality and size from the pruned side.. there was still a lot of nice bud on the other side but there was a lot more fluff/larf on the let it go side. I am doing another side by side this run to see if I get same result.. photos of each side.

4 in a 4x4. I lollipop after week 3 and drop nets down. Let em finish from there