Defoliation during Flower?

[305guy]

Hey, so I defoliated 3-4 weeks apart through veg, totaling three defo sessions with a full 3 weeks recovery after each. Defoliated after week 1 of flower, now in day 2 of week 4 (day 23) and girls are looking pretty shady, I was wondering if I should clean em up again. Anyway below are after a defo and current. let me know your thoughts.

If any.

Thanks

Defoliation after week 1 of flower.

Current Pics

Ik they are thirsty. I fed right after taking the pics....and right before posting this.

 

[yesum]

I wait till 2 weeks into flower, so the stretch is not affected. On you doing it again, I take leaves that block light to bud sites at any time after 2 weeks in flower. The other reason would be if all the leaves were blocking airflow and might make for mold or something like that.

 

[vorzh]

Airflow is good, and penetration is as well. They're about 4 weeks into flower it looks like, so i'd say to continue picking the big fan leaves every other day or so. I wouldn't do a mass defol session now like we used to in veg... just one here one there.

 

[daheadies]

YOUR PLANTS LOOK GREAT!!! your doing a good job! Now as far as continuing to defoliate in flower, only pluck leaves if they are TOUCHING other leaves.. Otherwise leave them... You did it perfectly by waiting a few weeks in between each defoliation.

 

[vorzh]

I see a puppy off there to the side... He looks familiar

 

[Flux451]

I agree with daheadies - looking good and healthy.

My only thought is that this strain looks a little unfamiliar to me as far as its growth patterns, seems as though you will be doing very well with a SOG style and many budding points/branches however - many strains can handle not just being thinned out but considerable pruning as well.

Now that your in flower I would only cut off the most left behind branches hardly strictly, though I may have cut um' up a little earlier to focus each plant on fewer production sites.

That thought on the side I think you are doing an excellent job

 

[Dislexus]

I don't believe in defoliation.

If your plants have too much leafy growth you can change your conditions/strategy to alter plant stucture. If it genetically can't be overcome, there are tons of awesome strains/phenos that don't have a shitload of leaves.

Anyways more leaves = more work.

Just got to be very brutal with your selection of what plants you're willing to spend your time/electricity/water/labor on.

I also advocate drying your plants then trimming.. they really do use up all the energy and nutrients in the leaves as they're dying and pump it all into the buds. I've also affirmed the two days of darkness before cutting them down tip has a synergistic effect with leaf-on drying.

 

[305guy]

I don't believe in defoliation.

If your plants have too much leafy growth you can change your conditions/strategy to alter plant stucture. If it genetically can't be overcome, there are tons of awesome strains/phenos that don't have a shitload of leaves.

Anyways more leaves = more work.

Just got to be very brutal with your selection of what plants you're willing to spend your time/electricity/water/labor on.

I also advocate drying your plants then trimming.. they really do use up all the energy and nutrients in the leaves as they're dying and pump it all into the buds. I've also affirmed the two days of darkness before cutting them down tip has a synergistic effect with leaf-on drying.

Thanks for the input, wasn't looking for validation of the technique though, just some help on a particular part of its application, as I can clearly see it works well. Anyway, thats good advice for the drying process, will definitely have to take that into account in a few weeks.

Thanks again, to everyone.

 

[Rolldaddy]

Plants make their leaves for a reason... To absorb light... No doubt cleaning away bottom growth improves upper buds and reduced work during manicuring

 

[Demilanceata]

Plants make their leaves for a reason... To absorb light... No doubt cleaning away bottom growth improves upper buds and reduced work during manicuring

Recently I have become more interested in pruning cannabis during both vegetative and flowering phases. I've learned that for example professional tomato growers also prune the lowest leaves from the plants when they aim to produce maximum yields in greenhouse environment.

It is true that all the green parts of plant absorb light to photosynthezise and create sugars for their growth, but the interesting part is that all the green parts also use sugars as they are living cells to maintain them. In most of the times in professional greenhouses the fact is that below certain point, which depends on lightning, the leaves actually use more sugars and energy than they can produce with the little light they get. So it would be harmful for the crop to leave them on.

I see no reason why the same situation wouldn't apply with growing cannabis, as you are also trying to maximize the energy and sugars used to grow flowers and fruits.

 

[driska]

some says defoli. too much stress or shit like that but i think the defoliation is same as topping or removing lower branch during flower.
Yust pluck off all large leaves but no leaves who grows from bud site if you do like that plant is even no stressed at all and grow like nothink happened.
also i defoliate "heavy" lower parts so the light can get feedback from the top of the pots! if you have perlite on top of the soil mix or something like this!
when to defol! hm....first i was do in veg stage but then the strech is no so optimal like if you do in the flower stage.....this can be 14-20 days, depends of strain!

good luck and enyoy!

 

[Rolldaddy]

Like I said I remove all the lower leaf growth. I also top them to have more tops and to have a smoother, more even canopy. I grow plants big, up to 5 to 6 footers so I remove all leaves and growth from the bottom 1/3 of the trees. That way the plant spends it energy on the top colas. The strong light doesn't really get down there anyways so there are lots of benefits to cleaning off the bottom. IMO the best time to do this is during the beginning of flowering period before the plants waste energy developing buds that are going to cut off

IMO

 

[Rolldaddy]

Also IMO I think the majority of the upper leaves should be left on for the plant to do it's best

 

[Diesel dreams]

305 don't listen to these fools who haven't tried defoil yet.... They just don't know.... Idefoilate in flower as i see fit, no body knows how your plants are feeling cept you, I pluck everything that is dancing in the breeze.... Until it's only frosty nugs and sugar leaves... Keep in mind you have properly trained your plants for this so might as well reap the benifits.... Rofl..... Cannabis needs fan leaves....ha...

 

[melro52]

Pluck those leaves, they're taking away from the buds!

Pluck those leaves, they're taking away from the buds!

I'm a senior female who has been growing all sorts of plants, bushes, trees my whole life. I learned it from my first generation American mom who grew everything too. When a plant like marijuana, which is a terpenoid, (produces resin no differently than a pine tree), gets to the stage that it is flowering/budding, the plant pretty much ceases to grow. At this stage all plant's energy is going toward producing seed be it in the form of fruit, vegetable, flowers, buds. Every living thing is programmed to PROCREATE if nothing else. Any plant in stress, a tree that is dying, a plant in it's final stages will quickly try to procreate as much as possible.

We prevent female marijuana plants from being pollinated and seeding so buds continue to swell in the hope of being pollinated and the plant procreating. The big marijuana leaves on the plant at this stage are doing nothing but taking resin away from the buds. The plant itself should no longer be growing because it's reached it's pot size potential and we've forced it to bud. The buds are what people want to smoke not leaves, so pinch them off. Use the sticky leaves to make butter, or hash. As for the resin in the plant, it's now known that higher temps, increased sunlight, and decreased water supply really motivate terpenoids to produce resin.

Pinching out the big marijuana leaves allows:

Light and heat to hit all budding sights
Keeps the plant drier signaling more resin production (the hydro in THC is a clue) to protect and nourish the swelling buds.
Alerts the plant that a herbivore may be eating it. Resin is a plants defense. Most critters do NOT like the taste of resin and therefore the plant will produce even more resin.
Allows all the good juju (resin) to go right to the buds and not on the leaves, which no one wants to smoke.

Think about it. Everything in my yard perennials, bushes, trees, herbs, roses, vegetables get thinned out once, twice, some three times over the summer or they suffer. I've flowered a 4 ft. lime tree in a pot. I've got gardenia's blooming on a giant 3 ft bush in my living room in MI right now. Always remember that the top of any plant in a pot cannot grow beyond the root system that supports it so once the plant/tree is mature, cutting back/pinching is necessary, repotting is NOT because part of forcing any plant to bloom is letting it become root bound, taking away light, and restricting water supply. This makes the plant bloom faster and more vigorously because it's all it can do. It must produce seed to maintain the species despite its dire conditions (starvation) and will do it every time.

When my plucked Northern Lights girly gets even more white with resin I'll post pics. She's only into her 4th week of flowering and smells absolutely lovely.

 

[jocat]

I'm finally trying this and figure i will be able to judge it based on weight, here's how: i have a perpetual coco garden, small but constant, i cut three plants at a time so they are all the same strain and get the same nutes, H&G, and i am dofoliating at different rates with 2 of the 3, and leaving on ala natural, of the set of 3 that where just cut it looked like the ala natural one, NO defol, had as big of top buds but the one that had been seriously plucked at week 3-4 flower had big flowers all over, i will be trimming these next week...the 3rd plant had been topped in veg when it was 18"tall and had a nice flat profile and then was plucked about 50% as much as her sister, i was more selective and tried to keep the big solar panels on, sun leaves, and it looks like a good combo, will see at the weigh in.

 

[SpaceshipNelson]

weight and flower size aside, just the fact that a large portion of the tasty flowers and calyx have NOT been exposed to the UV they NEED to be exposed to (again in order to stimulate resin production, as this is a defensive response and resin is highly UV protective) you're also going to notice a much lighter green appearance on shaded colas/nugs, kind of a softer feel to them, not quite as dense and "sun beaten".

 

[AKDrifter]

I am pretty much on board with Melro. I did this on my last two runs and could not have been happier. Lower buds finish better, MUCH easier on trim day, and I think yields increase. If not it seems like my plants mature more uniformly, as said less light green undergrowth/popcorn.

 

[2 Legal Co]

The friend who told me how to grow my AK47, responded with a Question when I made the same inquiry.

His Q: Are you growing leaves or bud? lol

I kept my 2 plants WELL pruned, right up to harvest, leaving only those that were small and Not shading any 'Bud sites'. Only time I didn't prune was in Veg....

Feel free to look at my album,,, it's public.

I got almost a pound off 432 watts of T5 Florescent. 10 and 12 weeks from flip respectively. Oh yes, and they were lollypopped with 8 branches left on each, and scrogged under a solid wire screen. HST... works for me.

I'm a Noob, so who knows? But my mentor, has been at it for a long time. And this is what he does. Except he uses a soft nylon net to train them.

I grow Bud. Had less than an oz of leaves from trimming at harvest off each plant.... but I did, and will, do a light trim.... to help extend the drying time. And no,,,, the trim was not included at the 'Dry' weigh in. lol

 

[2 Legal Co]

I must confess that I have a 'bad' attitude toward MJ. I view it as a weed, and as such you have to Try to kill it. And even then it'll grow most of the time.

When you trim it,,, it just spurs more growth.

on edit: I did have bit of an issue. The plant that I left 12 weeks started to Foxtail. That may have been caused by late pruning.... who cares? I don't need 'bag appeal' cause I don't sell it.