Defoliation: Hi-Yield Technique?

[Scrogerman]

Well, im gonna be watching BoB Hope's de-fol'ed plants bounce back with a ton of buddage on. that might actually get me to try this tec. I defol regularly but based on ScrOG which is slightly different to this tec. Good Luck Bob, i hope its a bumper for ya man!

 

[Bob-Hope]

^^^^^ no pressure then. on a side note these plants had there leafs removed 4weeks into veg, and a couple more times before they went into flower.i then removed there leafs at day 21of 12/12 a.la, Delta9nxs or jrosek, or k33f, " i cant remember its all got so confusing". and then again on friday(day 45),they have around 21 days from today to go,but may finish a little early,i cant make my mind up just yet,so ill decide by wednesday,whether or not to reduce food. apologies for the picture only had my phone available.

 

[smokefrogg]

That might be a bit on the aggressive side, lol.
With plants that young, I'd FIM or top, wait for them to bush out a bit, then defoliate, but that's just me

i hear you treefrog, but the genetics have lowryder #2 in them, so if it truly does autoflower then topping or fimming imho is not a good option

@ smokefrog i dont think youve got anything to worry about.

been pulling the leafs of these for six weeks and they bounce back better every time.

yeah it's been amazing with my other plants, these genetics have lowryder #2 autoflowering genes in them though so they aren't the normal photoperiod sensitive plants that i'm used to, we shall see!

Like treefrog said, your first cut should have been to the top growth tip, leaving the fan leaves. Removing the tip would make all of those budsites at the base of the fan leaves grow. From my observations, i think the fan leaves feed the growth of the corresponding budsite (and stretching of the stem they are attached to).

Obviously there has to be a balance between growing a mini bonzai and growing a plant large enough to consider flowering.

i hear you shroomdr, but i think treefrog missed that my genetics are autoflowering. not a great idea to top or fim autoflowers from all the research i've done, so i'm just defoliating and letting it ride, will compare with it's non defoliated sister in 5~7 days

 

[SCROG McDuck]

This specimen was thoroughly plucked continuously through it's 11 week cycle as well as during veg. No shortage of branches or buds, all of them chunky and exposed.

Clearly there are still plenty of leaves on the plant. It is impossible to remove the close leaf once things get clustered and sticky. Still as much leaf as possible is removed relieve any shading.

May I interject, k33ftr33z....

You say in your second post above: "This specimen was thoroughly plucked continuously through it's 11 week cycle as well as during veg..
In the first post, 'every week or two when things get shady'.

1000 posts later and I'm not hearing (from otheres) to start this process "during veg at the clone stage" and continue, pretty much thru bloom. Yes? No?

While I understand that "DEFing" can help buddage production at almost any stage of growth,
I think you are saying.. 'Whenever, is good' but starting in veg returns the shorter, more stocky bitches!

AND... I really like those pictures!

 

[bs0]

In my extended experience I have found that spaced out large defol sessions are best. Continual heavy defol does in fact (in my experience) have the potential to stunt the plant. I'm doing two defols sessions now, one at the end of stretch and one at the beginning of the bud swell phase. Rotating ctops give uou lots of experimental opportunities

 

[gdbud]

Thanks for the this info.
I just placed my plants under the SCROG and just started some defoliation and I was wounder how far I can go.
PS I found you link on thclistdotcom

 

[pcgrowin]

interesting for sure

 

[LifeLess]

Heres my next run at day 12 bloom. Im gonna do the same on this mess like i did the last bloom. Start my defoli at day 16 and do my 2nd defoli on day 24. This run i stuffed 2 more plants in there. Heres a pic of the mess.

Peace LL

 

[TanzanianMagic]

Heres pics.
As you can see teh one that i defoliated did branch out more.. but it iddint really ever take off like teh oher one.. I dont think im gonan defoliate any of the stuff i have going in my second run.

I think what happened is that you defoliated too early.

You should wait until your plant is the basic shape and size you are looking for - single cola, 4 or 6 heads, or bush shaped (like Soma). Also, things go much quicker if you wait until flowering is on the way before defoliating anything other than the major fan leaves. And you stop feeding the nitrates as soon as you do.

 

[Panconqueso]

Amazin results lifeless.

I'll totally try this in my next grow

Cheers

 

[Dave Coulier]

I think what happened is that you defoliated too early.

You should wait until your plant is the basic shape and size you are looking for - single cola, 4 or 6 heads, or bush shaped (like Soma). Also, things go much quicker if you wait until flowering is on the way before defoliating anything other than the major fan leaves. And you stop feeding the nitrates as soon as you do.

You should rethink your strategy of cutting off N during flowering. Nitrogen is required for the creation of Chlorophyll, and many other vital functions. Cutting off N will only decrease your yield.

 

[TanzanianMagic]

You should rethink your strategy of cutting off N during flowering. Nitrogen is required for the creation of Chlorophyll, and many other vital functions. Cutting off N will only decrease your yield.

I have a few autoflowering plants (Diesel Lowryder) growing now, defoliated, and I'm loving it. They're kicking out calyxes, because they don't have any other choice. Also, I think the buds are much more potent, because they're concentrating on growing calyxes and covering them with resin.

I've been feeding them nothing but Green Sensation (NPK 0-9-10) and a few drops of rhizotonic for two weeks now, and no nitrogen deficiency (no yellowing leafs at all). In fact I have cut some of the smaller bud leaves just to stop them from growing. I think when you don't have a leaf mass to maintain, there is enough N in the soil to keep them going.

The truth is that the plant's nutrient requirements change when you trim in such a drastic way.

 

[High Country]

I have a few autoflowering plants (Diesel Lowryder) growing now, defoliated, and I'm loving it. They're kicking out calyxes, because they don't have any other choice. Also, I think the buds are much more potent, because they're concentrating on growing calyxes and covering them with resin.

I've been feeding them nothing but Green Sensation (NPK 0-9-10) and a few drops of rhizotonic for two weeks now, and no nitrogen deficiency (no yellowing leafs at all). In fact I have cut some of the smaller bud leaves just to stop them from growing. I think when you don't have a leaf mass to maintain, there is enough N in the soil to keep them going.

The truth is that the plant's nutrient requirements change when you trim in such a drastic way.

Maybe they need more P.

 

[Tripp35]

Dammit.. I've been arguing this with my brother for years, now to see he's right... It goes against logic but then not really as said logic is replaced by a new perspective.
+Rep buddy, awesome job and I'm not complaining about being wrong on this one.

 

[k33ftr33z]

@ smokefrog i dont think youve got anything to worry about.

been pulling the leafs of these for six weeks and they bounce back better every time.

.

.

If those aren't in flower yet they should have been some time ago. Nice demonstration of the effect of defoliation on node spacing and structural stunting. You have plenty of sites there and will require intensive work all the way through to the end.

 

[k33ftr33z]

I just harvested two plants .. one i defoliated at day 14 flower. and one i didnt defoliate at all. I'm not hating on this technique at all or anything but the plant that i defoliated became retarded and never recovered. It will yield maybe 1/4 of teh one i didnt touch. Same mix same strain both clones taken at teh same time, vegged side by side.

i'm not sure why the one i defoliated was super gimped..I didnt defoliate throughout veg tho as suggested.

That is exactly the kind of side by side that yields that kind of result. Defoliation is a technique to prepare a plant in veg to have more branches and sites before placing to bud. You must factor veg-prep time into your overall plan to get the benefit of the technique. That is why it has been repeated hundreds of times in this thread that a side by side of this nature is meaningless and that jumping into defoliation at whatever stage you find yourselves is ill-advised. Start in veg as practice and to observe the changes that you can then introduce into your methodology. Those of us who have practicing this for a long time did not just learn in one cycle how often and how much to defoliate. Every strain is different. Every week in the cycle responds differently to defoliation. Every strain responds individually to defoliation. There are no hard rules or schedules. The best thing to do is always begin conservatively and do not switch up everything at once. Your plants must be impeccably healthy top to bottom.

 

[k33ftr33z]

^^^^^ no pressure then. on a side note these plants had there leafs removed 4weeks into veg, and a couple more times before they went into flower.i then removed there leafs at day 21of 12/12 a.la, Delta9nxs or jrosek, or k33f, " i cant remember its all got so confusing". and then again on friday(day 45),they have around 21 days from today to go,but may finish a little early,i cant make my mind up just yet,so ill decide by wednesday,whether or not to reduce food. apologies for the picture only had my phone available.

Very nice. Whatever you did and when is not as important as long as you followed your intuition to remove shading and accomodate the the crowding to get light to all that bud. This is not a schedule driven technique. Great job, Bob.

 

[k33ftr33z]

May I interject, k33ftr33z....

You say in your second post above: "This specimen was thoroughly plucked continuously through it's 11 week cycle as well as during veg..
In the first post, 'every week or two when things get shady'.

1000 posts later and I'm not hearing (from otheres) to start this process "during veg at the clone stage" and continue, pretty much thru bloom. Yes? No?

While I understand that "DEFing" can help buddage production at almost any stage of growth,
I think you are saying.. 'Whenever, is good' but starting in veg returns the shorter, more stocky bitches!

AND... I really like those pictures!

Defoliation in veg is what contributed to the finished structure. In my gallery there are pics of plants just transferred. They are about 12-14" tall and have at least 4 strong ranches and more developing. I do NOT defoliate immediately in bud nor for the previous few days in veg. I like the plants to have a strong leaf-out for the first week-10 in bud. Then a spreading and defoliation session and a susequent leaf-out for a week or so. The rest of bud cycle is more intuitive.

 

[darrmann]

quick question. I have read your whole thread and have 70 girls 1 week into flower , defoliated from 6" high. I love the way they look they have at least a 10 to 15 more branches then i ever had before and look great. question is like i said there a week into flower and i havent touched them for almost a week and a half and there just bushier then hell. So leave them alone? or trim off just a few? not a defoliation but a minor trimmiing? and after the wait do you ony trim one more time? not sure what you meant by a" subsequent leaf out for a week or so" can you explain a little. thx

 

[darrmann]

Defoliation in veg is what contributed to the finished structure. In my gallery there are pics of plants just transferred. They are about 12-14" tall and have at least 4 strong ranches and more developing. I do NOT defoliate immediately in bud nor for the previous few days in veg. I like the plants to have a strong leaf-out for the first week-10 in bud. Then a spreading and defoliation session and a susequent leaf-out for a week or so. The rest of bud cycle is more intuitive.

quick question. I have read your whole thread and have 70 girls 1 week into flower , defoliated from 6" high. I love the way they look they have at least a 10 to 15 more branches then i ever had before and look great. question is like i said there a week into flower and i havent touched them for almost a week and a half and there just bushier then hell. So leave them alone? or trim off just a few? not a defoliation but a minor trimmiing? and after the wait do you ony trim one more time? not sure what you meant by a" subsequent leaf out for a week or so" can you explain a little. thx
did you mean "in"a week