Defoliation questions

[Loc Dog]

You sure .Just dealt with that when my rez temps got high. AC went down and it was over 100F outside yikes!

Use Pro Tekt is slows is down a lot.

If it is fusarium the very bottom of the stem where it meets the soil will usually swell and my burst/crack.

Get your temps down and use silicon.

I have been feeding silica and actinovate, plus spraying with copper, and actinovate.

Using procidic now. Used Daconil in past, but not sure how safe for smoking, especially since 2 weeks to harvest. procodic can be used until day after harvest.

 

[mushroombrew]

I have been feeding silica and actinovate, plus spraying with copper, and actinovate.

Using procidic now. Used Daconil in past, but not sure how safe for smoking, especially since 2 weeks to harvest. procodic can be used until day after harvest.

No daconil anywhere near flowers.

I used a 10% bleach solution right at tge base of plant. Did not saturate roots! Just the base. Did not damage plants. 90% recovered fully. Well also got res temps back down.

Good luck hope you make it to harvest

 

[Chunky Sloth]

That's funny when ever I mention the non defloiation team I always
Mention Jorge.

Jorge is an outdoor grower. Defoliating trees is dumb. Hence his opinion.

I find most people against usually haven't tried it.

I have found out otherwise. Better quality bud and yield. If you do it right.
Pics below

https://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?t=343303&page=7

That's definitely more than what I usually do. How often do you usually defol? My set up is very similar, except for using LEDs now. Do you do any other pruning? Those plants look nice and free of useless small nug.

People can talk solar panels and stress all they want. You know what is stressful to a plant? Not producing seeds.

Very good point

Correct me if I am wrong on this, but while all the leaves work to absorb light and help convert sugars for its food supply, not every leaf goes to the total growth of the plant. If you cut a leaf on a left branch, it wont affect the growths on the other branch. Similarly, if you cut a fan leaf thats attached to the main stalk, you are slowing the bud branch's growth, but not the buds growth since the buds growth is affected by light to its sugar leaf. So, you are able to remove all of your stalk fan leaves once your plant switches its focus to bud development over vegetative growth.

I also find it funny that a lot of defoliation's detractors are people who dont even top their plant. Obviously you dont need to remove leaves when you grow a single branch...

Very true. This is my first time getting FIM to work for me and there is a lot more leaves with the extra leaders. Even compared to lst, it's crazy how dence they are.

 

[mushroombrew]

That's definitely more than what I usually do. How often do you usually defol? My set up is very similar, except for using LEDs now. Do you do any other pruning? Those plants look nice and free of useless small

21 days and 42 days. I leave 3 fans on every growth shoot. No more no less. You'll see how much bud they put on in 1 wk. I'll post more pics; see If I can bring some guys to the dark side!! Haha!!

 

[Chunky Sloth]

21 days and 42 days. I leave 3 fans on every growth shoot. No more no less. You'll see how much bud they put on in 1 wk. I'll post more pics; see If I can bring some guys to the dark side!! Haha!!

Hmm today is day 18 of my veg. I just trimmed the lower useless branches and such off. I'm going to try the 3 per shoot method. Should I give it a couple days or just do it today in one fell swoop?

 

[mushroombrew]

Hmm today is day 18 of my veg. I just trimmed the lower useless branches and such off. I'm going to try the 3 per shoot method. Should I give it a couple days or just do it today in one fell swoop?

Oh sorry. 21 & 42 of flower. No defoliation in veg. It slows them down.
Only do so if you need air flow. Don't strip to 3 fans unless you are in flower

 

[OG Expressions]

Oh sorry. 21 & 42 of flower. No defoliation in veg. It slows them down.
Only do so if you need air flow. Don't strip to 3 fans unless you are in flower

I grow OG kush. Once they start to branch out a bit i strip the fans. Once the light gets down into the lower part of the plant all the branches grow up in a nice even crown. I top when theres 4 to 8 nodes, its really nice when all the tops are at the same level

 

[Crusader Rabbit]

You can categorize leaves by where they grow on the plant. There are leaves that grow at nodes of the central stem, those directly attached at nodes of secondary stems, those whose petioles attach to the nodes of tertiary stems, and so on. The primary leaves are your first big fan leaves and the first to turn yellow and drop off (these are also the big leaves sticking out of your top cola). These different categories of leaves appear in succession.

I've grown a lot of plants where I trained them down, tightly wound around the rim of a 1gal container. This packs leaves together and though many fan leaves can be tucked, some have to be removed. This is done at the start of 12/12 lighting. I've experimented with cutting as few as possible, and also trimmed almost all the primary leaves which really open the plants up again to air and light. I can't make any certain statement about ultimate yields here, but I've been surprised at how quick the defoliated plants bounce back, producing a full canopy of green again. I've wondered if these are stages in the plant's growth cycle, and if removing these primary leaves before their natural senescence, allows the plant to step out of the vegetative stage, bumping the plant up into flowering mode a bit ahead of schedule. If so, this could explain the claims of higher yields.

 

[OG Expressions]

I dont cut the leaves off the main stem after i top the plants, let them start to branch out a little bit then cut off all the leaves on the main stalk to let the light down to the lower branches so they all grow up as a nice even cannopy. If i dont top my OGs theydont branch very well or only the top half will and i end up knocking off some of what was below wasting some veg time when i could just top earlier

 

[mushroombrew]

You can categorize leaves by where they grow on the plant. There are leaves that grow at nodes of the central stem, those directly attached at nodes of secondary stems, those whose petioles attach to the nodes of tertiary stems, and so on. The primary leaves are your first big fan leaves and the first to turn yellow and drop off (these are also the big leaves sticking out of your top cola). These different categories of leaves appear in succession.

I've grown a lot of plants where I trained them down, tightly wound around the rim of a 1gal container. This packs leaves together and though many fan leaves can be tucked, some have to be removed. This is done at the start of 12/12 lighting. I've experimented with cutting as few as possible, and also trimmed almost all the primary leaves which really open the plants up again to air and light. I can't make any certain statement about ultimate yields here, but I've been surprised at how quick the defoliated plants bounce back, producing a full canopy of green again. I've wondered if these are stages in the plant's growth cycle, and if removing these primary leaves before their natural senescence, allows the plant to step out of the vegetative stage, bumping the plant up into flowering mode a bit ahead of schedule. If so, this could explain the claims of higher yields.

Healthy plants produce way more leaves than they need. It's natural for predators to much some; as you'll know if the deer ever find your patch.

So you can remove lots without too much stress. But only on healthy fast growing plants.

If I was a plant and my leaves got eaten I would grow upwards to get away from predators. And a plant in flower that gets eaten produces more flowers in a self preservation move.
The above is anecdotal and not science. Just my experience.

 

[OG Expressions]

Healthy plants produce way more leaves than they need. It's natural for predators to much some; as you'll know if the deer ever find your patch.

So you can remove lots without too much stress. But only on healthy fast growing plants.

If I was a plant and my leaves got eaten I would grow upwards to get away from predators. And a plant in flower that gets eaten produces more flowers in a self preservation move.
The above is anecdotal and not science. Just my experience.

Deer and rabbits. Plant predators. Bugs too

 

[mushroombrew]

Deer and rabbits. Plant predators. Bugs too

Rabbits? Do you hail from the UK? Those buggers are everywhere!

I miss a good rabbit stew yum.

 

[Crusader Rabbit]

Rabbits? Do you hail from the UK? Those buggers are everywhere!

I miss a good rabbit stew yum.

Say what ???!!!!???

 

[mushroombrew]

Say what ???!!!!???

Don't worry I don't eat the Crusader variety.

 

[OG Expressions]

Rabbits? Do you hail from the UK? Those buggers are everywhere!

I miss a good rabbit stew yum.

Canada. We have lote here especially outside tge cities.

Far as the post below they do certainly taste decent but people around here think its depraved to "eat the poor little bunnys" so its not common.

 

[HereIgrowagain]

Rabbit nd Black pudding pie mmmmnnmnmnm....Very nice.

So is the consensus sorted now? Defoliation kicks ass once mastered?

 

[mushroombrew]

It's never sorted. There will always be those who drag huge leafy trees indoors. Especially here in Oregon omg... 8ft leaf bushes each with their own Gavita. Pumping out larf. I've seen a bunch since I've been here. The top 10" yields nice though. haha!

I've been indoor hydro since '90. Short veg, 1plant/sqft with a leaf here and there.

I live in a strict "No Larf" zone.

 

[Chunky Sloth]

Oh sorry. 21 & 42 of flower. No defoliation in veg. It slows them down.
Only do so if you need air flow. Don't strip to 3 fans unless you are in flower

Ok perfect. I'm glad I waited. Something told me that's was too much. Thanks for the clarification and advice. Will try it this run. Lucky for me I tried out a new high CBD strain and napping rather than working.

 

[Chunky Sloth]

It's never sorted. There will always be those who drag huge leafy trees indoors. Especially here in Oregon omg... 8ft leaf bushes each with their own Gavita. Pumping out larf. I've seen a bunch since I've been here. The top 10" yields nice though. haha!

I've been indoor hydro since '90. Short veg, 1plant/sqft with a leaf here and there.

I live in a strict "No Larf" zone.

That's what I'm trying to eliminate. I keep my girls nice and tight and compact, but feel like I dont remove quite enough.

 

[Junk]

Agreed

Agreed

i was a defoliating sceptic, didn't like the idea
however, doing micro grows and it did seem that the big fans weren't optimum for small spaces
and was amazed just how good defoliating can work
you pay a price with a slowed down plant, but 2 weeks later?
you really are filled in completely, except it's a tighter plant, and much better in a micro grow
my 2 coins

Agreed. On paper, it's not a good thing. I disagreed with it's practice heartily.

But you should try anything once (almost anything). And I've tried it, and it does, ime, make the lower sites larger and more mature? I can't think of the right word. Same plant, same light, same environment. It was the same run. Strain was Grape OG which has huge fans.

I basically got the same weight with both. but more buds by defoliating, instead of 7g nugs from the mains. That's why in post #2 I said it seems to take it from the main colas and redistribute it to the lowers and sides. I've had plants that 3 nugs = a zip. Which is fine for me, bc, I grow for my own usage. But other people I help, aren't fans of that look.

So, I forget who it was that said it works out the same either way, but that does seem to be the case. I'll try it on the next round too and if it repeats, I'll take some photos.

I would imagine that like anything else, the plant will dictate what works for it and what doesn't. I would just try it on the plants that are leaf heavy and see what happens. Check your weight, # of buds, and bud quality, and go from there.

The other thing was the defoliated plant flushed quicker, which makes sense...but I just never thought of it.