Holy crap. So you're telling me that defoliating your plant made NO DIFFERENCE?
Trimmed on the left, defoliated on the right...
That being said if you lower pruned the non-defoiled plant then I'm not sure how this can even be considered a side by side comparison.. A "control" in any experiment should remain untouched... in order to compare the experimented sides results to.
I cant see the pics because I'm not your friend, but you say they gave you the same weight.
I can only imagine the weight/product from the defoiled plant was of better structure/density. Yes?
When measuring the control plant what exactly are you considering weight?
I've done similar "tests" and have determined that while the defoiled plant did out weigh the non-defoiled plant - the buds from it were all grade A sell-able, where-as the non-defoiled plant may have weighed a tad more, but that was including lower larfy which one wouldn't be happy finding in their bag.
I think my non-defoiled plants may weigh more when you get down to the nitty gritty, but I still favor the defoiled approach as I do not have the time/patience to make hash w/ all the lower stuff.
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That being said if you lower pruned the non-defoiled plant then I'm not sure how this can even be considered a side by side comparison.. A "control" in any experiment should remain untouched... in order to compare the experimented sides results to.
A control doesn't have to remain untouched. If you were trialling a new medication to help people who had just had heart attacks you wouldn't have a control group who were just directed into a darkened room and ignored for 24 hours. It makes more sense to have a control group treated in a standard way, and lollipoping is exactly that as many if not most growers do this to some extent.
To me, it seems clear that the argument was that if you defoliate you can cram a few more plants in there then you otherwise could, in which case you might increase your yield over a denser canopy.
Defoliated plant: 233 grams freshly cut, 117g semi dry, 90gs 1week later, completely dry.
Trimmed plant: 293g freshly cut, 134 semi dry, 90gs 1 week later, completely dry.
Untouched plant: 315g freshly cut, 159 semi dry, 90s 1 weeks later completely dry.
Also, when I say freshly cut, I mean cut off the plant, and all leaves trimmed already, nothing being weighed but buds, maybe an occasional stem, or branch.
These were the final verdicts....