Defoliation during flowering for greater yields!

Hi, yes I imagine so. I hand to do some maintenance today and removed about a third from each plant, I trim my leaves plus unproductive growth. So I am ok. Thanks for your support and response. ss
 
:thanks:Yes I see your point, this is the third time I pruned my plants , I have other flowers growing with them. I heard they make an excellent filler flowers. lol
 
Thanks everyone for your response, I think I got back to all of you? I will post my progress. I am going to post some pics of some buds just starting,only one or 2 white flowers.
 
Thanks to MaxRefer for the video information I have been doing super cropping see picture
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I just tried monster cropping took my clones about 4 weeks into bud they were aeroponically cloned and had very good root sturcture when transferred into Dixie cups. They have been in dixie cups now for 46 days reverting to vegetation. Can't show pictures loaded them twice but can't access them here?? The nodes are ontop of each other and bunched so tightly can't make out anything eventually the clone starts to stretch. Then I cut all the garbage from the main stem and the plant starts normal growth with the exception of the 1st row or two of due leaves are 3 finger by the 4th row getting all 5 finger leaves. The 4 plants I'm starting my 5th grow 1 catatonic and 3 sour diesels are all monster cropped will have to see if all this is worth the trouble.I can tell you this I have plants that are very bushy twich as busy as the one in the photo. I will post latter and let you know how this monster cropping turns out.
 
I read a thread about defoliation a few years back. It completely changed my style of growing but more importantly it increased my yield by a huge margin. I'll explain my process and timing as it is vital to increasing yield and limiting stretch.

First lets determine what leaves should go when you defoliate. I will pluck any fan leaf from a node that has a developed off shoot. If the leaves on that side branch are at least a half inch long your fan leaf can go. Just make sure you're young offshoot looks like a very small but developed 3 leaf.

During the entire stage of vegetation I pluck every fan leaf when it's time. I also tie down my plants to keep an even canopy. Defoliation and tying your plants down is a great combination to ensure all your side branch leaves get maximum light and air flow.

I stop all defoliation 3 days before I plan on switching my lights to 12 / 12. At this time I make sure to defoliate EVERYTHING below the canopy line side branches included! During the first 2 weeks I will weave them into my netting as they stretch. On the 15th day I will cull every single fan leaf that has developed side clusters. When you are finished they look VERY naked.

At day 30 they will look bushier than ever with almost no light making through the canopy. I once again complete a culling of new fan leaves that have developed nodes. They will look naked once again but this time with pretty decently developed flowers.

At day 45 I do my final cull of fan leaves, and then let them do their thing until they are completely finished out.

I have noticed a few things using this technique over the years. Doing a cull all at once is better than daily plucking during flowering. I have used both methods and prefer the culling method. The plants snap back pretty quickly and are not under the constant stress of loosing leaves daily.

When you are fertilizing your plants don't hold back. Go with your usual dosage even after you strip more than half the leaf matter from your plants.

In the wild a fan leaf is a pretty necessary thing. Not only is it a solar panel but it is also a holding center for the plants nutrients. Indoor grows where you control a constant supply of food to your plants makes the fan leaf less necessary. Yes, they are a solar panel but they are also a huge blocker of light to your off shoots which need daily development to achieve greatness.

Culling leaves during veg will create a much more compact plant with much less space between nodes. When you cull during flowering it will help control your plants stretch. Helping you have a more compact and level canopy.

I have included a couple photo's of one of my two flowering girls under an XML 350. She is grown in a 10 gallon air pot with a mixture of Fox Farms Ocean Forest and Humboldt. Each plant should yield at least 8 ozs by week 9. That is double what I used to get before I changed my grow style to include defoliation. Currently she is at day 30 of flowering. I will defoliate her tonight and post pics of the aftermath.

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WOW What a post AK GreenLover although I've been defoliating what an education you have given me. I love the formation of your plants very short to the planting medium and supper main branching. Must be from the tie down looks outstanding for the scrog. I have copied your post and plan to use it throughout my grow thanks again.
 
Peace y'all
I defoliated my plants a week before I went into flower and I was scared lol. But now I see that I didn't remove enough. There is a lot of the plant that is not getting light. Is it okay to defoliate 3 days into flower or should I just wait until day 21?


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Hi all: I like you BootyImplants am very cautious with the amount of defoliation I do but this time I went balls to the walls and defoliated as per AK GreenLover's post because I've been wanting to try this type of defoliation and have been trending towards this type of defoliation. I must say even I was shocked at 1st but as I defoliated I noticed the buds and parts of the plant that would not mature any further and to see the same buds and limbs now 6 days into defoliation and I'm realizing the amount of my plants that will drastically be improved by the process this will be worth the experiment I believe anyway I'm commented here is my before bloom day 3-7
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and after
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When this is all done and harvested I will post the results as to whether or not I'll do it again.
 
So I haven't read this whole thread and my reply is just based off the title of the tread but this question has been asked many times and this was the reply by Jandre2k: This subject was debated and tested here on 420 mag by several people a while back. The result was, here on 420 mag, that while stress does in fact happen, it is a GOOD stress effect. It fools the plant into believing it is under attack and increased growth happens.

The timing was also tested:

At day 22 of flower a MILD defoliation happens to remove some of the fans, and ONLY the ones shading bud sites so as to give those parts of the plant more light. Also, if "Tucking" the leaf is an option, so that it no longer shades the bud site, do that instead if it will stay tucked, otherwise, removal...

At day 45-49 of Flower a more heavy defoliation happens. This is mostly all of the upper fan leaves toward the top of the plant are removed. (top 85% of plant) Only those at or near the bottom of the plant are to be left alone. This spurs a secondary surge in regrowth and it happens IN THE BUDS this time and if fan regrowth happened last time (there is a slim chance that it did) the fans are not regrown the second time and all that growth happens in the buds themselves leading to heavier bud production due to shading fans being removed and the plant's response of the same removal/attack response.

In all cases the "sugar leaves" are to be left alone. I.E. any leaves with trichomes growing on them
 
So much info my mind is spinning. I have never grown, so knowing what to do and when to do it going to be very helpful. Thank you to everyone has posted on this thread. This has answered almost every question I had about how to proceed. And what about that video?? So good, I added it my list and shared on my channel. I am planning on doing a SCRoG and was wondering about how to prepare the plant for it. A lot of info to process and figure out what I want to implement. Will definitely make timing a priority as I want to get everything I can out of it.

I was wondering about trimming the lower leaves like you would for a clone. Would this be a good stress to put on the plant to encourage even more bud growth?

Thanks again for the awesome thread!!

~K~:Namaste::thumb::nicethread:
 
On my third grow I tried a scrog. Not for me. Too much fiddling involved. I fim/top, and lst. Good luck with your journey!
 
Heres what Defoiliating heavily during veg right before the switch to bloom. I also defoilate at week 4 of bloom heavily. I super crop some as well as tie bigger colas down so more can reach the light.
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Thank you Blazin That: I ran a test on this subject and this time for some reason I went for it and totally defoliated all but sugar leaves I just happened to do it the way you are suggesting 1st part of bloom I was still partially defoliating being very conservative and then at my 3-7 day 1/2 way, for me, through bloom I totally defoliated and even I was shocked and wondering did I do wrong here then I read Fidel Castro reference to a post on the real truth about defoliation. I read that post and I was kicking my ass for doing what I did being committed I forged on then I started seeing the results of what I did and I had less and less apprehension for what I did now at my 5-2 day of bloom I'm convinced I did the right thing but the final test will be the harvest weight. These are pictures of when I defoliated BEFORE
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AFTER
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NOW ON BLOOM 5-2 DAY
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lendee I promise you will be very surprised by the over all size of all your flowers when finished. Even the ones on the lower branches will be hard nugs not fluff. I did the test similar to yours a few years back and was almost terrified after I had finished the reap after stretch. I was thinking about how naked they were and how much it would slow my growth. However they bounced back very quickly and exploded with growth all focused on the flowers.

Don't forget this is only stage one. Make sure to reap at least one more time when your canopy gets clogged with fan leaves and restricts both light and airflow.

I seriously can't wait to see your end results and how happy you are for trying another path. :bravo:
 
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