Re: Donpaul.p's latest 400watt hps grow,
just remember packing more plants in means air movement is restricted, this risks pm issues, so good air flow is key to packing more plants in, if you have plants that leaves are touching each other then they will sweat, so some defol is needed to prevent pm issues,
@runewulfsong, its a tough debate the defol method, some swear by it and others dont, jorge cevantes says never remove any leaf that nots dead, but other top growers say some defol is needed on indoor plants as in the wild plants lose leaves to bugs and animals.
again some plants respond better than others, i used it a few times in the past and had huge buds, but i had nothing to compare them to, the plant may of produced huge buds without any defol or could of produced bigger buds with no defold, this time round i got something to compare them to,
we all know that bottom branches get no light and node spacing is huge and buds are tiny, so these branches would need more light to have closer node spacing and bigger buds, so more light = more buds, how ever removing leaves stunts growth, i have proven this by just removing the very top 2 sets of fan leaves, this stunted growth on the main stem, the lower branches then grew higher than the main stem and became the main colas, growth was pretty quick on these lower branches so the plant must go into some sort of repair mode to make sure the plant survives and grows taller than other plants.
its sort of natural selection, in the wild the taller plants flurish while the smaller plants wither and die due to not getting much light, some outdoor growers throw several seeds in the same hole, then the strongest of them seeds will outgrow the rest and will be the better plant to get buds from, so their natural selection plays a part,
indoors it dont, we give the plants what they need, they have no natural enemies as we prevent bugs and give them nutes and monitor light and temps, so do plants really need all their leaves when their not a risk of losing them, from my own experience i have found removing leaves to let more light into the lower and inner branches does make them grow quicker at them nodes, but it slows the growth at the part where you took the leaves from, this means you will need longer veg time in theory.
so their does need to be some testing done to see what actually happens, its no good just trying it with one plant as you have nothing to compare it to, what i do do with most my plants is remove all leaf at the very end of flower and leave it under 12-12 for a few days before harvest, i find this does slightly increase bud size,
the only time i used defold properly was with a 2ltr dwc hempie and i had amazing results, but then i only had 3 buds, the main bud and the very bottom branch either side of the plant, i defol and removed all side branches and node growth and i ended up with huge buds,
but would i of got more yield by keeping all the smaller buds and branches, fair enough i had 3 huge buds, but if i had 15 averaged size buds would i of got more yield, smaller buds but its the yield we are after, so hopefully this time i got something to compare it to and be able to make a more fairer test,
removing leaves every couple of days would cause more stress over a longer period so removing them in batches is the best method, plants do take a few days to recover but once growth starts again its usually rapid so the plant catches up and should have more growth than before,
only time will tell i guess but if you find bassmans journals on this site then he swears by the defol method, he says its best to start in veg as it is less stress on the plant when you do it in flower, but he does get huge buds, his plants have no leaf at all, all they have is the leaves coming out the buds, he says any leaf with a stem of 2inches or their abouts then these leaves need removing,
i can see why plants would need lots of leaves outdoor because in the wild you would have a field full of plants growing close to each other so the plant with the most leaves would reproduce and be taller than the other plants, again natural selection is key here, but indoors we are not doing this, plants are not competing for light and spaced close together, so do they really need all the leaves they produce,
i sit on the fence, if had good results with defol method and good results without removing leaves, i do remove the odd leaf blocking other branches and nodes, but im i reducing yield as im slowing growth at the place i took leaf from, i use a lot of lst as i find poking holes in the top of the pot allows me to pull whole branches one way or another to open the plant up for more light.
all i can do is run this test and see how it all plays out, if it works then i may use it for other grows,
