good to hear. if you dont mind me asking, do you think in your opinion that if someones lollipoping a plant taking off 4 lower branches that would give each branch about 5grams, and in return the plant ususes the energy to focus on the top colas from the top sprouts which then gives each branch an extra 10 grams.. so basicly making 5 grams extra in each branch......... do you think the technique your using willl give the plant more yield than a plant thats been lollipoped???
im thinking of trying this because ive done it in every grow just not severely.. mostly to shock the plant and keep it from growing for acouple days but over time ive noticed it on plants over the years, so now i want to try it your way.
I'll try to answer with a combination of what I learned from reading everything I could by a guy that has defoliated for 30yrs and what I've learned from experience.
I don't lollipop. But, at the same time, taking the really tiny bottom branches that won't yield even 5g is fine and wont slow any growth or misdirect energy as you put it. That being said we don't lollipop when using this technique. We also don't really grow main colas. Not in terms of what we're used to seeing per se. The idea of all of this is to grow more buds total, and make all those small popcorn buds become medium good size buds we're happy to trim.
Another thing to think about is we're never shocking the plant. When we strip early in veg we still leave the small fans that are developing at the tops of branches. This doesn't shock the plant, as it's still in a
young grow more nodes/branches stage. It does however make those new nodes come sooner, and thus more leaf is grow quite rapidly. Within days they are fully releafed and even more than before. In flower, when we defoliate, we still are not pulling 100% of leaves. We are taking fan leaf that is f
ully developed, with a reasonable stem, not attached to a newly developed bud or node that has yet to make it's own leaves. Again, this doesn't stress nor shock them. There are still plenty of leaves on the plant. But we're sending tons more light all over the place and this promotes all facets of growth. Yet defoliating
will put a near halt to stretch when done during that period, so it can be used to control height. But it doesn't seem to affect bud development at this stage whatsoever.
In the end, if you use what I've described in the first posts of this thread fully, I am a believer that your yield will be higher than a lollipoped plant. It may take a few grows to dial yourself in. Know your strain, have your other growing conditions down pat. From there it's just learning how they react, when to defoliate, how tall to grow in veg, when to defoliate in veg, when to flip, and how to support the entire plants bud development rather than just the large stuff at the top.
I started doing this kinda halfheartedly on one grow and started learning right from the start. My 1st grow saw better yield. My 2nd grow was done better and saw better yield, my 3rd attempt at this, saw the magical 10oz from a single plant and I knew I made mistakes and what they were. And so the learning curve grows (pun intended).
i smell a motm
