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- #161
missgreenbud
New Member
That's a awesome in-depth explanation and easy to understand. I have been cutting leaves every other day and I gotta say, those inner leaves are really loving it lol. Thanks a ton dom!!The leaves do participate in photosynthesis but they also have energy needs and act as storage for nutrients(you arent trying to grow big leaves your trying to grow big flowers). Plants in the wild need to use those energy stores during times of variance in its life cycle, think too much rain or too little rain or cloudy and sunny conditions. Your plant doesnt technically need very many fan leaves if your providing it with everything it needs and perfect environmental conditions. I would suggest you dont remove more than 30% of the foliar mass at a single time and wait a day or two in between trimmings or you can over stress them delaying growth, causing them to hermie, or even killing them(I have never heard of someone killing a plant by over defoliation but I guess it is possible). As with everything in life balance is the key. Personally I focus my defoliation on the inner leaves to expose the lower branches allowing them to grow taller then when they are finished stretching take all the fan leaves a little at a time.