Would really appreciate you help on this one :)

[Matt stoner]

Hello everyone

I have a question for you guys and girls.
Im using the scrog method to grow a few plants, it's looking pretty good so far (well at least it was -_-)
The screen was pretty full yesterday, their were so many leaves along with loads of tops covering around 80% of the screen.
Well at least that was until a friend of mine said that there were 2 many leaves and to get a higher yield I would have to trim the leaves covering the lower tops..

I wasn't sure to begin with if this was a good thing to do or not, so I took his advice and went along with it.
Well today I did a little research, and found out that that was not the right thing to do.... Damb!
I' am truly gutted.. Was getting ready to flip it to 12/12 as well.

So my question is this, is my yield going to be affected?
Or will I be able to veg them a couple of weeks longer until the screen is full again to make up for the lost leaves?
Or should I just go ahead and flip it to 12/12?
I would really appreciate a little help on this one
Thank you

 

[CronicHempHog]

don't flip it yet
most defoliation should be below the sceen any defoliation above should be light and only if its touching the buds or really affecting the light on the lower buds
the more leaves you take off the more leaves its gonna want to replace
the plant needs leaves for photosynthesis

 

[Matt stoner]

Yea, I realised after trimming them that they need tier leaves for food, and the best option would have been to tie them down or tuck them under the screen.
I wish I would have know that soon as we pulled way 2 many! Like most of the leaves are gone -_-

I know that removing a lot of leaves will affect my end yield.
But what if I veg them for a while longer, to compensate for what they have lost.
Will I still be able to yield high, or have I ruined them?
I mean, do they need all their leaves, will i still be able to achieve maximum yield if I allow them time to grow a little longer?

Cheers guys

 

[TanR]

Hi Matt.

Welcome to 420 Magazine.

I think if you leave them in veg for a week or two you will see your plant replace a lot of the leaves it lost. Photo's would help here, but in their absence I'm pretty comfortable suggesting you haven't done any irreparable harm to your plants or potential yield.