Re: Xlr8's Hydroponic Adventures and Photos from the Garden - 2012
So does anyone have any good suggestions on threads to look at for pruning and what is UBT?
Let me know if you have questions on the UBT post I made.
For pruning/defoliating:
The idea is to remove fan leaves to open up better light for the plants. Basically, I just "snap" the leaves off carefully or use a small scissors for pruning. If a leaf doesn't snap off easily, don't yank it. Grab the scissors (you don't want to injure the plant further). Also, sometime there are lower branches that don't make it up to the canopy that are better being removed. Don't worry, the other branches and budsites will compensate with greater swell/size as a result of less competition for resources.
Defoliating/pruning can also be used as a way to manipulate the plant - by defoliating fan leaves or pruning branches on the main stem, you can slow upward growth/stretch - for example. This can be applied to other grow shoots that you wish to manipulate.
There are many many opinions on defoliating to open up more light. Fan leaves store energy for the plant, energy that it can use to build buds, heal itself, etc. However, there is more than ample evidence from many growers now, that points to more direct light on the area where the buds are, makes them bigger. Light energy is far more important than nutrients in determining a plants size or bud size. That's why a plant outside can get soooo big, the sun is one hell of a HID lamp.
Here's my take - In a hydro situation especially, I'd think with good soil too, the plants have an enormous amount of access to the nutrition they need. The stored energy in the fan leaves, while important, is a buffer that isn't needed as long as they can continually access the "buffet" of nutrients and they are healthy.
I've seen and had nice grows with little to no defoliation, but you do end up with a fair amount of "popcorn" buds that are better used for hash or edibles. I've seen and had nice results from selectively defoliating and removing "most of the leaves. Heck, there are some amazing grows here where there is hardly a leaf on the plant (check out 420fied's journal when you get a chance).
You don't want to prune or defoliate unhealthy plants, you'll just put them under more stress - this is important to note.
For me, right now I like to remove as many leaves as needed to open light to the lower levels - last grow this was quite a bit. I'll continue to experiment until I find what I like best - but it's a bit dependant on growing style, space limitations, time, etc. as far as what works best for others.
Timing? You can do a little at a time with out causing much stress (pull a fan here and there each day), or... there is a method that is popular right now where you would defoliate pretty heavy at about 21 and 45 days of bloom. 21 days is typically about the end of the "stretch" period, and 45 days gives you a little boost as they put on their final bulk. I did this last time, plus a little "here and there". I haven't defoliated in veg before, and overall I'm just now starting to get into defoliating more recently.
One last thing - I've played around with tucking leaves, too, and you can accomplish surprising things just by tucking leaves. Tucking leaves is the key to a good harvest with Autoflower plants (which shouldn't be pruned/defoliated due to their limited lifespan and lack of a true "veg" cycle). I tuck leaves, top, and defoliate/prune now.
When you get time, check out this journal by Mr Smith - it has some of the best nuggets you'll find about defoliating, cloning, maintaining a mother... Just a fantastic thread on advanced growing and plant manipulation from a really skilled grower:
DarkStar Project - Advanced Growing
Here's the Lavender plant from my last grow - I removed almost all of the major fan leaves and left mostly what wasn't part of a bud. I kept some "outside" fans, but not too many (this was at about 6-7 weeks I think?) The "second-tier" buds on her were about the size of golfballs, and dense - the main colas (4) were about the size of Beer cans (it was UBT'd) :
Could be worse, I guess - its not scorching hot, but maybe for yet to root clones...
