Defoliate
- Thread starter skunk1877
- Start date
Posted this in another thread on the subject..
Here's a pic from a dude that did a side by side on another forum. The 3 plants on the left were grown naturally, and the 3 plants on the right were defoliated. The natural plants grew almost twice as much bud weight than the defoliated plants.
Note that the defoliated plants ALL have SMALLER lower buds, despite the fact that the plants were defoliated to "provide more light to lower buds and increase bud size and growth". If bud development was dependent on light hitting the bud sites, than the natural plants should have smaller lower buds, however, they are CLEARLY larger, despite being covered by fan leaves.
This photo clearly shows that the defoliation of 3 plants REDUCED lower bud development compared to 3 naturally grown plants, and therefore, is NOT an effective technique to increase either yield OR lower bud size.
Fan leaves are there to serve the plant and the buds, and their removal WILL have a negative impact on your plant. Period.
Best of luck, regardless.
skunk1877
Well-Known Member
Its hard to say, Were the all clones from the same plant? My flowers are blowing up in size, but it is Kush genetics.I have even noticed new flower growth..Posted this in another thread on the subject..
Here's a pic from a dude that did a side by side on another forum. The 3 plants on the left were grown naturally, and the 3 plants on the right were defoliated. The natural plants grew almost twice as much bud weight than the defoliated plants.
Note that the defoliated plants ALL have SMALLER lower buds, despite the fact that the plants were defoliated to "provide more light to lower buds and increase bud size and growth". If bud development was dependent on light hitting the bud sites, than the natural plants should have smaller lower buds, however, they are CLEARLY larger, despite being covered by fan leaves.
This photo clearly shows that the defoliation of 3 plants REDUCED lower bud development compared to 3 naturally grown plants, and therefore, is NOT an effective technique to increase either yield OR lower bud size.
Fan leaves are there to serve the plant and the buds, and their removal WILL have a negative impact on your plant. Period.
Best of luck, regardless.
Last edited:
tip top toker
Well-Known Member
Fantastic post! Defoliation is just another one of these practices that people argue is good based on absolutely no scientific reasoning, and as you've stated, ignore the very well known and accepted scientific reasoning of why leaves are useful. But buds need light brah!Posted this in another thread on the subject..
Here's a pic from a dude that did a side by side on another forum. The 3 plants on the left were grown naturally, and the 3 plants on the right were defoliated. The natural plants grew almost twice as much bud weight than the defoliated plants.
Note that the defoliated plants ALL have SMALLER lower buds, despite the fact that the plants were defoliated to "provide more light to lower buds and increase bud size and growth". If bud development was dependent on light hitting the bud sites, than the natural plants should have smaller lower buds, however, they are CLEARLY larger, despite being covered by fan leaves.
This photo clearly shows that the defoliation of 3 plants REDUCED lower bud development compared to 3 naturally grown plants, and therefore, is NOT an effective technique to increase either yield OR lower bud size.
Fan leaves are there to serve the plant and the buds, and their removal WILL have a negative impact on your plant. Period.
Best of luck, regardless.
Bricksquad2625
Well-Known Member
lol why would you want to remove things that are capturing light and converting energy for your buds? The problem is we think like people and not like plants
Bricksquad2625
Well-Known Member
also you have to understand that certain light waves can travel though your leaves, so a "shaded" bud is still receiving light waves
Those plants were certainly not grown under "ultra" scientific conditions, however, the result IS conclusive due to the fact that NONE of the defoliated plants produced ANY lower buds that were better developed than those grown naturally. If defoliation improved bud development due to light exposure, than at least ONE of those plants should have larger buds, but they didn't.
The cannabis plant is a resilient bitch and will grow under a wide variety of conditions, optimal or not.
Defoliation detracts from optimal conditions due to the fact that you reduce the ability of the plant to photosynthesize light for energy, and you hinder transpiration.
By defoliating your plants, they now receive LESS energy from your lights due to the fact they can't photosynthesize as efficiently, and they WILL try to grow new leaves, instead of flowers, to compensate for the loss.
Your plants are also LESS efficient at transpiration than they were, which means they can't uptake C02 and off gass O2 the way they could due to the fact they no longer have the fan leaves primarily responsible for transpiration. This diminishes their ability to not only use and convert the nutrients and H20 you provide, but it also diminishes their ability to get the H20 and nutes your provide from the roots to new growth and flower sites.
Your plants will still grow, and still produce flowers, but they will do so less effectively and efficiently, resulting in a smaller yield.
I can see pruning sub-branches off of main branches to allow the plant to focus on main branch bud development, but pulling off fan leaves, especially ALL the fan leaves, just doesn't make sense scientifically, or practically.
Best of luck, regardless.
Thorhax
Well-Known Member
Most useful post about defol I've read..
Walter9999
Well-Known Member
In my opinion a defoliated plant looks silly...I won't go not the dynamics of it...to each his own
SnapsProvolone
Well-Known Member
Defoliation, just get a fucking lobotomy.
Cobnobuler
Well-Known Member
....Or a fucking book on basic plant biology. I cant even believe how often this subject comes up, and how many people are dumb enough to swear its somehow a "good" thing.
bigworm6969
Well-Known Member
just dont go all hog wild and leave sum fan leaves i cut a couple everyday the ones that block out buds and i seem to have awesome yields heres sum pics, i know alot of people get pissed because theres no scientific reason for cutting the fans but i believe cutting one big ass fan leaf off to open up light to 10 little leaves is why the plant benefit from it, now if you go crazy and chop all your fan leafs off yeah i agree ur fucked, but a couple here and there to try not to stress your plants i dont see nothing wrong with it, i like to jam my plants in my room if i let everything grow natural there would be a million leafs and all my bud sites would be covered up and my yield would suck with a ton of pop corn budz
Attachments
bird dog
Well-Known Member
Some good info from Wilksey that I not only did not know, but makes perfect sense...thanks friend! Mr. Bigworm, your grows always look clean, healthy, and well setup, including this current one. Back to the subject, Are you going to have room to work in there next month (lol)? I work my plants more similar to you. I do FIM and top when I need to, but I am under the opinion that if a fan leaf turns color and begins to shrivel, I pull it. I understand that the leafs are the main source of food for the buds, but there is a point that they can rob the food and then die in a week. I do alot of tying branches up and rotating the girls (in place) every few days. Peace
SnapsProvolone
Well-Known Member
Defoliation grows all seem to produce midgets.
bigworm6969
Well-Known Member
i dont think a 2oz cola is a midget but if u think so awesome im going to keep on trimming my shit cause i get awesome yields, if u dont believe me check out my thread
GreenSanta
Well-Known Member
I have learned to defoliate only when there is more leaves underneath to capture the light, I would never defoliate and have the light hitting the medium. I generally do a quick defoliation of the upper canopy around week 2 or 3, at the same time I clean the lower thirds completely. Then around 2 weeks prior to harvest, I like to defoliate aggressively, prep them for harvest, leaving just enough on the lowers to collect light, but at this point I don't care as much. That way, the lower buds have a chance to catch up with the upper, they go from a lime green to a darker green or purple.
