does any one here defoliate when the sun leafs are acting like " self positioning, bud blockers"?. if it was a horazontal grow i wouldnt even dare bring up this controversy?
My opinion on this is proly a little misguided, but i think it really comes down to your light intensity. if you have a weaker light that wont penetrate then yes remove fan leaves. With a strong enough light its unneccessary. Now i only back this up on the idea of what i have read from so many debates on this subject. the ones that do and see results seem to have a smaller light then those that claim its a waste of time/bad for plant.
And then you add in technique. And depending on who you ask there are several way to do it. Be it only in veg and once after stretch in bloom, to veg only, to bloom only, to keeping the plant in a state that it has no fan leaves with more then 1 inch of stem.
Then add in method. some will say yes in hydro or soil, other will say yes to hydro only or soil only.
Then add strain type. Some strains do well with it, other dont.
See where this argument can lead.
I always advise this. Do you know your strain? If you have mastered a strain and know how it grows, what makes it happy, and produce, then sure play around with defoliation. See if the strain can handle it. Depending on yoru light intisity, see if its even necessary. With a 600 nice and tight in, it may be a waste of time.
I can say i defoliate. I do remove a few of the biggest fan leaves from the front of the plant if they're covering a big bud site. I never do more then 5-10 leaves most of the time. I also run my screen behind the plant now so i dont have to shave the back side of it. it just flattens itself out to the screen ive noticed. Used to run screen in front, however i never weaved it in. i just used it to spread out the plant. More of a support.
