Defoliation Opnions Needed! Pics Provided!
- Thread starter Jakeee
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drsaltzman
Well-Known Member
This is a good discussion.
I definitely trim the bottom third of the plant around week 3 of flower.
It's mostly good hygiene, but it does redirect energy to a degree.
Re: the fan leaves being "energy panels".
There are so many leaves on a plant other than the fans. The buds are full of leaves.
You can select the fans to keep by looking at the growth it is feeding.
The lowest fans are not feeding your top buds.
Earlier in the thread I read a post stating that mother nature knows what it's doing and don't prune.
Wrong.
Left to nature, an unstaked tomato plant would fall over and rot. The suckers would overwhelm the best fruit too.
Want more rosebuds? You deadhead.
Unpruned plants don't perform as well.
You can absolutely improve the conditions for your plant to grow and produce.
I definitely trim the bottom third of the plant around week 3 of flower.
It's mostly good hygiene, but it does redirect energy to a degree.
Re: the fan leaves being "energy panels".
There are so many leaves on a plant other than the fans. The buds are full of leaves.
You can select the fans to keep by looking at the growth it is feeding.
The lowest fans are not feeding your top buds.
Earlier in the thread I read a post stating that mother nature knows what it's doing and don't prune.
Wrong.
Left to nature, an unstaked tomato plant would fall over and rot. The suckers would overwhelm the best fruit too.
Want more rosebuds? You deadhead.
Unpruned plants don't perform as well.
You can absolutely improve the conditions for your plant to grow and produce.
kingtitan
Well-Known Member
True. Mother Nature can handle what was created originally by her. I am sure tomatoes, cannabis and other plants did well before we modified them to get what we need
drsaltzman
Well-Known Member
Absolutely. Mother Nature doesnt need us.
But she wants plants to reproduce.
We want plants to produce.
That is why we exploit her by doing simple things such as pruning, cloning, trellising etc...
In some extreme cases we take it beyond that, like genetically modifying.
Jakeee
Active Member
I don't disagree that slimming up the bottom third is a great idea but I did trained this thing to be short. Bottom 1/3 of this plant gonna be.. juicy..
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drsaltzman
Well-Known Member
Certainly have plenty of bud sites!
You know, you're right about the height.
Taller they are the better off you are pruning the bottom.
But if you slam the lights down hard and keep 'em squat, you'll have a better chance of production lower down.
Still, they won't be anywhere near what you'll get at the top.
Great for butter though.
Or grinding and vaping.
You know, you're right about the height.
Taller they are the better off you are pruning the bottom.
But if you slam the lights down hard and keep 'em squat, you'll have a better chance of production lower down.
Still, they won't be anywhere near what you'll get at the top.
Great for butter though.
Or grinding and vaping.
Jakeee
Active Member
Just because he leaf is not directly covering a cola does not mean the leaf is not blocking lateral light. Life is 3D. In my case I went ahead and used that ideology.
Lite
Well-Known Member
healthy leaves are laying back and absorbing light vertically. typically an up-down thing when using a scrog. hell, lay the fan leaves underneath the scrog and let the colas stick out.
Jakeee
Active Member
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auto1dwc
Well-Known Member
Looking very nice.
Do you think defoliating made a difference..
Have you noticed the lower buds have hardened up.
Scrog can reduce the amount of defoliation as you tend to trim below canopy only and if leafs are in the way, you tuck them under the scrog out of the way.
But then again with the size of your plant, scrog could use up the whole grow space, so you couldn't grow anything else.
Do you think defoliating made a difference..
Have you noticed the lower buds have hardened up.
Scrog can reduce the amount of defoliation as you tend to trim below canopy only and if leafs are in the way, you tuck them under the scrog out of the way.
But then again with the size of your plant, scrog could use up the whole grow space, so you couldn't grow anything else.
Jakeee
Active Member
What I have taken from this grow is that any defoliation during flower directly hinders the overall yield.. it is best to only defoliate during vegetation stage. I truly believe these colas had a lot more going for them. The weeks they took off to recover was vital.