Defoilate or not defoilate, that isnthe question

Moabfighter

Moabfighter

Well-Known Member
xtsho said:
?

Are you serious or being sarcastic? I can't tell.
Click to expand...
The more you defol, week 3ish of flower, the more LEDS penetrate and you basically just grow all buds if you strip the plant down. I can show you all tomorrow….

yes defol is a main task at hand in a large scale operation. If you don’t defol a jungle, you’ll only get dense hard tops for the most part.

At work. I’ll show you our rooms before, and after defol tomorrow. left plant not defold. Right plant defold. If you don’t do this, you’re going to lose exponential yield and that’s a fact….

same strain, same pheno, same mother plant the clones came off of….

CE5A1337-F43E-4371-B16E-4D5A7097AE24.png
 
lusidghost

lusidghost

Well-Known Member
Moabfighter said:
The more you defol, week 3ish of flower, the more LEDS penetrate and you basically just grow all buds if you strip the plant down. I can show you all tomorrow….

yes defol is a main task at hand in a large scale operation. If you don’t defol a jungle, you’ll only get dense hard tops for the most part.

At work. I’ll show you our rooms before, and after defol tomorrow. left plant not defold. Right plant defold. If you don’t do this, you’re going to lose exponential yield and that’s a fact….

same strain, same pheno, same mother plant the clones came off of….

View attachment 5222710
Click to expand...
Those coco cubes suck.
 
xtsho

xtsho

Well-Known Member
Moabfighter said:
The more you defol, week 3ish of flower, the more LEDS penetrate and you basically just grow all buds if you strip the plant down. I can show you all tomorrow….

yes defol is a main task at hand in a large scale operation. If you don’t defol a jungle, you’ll only get dense hard tops for the most part.

At work. I’ll show you our rooms before, and after defol tomorrow. left plant not defold. Right plant defold. If you don’t do this, you’re going to lose exponential yield and that’s a fact….

same strain, same pheno, same mother plant the clones came off of….

View attachment 5222710
Click to expand...

I don't get it. I get bigger buds and don't defoliate.

l also don't think most commercials do extreme defoliation.
 
Moabfighter

Moabfighter

Well-Known Member
xtsho said:
I don't get it. I get bigger buds and don't defoliate.

l also don't think most commercials do extreme defoliation.
Click to expand...
I’ll show you a photo tomorrow of a room that’s being taken down for harvest. Photo above is late week three of flower and we count flower day one from the day after we transplant from a veg room to flower room. Very young… I’m just following the SOPs man. The buds get way bigger by the end lol. Athena nutes and dosatron waterings. Ro skids. Only four facilities in our state grow cannabis and maybe we just don’t know what we are doing. My bosses only have masters degrees in horticulture. I don’t know. I just work there.
 
Moabfighter

Moabfighter

Well-Known Member
natureboygrower said:
How about your lowers? The ones completely shielded from light by your upper leaves?
Don't most commercial grows lollipop?
Click to expand...
We do “lowers” once or twice a week in two or three flower rooms (700-840 plants) on the off week from defol. Cut that bottom shit out. Anything that won’t touch the first trellis or 5 inches out from the main bottom stems.

edit sorry just saw this wasn’t to me
 
natureboygrower

natureboygrower

Well-Known Member
Moabfighter said:
We do “lowers” once or twice a week in two or three flower rooms (700-840 plants) on the off week from defol. Cut that bottom shit out. Anything that won’t touch the first trellis or 5 inches out from the main bottom stems.
Click to expand...
Yeah I would imagine with commercial grows plants are overlapping and lower stuff gets zero light. I see no need to keep that if they aren't washing or utilizing it somewhere else. Too many potential problems with mold/mildew and all that unnecessary plant matter just hinders air flow.
 
xtsho

xtsho

Well-Known Member
natureboygrower said:
How about your lowers? The ones completely shielded from light by your upper leaves?
Don't most commercial grows lollipop?
Click to expand...
Commercial growing is different than the hobby/personal use growing most are doing. Commercial growing is much different. They don't have the time or resources to bother with the lower larfy stuff so they remove it. Leaving it doesn't have any real effect on the rest of the plant. It can be saved and turned into usable product.
 
Moabfighter

Moabfighter

Well-Known Member
natureboygrower said:
Yeah I would imagine with commercial grows plants are overlapping and lower stuff gets zero light. I see no need to keep that if they aren't washing or utilizing it somewhere else. Too many potential problems with mold/mildew and all that unnecessary plant matter just hinders air flow.
Click to expand...
Man to anyone reading, I’m not knocking on what anyone does. I’m saying at where I work, if we didn’t defol, the only thing we’d grow would be Powdery mildew and top nugs only. Nothing from the top of the canopy down would get any light and it’d be a hot humid jungle.

maybe not defoliating works for plenty of people at home. That’s fine. To each their own. OP asked if he should, and in my limited experience, I would say yes defol. I’m not hating or trying to have a pissing contest with anyone.

at work we defol to maximize yield, provide adequate airflow in the room, ensure the lower parts of the plant get light, and we reduce the risk of powdery mildew. Also, our bug guy, the IPM guy, says thrips (our main pest we encounter) really only love feasting on leaves without trichomes. So we pretty much remove all but the sugar leaves to also keep pests down.

I didn’t create these ideas, I just follow them to earn a paycheck for my family. Id say my homegrown, not amazing, is better than commercial weed. I’ve seen guys in this thread, on this page, lucid, you, and xtsho, all grow way better weed than we have. I’m just speaking from the work procedure.
 
Moabfighter

Moabfighter

Well-Known Member
xtsho said:
Commercial growing is different than the hobby/personal use growing most are doing. Commercial growing is much different. They don't have the time or resources to bother with the lower larfy stuff so they remove it. Leaving it doesn't have any real effect on the rest of the plant. It can be saved and turned into usable product.
Click to expand...
This is the answer. You’re a great grower and I’m not saying hey man go defol your plants. If what you’re doing works, keep doing it. As you said, and as they’ll say at work, a commercial gig on a set standard 65 days in flower then cut, has to be maximized into profitable product. I don’t like a lot of stuff they do. I wish they’d let me strip the fuck out of the bottoms, top the plants for more side growth, and so on. But it what it is. Keep doing what you do man. You’re a great grower.
 
natureboygrower

natureboygrower

Well-Known Member
Moabfighter said:
Man to anyone reading, I’m not knocking on what anyone does. I’m saying at where I work, if we didn’t defol, the only thing we’d grow would be Powdery mildew and top nugs only. Nothing from the top of the canopy down would get any light and it’d be a hot humid jungle.

maybe not defoliating works for plenty of people at home. That’s fine. To each their own. OP asked if he should, and in my limited experience, I would say yes defol. I’m not hating or trying to have a pissing contest with anyone.

at work we defol to maximize yield, provide adequate airflow in the room, ensure the lower parts of the plant get light, and we reduce the risk of powdery mildew. Also, our bug guy, the IPM guy, says thrips (our main pest we encounter) really only love feasting on leaves without trichomes. So we pretty much remove all but the sugar leaves to also keep pests down.

I didn’t create these ideas, I just follow them to earn a paycheck for my family. Id say my homegrown, not amazing, is better than commercial weed. I’ve seen guys in this thread, on this page, lucid, you, and xtsho, all grow way better weed than we have. I’m just speaking from the work procedure.
Click to expand...
I agree with all that, dude. It's great to hear the reasoning behind it, even being a commercial grow although OP is a homegrower. The thrip tip is great. I had not heard that. Makes sense. Who would want to walk through sticky trichomes lol
 
Star Dog

Star Dog

Well-Known Member
bk78 said:
I can lop off 20 branches while lolipopping, doesn’t slow my plants down. How exactly is pulling 5 leaves going to do it?

Sounds like you have a poor environment or unhealthy plants if they slow down after removing a few leaves?
Click to expand...
Are you sure removing leafs doesn't slow growth, you are actual saying this yes?
_20221111_072229.JPG
I've got some plants here, we could all find out together who knows what and who talks shit.

I've nothing to prove but it's always good to see a know all getting proved wrong by a very average grower at best.
 
Brettman

Brettman

Well-Known Member
Star Dog said:
Are you sure removing leafs doesn't slow growth, you are actual saying this yes?
View attachment 5224534
I've got some plants here, we could all find out together who knows what and who talks shit.

I've nothing to prove but it's always good to see a know all getting proved wrong by a very average grower at best.
Click to expand...
I know nothing and talk a lot of shit lol :blsmoke:
 
Last edited:
Rurumo

Rurumo

Well-Known Member
One of the next big future frontiers of cannabis breeding will be to breed top tier plants that also have a strong overcompensation response to defoliation. Arguments about defoliation and yield always miss the most important point- Overcompensation is genotype specific, so comparing people's experiences is pointless because they used different genotypes. Defoliation for light "penetration" and for RH reduction are two totally separate things, each of which might have merit depending on the situation. Testing for an overcompensation response to defoliation is one thing I plan on doing with any new pheno I select as a keeper, but generally, how much I defoliate depends on the size of the plants/thickness of the canopy. It's certainly a helpful practice to remove about 10% of the leaves beneath the canopy, and lollipopping at least part of the stem is a decent little piece of IPM.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top