Defoliating autos

[Beard-o]

I've never done it. I got in on autos almost 10 years ago, and at that time it was a definite no. It stresses them. Smaller plant, less and smaller buds.

Now a lot of people do it, without fear.
The reason I ask is, 2 of my 4 plants seem to have an abundance of lower, huge fan leaves. They're covering nice buds. But there's so many and they're so big, I really can't effectively leaf tuck them.

So I guess my question is, should I trim these leaves?

 

[Absorber]

I personally wouldnt but pictures might make things clearer but it sounds like they are lower buds and probably wont do much anyway and taxing those leaves will be taking energy reserves from the buds above .
But having said that if its in flower you probably wont stunt it by removing a few leaves its already finished growing and stretching ,im just not a fan of doing it much as its a loss of reserves its worked to create .

 

[Nutty sKunK]

Defoliation is all about balance.

It also helps create less humidity in your tent. You need to water a little less and use less nutrients.

Sure you don’t have the back up with reserves but you can always leave a leaf or two down low to give you an indication of what she’s hungry for

 

[driver77]

I try to keep it to a minimum with autos but modern genetics along with hydro or coco can make for some huge plants that will absolutely require some defoliation. As long as the plants healthy it's fine to defoliate.....just don't go crazy. I like to take a few leaves/day to keep stress to a minimum.
Here's a recent auto grow that's been defoliated multiple times. Just depends on the plant and conditions how much to take.

 

[Spliffy Twojoints]

I've never done it. I got in on autos almost 10 years ago, and at that time it was a definite no. It stresses them. Smaller plant, less and smaller buds.

Now a lot of people do it, without fear.
The reason I ask is, 2 of my 4 plants seem to have an abundance of lower, huge fan leaves. They're covering nice buds. But there's so many and they're so big, I really can't effectively leaf tuck them.

So I guess my question is, should I trim these leaves?

I was never a big believer in defoliation until I had a PM issue in my veg room. Ever since then I’ve turned to defoliation to reduce the risk of PM in the flower room as well.
Yes, those big leaves are big solar panels, but trimming them also seems to stimulate growth somehow. I’m not saying one way is better than the other as far as yield, they both seem to yield the same in my experience.
My opinion is this: if you don’t have PM or ventilation issues, no need to defoliate. If you need to take preventive action against these things, do a little bit of extra work and defoliate. The end result will likely be very much the same as far as yield. I have seen many side-by-side grows and have compared my own plants because I was sceptical initially as well. Ultimately, I don’t think one way is better than the other, it’s just a different style for a different room or grower to utilize when necessary.

I’m attaching pics of the last auto flower I finished a couple weeks ago. It was an old freebie from G-13 labs, auto diesel.
I trained the plant for my own experiment and defoliated about a week into flower. I’m sure I defoliated more heavily a few weeks later, but can’t find the pics right now.
This before and after a medium defoliation.


Tried to upload a 30 second video not long before harvest so you can see the plant recovered just fine. Even though it has diesel background, it did not herm from the training or from the defoliation. Upload failed
I’ll just upload a pic or two of the video.



Final yields were:
Exactly 2 1/2 ounces of dried cured bud and 38 grams of wet trim, which will go to bubble Hash

 

[Spliffy Twojoints]

I try to keep it to a minimum with autos but modern genetics along with hydro or coco can make for some huge plants that will absolutely require some defoliation. As long as the plants healthy it's fine to defoliate.....just don't go crazy. I like to take a few leaves/day to keep stress to a minimum.
Here's a recent auto grow that's been defoliated multiple times. Just depends on the plant and conditions how much to take.View attachment 5454352

Those are some sativa leaning plants for sure! Care to share which strains are in that tent?
Nicely done!

 

[driver77]

Those are some sativa leaning plants for sure! Care to share which strains are in that tent?
Nicely done!

2 on left are Top Gun autos and 2 on right are Wedding Cake autos both from Atlas seed

 

[Spliffy Twojoints]

2 on left are Top Gun autos and 2 on right are Wedding Cake autos both from Atlas seed

Thanks for the info. I stand corrected because according to the site they are both Indica leaning, but they look so tall and lanky I just assumed sativa leaning. I also thought the leaves were more sativa looking than Indica.
How embarrassing .
Regardless, very nice looking plants.