Defoliation - removing fan leaves for higher yield

Hi all,
just joined this great site.
Defoliation works great on some plants but it's for advance growers only, as there little room for error, get it wrong and the results are not good.
Think everyone should remove some leaves in flower.
 

Relaxed

Well-Known Member
My experience about this is what kind of a bud you end up with is what matters. Now if you are impatient and need a blunt, well just get selective and keep it minimal. Note that during the last three weeks of flower that fan leaves just dry up on their own because the bud is using the juice from them. The plant certainly has a plan built in to get what it wants. Buds with more density make bigger joints which really helps in a micro grow.:joint:
Looks like you could learn a little more about plant growing. A master grower has the majority of leaves green as shit entire grow.
 
Lucky is spot on and sound like a grower that has experience, over the years I have made mistakes like everyone else, if your canopy is too bushy, the shoots will stretch and the results are not great, thin the canopy out and remove some fan leaves, the shoots have space to breath and they gain weight and fill out, you get good size thick cola's

A well trained main-line plant is a good example, the cola's get top heavy and the canopy opens up and there plenty of air flow and light getting to the buds, also there often a low amount of fan leaves compared to a very bushy plant, does that mean the bushy plant with 3x the leaves will give you a better crop? I don't !
But this is what you learn over time.
 

Autofire

Well-Known Member
I never defoliate I'm an inexperienced grower and some of my plants have had it pretty rough.

I pretty much only grow autos and they have all been 6+ ounces. If I told you what the heaviest was you wouldn't believe me.

Defol = less yield
 

bk78

Well-Known Member
I never defoliate I'm an inexperienced grower and some of my plants have had it pretty rough.

I pretty much only grow autos and they have all been 6+ ounces. If I told you what the heaviest was you wouldn't believe me.

Defol = less yield
You should start up a grow journal bro. I’d love to follow along for the journey :bigjoint:
 

osowhom

Well-Known Member
OK. I don't disagree with you, but here's where I'm puzzled: Answer me this. Why is it that if I remove most/all of the fan leaves during flowering, I get an increase in yield from around 0.7-0.8 GPW to close to 1.0 GPW?

At the very least, defoliating does not have any adverse affect on any of my plants (I tried it on MK Ultra and Skunk #1)
thats an extra 200 grams for a 1ooo watt light i have three vegging now i may do a side by side by side 1 plant defoliate completely 1 leave ALONE and 1 lollipop only
 

Autofire

Well-Known Member
thats an extra 200 grams for a 1ooo watt light i have three vegging now i may do a side by side by side 1 plant defoliate completely 1 leave ALONE and 1 lollipop only
That would be interesting. Try no lollipopping as well. If you harvest in 2 or 3 stages with a week in between you will achieve the heaviest yield. That's my take anyway
 
I never defoliate I'm an inexperienced grower and some of my plants have had it pretty rough.

I pretty much only grow autos and they have all been 6+ ounces. If I told you what the heaviest was you wouldn't believe me.

Defol = less yield
Never tried it and you know it gives you less yield?

The biggest problem with defoliate is you need to be a very experienced grower, you really need to understand when to remove leaves and when to leave them, it's one of the most powerful ways to train a plant in veg and flower but has to be done right or you can totally mess up your plants.
 
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