Fastest turn around with two tents

Prawn Connery said:

I did address both defoliating and bottom branch trimming.


OK, 19 grams out of how many? Margin of error? Different conditions? Better grow technique?

Don't get me wrong, you can't argue with empirical evidence if all else is equal. And if you read (I don't blame you if it was TLDR), you'll note I do pull a few fan leaves off and trim lower branches. But I don't wholesale strip, and the times I've tried, I've gone backwards.

I haven't been growing horizontally that long, though. Only since I switched to LEDs. I grew vertical HPS for 15 years and never defoliated. And I averaged 1.3-1.4gpw each and every harvest for over a decade. That was 3-4lb per harvest.

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I nvr change my environment, nutes, training, so forth n so on. Not that 19 grams is a bunch. But 19 grams is 19 grams. Theres a dude on IG called 3alight pulling 3+ lbs per light. Doing defoliation/striping. He does 3 times I think. In flower. I only do the first two. And on both day 1 and 21 when I do the strip I get no shock or stalling out. Idk maybe I've jus done so many times and the same way so long. It jus helps in my case. I mean lollipopping and defol isnt for every growing style either though. So what might help my garden may not help yours. I was Leary at first pulling so many fans. So I did it on a scrap run and it made a big difference. But also maybe bc I pull all lowers so I get no larf may help the yield on terminal colas. As to it putting less energy into budding less lit areas and down low. But I run every plant that way now. I jus pulled over a qp from 2gal soft sided pot from a cookies strain. Doing my method under f series samaung strips. Running megacrop.

Prawn Connery said:

I'm not trying to be an arse, but if it works for you, then don't change it.

However, I didn't wholesale strip these and pulled 16oz of dried, trimmed bud from the left-hand side of this tent - which was under 200W LED. The LED frame on the other side lit the lower part of the plants. If you have penetration, why do you need to strip?

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That's a ton of leaf weight too though. Inside the bud. That isnt trimmed off. If you cut all those fans clear out youll lose a ton of weight. Those are super leafy. Maybe the strain. But those mains with all that leaf matter has give the bud a bad taste to some extent I would think.

Look, I'm not stubborn or silly enough to insist there aren't scenarios where it wouldn't be beneficial. A lot of heavy indica strains grow massive fan leaves that shade out all but the top colas - in which case, judicious pulling of leaves does benefit (and I have done it myself on occasion). Though I also need to point out that with vertical growing, the side of the plant is always lit, so there is rarely a need to pluck lots of leaves to allow light through.

But I've also seen some people pluck the bejesus out of their plants - like plucking chickens! - and I'm not entirely convinced of the benefits.

The times I've defoliated (as opposed to lollipopping branches), what I've noticed is that yes, there is less "larf" at the bottom, but the top colas don't get as big, either. There tends to be a bit more growth down low, but those lower buds are getting light that has diffused more and is weaker. What has always worked - and it's been proven for eons - is scrogging to maximise bud sites in an even canopy. I said as much quite a few posts ago.

Perhaps I have confused the issue by talking about two different techniques. @Johnny Lawrence did point this out, so perhaps I should just leave it at that

whytewidow said:

That's a ton of leaf weight too though. Inside the bud. That isnt trimmed off. If you cut all those fans clear out youll lose a ton of weight. Those are super leafy. Maybe the strain. But those mains with all that leaf matter has give the bud a bad taste to some extent I would think.

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That's the strain. And as you can see, that was about half-way through budding. You're not going to pick all those leaves out of the buds once they're done. Especially when they're covered in trichs. But you're right, they certainly add weight. One of those plants also ended up having one of the nicest highs of all the clones I've got. I prefer effect over taste, myself.

Prawn Connery said:

That's the strain. And as you can see, that was about half-way through budding. You're not going to pick all those leaves out of the buds once they're done. Especially when they're covered in trichs. But you're right, they certainly add weight. One of those plants also ended up having one of the nicest highs of all the clones I've got. I prefer effect over taste, myself.

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What strain is it? I prefer to run higher calyxe to lead ratio strains as much as possible. But I've run some leafy stuff. I have a magnum opus from aficionados in flower right now that's a leafy girl. And yeah your correct with very growing theres no need to strip bc the light is hitting the sides like that.

That one is Swiss Bliss x Schnazzleberry. The mother was leafy, but had the best high. One of my all-time favourites. I had to give up growing a few years ago and lost the original mother, so grew some seeds out to try to find a keeper clone. I kept two from that run, and actually the leafiest one is the best.

Here's my latest keeper: Mental Floss. This one tipped the scales at just over 3oz - all dried, trimmed bud. There were three other Mental Floss seedlings in there with it (and four Swiss Bliss x Schanzz in a perpetual grow), but this one was the keeper. I have four clones of this going into the next perpetual stage after the latest Swiss Bliss x Schnazz have finished.

^ beautiful flowers

Fastest turn around ?

KonopCh said:

Fastest turn around ?

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Didn't you see that coming?
I sure didn't
But prawn's pics show the benifit of a more staggerd lighting and clone age.
Are you limited to a flat canopy?
If you can go vertical or partly vertical and depending on strain Id go 3 clones every 3 weeks because I like the #3. But maybe something like take 3 wait 3 take 2 wait if your plants have a variety of growth habbits and to help fudge the 5 plant limit. I am finding benifit to stager different aged plants in a vertical arrangment, I am currently experimenting with different varities, some lanky sativa likes and some squatty indica likes.

I tried to answer the question but though it was clear the answer is as complicated and the defoliation debate!

I thought lollypopping was removing the lower vegetative growth, hence the stick below the sugar.

Defoliating is the term I associate with removing all or some fan leaves.

Prawn Connery said:

OK, so I know "lollipping" can also mean removing underdeveloped branches and growth at the bottom of the plant to turn it into a "lollipop" where most of the branches are an even height to maximise the canopy. This would be preferable, and you can also remove fan leaves at branch junctions to "stunt" (or rather slow) individual branches to allow other branches to catch up. This usually means removing some of the top fan leaves on newer branches that are higher to allow lower branches to stretch and catch up.

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Etc. I know it was a long post, but both methods were addressed, as they were both mentioned. But of course you're right.