Never recovered from defoliation?

Guccizillaa

Well-Known Member
Every grow before I switch my plant over to flower I give it a fairly heavy defoliation. They usually bounce back in just a couple of days, and then I'd normally switch to flower once it's praying up to the light again. This is the first time a plant has just stayed sad after defoliating it. It's been a heavy feeder since the get-go, The strain is dinafems OG cookies. The upper growth is slightly pale which led me to think it might be early cal mag deficiency. On the next water I compensated for that but the droopiness still persists.

Sorry for the lengthiness.

Edit: also thought it might be important to mention that some of the leaves are wrinkly. It can sort of be seen in some of the pictures.
 

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Guccizillaa

Well-Known Member
light shock.. too much lumens
dont defoliate its a broscience technique my friend. proabably why your plants were shocked, unable to use all that bright light
I defoliate every grow before switching to flower. Never had this problem. I'd be reluctant to say a 400 watt hps is providing it with too much lumens.
 

ubluntu

Active Member
I doubt it's the defol.. if anythig they could be worse if you didn't. looks like transpiration issue. More leaves means more transpiration.
Whats ur medium and water schedual.
 

Guccizillaa

Well-Known Member
I doubt it's the defol.. if anythig they could be worse if you didn't. looks like transpiration issue. More leaves means more transpiration.
Whats ur medium and water schedual.
Medium is FFOF, water schedule tends to be 4 gallons every 3-4 days. Fed every water.
 

OldMedUser

Well-Known Member
Magnesium deficiency would show up on lower fan leaves first as it's a mobile nutrient.

If you've recently repotted into that big a pot with FFOF then you probably are overfeeding her. Some P/K maybe to help with flower set but all that fresh soil should have plenty of all the other nutes.

I am not a defoliation fan. If your plants run into trouble that causes leaf loss they have no reserves. Healthy fan leaves do not use the plant's resources. As new leaves grow that taxes resources so it makes no sense to me to defoliate especially just before flipping to flower when the plant goes into overdrive and needs those leaves to make food for the growth spurt. I can see taking some leaves off after the stretch when demands drop but I still only selectively pluck or tuck some leaves.

She does look overwatered so maybe let her go once until she droops before watering again. Could be setting her up for root rot. I keep an airstone bubbling in my jug of RO for at least an hour before using it so it has as much dissolved oxygen as possible.

Hoping she perks up for you soon!

:peace:
 

Guccizillaa

Well-Known Member
Magnesium deficiency would show up on lower fan leaves first as it's a mobile nutrient.

If you've recently repotted into that big a pot with FFOF then you probably are overfeeding her. Some P/K maybe to help with flower set but all that fresh soil should have plenty of all the other nutes.

I am not a defoliation fan. If your plants run into trouble that causes leaf loss they have no reserves. Healthy fan leaves do not use the plant's resources. As new leaves grow that taxes resources so it makes no sense to me to defoliate especially just before flipping to flower when the plant goes into overdrive and needs those leaves to make food for the growth spurt. I can see taking some leaves off after the stretch when demands drop but I still only selectively pluck or tuck some leaves.

She does look overwatered so maybe let her go once until she droops before watering again. Could be setting her up for root rot. I keep an airstone bubbling in my jug of RO for at least an hour before using it so it has as much dissolved oxygen as possible.

Hoping she perks up for you soon!

:peace:
Thank you for that feedback! Extremely helpful. I like to defoliate prior to the stretch so more colas can be exposed to sufficient light, never had an issue with it prior :( I'm definitely going to be much more selective with the defoliation going forward however. I'm gonna let it dry out for a few days before watering again. I'll probably cut out all the feed the next feeding except the calmag and molasses.
 

OldMedUser

Well-Known Member
Buds don't need light on them to grow. They do ripen up better at the end in full light but the leaves are all there to photosynthesize and make food that is circulated all around the plant and used where needed. Save the leaf stripping for the last couple weeks and be selective about which you take. One big fan leaf probably has more surface area than all the sugar leaves on a cola combined.

If it's your thing then by all means strip away but maybe try leaving more on one when you have two identical plants and see what your final yields are like.

I've only been growing pot since '78 so haven't learned it all yet but working on it. ;)

:peace:
 

Kassiopeija

Well-Known Member
am not a defoliation fan. If your plants run into trouble that causes leaf loss they have no reserves. Healthy fan leaves do not use the plant's resources. As new leaves grow that taxes resources so it makes no sense to me to defoliate especially just before flipping to flower when the plant goes into overdrive and needs those leaves to make food for the growth spurt. I can see taking some leaves off after the stretch when demands drop but I still only selectively pluck or tuck some leaves.
Hi I would like to add fanleaves are rich in sugar and minerals. So even if a leaf becomes uneconomical for the plant to keep, it'll deconstruct that leaf and suck mobile minerals and whatelse out....
why would one want to deplete that source right when most growth occurs?
 

Guccizillaa

Well-Known Member
Buds don't need light on them to grow. They do ripen up better at the end in full light but the leaves are all there to photosynthesize and make food that is circulated all around the plant and used where needed. Save the leaf stripping for the last couple weeks and be selective about which you take. One big fan leaf probably has more surface area than all the sugar leaves on a cola combined.

If it's your thing then by all means strip away but maybe try leaving more on one when you have two identical plants and see what your final yields are like.

I've only been growing pot since '78 so haven't learned it all yet but working on it. ;)

:peace:
I'm definitely gonna be stripping much less going forward! Thanks for spreading the wisdom!
 
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