So how do I know if I'm over defoliating ... Can defoliating cause hermaphroditism

So how stressful is defoliating truly.. I have 8 plants in a 2x4 and have to defoliate very often to uncover budsites but I need to know could it cause hermaphroditism???? And does it truly increase yields on bud based defoliation solely??

Rickypsimer said:

So how stressful is defoliating truly.. I have 8 plants in a 2x4 and have to defoliate very often to uncover budsites but I need to know could it cause hermaphroditism???? And does it truly increase yields on bud based defoliation solely??

Click to expand...

Sounds like your going to find out.

Rickypsimer said:

So how stressful is defoliating truly.. I have 8 plants in a 2x4 and have to defoliate very often to uncover budsites but I need to know could it cause hermaphroditism???? And does it truly increase yields on bud based defoliation solely??

Click to expand...

It's hugely beneficial to defoliate. You can damn near strip them to stems.
It's the timing that can create issues.
Do it once a week before flower, one week into flower, and lastly once more 2-3 weeks in. After that, you don't wanna stress them.

If you wanna see a good representation of defoliating, watch this.

Thank you very informative

I do recommend snipping leaves off, leaving a 1/2" or more of the petiole(leaf stem) attached to the plant to isolate it from the main stem in case of infection. Also, although unlikely, it does happen where ripping the leaves off sometimes pulls fibers with it that follow down till the next leaf causing a large exposed area of the plant where the skin has ripped clear off.

Just watched this last night . it was a trip to me.

efi2 said:

Just watched this last night . it was a trip to me.

Click to expand...

Yup. It works well.

Rickypsimer said:

So how stressful is defoliating truly.. I have 8 plants in a 2x4 and have to defoliate very often to uncover budsites but I need to know could it cause hermaphroditism???? And does it truly increase yields on bud based defoliation solely??

Click to expand...

with 8 plants in a total of 8 square feet expect a lot of airy larf buds.........you will have to defoliate often so u get "some" light penetration to lower plant areas, it won't cause plants to herm tho, in my experience.

I have trouble moving around in a 4 x 4 with 4 plants in it after awhile. I top a few times and fimm once, usually. Hedges.

They grow best when left alone,there is no need for it.

BlackDog has some good defoils. They go heavy at day 1 and 21. Im trying it this grow.

nmibud said:

They grow best when left alone,there is no need for it.

Click to expand...

Not true at all. Yield is dramatically increased when you do it right.

In a few more responses the fight to the death is on: to defo or not.

Defo on the bottom/lollipopping seems to work nice for airflow and removing shitty budsites that wont do nothing which means more energy for the tops. Defo can definitely cause hermies but its quite strain dependent. Benefits depends largely on plant health and how much energy is saved in the roots. Also with side lighting it might be absolutely necessary with some bushier plants

I don't remove sites, just fan leaf, biomass is biomass and if you're feeding right it doesn't lower yields to leave lowers. If you have the right vars the bottoms are still super frosty too, makes a great hash or RSO/FECO source.

Couch_Lock said:

with 8 plants in a total of 8 square feet expect a lot of airy larf buds.........you will have to defoliate often so u get "some" light penetration to lower plant areas, it won't cause plants to herm tho, in my experience.

I have trouble moving around in a 4 x 4 with 4 plants in it after awhile. I top a few times and fimm once, usually. Hedges.

Click to expand...

Nah man, 1 plant per square foot is pretty generally accepted as a way to get banger yields. My homies at indico are running 300 fluence lights and 1 plant per square foot, they're averaging over 3 lbs per 4x4, or 2+ grams per watt in a commercial facility. I have too many lights (24) to run 16 per, I typically do 1 or, like you, 4 per light.

I say try it for yourself vs control and find out? Internet is internet....

Outdoor, indoor, two different games . Personally never saw yield increases from heavy stripping many different annual varieties on the field. Just delayed harvest.

Indoor, I sometimes lolli and remove large fan leaves when high rh/ pm worry on my mind, that's it though .

To reach their own, have fun

Airwalker16 said:

I do recommend snipping leaves off, leaving a 1/2" or more of the petiole(leaf stem) attached to the plant to isolate it from the main stem in case of infection. Also, although unlikely, it does happen where ripping the leaves off sometimes pulls fibers with it that follow down till the next leaf causing a large exposed area of the plant where the skin has ripped clear off.

Click to expand...

This is what I do and never even see stress in the plant. I trim all the way till harvest. It is like leaving half the stem tricks the plant into believing all is good in the world. lol

defoliation

Here's my usual, cookies cutter response in defoliation threads....

I do a FULL leaf strip, cut off every single leaf, all of em... on every plant I flower.
With the strain I grow, it's usually around day 56 or so, right before I de-stem the rootball.

My current situation the defoliation definitely helped the resulting leaves that did sprout were bud based (³) blades leaves buds are dence and stinky a little disappointed with some larfy areata on the power plant

I know some peeps swear by defo for higher yields, but I can also appreciate the opposing viewpoint that you're just unnecessarily removing the plant's solar panels. I do a fair bit myself, but in my case it's always for the increased airflow - that comes with growing in a moldy basement though. Just recently relocated the tents to my bedroom, so we'll see how it goes... Maybe I'll do a side-by-side of my own sometime. Then again, after having lost (too much) bud to rot, maybe I'll just remain paranoid and play it safe. Yeah, that sounds better.

As for the issue of stress - I haven't noticed the defo markedly slowing development, but I haven't done any intentional, controlled studies either. It definitely makes sense to me that it would temporarily retard growth, so maybe just take it slowly. I typically do a few leaves here and there, many evenings in a row, rather than a sudden, extreme stripping. But other growers go extreme and are very happy with their results. I imagine one would want to know the strain quite well before getting heavy-handed with the snippers.

If your plant dies you've probably over-defoliated.