whats the general consensus on defoliating fan leaves at any stage of the growth cycle but especially during flowering ?

seems to be a lot of conflicting opinion . personally i don't see the point , unless your blocking tonnes of light to lower bud sites and cant lst or tuck down sure. but other than that are you not simply removing the largest food collectors for those actual bud sites your trying to expose .

lots of fan leaves are also great for outdoor protection from the elements and we are adding synthetics which is also increasing foliar growth. so its hard to tell what's the best option and when

It's not for all genetics I'll start with that. Some plants do not like to be defoliated whereas others will thrive and produce much larger fuller buds top to bottom.

Personally I strip fan leaves to the top 2 nodes day 1 of bloom and day 20 of bloom I strip fan leaves top to bottom medium or large. Some call it "shwazzing" some call it heavy defoliation.

If you have strong genetics, literally speaking, they will produce huge full buds with less humidity in the room and more airflow and lights to the buds which will result in fatter buds and arguably better quality.

Try it at first on just 1 plant of each strain and see if you like it. Don't go crazy and strip everything if you can help it. Only pluck large to medium fan leaves try leaving all the sugar leaves and smaller leaves that are on the buds.

The goal is really to strip the leaves blocking light from the lower canopy so you get direct light to bud contact vs the light filtering through leaves.

Keep in mind too, you don't want to strip plants if they're not 100% healthy. If you notice shits off and you do a heavy defoliation that could be the turning point for the plant where it herms or stunts.

Sources:
(STEP 5)

Just stripped these jokers of their big fans day 20. Notice the plant in the back right is not defoliated because I know it's prone to hermaphroditing if I do it (*ETHOS Mandarin Sunset)...

What happened to the guy that was patrick swayze-ing his plant and it looked like a skeleton? Looked like a spine and rib cage. I really wanted the update but I think they got scared off .

Not a fan of defoliating myself. Doesnt make logical sense to strip your solar panels.
I like to bend my plants over and grow them like a hedge. I grow trees in 20g containers of Promix BX.
Also not a fan of topping.

jimihendrix1 said:

Not a fan of defoliating myself. Doesnt make logical sense to strip your solar panels.
I like to bend my plants over and grow them like a hedge. I grow trees in 20g containers of Promix BX.
Also not a fan of topping.

Click to expand...

I do it so there can be some air flow and light penetration in my bushy little plants. I'm still experimenting with how many tops is optimal and may go for a lower count so the need for defoliation will be less, but as it is I would have a wet mess if I didn't defoliate at all. Leaves that don't recieve direct light will not really do much photosynthesis anyway. A proper scrog will not really have shade leaves either and it still is a good way to produce a lot of bud.

I get 22oz from a Super Silver Haze cut in a 20g container of Promix BX with no defolitaing, or topping. Just bent over, and a 60 day veg from a small clone. And using a 1000w Hortilux from seedling - flowering. I cant hardly see getting any better than this. Ive had this cut 10 years. I veg in a 5 gallon container, and 1 week from flip, I transplant inot a 20g container.

Bending plants over givs a very even light distribution, vs not bending them. I get 2 foot buds this way. Also the SSH is not very leafy.

Only reason I would defoliate even a little would be because the strain is very leafy, and compact. I may defoliate some Inner Leaves.

20 inch long bud. 1 piece is cut off. Thats comparing it to my guitar case. I got 22oz from the plant this came off of. This strain also stretches 4x-6x its size after flip.

I have great airflow as far as that goes, and grow in a 20 x 20 basement. I can crack several windows, and run 5 fans.

I've done it to varying degrees for years for the same reasons as stated above. If it's shading bud sites and there's ample green leaves around said area, it also reduces humidity a little and helps with air flow.

Think it’s still heavily debated. My take?
Definitely cultivar dependent. If your light is less intense it can help to remove shading.

So many plants like air flow so it’s not just cannabis but I always take big fans growing inward toward the middle core. And branches growing from the bottom side of anything too.

I’ve never stripped like I see here sometimes with all fans gone. I always thought the lower fans helped exchange with the roots. Also the lower fans are great indicator leaves especially for watering and they aren’t shading anything. If they start to grey/lose shine a bit I’ll pull them so they aren’t energy sinks though.

Never fails though you’ll see pics where the person literally takes all fans and grows some massive nuclear warheads.