Defoliation during flowering for greater yields!

AK GreenLover;2444552 said:

Weaselcracker;2442281 said:

What would be some examples of bad timing AK?

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I tried once just before flower and only gave them a couple days to recover. It wasn't enough they stayed frozen in time for about a week. Then the stretch stated to happen.

In the very early days I tried it at day 7 of flower. Again they we're really stunted for a week then stretch took over again. I ended up with long vines with no support. This was the moment I tried to start incorporating the SCROG method.

Next grow I did it on day 15. It stopped the stretch and when they recovered they only stretched about another 6 inches. After that there was no more vertical growth. I like that a lot.

The biggest thing is timing. Without adding much nitrogen to flowering you must do it with in a certain window of opportunity. The beginning of week three right when you start to use a bloom enhancer you also add nitrogen. This is the time to do it. When you do the defoliate go heavy. Every single fan leaf that has a developed cluster of leaves that are 1/2" or bigger that fan can go. Usually you leave the top two or three fans on because that's the newest growth and the off shoots are not fully developed.

The second window is when you do a bud sweetener at the beginning of day 30 flower nutes. That stage has a little nitrogen in it as well. Adding Cal / Mag Plus to all of your feedings will also help with that slight bit of nitrogen you need.

The third window is around day 44 - 45 of flower. You are still using a sweetener with a little nitrogen so all remaining fans can go. Your girls wont grow anymore and will put all energy into the sugar leaves. This is win especially during the fattening stage. Room for bigger sugar leaves getting all kinds of light = the biggest win for your yield.

Doing it on flower day 15 - 30 - 45 is really good. With the heaviest reap done on your first go.

If you do it and don't time it right you won't have the nitrogen you need to grow leaves fast enough to help.

Hope this helps some.

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