Defoliate, yay or nay?

[MGD420]

Should I defoliate these mephisto creme de la chem indicas. Roughly 53 days old. Have done some lst, tying down the main branch and a few others along with a previous defole

 

[Roy Growin]

They look great, I'd think you can thin them out a little more

 

[ThirdUncle]

Yeah i would remove the bigger older leaves & open them up , nice healthy plants by the way

 

[MGD420]

Thanks guys. I'll get some of the leaves off tomorrow then. I normally do defoliate my autos but wanted other opinions since some prefer to leave their auto's as is especially if they're in the early stages of flower.

Hey @bluter long time no see bud, i haven't been on much. Hope all is good with you.

 

[Trump]

Air Pots....Nice.....

 

[MGD420]

Air Pots....Nice.....

Bought a few more today, first time using them but heard good things about air pots.

 

[Trump]

Yes. I've also heard great things about them.

My problem is the cost. I get grow bags for pennies practically so spending $20+ for a pot doesn't make sense for me for the improvement in dry weight I'll yield.

 

[Makeminefullgrown]

Should I defoliate these mephisto creme de la chem indicas. Roughly 53 days old. Have done some lst, tying down the main branch and a few others along with a previous defole

I’ve grown that strain and if u don’t train her, open her up, lollipop and general defol, it will grow too tight and compressed.
I don’t do autos anymore and the CDLC was my last. It was a long time ago and my grows have come a long way since, but I kinda left her alone after some initial training and I didn’t like the results compared to how I do things now.
I wish I had a pic of it but I don’t…..it was over 3oz and the size of a regulation basketball……
Everything would have been better had I spread her out….just my opinion. It is a solid strain . Very funky smell. I describe it as a Hobo’s morning breath after he takes a sip of a grape smoothie.

 

[MGD420]

Yes. I've also heard great things about them.

My problem is the cost. I get grow bags for pennies practically so spending $20+ for a pot doesn't make sense for me for the improvement in dry weight I'll yield.

Not sure if the one's I bought are knock off (copies) but I got 3 x 9L and 3 x 3L air pots and it only cost me £24 GBP, roughly $30 USD.

I've used cheap plant pot's, fabric pots, air pots and plastic bucket and to be fair the best yields I've ever had were from buckets. Although the yields were more likely down to the style of grow / genetics rather than the type of pot/bucket used.

 

[Trump]

Not sure if the one's I bought are knock off (copies) but I got 3 x 9L and 3 x 3L air pots and it only cost me £24 GBP, roughly $30 USD.

I've used cheap plant pot's, fabric pots, air pots and plastic bucket and to be fair the best yields I've ever had were from buckets. Although the yields were more likely down to the style of grow / genetics rather than the type of pot/bucket used.

Exactly. Yes air pots are great for root health but is it worth it for final dry weight?

 

[MGD420]

I’ve grown that strain and if u don’t train her, open her up, lollipop and general defol, it will grow too tight and compressed.
I don’t do autos anymore and the CDLC was my last. It was a long time ago and my grows have come a long way since, but I kinda left her alone after some initial training and I didn’t like the results compared to how I do things now.
I wish I had a pic of it but I don’t…..it was over 3oz and the size of a regulation basketball……
Everything would have been better had I spread her out….just my opinion. It is a solid strain . Very funky smell. I describe it as a Hobo’s morning breath after he takes a sip of a grape smoothie.

This is my first time growing the cdlc and first time growing anything from mephisto.
Says the strain is a cross between chemdawging and stardawg illuminati cut.
It's meant to be a 70/30 indica, sativa and its certainly looking more like indica with how short and bushy its got.

Don't think it's going to be a big yielder or a big auto but the buds are meant to be really dense on these.

I defoliated the other day and managed to snap one of the main stems on one of the girls. I taped it back up so hoping it heals fine.

I have a couple of more of the cdlc seeds there and a cross of the cdlc. Think its a purple punch/cdlc cross. Will be popping those seeds over the next week or so.

 

[MGD420]

Exactly. Yes air pots are great for root health but is it worth it for final dry weight?

I like to try new things but end up reverting to what works best for me over time. If it was costing me £20 per air pot then chances are I wouldn't use them unless the end results were huge.

 

[MGD420]

This is how they're looking just now. This is after a defoliation a couple of days back.
Not sure if I should do anymore with one in flower and the other just going into flower but yea, these are going to be bushy girls.

I have done lst by tying down most of the branches and bent the main stems over, have even removed some.of the lower down branches, just disnt go OTT on them but still looks like there will be more leaf than flower

 

[Trump]

This is how they're looking just now. This is after a defoliation a couple of days back.
Not sure if I should do anymore with one in flower and the other just going into flower but yea, these are going to be bushy girls.

I have done lst by tying down most of the branches and bent the main stems over, have even removed some.of the lower down branches, just disnt go OTT on them but still looks like there will be more leaf than flower

Beautiful! They look happy! I'd probably remove most of the water leaves to allow more light to hit the bud sites running up and down the stem.

Water leaves don't photosynthesize nearly as well as younger leaves and use up a good amount of plant energy to maintain themselves.

 

[MGD420]

Beautiful! They look happy! I'd probably remove most of the water leaves to allow more light to hit the bud sites running up and down the stem.

Water leaves don't photosynthesize nearly as well as younger leaves and use up a good amount of plant energy to maintain themselves.

I'll give them a quick defoliation just now and get some more pics up.

Just a couple of days back when they were done, the leaves weren't as big. They seem to grow quick.

I generally only remove the big fan leaves and leave the smaller stuff unless it looks wilted.

 

[Trump]

I'll give them a quick defoliation just now and get some more pics up.

Just a couple of days back when they were done, the leaves weren't as big. They seem to grow quick.

I generally only remove the big fan leaves and leave the smaller stuff unless it looks wilted.

Yup! I did a hard defoliation on my current grow and after a couple weeks you couldn't even tell that I did one!

Check it out. I have links to the two I have going currently in the sig below. One's in a 2 x 2 and the other is in a 5 x 5. Both using the ScrOG method.

 

[MGD420]

Yup! I did a hard defoliation on my current grow and after a couple weeks you couldn't even tell that I did one!

Check it out. I have links to the two I have going currently in the sig below. One's in a 2 x 2 and the other is in a 5 x 5. Both using the ScrOG method.

I'll give them a look in a minute.

After another defoliation. The one on the right looking like the ugly sister.

 

[MGD420]

Think that will be the last defoliation and and any tying branches down for this one

This one might get a similar treatment in the next week or so.

 

[MGD420]

 

[Azimuth]

Exactly. Yes air pots are great for root health but is it worth it for final dry weight?

@Bill284 switched to the Airpots and grows pretty big plants. He's got other tweaks going on as well so maybe hard to say how much the pots contribute, but he likes them plenty I believe.