Good morning Azi
I’m a big proponent of root growth.
I attribute my plant health and size to my roots.
I find it key to everything.
Air pots are excellent for this.
Hope your having a good Monday Amigo.
Stay safe
Bill284
Defoliate, yay or nay?
- Thread starter MGD420
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I’m a big proponent of root growth.
I attribute my plant health and size to my roots.
I find it key to everything.
Air pots are excellent for this.
Hope your having a good Monday Amigo.
Stay safe
Bill284
Big Roots, Big Fruits.Good morning Azi
I’m a big proponent of root growth.
I attribute my plant health and size to my roots.
I find it key to everything.
Air pots are excellent for this.
Hope your having a good Monday Amigo.
Stay safe
Bill284
TheGrimReaper
Well-Known Member
I usually leave the leaf's alone. The leaf's are the plants solar panels. The plants leafs is another way the plant is able to communicate with the grower on how it is feeling or If something is wrong. I don't remove leafs unless its absolutely necessary.
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- #24
MGD420
Well-Known Member
Good morning Azi
I’m a big proponent of root growth.
I attribute my plant health and size to my roots.
I find it key to everything.
Air pots are excellent for this.
Hope your having a good Monday Amigo.
Stay safe
Bill284
Hey Bill. How you doing bud. Hope all is good.
- Thread starter
- #25
MGD420
Well-Known Member
I generally do leave most of the leafs and either tuck or only take off what is necessary, never had a plant as short and bushy as these cdlc though and don't think they produce big yields. Partly the reason I wanted to know if it would be more beneficial to defoliate these to try get a bit more out of them.
The plant on the left will be left alone now until harvest.
Could even do a comparison between the more leafy one and the defoliated one.
Good morning my friend.
Thanks.I know there's times no other solution is available but I don't remove leaves unless I have a pest.
Instead I grow roots capable of supporting all those leaves.
Makes a big difference in my quantity & quantity.
I know you mentioned defol.
Just my take on it.
2 cents.Hope everything is going well.
Talk soon.
Stay safe
Bill284
TheGrimReaper
Well-Known Member
I agree! It makes a difference in the quality that's produced. For instance, some people go 12/12 from seed and think nothing of it, study has showed for the plant to produce THC to its highest capacity it must have at least 2 months of vegetative in order to mature, i feel the same goes for defoliations and it does impact the quality of the flower however slightly it may be and also the plant in general. If I were to prune the plant I want to make sure there's enough sustainable growth there to take its place so there is little to no recovery time. In the past I would also prune 1 or 2 leafs, wait 2 or 3 days and take 1 or 2 more possibly even 3 then I'd wait again a few more days. I do this so the plant can get adjusted to my training. If I'm doing a seed run I'm more likely to take these steps.Good morning my friend.
I know there's times no other solution is available but I don't remove leaves unless I have a pest.
Instead I grow roots capable of supporting all those leaves.
Makes a big difference in my quantity & quantity.
I know you mentioned defol.
Just my take on it.
Hope everything is going well.
Talk soon.
Stay safe
Bill284
At the LGO I worked at we did a side by side comparison of hard defol program vs no defol. Hard defol produced more dry weight. Hard defol plants had no mildew or mold whereas the no defol had a little.
When I defol I usually take most of the water leaves and leave as many of the younger leaves as I can. Usually around 20 - 30 leaves at a time for the water leaves. I also lightly defol throughout flower to keep good airflow going through the canopy and to keep mold and mildew from getting a foothold.
My reasoning is that large fan/water leaves take more plant energy to maintain and don't photosynthesize nearly as well as younger leaves. Flowers don't seem to mind it much.
When I defol I usually take most of the water leaves and leave as many of the younger leaves as I can. Usually around 20 - 30 leaves at a time for the water leaves. I also lightly defol throughout flower to keep good airflow going through the canopy and to keep mold and mildew from getting a foothold.
My reasoning is that large fan/water leaves take more plant energy to maintain and don't photosynthesize nearly as well as younger leaves. Flowers don't seem to mind it much.
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- #29
MGD420
Well-Known Member
Good morning my friend.
I know there's times no other solution is available but I don't remove leaves unless I have a pest.
Instead I grow roots capable of supporting all those leaves.
Makes a big difference in my quantity & quantity.
I know you mentioned defol.
Just my take on it.
Hope everything is going well.
Talk soon.
Stay safe
Bill284
Morning bud.
Thanks for the reply Bill. I always appreciate the help and information.
You mention that healthy roots make a difference to qaulity and quantity.
What about lower down buds that get no light due to foliage from bushy indica plants like the cdlc I'm growing now ?
The only reason I defoliate is to allow light to reach lower down.
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- #30
MGD420
Well-Known Member
Past grows that is how I've defoliated my plants by taking a little at a time over a few days, weeks. These things just seem to keep growing leaves from nowhere. If the plant was sick I would leave it but it seems healthy enough and seems to be coping well.
Totally agree that taking too much leaves off a plant can be a disadvantage especially if the plant ends up getting sick and loses even more to the point it can't recover.
I don’t fret about lowers.
They are slower developing regardless I find.
I didn’t see any improvement by stripping leaves away around them.
So I don’t move or strip lowers anymore.
Decent lighting works for me.
I let the whole plant mature and chop.
Big bushy girls is what I grow.
Always maximizing production and quality.
Some strip everything out and have a very successful harvest.
So there’s different ways.
Mine is letting big girls get huge and pounding them with light energy and nutrients.
I can control rh and air flow very well in my rooms so I don’t fret about spores and pm.
If you have a rh issue it helps for sure.
In the greenhouse I cleaned a little extra for rh control.
In my grow room I maximize growth and leaf structure for extra energy to her.
Slightly different than the green house but same basic idea.
Apple Betty in the greenhouse
Mango Mousse in the VIVOHUT.
BUSHY A. F.
Stay safe
Bill284
My way of looking at it is that the amounts of energy is minimal. And as long as it is green it is still capable of photosynthesis so those fan leaves are still serving a purpose.
But the real reason to leave them on the plant is that if/when the plant reaches the stage in the flowering stage when the root system can no longer supply the necessary macro-nutrients it needs then the only place it can go is those same leaves. The leaves are where the extra nutrients have been stored.
The plant takes what it needs and then discards the rest and moves on to the next 'warehouse'. Watch the changes going on when plants start to take nutrients, usually Nitrogen and Potassium. The first leaves to turn yellow and fall off are the "oldest and largest" fan leaves. Then it moves to the next smaller ones and so on. In the long run it is taking care of the defoliation issue all on its own
.
TheGrimReaper
Well-Known Member
This might help, saw this episode while watching t.v with my son
Sid explains leaves
Sid explains leaves
- Thread starter
- #34
MGD420
Well-Known Member
Lol, I was expecting some.sort.of stoner channel
I maybe watch this with my daughter instead.
- Thread starter
- #35
MGD420
Well-Known Member
Instead of removing a ton of leaves on the plant on the right I removed about 10 leaves and just tied it right down.
Before
After
Before
After
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