Increasing yield with defoliation indoors: What's it mean? How to do it?

[GigaGrew]

have recently just got my new 600w hps and my 20 new seeds. im using KC Brains KC45. This is right on the borderline between type 1 (short and fast) auto and type 2 (100 day 6'+ mammoths) aka super auto's.

point being, i like everything i read about this strain as my own personal choice, if i can get it working with my grow methods and the strain appears stable (i will stabilise it myself if needed, but that means more time) then i will be dealing with perfecting total defoliation with regards to auto's.

like when to defoliate and when not to, how frequent do you attack it, immature Vs mature leaf pulling e.t.c

i think my personal stance on defoliation is different from bassman, im of the belief that deliberatly plucking the leaves 'too soon' is what causes extremely short nodal distance. the only way to know for sure is to be able to run side by side comparisons.

also, i wont be bending plants, i hope. i will be topping if the plants start to look uneven. also i will be building up to complete light immersion from above and all sides, if necisarry ill be using vertical cool tubes within the canopy with like70w hps (until i convert to CMH)

it must be said that you have to treat auto's a lot differently to regular plants so what works for me may be a disaster in bassmans crop and vice versa.

if i had gotten into growing just 6 months earlier or so it could have been a collaberation, but i been silently plucking leaves in my own journal for some time now without thinking about conducting a propper study =/

 

[Bassman59]

goog stuff gig.

 

[Bassman59]

Here's a batch of pictures from my current grow taken at day 19 and day 21 of 12/12. I did stripping of 3 at day 19 to give the shortest 2 days to stretch and catch up with the others and it worked. Instead of it being 4" shorter it is about even or maybe 2" shorter.

There are still plenty of leaves, just no huge fans left and easily more bud sites getting vastly more light.

 

[GigaGrew]

+rep


just one thing bro..and its minor and off topic.

i see you have plastic items on top of your light with a wire dangling down e.t.c

i know everything is fine and all that but i believe that one must plan for failure or suffer from failure.

that being said, with all that pvc pipe and herb below, if your cooltube intake fan fails while you sleep, you risk a screaming vortex of fiery death to anyone sleeping nearby.

i know its inconvenient, but i reccomend moving anything combustable out of combustion range of your lights as if they had no cooling at all. it just may save a life.

 

[Vick074]

Really filling in now!!
are you going to start supercropping soon??

 

[Bassman59]

Thanks gig, I'll remove that thermometer and make sure the hanger cords are not on the hood.

Vick, yes I've bent 8-9 already. may need to do a few more. we'll see.

 

[s1ingblade]

Hi there bass,
If my noodle is still working this is your 5th RDWC/Defoliation grow and its master kush? How close did you get to your 2LB goal? If not already Im sure your just a grow or two away from hitting your mark. Im busy putting the hours in today, cleaning and prepping. When we return from Turkey day this year I will take cuttings and start my 1st journal. Cant believe how much times gone by since I started from seeds. I am used to picking up clones. I hope by taking my time I will end up with healthier plants in the long run.

 

[Bassman59]

AZ, this is only my third full on grow using this technique. One previous grow was partial. Last grow was 24oz from 4 plants, with one plant hitting the 10z goal. My biggest two issues preventing more yield from last grow was letting them veg too tall which made them so tall in stretch that I had to bend every freaking branch to get some light clearance. This meant the canopy was so solid and covered that area that I couldnt get any depth of penetration to speak of from the light. I also had the four plants in a 4'x4' tent which is way too small for 4 plants using this technique.

This grow is 4 plants in a new 5'x5' tent and I think it's almost too small, and maybe is still. I may actually have to go to 3 plants in 5x5.

Ultimately the goal is over 10z per plant avg. Totally doable. And 14z per is not unheard of. So as I dial myself in more I should be able to get anywhere between those numbers.

This is Master Kush. Last grow was Kosher Kush. Previous to that was Master Kush. I'm looking at making these two my main strains. If I get a MMJ recommendation for more plants (14-19) I'll do harvests about every 5 weeks of 4-6 plants and have two moms. But likely not till after 1st of the year at soonest.

 

[spring2012]

bassman,
great post. Helps me to better understand space for my girls in a 2x4x5 tent

 

[s1ingblade]

Ok Im up to speed now, thanks bassman59,
Im soon going to be running a similar setup in a 8x8 and I'll keep and eye on the plants measurements you think 36" wide each is a good width to shoot for? I am thinking of a suspended floor up to the buckets rim with some sort of reflective material to bounce the light back up to the plant and then putting in a bunch of small eye bolts so that I could use to tie down super cropped branches to control the height?

 

[Bassman59]

Ok Im up to speed now, thanks bassman59,
Im soon going to be running a similar setup in a 8x8 and I'll keep and eye on the plants measurements you think 36" wide each is a good width to shoot for? I am thinking of a suspended floor up to the buckets rim with some sort of reflective material to bounce the light back up to the plant and then putting in a bunch of small eye bolts so that I could use to tie down super cropped branches to control the height?

These are excellent things to do imho. I don't see a real need for eye bolts if you can just do something like I did with a pvc frame to string up a few strands of support.

I personally want a raised floor top, but can't figure out how to do it. Especially since I have zero construction materials, and working with wood is my weak point.

 

[GigaGrew]

you would be amazed at what you can do with a bolt of white cloth and a sewing needle

 

[Bassman59]

you would be amazed at what you can do with a bolt of white cloth and a sewing needle

I'd be lucky if I could make a toga

 

[GigaGrew]

all you need to do is get a white sheet aproximatly the size of your grow, lay it on the floor and place your pots on top. draw around the pots.

then all you need to do is cut out your circle/square markings and sew the edges to strengthen(optional). then create say 8 anchor points, 1 at each corner and 1 at each middle. lay your sheet on the floow and put the pots on the holes. then lift the sheet up to the correct height and hook on to your anchors. a real easy anchor system is just to stitch/staple some boot laces onto the corners and middle edges of the sheet then tie them to eye hooks screwed into the wall.

a perminant, reflective and breathable false floor that will also soak and disperse small spillages and is a great way to retain a little humidity if spraying your foliage. and if you need to do work on the garden it only takes a couple of mins to lower it to the real floor.

you can even use the cut out circles to lay on top of the soil of the pot that marked it

this is also a handy technique for dwc style grows as you can use a fan under the sheet to assist in cooling your liquids

 

[s1ingblade]

I was thinking of taking a piece of plywood a little larger the the bucket cut a hole in the middle just big enough to slip over the top but tight enough where the ribs on the side of the 5 gallon pail will hold it up? one per grow site none for the epicenter. Maybe 12 inches bigger on each side? I'll let you know what I come up with

 

[GigaGrew]

might work, but gravity will win over friction sooner or later, especially if it takes little knocks here and there when moving or watering e.t.c as these may rub surface on surface and even a miniscule wearing away from a perfect fit can mean slippage. this doesnt mean that you cant just fit a collar to the pot in some cheap and easy way to assist the support.

here is a prototype i made a while ago for 3l dwc style using cheap cardboard and reflective metal tape. these are built into the removable 'pot' on top. these are for small fast plants and rapid turn around. the pots sit shoulder to shoulder offering an almost complete light shield.

 

[donpaul.p]

damn mate, you like making stuff. i will be using something similar to keep the light of the res in my 2tr grows

 

[GigaGrew]

lol i learn best when my study is tangible. it was you that got me into 2l bottles, but it was just a stepping stone on understanding what the plants want, now im back full circle to using 2l again but in a completely different way. im even tempted to not cut the tops off and just fill it right up, will get plenty of air from all the air pot holes =)

 

[donpaul.p]

you sure like experimenting mate, im sure ill try some of your ideas at some point,

 

[GigaGrew]

haha yes i do =), did i mention i made a design to provide fresh water to africa, lol