Scared I'll hermie my girls

[AdamAdm]

Hello all! I've just flipped 3 ladies into flower and I'm planning on defoliating them at the 3 week mark for better light penetration and air flow, but I'm scared I'll stress them out and they'll turn hermie. How likely is this? Am I just being over scared? My last crop was hermied and I never noticed how bad until harvest. Utter devastation would be an understatement. I can't have that happen again with this run. Is it worth defoliating? Any info would be greatly appreciated!! Happy smokin!!

 

[Bill284]

Hello all! I've just flipped 3 ladies into flower and I'm planning on defoliating them at the 3 week mark for better light penetration and air flow, but I'm scared I'll stress them out and they'll turn hermie. How likely is this? Am I just being over scared? My last crop was hermied and I never noticed how bad until harvest. Utter devastation would be an understatement. I can't have that happen again with this run. Is it worth defoliating? Any info would be greatly appreciated!! Happy smokin!!

Welcome to 420 my friend. I have a suspicion that your hermie problem isn't from defoliation. We all defoliate at some point with out issues. Most of the time I find its generic or environmental. How is your dark period, are the girls getting 100 % darkness for 12 hrs. How is the temp and rh, of your room. And lastly where did she come from. Did you get good genetics from a trusted breeder. Or is she a mystery. If you can give us all your details and include a pic we can help you. There are alot of very smart members here that go out of their way to help.

 

[AdamAdm]

Hi again, thanks for your reply! Sorry, I should have said ... I know that my last crop didn't herm out because of defoliation. I believe it was due to the cold weather we had here for about 3 weeks. I think it got too cold during lights out. They are expensive seeds I've bought from seed banks, great genetics and apart from the cold spell that I mentioned, the conditions in the tent have been pretty good throughout. The fear i have is that if this crop herms, I'll need to give this up for a while and save some money before I can try again. I DO NOT want that to happen. I'm almost scared this time round. I don't want to do anything to stress the girls and turn them. I had a decent defoliating session and lollypopped them pretty well about 2 weeks ago but they could use another to let proper light into all of the budding sites.

 

[Bill284]

Hi again, thanks for your reply! Sorry, I should have said ... I know that my last crop didn't herm out because of defoliation. I believe it was due to the cold weather we had here for about 3 weeks. I think it got too cold during lights out. They are expensive seeds I've bought from seed banks, great genetics and apart from the cold spell that I mentioned, the conditions in the tent have been pretty good throughout. The fear i have is that if this crop herms, I'll need to give this up for a while and save some money before I can try again. I DO NOT want that to happen. I'm almost scared this time round. I don't want to do anything to stress the girls and turn them. I had a decent defoliating session and lollypopped them pretty well about 2 weeks ago but they could use another to let proper light into all of the budding sites.

I used to defol extensively. After reading advice on another site. What I found was the leaves just grew back thus creating a cycle of defoliation. In the end I find she puts her energy into growing them back instead of growing buds.
It wasn't until I stopped fussing and picking at them that I managed to max out my tent. Now I trim and prep for flower at 2 week mark approximately I clean out new crap and "lollipop " then I dont touch a thing. If you have decent air circulation you won't get mould. If you are concerned about a bud site you can tick leaves out of way. Once my girls are tied down in the tent I don't fuss about anything, buds will swell and finish even if another leaf is blocking it. If you think about big grow ops, they don't fuss over every bud site. They let them just do their thing. Got any pics my friend?

 

[AdamAdm]

Thanks that's a lot of useful info I'll definitely keep your advise in mind! I don't have any photos because unfortunately this is illegal where I live and I can't show anyone what I do. Is it safe to post pics on here? I can take some pics in the morning and see what you think.

 

[Paul Squiggle]

Thanks that's a lot of useful info I'll definitely keep your advise in mind! I don't have any photos because unfortunately this is illegal where I live and I can't show anyone what I do. Is it safe to post pics on here? I can take some pics in the morning and see what you think.

Totally safe. Just don't post any photos that have private information in them. Like a utility bill in the back ground.
It ain't legal in the UK either and I had the exact same worries as you at first.
But all's good.
Bill is spot on with his Advice. Listen to him carefully and you will be guided down the right path. I agree with Bill, that it may be another factor why it Hermied. Unless you defoliated them with a chainsaw

 

[Paul Squiggle]

Oh! Howdy do and welcome

 

[AdamAdm]

Totally safe. Just don't post any photos that have private information in them. Like a utility bill in the back ground.
It ain't legal in the UK either and I had the exact same worries as you at first.
But all's good.
Bill is spot on with his Advice. Listen to him carefully and you will be guided down the right path. I agree with Bill, that it may be another factor why it Hermied. Unless you defoliated them with a chainsaws

Totally safe. Just don't post any photos that have private information in them. Like a utility bill in the back ground.
It ain't legal in the UK either and I had the exact same worries as you at first.
But all's good.
Bill is spot on with his Advice. Listen to him carefully and you will be guided down the right path. I agree with Bill, that it may be another factor why it Hermied. Unless you defoliated them with a chainsaw

Thanks very much I'll get some pics uploaded for you guys ASAP. I'm in the UK aswell so it's good to have that cleared up, I'd be pretty pissed off if I grassed on myself lol. I'm going to give it another week or so and I'll defoliate them 1 last time. They're only 8 days into flower so still have a bit of stretching to do.

 

[Paul Squiggle]

Thanks very much I'll get some pics uploaded for you guys ASAP. I'm in the UK aswell so it's good to have that cleared up, I'd be pretty pissed off if I grassed on myself lol. I'm going to give it another week or so and I'll defoliate them 1 last time. They're only 8 days into flower so still have a bit of stretching to do.

Normally 21 days into flower before I defoliate. While they are stretching they may need some of the nutrients stored in those leaves, thats why I wait . If the plant is hungry it will use it. If it has nothing to eat, then it gets sickly.
Im only wrong 99.999% of the time..

 

[AdamAdm]

Normally 21 days into flower before I defoliate. While they are stretching they may need some of the nutrients stored in those leaves, thats why I wait . If the plant is hungry it will use it. If it has nothing to eat, then it gets sickly.
Im only wrong 99.999% of the time..

Ahhhhh nice one mate cheers, I'll defo wait till day 21 that makes a lot of sense! I'm sure once I get (if I get) these ones down and all is well, I'll be less timid on the next run. Thanks a lot for your input. I think I'll have a new question every week haha.

 

[Paul Squiggle]

Ahhhhh nice one mate cheers, I'll defo wait till day 21 that makes a lot of sense! I'm sure once I get (if I get) these ones down and all is well, I'll be less timid on the next run. Thanks a lot for your input. I think I'll have a new question every week haha.

You will succeed mate. Just don't be frightened to ask questions. No question is a stupid question.