CrimsonBlitz
New Member
Hello again friends!
This is a continuation of a previous thread that was running on the subject of defoliation. The thread is linked below...
Trimming before flowering?
I want to start by saying that the previous thread really bothered me, I have not posted since then cause I felt that there was alot of negativity around some of my posts and I want to try to set that straight before I go on.
First off, I was the agressor in a couple of the comments I made, I have re-read my posts many times and although I meant no offence I did come off as a prick in a few of my statements and did have kind of a 'I am right/you are wrong' attitude. I want to apologize for that. I really like this forum and the knowledgable people on it, some of which I offended. I, like many of you, spend alot of time here and enjoy the company of other people who partake in this hobby. I do not want a bad rep on these forums as I believe I have, and can continue to be a possitive contributor to the hobby. I apologize to any I offended and will try to not come off as such a jerk sometimes.
All of that said, let's get to the reason for this thread.... defoliation!
As I stated in the last thread... I have decided to run a side by side comparison for a couple rounds to see if defoliation will help me get larger yeilds. The first results are complete and the second set is already in flower.
For those of you who want to know more about my set up just click on my journal in my sig, I have been running the same system for many years and aside from small tweeking, it is the same as shown in my journals. The biggest difference is that in order to do a fair comparison I only ran 2 plants for this experiment so that each plat would get it's own 400 watt light. The same is currently under way with the next experimetal batch.
First of all, before I began (durring the last thread) I read as much as I could. I read every post of every journal, that I could find in reguards to defoliation. I mainly followed Bassmans technique but took advice from 420fieds and Cultivators journals. There were too many knowledgable poeople to mention but I read as many as I could.
Even before starting I had alredy began to accept some of the obvious benefits to this technique but I had to try it for myself in order to be comfortable in using it. Before even posting the results I will say that I will be continuing to use defoliation in my grows as I saw many benefits and few detriments.
Lets get started with the basics.
The two plants for this grow were Triple X (XXX). I had ran this strain 4 times prior and it is an awsome plant. I normally run 4 plants per cycle under 800 watts (2x400w) ant the strain gave 4.5 oz consistantly in 2.5 gallon pots. This time I used 3 gallon pots and with only 2 plants they each got their own 400w light. I also have a "scrog style" rack that allows me to spread out the plants by tying them to really open up the canopy.
My plants were at almost 3 weeks into 12/12 when I began, I will point out that I normally do a light defoliation an veg so probably 50% of the leaves were removed after the plant was in mature veg and then 2 weeks later they went into flower. (I understand that veg defol was light by comparison to other growers but that was what it was, the next batch has been stripped in veg at the same intervals that most other defoliators use). So when the stretch had stopped I did a heavy strip (Bassman would have been proud
Here are some of the things I noticed....
After each strip the plant stopped drinking, it stayed moist for 6 days while the control was dry as always after 3 days. Even after the next watering it was moist for 5 days, after that it went right back to normal. This would only be noticable in a soil/soiless medium not hydro (well you know what I mean).
I did notice that the plant also stunted durring that time and that did seem to shorten the internodes and allowed some of the smaller branches to become stronger. The control plant became much larger than the test plant but after a week it seemed to catch up. I will point out that from that point on the defoliated plant seemed stronger and stockier, while the control plant was taller and lankier.
I saw right away the advantage to opening up the canopy... airflow was way better, the bottom buds developed way better, the stocks were larger and more sturdy, and overall the plant looked "fatter".
The control plant had fluffier bottom buds where as the test plant had nice solid buds right to the bottom of the plant, this was noticable when trimming.
Both plants were ran for 9 weeks and I accually didn't see any difference in maturity in the end, trichs were about the same as were the hairs etc.
Now for the results: I knew that the extra soil and light (2 plants vs 4) would increase the yeild from previous runs, but I refrained from changing anything else so as to not skew the test too much.
Plant #1- defoliated, final dry wieght 6.2 oz (171g)
Plant #2 - control, final dry weight 6.1 oz (169g)
Here is my conclution: Although I didn't see any increase in overall yeild I am going to continue with defoliation, probably not as heavy but it is clear now that it does not negatively affect yeild and the pros outweigh the cons.
I will point out that this is a 1-1 plant comparison and does not mean that I am right or wrong or that others might be right or wrong, these are just the results of one test and should be taken as such.
I have the second test running now, I stripped it durring veg and again the other day as they finished their stretch. I am finding it difficult to NOT strip the control plant this time... lol... but I want to run it side by side one more time just to confirm my results.
That is all for now, I will admit that the results were not what I expected but I will now gladly call myself a "defoliator" because it has shown to have some great advantages and no didadvantages that I could see.
I want to thank all of you that helped me see the light, I love the hobby and love to gain knowledge, it was important for me to do this experament as I was being stubborn and made myself look like an ass. Those who think they know it all have given up the ability to learn anything new.
Jonny
Hi, did you notice any difference in the quality of the smoke? I'm incredibly interested in defoliation and considering this technique myself
I also mix Training Techniques, & I'm finding it to be pretty successful. I even managed to create a Bonsai through TORTURE TRAINING
