How Late In Flowering Can I Remove Leaves?

[RookieJuana]

The last two pictures are my plants now. The first picture is what I found on the internet of what I want my plants to look like. That being said, I have 3 Northern Light Autos that are about to enter their 8th week of flowering. And one that is a couple weeks ahead of the other three and is entering its 10th week of flowering. What I'm wanting to do is go from what my plants look like in the last two pictures, to what the plant looks like in the first picture. How late in flowering can I defoliate and how do I know which leaves to take off? Thank you so much in advance! I'm still so new to this and can use all the expert advice I can get! I love this place!

 

[BAKIND]

From what I know, most defoliation, if done at all, is done during vege, leading up to flowering. During flowering, the plant needs those leaves to help produce sugars for flower production. I know that during flowering, some trim the new growth to try to concentrate sugar production for bud growth.

As far as to lead your crop to look like the first one, that's a tough one. That has to do with genetics mostly, however, growing conditions are also a factor. Co2 enrichment is often used to increase yield. A blooming fertilizer high in Phosphorus and Potassium are often used as well.

Just curious, what type of light, and wattage are you using for the flowering phase? Usually people switch their flowering light to a more red/orange spectrum such as an HPS to help in flower production. And by the way, your plants look very good, congrats.

 

[N420]

most people say to defoilate at day 21 after the stretch is done then again at day 45. I personally tried defoilation for the first time on my last grow at day 14 of flower by just removing the larger fan leaves that were blocking bud sites. I continued as the grow progressed by occasionally removing large leaves blocking bud sites. It worked well and didn't slow the plants down at all. On my current grow Im going to do it in veg just before I flip to flower just to see if it makes any difference.

Your grow looks great by the way

 

[Calvados]

Hi. At this point you should either be finished or close to it. Have you had a look at the trichomes?