Partial Defoliation and Branch Thinning

[Enr0n]

I have 2 Santa Marta Gold plants in 7 gal grow bags using FFOF soil and FF nutes. The plants are 4 weeks old and I have been seriously considering a partial defoliation and removal of limbs that I feel will not produce a bud. The fan leaves are quite large and now the plants are big enough to take the shock of the process. The lowest limbs are under consideration for removal along with a couple of fan leaves.

My thoughts are that with the partial defoliation it will encourage the plant to push the new growth. Am I on the right track or is this something that is a personal choice with irrelevant or harmful results?

I am not concerned with the appearance of the top growth that is where I badly pinched it and tore some of it.

 

[Konks Dirt Empire]

I would start googling the idea and maybe find a video, see how close your growth is to the plant in the video. If you have an idea, the time to correct the experiment (should it go off the rails) and a spare robust plant then there are no rules, man go for it! Know your threshold.
I do have a habit of tending to my own plants in a two steps forward and one step back fashion, though... no regrets!
Good luck, Enr0n!

 

[013]

Greetings Enr0n & Konks,

First lets figure out what you’ve got there. That looks like an auto? Can you confirm if it’s an auto or photo?

To me that plant does not appear to have a very deep canopy, most leaves can be tucked. My fear is that if she is an auto that defol will stall her out. Your plant does have some size to it so it’s not a tiny seedling. As you know defol on a photoperiod is not a problem, defol on an auto is different. Most folks that defol an auto are taking one fan leaf at a time to keep the plant in veg. I’m sure you are aware the timeline on an auto is different, they are running a fast internal time clock since they are racing to senescence or death.

I would hate to see you chop on her only to stall the plant out. You’ve got time & training invested. Hopefully @Pennywise or another can swing by and drop some knowledge.

 

[Konks Dirt Empire]

Greetings Enr0n & Kong’s,

First lets figure out what you’ve got there. That looks like an auto? Can you confirm if it’s an auto or photo?

^This is the most important question. There are indeed rules.

 

[013]

Apologies stupid auto text changed Konks to Kong’s

 

[Enr0n]

They are Landrace Photo, not atuo. I am going to let them veg for another month to develop good bud sites. I am thinking that the partial defoliation will also help in the transpiration of the plants. I have dried larger fan leaves that had water on them from the overlap of the lobes. By removing the larger fan leaves I will reduce the chance of having a leaf get some fungi on it due to being wet.

In the end it's all bout having a quality bud with the highest yield in weight.

 

[013]

Excellent... vegging those for another month will produce monsters. I’m ok with defol many others say avoid it, plus I’m the king of killing or stunting autos so please understand my concerns from yesterday!