Should I defoliate?

[SepticMind]

3 weeks in.

I think I was a little over zealous shoving 4 plants in my closet space.
Laughing buddha. cinderella.
Canopy has gone up and constricted a little width-ways.
Was LST'd but all the plants canopies are dense and depriving light.

Would you suggest light defoliation?

Sorry about crappy pics.

 

[eggzin]

Here's a great thread about defoliation.

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

I'm following his advise and it's working out very well. Click on my signature to see my results. I did it a couple of times in veg and I've just done it at 3 weeks of flower.

 

[SepticMind]

Thanks bro. Great read. Spent the day comparing articles. Going for it.
Nice grow man btw

 

[eggzin]

Of course, just yesterday I read an article that says, generally, that defoliation doesn't matter. I tried to find the article again, but failed.

I think in cases like ours -limited space, smaller grow, indoors, artificial light, etc.- it does make a difference. I got a whole lot of extra branching when I defoliated during veg....

 

[SepticMind]

Of course, just yesterday I read an article that says, generally, that defoliation doesn't matter. I tried to find the article again, but failed.

I think in cases like ours -limited space, smaller grow, indoors, artificial light, etc.- it does make a difference. I got a whole lot of extra branching when I defoliated during veg....

Mine are 3 weeks into flower. Struggling to know where to remove. Lower foliage is obvious enough. But there are bud sites everywhere.

Next grow I'm trying something new. Looked everywhere and I can't see anyone that's grown the way I have in mind. Mind you its probably been done before lol.

Got a bit crazy last night. Herbal hangover

 

[eggzin]

The way I understood it and tried to do it myself, was to remove ALL fan leaves whose stem is at least an inch long AND whose bud site has enough size to survive. EXCEPT do not remove the fans at the top of the plant branches.

The feeling I had when I was doing it was "my God I'm going to kill this plant" but I was determined to follow his prescription. The plant wilted for just a while and then perked right back up a few hours later.

I'm going to try and update my journal today, but, right now one week later, it still looks sparse compared to what it looked like before defoliation --I can see lots of new vegetation starting where I defoliated, but it's still quite sparse between all the branches.

Herbal hangover: treatment=hair of the dog....

 

[SepticMind]

Buddy that's awesome. I know the feeling. It's so controversial but if you want to learn to swim? Ya gotta get wet.

I appreciate the help. Does the forum let you add reps?

 

[eggzin]

Buddy that's awesome. I know the feeling. It's so controversial but if you want to learn to swim? Ya gotta get wet.

I appreciate the help. Does the forum let you add reps?

Exactly, I'm getting wet...

I don't know about reps but I appreciate the thought.

 

[LiveAndLetGro]

I have two going right now. I defoliated and lollipopped the left one around week 3 of flower. Today start the 7th week of flower. It really looks like lefty is fattening up and getting some bulky colas compared to the non defoliated plant.

These are pics taken over the last 3 or 4 weeks, just hoping to give you an idea of what plants in the same area could look like if they have been defoliated or not. Happy Growing friend!

 

[eggzin]

Wow, that's great. Thanks for that!

 

[Clancy]

If your buds aren't getting enough light then do something else to supply more light. Keep your leaf trimming to a minimum. A few leaves taken off will help somewhat while more than a few will hurt your harvest.(See the text below from an earlier post I made on the subject )

The science seems pretty clear on this. (See the text below from an earlier post I made on the subject.) And when you think about it, if you take leaves away you are, at the same time, taking the food away as well--food is made in and supplied by the leaves.

I now leave almost all leaves on the plant until they are brown and drying---Leaves go yellow as the plant nears harvest because the leaf is losing it's food to the flowers/fruit. When you cut leaves, especially in younger plants, the plant immediately responds by trying to grow more leaves. This is counter-productive in the truest sense. Leave them finish their job of supplying food.


---Quoting myself from an earlier post:

"These results were gained from various plant studies including tomato, which is similar in many ways to the cannabis plant.

I read several of the study abstracts and the general agreement is that SOME defoliation results in more flowers/fruit BUT there's a level of defoliation that results in less flowers/fruit.

"The experiment comprised five levels of defoliation viz., 0 leaves cut (control), 3, 6, 9 and 12 leaves defoliation out of 16 leaves

Fruit yield: Defoliations had significant effect on fruit yield per plant. Result revealed that fruit yield increased over control (zero leaves cut) up to 6 leaves defoliated plants and thereafter decreased significantly.

The higher fruit yield was recorded in control (zero), 3 and 6 leaves defoliated plants and the highest fruit weight was recorded in 3 and 6 leaves defoliated plants (1.70 kg per plant).

In contrast, the lowest fruit yield was recorded in 12 leaves defoliated plants (1.19 kg per plant).

The result indicates that tomato plant can tolerant up to 6 leaves loss during flowering. The fruit yield per plant increased under 3 and 6 leaves defoliated plants was due to greater number of fruits per plant and larger fruit size compared to control."

 

[eggzin]

I would love to learn more about this aspect --do you have any links for this experimentation?

The argument for defoliation is based on indoor growing where space and light are at a premium. The info I mentioned earlier in this thread (that I'd read yesterday and couldn't find) was that outdoor plants saw no increased yield from defoliation.

The claims from the defoliation crowd are that the plant yields very little popcorn bud, and dense, heavy flowers.

Anecdotally, people are seeing higher yields with defoliation but I am aware that this is a well-debated topic....

 

[Clancy]

I would love to learn more about this aspect --do you have any links for this experimentation?

The argument for defoliation is based on indoor growing where space and light are at a premium. The info I mentioned earlier in this thread (that I'd read yesterday and couldn't find) was that outdoor plants saw no increased yield from defoliation.

The claims from the defoliation crowd are that the plant yields very little popcorn bud, and dense, heavy flowers.

Anecdotally, people are seeing higher yields with defoliation but I am aware that this is a well-debated topic....

Here's the one I quoted from Effect of Defoliation on Growth and Yield Response in Two Tomato (<I>Solanum lycopersicum</I> Mill.) Varieties

 

[Clancy]

Here is another study done on okra plants: Bioline International Official Site (site up-dated regularly)

" Removal of okra leaves during the early fruiting stage led to 82% marketable yield reduction. Complete leaf defoliation was detrimental to fruit yield. The results suggested that okra could tolerate 25% defoliation as might occur from leaf eating insects, human predators or foliage pathogenic infections but beyond this level, it would be detrimental.

Note that they are not suggesting that a 25% leaf reduction is beneficial---they're saying "could tolerate".

 

[eggzin]

Thanks for the links. The experimentation seemed partly for the purpose of finding out how the plant may react to defoliation as a result of pest or disease infestation.

I wish I could find that article I read yesterday. At one point it suggested that insect bites, like spider mites, can trigger reactions of the whole cannabis plant whereby it kicks into high gear and grows vigorously. What causes it is some substance in the spider mite that triggers the reaction. It suggested that if you could isolate one branch, for instance, and let it succumb to the spider mites, then remove the branch, the whole plant will kick into a higher growth rate.

We shall see what my defoliation brings....