Should I defoliate more?

[Chefbjy]

Hey all second grow here and did lst method topped and think I have a pretty even canopy a lot of the lower branches have reached into the light and I think I got quite a few tops. They look happy and healthy despite some minor leaf damage and a few broken stalks that healed nicely. Looking at the bottom I don't think there's anymore I can cut off. I want to focus energy into the canopy and my wife thinks I should just let mother nature do the rest. Week one of transition with quite a bit of stretch so I tied down what was too close to the light. Did I cut enough off to maximize the energy of my canopy? Think I'm going to try manifolding next time around.

[gbauto]

What I normally do is about 10 days after flipping I lollipop and remove any small interior branches that are just going to create a twisted mess in the center of the plant. That allows branches exposed on the top to focus all of the plant's resources. It almost feels a bit cruel when I am snipping out growth(I just did it last night) but it makes a difference in growth.

[Chefbjy]

It does feel cruel it all looks like it will produce flowers and I don't know what to cut. There's so many. So just thin out the middle more? I don't want popcorn. Scared to cut anything more.

[Weed Pharma]

I would agree with your wife and let it run until week #3 and then you can defoliate to all you want to and you will have a better idea of what to do and how much.
Here is a pic of an autoflower I recently defoliated @ week #3.

[Waltermelon]

Are you growing in straight perlite? Or is that just a bug barrier?

[Weed Pharma]

That's gnatnix I routinely put in teh top as the flower stretch begines.

[Waltermelon]

Interesting.

[9fingerleafs]

I agree with you. The canopy seems even but not overcrowded. Maybe just remove big fan leaves that are covering other tops but essentially you could wait till week 3 when the stretch is over like pharm said and then remove what ever you feel like

[Dutchman1]

Id take a bunch off in week three.

[Chefbjy]

Thanks for the input. I'm kinda curious to see what really takes off flower wise and don't want to lose anything that might produce. And that picture gives me a good idea of what I can do.

[Chefbjy]

Update 1 week after transition and the picture really helped thanks pharma. Look forward to doing a mainline next time my tall plant just got tied down a lot trying to even out some tops. Didn't know if I should cut a few because of how well they reached the light

[9fingerleafs]

That’s when supercroping comes handy. Don’t cut off any cola. Better to try to bend it away from the light

[Chefbjy]

I followed up on some supercroping after this post and they bounced back into position over night. I heard the cell walls snap and felt the ease of the stem giving into the pressure I thought for sure I hurt them quite a bit but when I woke up they were almost right back where they started. I'll still wait till week 3 and see where I am and if I have to cut more. One plant took off too fast for me to have any idea of what size it would be I hope there's room in the pot. 7 gallon smart pots and it looks to be over 40inches already and still have 7-8 weeks to go.

[9fingerleafs]

yes like gbauto says maybe secure the branch down with something until it heals at the right angle

[gbauto]

Yep, 9finger has the solution. A little B&D on the unruly girl will solve any issues. Bend her over-these plants seem to thrive on rough conditions.

[Weed Pharma]

@Chefbjy, - 2 weeks after wk#3 defoliation.

[KingKush]

Your wife sounds right about this plant. Let it do its thing from here on: it looks like you have it very well trained and setup for great bud production. Nice even canopy. Great job.
If you defoliate perfectly from here on out you might earn an extra few grams but nothing crazy more than that. If you defoliate in a way the plant does not like it, then you may lose out on some weight. I've experimented and I can tell you, never did I regret NOT defoliating, I only regretted doing it. Sure, it's worked fine a couple of times but the plants that were bushy and full of leaves made just as much bud (if not more) than any defoliated plants.
This is a technique that has more benefits for well experienced growers. In my experience, it's not something that changes much for developing growers. No, you can't just take off leaves and get more bud, that's not how it works.
My thought: less is more. Get through this grow and use your knowledge and nuggets as fuel for your next round. Establish a "base" and you will see for your own eyes what variables improves that.

[KingKush]

Oh and Low Stress Training like bending, spreading, and tying down are all good things to do. Especially the first few weeks of Bloom, this will absolutely increase your yields.

[Chefbjy]

Thank you pharma and kingkush that picture really helped. I've taken off some more after I took everything off the bottom that didn't get a lot of light. And exposed all the tops to the light.

[KingKush]

You have a nice looking crop chefbjy! And from the looks of things it won't be your last.
What cemented ideas in my mind, was growing the same strains from clone side by side and experimenting with defoliating or not. And more specifically, WHEN and HOW MUCH to defoliate. So yes, I do agree that we prune and train for growth. Everyone manages their canopy sizes & shapes, but looking around, you see great examples of both directions; "shwazzed" or shrubby it all seems to work.
Great looking grow.

PS. Perhaps leave one plant alone, after your flip to 12/12 next round. Grow a bushy one out to harvest and let me know what you think!

[Chefbjy]

Haha I actually did that my first grow with the same bag seeds. I didn't top one and left most of it alone for the most part. I did defoliate a little but it wasn't very much at all. The other I didn't defoliate much either but I did top it. They were 2 different strains and I had to keep the size down on the one I topped due to the sativa dominance. But I did get more off the one I topped. The plants I'm growing now are the same strains of bag seeds I used before and so I topped the sativa dominant one and fimmed the indica dominant one. The sativa had a couple lst mishaps but still a lot more tops then first time. The indica one looks like it will produce a lot more then it's predacessor and isn't the Christmas tree shape they like to grow. The defoliation seems to ensure the flowers get the energy and light they need more so for an indoor grow. I haven't tried outdoors yet thinking of doing a green house... That's still outdoors right? Anyway I was going to expirement with manifolding next grow. I like the fact of not having to do much work to keep the canopy flat and due to space I could easily grow more plants this way. My mother inlaw had stage four kidney failure neropothy osteoporosis and a slew of medical conditions and thanks to CBD and thc she has been off of narcotics that will ultimately destroy her kidneys. No more pain killers that will just deplete kidney function. I would like to grow as many as her license allows and have some for myself without having to worry about paying for edibles and tinctures. This grow it's more for me and my wife to stop buying bogus rec stuff and stop spending so much money. She has high anxiety and smokes like a chimney. Plus anything we can do to keep off medications with stupid side effects like bloody stool or naseau.

[KingKush]

Chef,
You are full of the spirit of growing! I'm sure the ladies in your life will appreciate you figuring out how to grow dank nugget! Growing weed plants are easy, growing dank nugget is difficult.
My main focus is on quantity now. Sometimes that might just mean an extra harvest or two during the year, or it might mean more grams per watt. I'm working on both. Plant training is hit and miss for me, dependent largely on strain more than anything.

Which transitions into defoliation.... Buds don't do much photosynthesis, if any at all. (Do pinecones or roses or corn ears photosynthesize?) They are a one way street, a sink. Nutes and energy goes in and stays, the plant will never draw resources from sinks like flowers and fruit. Buds are covered in resin to act as SUNSCREEN. In other words, the buds are actually protecting themselves from direct sunlight. Green leaves are the things that photosynthesize. Photosynthesis is what provides the plant with food and allows for bud production... Food for thought.

I have two that I'm manifolding right now. They are regular photoperiod from seed. I think this matters when you are talking about manifolding because seeds are at an advantage with their rooting systems over clones, and clones are less symmetrical than seedlings. Autos wouldn't benefit from this extreme pruning. It has so far seemed to take an extra 10-14 days added on to the vegging process, however I'm committed to seeing it through to harvest so the proof is in the bloom room. Still unsure if manifolding increases yields.

Congrats on eradicating the bloody stool! That's never a good thing for anybody involved.

[Chefbjy]

I'm not sure it will increase yields on a single plant per say just saying that if I manifold I will be able to fit more plants in my space. Instead of tying and managing a canopy that can explode in bloom. I think I could have done a scrog and had better management but live and learn I guess. My first grow was phenomenal for such a novice I actually had it tested Integrity Labs passed all my molds no pesticides and thc was 24.35% I could have gotten off a better cure and it probably would have been better but now I know where I went wrong. The strain I grew averages at 16% so I thought I was well on my way to being a better then average grower. Just wish I wrote some stuff down that I did my first go to produce some higher quality. Yield isn't as important if it's not quality if you want good smoke imo but to make edibles and tinctures quantity would be ideal.