Any aggressive defoliators in the room ?

[Peacefuleasyfeeling]

6th week into flowering and to spite following the defoliation tutorial found on GWE, I still have so many leaves that I’m worried about my buds not getting enough light to penetrate the thick indica leaf, wondering just how far I should really go at this point. This is my first indoor grow, I’ve got 6 healthy topped & super cropped girls growing in Soil under 1000w HPS. I’d greatly appreciate hearing what experienced defoliants have to share

[St.buds]

The full Indica leaf definitely blocks your light I would defo so plants can get more light but Remember to save enough leafs to make it to harvest cuz the plant will not be growing new ones at this point

[marte070]

At which flowering weeks the plant stop growing leaves? I think I over defoliate mine....

[Campesino]

Most strains stop producing new leaves around flower week 6

[St.buds]

I agree most plants will not grow new leafs after 6th week of flower

[Potted]

Fold or trim leaves that block bud sites. Lol

[Weed Pharma]

What St.buds , said:

This is a little trickie- as you do not want to take so many- that you chance the sugar/shake leaves turning yellow before it's harvest time.
I like to leave a "skirt" of large fan leaves along the base of the buds- this becomes your visual clue (barometer) as the plant ripens, then they die/fall off.

[Peacefuleasyfeeling]

Thanks I’ve removed leaves at least 3-4 times already and in my opinion my buds are still smaller than I had hoped they’d be with all the effort I’ve put supplying lights, nutes, temp&humidity, darkness oh yeah and tlc in between lol

[KingKush]

Plants make more leaves than they need in case a deer eats some or a hailstorm ravages across the sky and hurts some leaves, etc...
But there is always that limit on both ends of the spectrum where too much or none-at-all keeps the plant from maximum yield.
Photosynthesis is the source of energy the plant needs to make food (sun + minerals = sugars/energy) and all that happens in large, green leaves. Especially mature green leaves that produce more photosynthates than they consume, turning themselves into powerhouses for the plant. The plant needs mature green leaves to make an over abundance of sugars & energy, otherwise it's just surviving, not thriving.

Personally, I don't see that buds need light to grow. The plant naturally grows towards the outside anyways, like a fruit tree, but you can still pick nice oranges inside the canopy.

You might be looking for a different example but here is a plant with essentially 10-15% defoliation/pruning throughout her life just to help crowding and balance. When I did the harvest defoliation 1st round she looked like this and you can see a decent amount of trichome encrusted buds towards the bottom.

[Campesino]

FWIW I agree with everything KingKush says here. Without pics it is hard to say for sure, but I would lean strongly away from significant defoliation at week 6. Leaves use light to grow, Flowers are powered by leaves - not light directly

[Peacefuleasyfeeling]

Now there’s a gorgeous plant thanks for the advice!

[Chefbjy]

Pics? Week 6 is a little late to start a heavy defol. If you've defoliated it the whole time it might be okay to do a light defol. But I wouldn't go crazy that far along it might stress the plant in a bad way. Find the defol tutorial on gwe main site and make your judgement from there.

[Dutchman1]

Unless its a haze strain Id leave em alone. Tuck em like someone else said.

[Weed Pharma]

Yup, a very good point.
I had a sativa (TOK) that yields 1/2 the weight if defoliated!
Comparative grow here: https://forum.growweedeasy.com/forum...oe-og-kush-50g

[Peacefuleasyfeeling]

Thanks y’all appreciate the feedback!

[GreenState]

Here's a plant mid 7th week of flowering. Hugely defoliated throughout flowering. You do get good light penetration(I've got about 14" from top of canopy to lowest bud). I think a lot depends on the actual shape of your plant. BWDIK I'm a rookie....and it is a hotly debated subject.

[Peacefuleasyfeeling]

Nice! thanks for the pics too really puts my plant into better perspective & I love that ur using a flood light~Was thinking one of them would be perfect for vegging

[Chefbjy]

Wow that was pretty aggressive.

[GreenState]

Probably to aggressive(g). Started with the fan leaves pointing inward, eventually taking the outside leaves as well.
There are plenty of new secondary small fan leaves down below. Didn't do any LST, only topping so never got it to spread out all that much, let nature take its course(12 main colas up and 4 down below).. What will hurt any production for me in the end are the small pots, 2 gal I believe..so I'm sure roots are bound up tight in a ball.

[DrPhoton]

I agree with everything king kush said, which was very well put. What i will add is that, during the initial development of leaves they transition from the sink to source phase. During the sink phase they require energy to develop, which means no photosynthetic capacity is viable. Over just a few days the partially developed leaf will start producing photosynthate and begin the transition from sink to source. Once the leaf produces enough photosynthate to support itself and starts exporting as a source, it stays as a source for the remainder of its life.

For more on the science of defol, check my article "To Defoliate Or Not To Defoluate"

There are still good practical reasons to defoliate such as penetration, airflow, humidity etc. But not for yield reasons.