Questions about Defoliation

[AspiringBudBaron]

Hey all! Happy 420 from up in Canada!! So things are proceeding well with my twin White Widow grow so far and its almost to the point where vegging is almost over and its time to flower (AH! I'm so proud of my girls!). Anyways, fresh off of reading Nebula's Flowering Stage Defoliation Tutorial but I still have a few questions.

1) Noticed the guide mention that she was taking leaves of a healthy plant. Now my girls aren't in bad health but they have had some issues with ph and maybe a slight deficiency (not sure which one, I have a few brown spots on a few leaves on both plants), could of been a nutrient lock out as a result of the ph issue, I digress. So finally the question. Are there situations where defoliation would only hider bud production? If so, what are they?

2) Since this is my first grow, would you fine people say that i should not defoliate? Since the guide mentions for noobs to use caution when using this technique.

3)How much is too much? The guide says to take only fan leaves in the shady undergrowth and some from the soon to be bud sites and to leave a few leafs around the colas. Anything else i should be aware of?

Thanks gang!

[Canuck147]

Can you post a picture and we will direct you.......

[strainsgrow]

Dont do it. There might take long time to recover since they already have deficiency. I had same issue and it was my soil ph being too low. I raised the ph and added some calmag and they are strong now. Pictures says more than a thousant works. Sorry for my typos it's 420 . Good luck!

[AspiringBudBaron]

Plant 1



Plant 2



Here's the nastiest looking leaf of all! From plant 1



Guess defoliation is out eh.

[Canuck147]

Get your plants looking a bit healthier before you defoliate - looks like a calcium/magnesium deficiency. CaliMagic or something similar will perk your plants right up, turn them a deeper green and will get rid of them spots on the leaves.
They look real good.

[AspiringBudBaron]

Ok thanks canuck. Thats good news, since I feed them right after i took those pics and cal-mag was part of the feeding so ill see how this goes

[Campesino]

Yeah, certainly looks like some Ca issues. Are you in Coco?
In regards to defoliation, you can go ahead and prune the most damaged leaves - they won't recover.
If you are in Coco, I can give you some ideas for dealing with Ca going forward, but you may want to start with the guide I have linked in my signature.

[Smokesteve]

Aside from looking down at the plant from the top also look at the plant from the side if it is a total bush, very dense that can be another guide to defoliation. Air flow passing though is important.

[Sheesh]

Good advice above. They look good but it's best to correct the leaf discoloration before pruning too much. Defoliation can be great but definitely proceed with caution. At the same time too many leaves will block light from getting to your bud sights and increase risk of powdery mildew and mold. I'd go with Canuck's advice and add some cal-mag. Make sure ph is around 6.5 for soil / 6.0 for coco. After many weeks of vegging it won't hurt to give them a mini flush too to make sure you get rid of salt build up so they can uptake all the nutrients.

[Chefbjy]

I'm with the rest get those plants vibrant and healthy before you start wacking leaves off. If it was mine I'd make sure it wasn't spreading before taking any leaves off damaged/discolored or not. You want to see deeper darker green before you start taking anything off imo.

[Chefbjy]

Did that start at the top or bottom... you didn't mention lights or medium. Ph? Could be a bit of light burn which can cause other deficiencies. Raise the light add calmag looks like it's starving you didn't mention what nutes you're feeding either so hard to say without more info. You could run into more problems if you just start taking leaves off.

[AspiringBudBaron]

Ok took in all your advice and implemented it, raised lights roughly 16" above cola level (lst'd them all to be level and wide). I'm using a botanicare line of nuts, using a half strength dose feed every second watering. Ph'd around 6.5 for my soil/perlite mix roughly.


New growth is coming in darker then the lighter green few sets below, no new brown spots on any new leafs so far.

So I'm about to switch to flowering, is this gonna affect the switch if I do it now?

[PRIMO]

Hey ABB another couple weeks of veg. will harm nothing. With that being said,stay with the cal-mag. Everyone has a different opinion, on my plants I strip em butt naked on the bottom 1/3 of the plant,nothing grows there that will do you any good. Pluck all the sickly ones and try to open the middle up some. With the big fan leaves its hard to explain,it comes down to experience, you want to be able to look down from above and see through to the soil, you wanna have it thinned out enough for the fan to blow air through it. you could take 50% of the fan leaves, you're not gonna kill it. Feed 1/2 strength with cal-mag, take a photo wait a week and take another photo, compare them, you'll see.

[AspiringBudBaron]

Sounds good primo, let me throw another question at the community.

When defoliating your taking leafs off, but mine also has smaller branch shoots growing up too. The not as thick as the main colas but just a tall as them. Do you chop the smaller branches to focus on main cola stem development? Or leave them alone so they too produce the fat buds we're all looking for?

[Campesino]

I leave them for sure if they are as tall as the main colas. Those that won't reach the canopy can be pruned - use your judgement on a case by case.

[julik]

Sounds good primo, let me throw another question at the community.

When defoliating your taking leafs off, but mine also has smaller branch shoots growing up too. The not as thick as the main colas but just a tall as them. Do you chop the smaller branches to focus on main cola stem development? Or leave them alone so they too produce the fat buds we're all looking for?

I usually only clip leaves and not branches. The more colas you have, the more bud sites, therefore a higher yield. If your canopy is getting crowded and you find yourself needing to cut some of the longer shoots, maybe try cloning a healthy branch or two? Totally your call. Overall, your girls look great. Got a WW myself in first week of flower, hope all goes well