Should I begin to lollipop/defoliate?

[IslandColas]

Coming to the end of week 2 of my Rozay SOG. Plants are on day 13 of flower.

I’m wondering if it would be smart to cut the lower leaves (lollipop) and do some minor defoliation of big shade leaves as to focus my energy on my colas and allow the lower smaller ones some light to let them grow and even the canopy.

I have planned to super crop my tallest colas (primarily the three tallest corners) on week three of flower. I’m open to suggestions on whether or not to do it later or earlier.

Im stoked because I’m finally starting to see the buds start to form and send out all the pistils.

[Redwasp]

I always uncover my buds, remove the offending leaves. And lollipop the plants. I do not defoliate, but remove all leaves blocking buds. But Ive never grown a sea of green which looks like what your doing. So maybe someone else should answer. I grow huge plants so not sure on that grow style. Want to try it but havent yet.

[Motoman15]

You don't have much to defoliate , your plants look a little thin. Let them go and like the redwasp says, only remove leaves blocking bud sites.

[IslandColas]

So this is the results of my lollipop/defoliation. I removed the lower 20% or so of each plant and then removed 12 large fan leaves that were shading out multiple colas. That’s 1.3 large fan leaves per plant and the lower 20% of growth. I definitely thinned them quite a bit but I think I achieved what I wanted. Allowing lots of lights to some of the lower colas and focusing the energy on top growth that’s exposed to light. I’m sure by day 30 of flower the tent will be almost full again and then later ready for a true defoliation to allow the buds to fatten.

I love opinions and suggestions so please let me know what you think! Even if you think I messed up

[PaganRich]

My experiences with defoliating works well generally but not always, for me. It can be tricky and you need to do it with the same strain a couple of times to see how it handles it. It is a tool, that`s all and one used in conjunction with other techniques. Some have good results, some don`t. Often, lack of practice and conflicting advice/ experiences `cloud` what can be achieved. There are some goods articles and guidance on this site as well as interesting techs like Schwazzing which I have found very useful. It`s like marmite, you either love it or hate it. Personally, I `ve had consistently good results with it but as I`ve said, it`s not an easy tech to get along with. I have never heard of Supercropping during flowering and wonder whether that may delay growth of buds due to recovery time.

[Redwasp]

How long are you into flowering again? They will grow alot soon.

[IslandColas]

Day 13 of Flower

[Jibblerjoe]

Round here the girls get a leaves shading bud sites the first week of flower and a second time 3rdweek of flower. The second stripping we get all large leaves covering buds, also remove lowers limbs that will be fluff or larfy. Here's an example, the 26th flower stretch has started did my best to remove leaves shading flower sites. On day21 I will leaf strip even more. this is how I do.

[IslandColas]

Looks good. I think that I would continue to lollipop as needed, but that'd be pretty much it.

FWIW, I disagree with the thinking that leads to this statement: "a true defoliation to allow the buds to fatten". In my experience (and according to plant science) defoliating will hurt yields and prevent buds from fattening. Leaves harvest energy and deliver it primarily to their adjacent bud-site. Without a fan leaf the adjacent bud gets less energy. I've done it both ways and I will never defoliate (to get buds to fatten) again!

https://www.growweedeasy.com/defoliation/#defoliation-flowering-stage-how-to

i was only going off this article. Explain why you disagree? I’m interested

[DankwingDuck]

I think personally if your going to defoliate in bloom you should do it only in the first few weeks . Defoliation is considered a high stress training , and with high stress training you’re going to have a delay in growth during the recovery . The last thing you want to do is Delay your growth while it’s in its peak of bud production . I have never defoliated a plant past the second week of bloom .

[IslandColas]

Well, to start, I recommend reading DrPhoton 's article on the subject:

https://forum.growweedeasy.com/forum/growing-community/176174-to-defoliate-or-not-to-defoliate

A lot of growers here defoliate because of that tutorial that you linked. I did it my last grow, and at the time, I was pleased with the results. After reading and discussing DangerDan's article, I decided not to defoliate at all on my current grow. It is abundantly obvious to me now that colas are fatter when they have leaves to power them. There is no way I will defoliate again.
We need to be skeptical of these practices in the cannabis growing community that have no analog elsewhere in horticulture or agriculture. Defoliation is done to cotton only to aid the harvesting process. There are no examples of farmers of any crops removing the leaves to generate larger fruit or flowers in any agricultural or horticultural application. The reason, of course, is that it goes against the basic laws of plant science. Leaves harvest light energy and provide the plant with photosynthate which is vital for the plant to produce fruit and flowers.
Plenty of growers will swear by defoliation. And they can certainly grow good buds. I grew 10 ounces and most of it was great on heavily defoliated plants. I grew 14.5 ounces on the plants I didn't defoliate in the same tent with the same lights - and it all appears to be great.

Campesino Why I absolutely enjoy hearing your responses! Thanks for the info!!!

[IslandColas]

Campesino I was skeptical about it but all the information I could find on the web was basically telling me to defoliate. I went with a light lollipop and removed just a few leaves to encourage height gain on some colas. I don’t think I will touch them much after this.

[IslandColas]

Cheers IslandColas
I still prune some leaves strategically, and lollipop my plants... So I do cut leaves off, but with intention and purpose - not just because they are leaves!

Here’s a 24hr recovery GIF. I don’t think I stunted nor removed enough to effect the plants negatively. My main goal was to elevate some of the side colas to even my canopy and based on my results I achieved just that. But I did it like you said, with very strategic removal of certain leaves.

Aloha!

[DankwingDuck]

This is my defoliation. I did this like 1/2 way through veg give or take a week or 2 . I only cut away the bottom growth and only on leaves that came from nodes I had cut off already or ones I felt would not make it to the canopy .

You can see through the canopy but it hasn’t been overly stripped of its foliage . The one is tied down to allow light to the bottom . It filled in nicely as you can see in the other photo .

This is was done in veg and I will thin it out in bloom after the 2 week stretch If needed . But the scrog net should be fine and I should only have to remove leaves if they are unhealthy .

I try to tuck and tie things down if I can . I wanna avoid cutting away at my ladies when ever I can .