Defoliate

[Shock]

Should I defoliate again? I've defoliated 3x so far, twice since switching to 12/12.

[Shock]

[Qwertywill]

There are many different opinions on this.

I personally (Although far from a professional) would defoilate at 2-3 weeks before flowering along with final lst.

At the day you do the switch, and from what I am being told at week 3-4 during flower.

Some will say dont, but i guess that is where it is left for you to decide.... either way let us know how it goes!

[kingfish]

From the looks of your pics, I take it you are not training your plants. In that case from looking at the 2nd picture I think you're fine. All you want is for light to penetrate you plants. If you see a leaf that is covering you bud, either tuck it under or cut it off. Good luck my friend.

[Shock]

At one point I was, but I snapped off half of the plant and was left with 4 colas. I just let it do what it wanted after that. My well trained 8 cola plant ended up being a male so this is one is all I've got. I read on the tutorial that you should get rid of the leaves if they're blocking a bud site and can't be moved. I've got quite a few that are blocking bud sites but wasn't sure if I should just go ahead and defoliate the plant again instead of just a few so there is plenty of air flow.

[PRIMO]

Chop em off.

[Shock]

Literally half

[Shock]

From the base looking upward toward the light.

[9fingerleafs]

I think you should leave all the leaves for now and let her flower, great plant, big beautiful leaves btw

[Rdr123]

I’m at week 7 of flower. I have 9 plants in 4’6” x 5’6”. Being my first grow I was afraid to cut off leaves. But many bud sites were covered with fan leaves. At 4 weeks into flower I cut all fan leaves that were covering bud sites. I cut a lot of fan leaves. After a few days the plants exploded and grew lots more fan leaves. I continue to take fan leaves that cover bud sites. A few of the buds are not growing that great but most bud sites are doing great. It’s trial and error. I’ve got Durban poison, blue dream, amnesia haze, gsc and Afghanistan kush.

[Rdr123]

[D.A.A.S.69]

Rdr123 Big beautiful plants ,you got there, nice job.
If they were mine, I would most definitely, try to keep those colas from rubbing on each other, so they could get more light, and catch a good breeze, they love lots of air movement.
HappyGrowing

[ZigZag]

I'd do the same. Depending on the strength of the longer branches/cols I'd try to LST them out to the sides carefully and place the ties pretty high on the branches so you don't stress them too much where they join the stalk. I just split a plant right down the middle about three weeks ago, it was about a week into 12/12. I was lucky because it split almost right away and got it taped back together within seconds. Miraculously it didn't even show any stress the next day. I defoliate week four of veg and week three of flowering, and then if they fill in too much I may take a few of the smaller branches and more fan leaves. Then only fan leaves covering bud sites, or tuck them out of the way. Then about 2 weeks from harvest I may take most of the main leaves, leaving all but the smaller leaves and a few fan leaves, IMHP this seems to fatten the colas but having some fan leaves helps provide the energy needed to do that. Hope all goes well!

[Vitaminthc]

Depending on the health of your plants, if they are going strong go ahead and defoliate, start from inside leaves covering anything, you will see a burst from the covered shoots like premature foxtailing, but you still end up with more bud sights, as for stress, you will see a moments stunt, but a dash of kelp or fulvic acid along with your base nutrients is a good way to shorten that stunt, I use agricultural pruning sealant as a instant plaster for that extra OCD.

You have plenty of colas and will have a sufficient harvest, if you want larf at the bottom/maximum usage of available bud shoots and weight then don’t defoliate!

If after defoliation you see new fan leaves growing rapidly but your buds are staying the same just new shoots then you might want to consider this, if you want those extra fat pristine nugs that are extra potent and richer in crystals and terpenes and you don’t mind sacrificing a bit of physical weight at the end, then defoliate while your plants leaves are still green and growing strong, start from inside fan leaves work you way down, then out, eventually you’ll be left with sugar leaves, stems and nugs, do this to a specific plant that’s too bushy if you’re sketched to test it against the rest, with some TLC your plants will convert all of the energy it was using to grow the fans back into the nugs!

Ive seen gaspackgardens grow a plant with mega buds and no bloody leaves at all every single one was stripped as they popped. Crazy shit, but do be mindful and guage every plant as you do it, they will all respond differently, problem with growing too many different strains at once, but on the other hand ultra fun and full of surprise

[ZigZag]

So are "gaspackedgardens" grows which are heavily supplemented with CO2? I might try stripping most of the leaves from one of my Exodus Cheese in about 2 weeks_ I think they are about 4 weeks from harvest. There are three of them and one has a lot of long branches and is growing similar to a super cropped plant_lots of colas at the top but since there are so many I think they are smaller than on the other plants because of that. I'm hoping if I trim them they'll put more energy into those colas and fatten them up but am concerned that I'll be reducing the amount of photosynthesis needed to accomplish that. Guess I can try it and see... and maintain my normal defoliation program (basically identical to the one you describe above which has always worked well for me) on the rest. Comments appreciated!