Week 6 and look at all those leaves. Defoliate?

[madams9]

Welcome to the middle of week 6. Here are some pics. They've been color corrected as best I can. The plant is a Blue Dream auto and it's all of about 6 - 8 inches tall. I expect a stretch in a week or so, but in the meantime, notice that there is a lot of leafy stuff buried under all the big leaves. On 2 previous occasions I have defoliated a bit to expose the interior of the plant. I don't know what actual effect it had on the plant, but it didn't seem to hurt it - it just grew a bunch of new vegetation. LST has been progressing nicely and I'm happy with the plants appearance (color, blemishes, etc.).

In your opinion(s), should I prune off some of these bigger leaves, or just leave them and rely on the big leaves to power the coming stretch? I'm hearing conflicting information from other sources. What do you think?

Here are some pics taken after tightening up the LST today.










Shot of the stalk just for the record.



Thanks for any feedback. I appreciate your having a look.

[LurkingInTheGrass]

pruning, plucking, taking fan leaves is going to get you a lot of feedback, in the end you have decide how many/few to take

many of us hit this section (over and over and over)

https://www.growweedeasy.com/defoliation

looks like you are doing a great job

[oldjarhead100]

I posted a picture after I did a week three trim Nebula asked if I was going to trim her ,she said I could do more so I did I took all the fans looked like a skeleton .never bothered it at all they just kept on growing .

Autos should be in bloom by 6 weeks Now MCubed said that in his experience the plant slows going into bloom until training is done I personally have not grown enough autos to say . I am going with training for the grow and we will see the yields after

[Canuck147]

In my opinion - snip snip

[madams9]

pruning, plucking, taking fan leaves is going to get you a lot of feedback, in the end you have decide how many/few to take

many of us hit this section (over and over and over)
https://www.growweedeasy.com/defoliation

Right.
Been there.
Obsessed over that.

looks like you are doing a great job

Thank you sir!

[madams9]

In my opinion - snip snip

Roger dodger.

Gracias, eh.

[Canuck147]

Take a look at a thread on this forum called 'The Great Auto Showdown' - all are autoflowers are about the same age as yours - we all started roughly December 1.

[madams9]

Take a look at a thread on this forum called 'The Great Auto Showdown' - all are autoflowers are about the same age as yours - we all started roughly December 1.

Those plants all look very different from mine. Taken as a guide, I should lop of about 80% or more of the foliage I have now. Is that about right?

[Canuck147]

All different growers too - I would take off leaves that are hindering lower bud growth - one needs to do this in a tent cuz buds are gonna grow and then they are going to get plumper and will need the air circulation.

Then - I would remove lower leaves that aren't getting any light as well as a few leaves that are growing towards the middle.
But it's all up to you - it's your plant. If you have any trepidation about doing any snipping, just do a bit at a time.

[oldjarhead100]

madams9 I think you should trim a branch up really well most of fan leafs off and then look at it in 3 or 4 days you wont be able to tell you trimmed it ,this way you wont be freaked out about it lol you can always do more later

[PRIMO]

That's good advice ojh.

[madams9]

I'm really not that hesitant to do it. This would be the third haircut I've given her. In fact, I'm planning on thinning her out here after I finish my cheerios. I'll also be installing a new bracket for the webcam and some other maintenance in the tent.

I'm not afraid that the plant won't recover, I'm just concerned about compromising growth and development prior to flowering, which should happen in the next week or so (I know I keep saying that, but surely it will eventually flower).

I'll post some pics this evening. I'm sure it will be fine. I keep thinking about the plants in the autoflower showdown thread and If those are okay, and they certainly appear to be, then how bad can I screw it up?

We'll see.

Thanks for the response on this everyone.

[madams9]

So, the deed is done. I may have gone too far, but it sure makes LST easier to manage.

Let me know what you think - productive flowering in the future, or just lingering death.

Here it was pre-trim:



Here is is after the fact:



Here it is from the top. It actually looks better in terms of layout than I thought, but I had to twiddle with the attachment points of the anchors, moved some, simply reattached others.




As always, advice is welcome.

Thanks for looking.

[madams9]

@alltatup

I think I see what you mean. A little bush in the middle couldn't hurt. This is important to remember for the next grow.

In 48 hours the plant has put on noticeable growth. Hopefully that trend continues. Watch this thread for more.

[alltatup]

madams9 I deleted my comment: I've never manifolded, I've topped. Totally different. I looked at a bunch of pics of manifolds, and yours looks perfect. So my bad: I was thinking about how I try to coax out colas after I've topped and flowering starts.

They're gonna be monster colas!!!

[LurkingInTheGrass]

I like it - nice structure



is that 10? rock solid stems?

[madams9]

Thanks. Yes, that's 10.

Too many?

[LurkingInTheGrass]

NO - its perfect, I am marveling at them

each one will be the base, of a monster cola. When she starts flowering - each cola will very likely turn into a plant unto itself (with more growth coming of the cola)

can't wait to see how she ends

[LurkingInTheGrass]

now, you have to juggle their tips - so they each end up with 2" space around them, and they all stay on the same level

[madams9]

That's what I'm hoping for. I just wonder how long she'll have to recover before flowering starts. And then I have to sweat the decision to set up a trellis or just tether each cola.

Looking forward to it .

[madams9]

Not sure exactly what we're talking about here, but the stems are denuded from stalk to the pom-pom on the tip. I left a little extra foliage on a couple of stems because I was concerned that the plant might not have enough leaves to stay healthy.

I'm interested in knowing what others think about training for 10 colas. I just naively worked with what the plant had. I'm getting the impression that what I've got isn't bad but is somehow not recommended. I'm curious about that.

[Canuck147]

To be honest with you - my first impression was shock - extremely defoliated - sorry but not to my liking. I will follow this thread and help if I can cuz I'm interested how your plant reacts and ultimately ends up. That is if you keep us posted we will follow.

[madams9]

I can relate. She's skinned alive. But that reflects what I'm seeing in all the LST stuff I've read and the autoflower Showdown. Extreme stuff.

The good news is that she's perky and happy looking. All 10 stems (should be a better name for these structures) are turning up and continuing to put on growth.

I checked EC this morning and it read low, so I fed 1.5 Oz grow big and 0.5 Oz Big Bloom (or vice versa. I'm trying to skimp on the Nitrogen to avoid over doing it.). Also noticed the soup seemed a little warm so I sunk a half dozen bottles of ice in it.

This should be the last time I mess with training and I really don't anticipate much more defoliation in the future. It looks ready to go vertical. If I can avoid mistakes in the res, I think it's going to be grand. Trouble is that I don't know what I don't know.

https://goo.gl/D2w31m

I appreciate the support.

[LurkingInTheGrass]

madams9

you have done a GREAT job


I like the pom-pom tips - and you were thinking right about leaving extra leaves


you asked for opinions and thoughts
take them on board and think about them, they aren't criticisms, just differences in thoughts/methods

the hard part with being so new here is understanding where each of us are coming from, and how we treat our plants. We are a herd of cats, and cats don't enjoy being herded


I am going to tag Mr.furley , because I think he would really like to see this plant
I am going to tag alltatup , because every thread needs some Atu

[PRIMO]

My first thought was Perfect! Its now two days later. How do they look now?

[madams9]

It looks good. I'm at work and have no recent pics. Here's a link to a live feed from the tent. You can't tell much but you can see that she's up right and leafy.

http://adams-lan.org:8081

See what you think.

[madams9]

I am going to tag Mr.furley , because I think he would really like to see this plant
I am going to tag alltatup , because every thread needs some Atu

Awesome. The more the merrier.

[Mr.furley]

@madams9
I'm kind on the fence with it like Canuck147 when I first peeped, it was a Heavy D feeling, not saying it is bad at all just more then I was expecting. There was a grower on here that would grow autos without much leaf and he did a great job and I have strip photoperiod Plants to nothing so I would expect this to turn out great.
My only advice would be 1) Let It Grow now 2) next time leave a top or two for the middle.
Good luck.

[alltatup]

madams9 I am here to obey your every command. I made one "opinion" comment above.

AND, I agree w/ what Mr.furley said.