My tent has been on the 12/12 for just over two weeks. I had to do the customary 3-week manicure early as I was way too timid on the last trimming. While doing that I realized that several of my LST wires into the soil had been completely enveloped by the stalk. All but one eventually gave it up. So that formed the question of...When do we unleash the girls from their bondage? I'm obviously late on a few of them but it was so dense down low I hadn't noticed. And of course I only saw the wires because I was doing an almost proper defoliation. Now that brings the next round of questions. I've looked at and read many, many articles on the pro/con of defoliation. I'm on the fence leaning toward leaf removal but I can't make myself do more than I have so far. Since these plants are being grown for the specific task of educating me on what to do/not do going forward I feel at home doing the trim work as needed to expose sites, etc. But a "proper defoliation" is elusive to me. What I did was place the plant up on my work bench to get an eye level view across the pot. Trimmed up any recurring leaves and bud sites from very low down and cleaned up to about 5 inches from the soil. This will help with air and light. I then set them on the floor and hovered over them in my best scissorhand mode and slowly removed the worst blockers. Back on the bench with an overhead light and trimmed up a tiny bit more to get light as deep as possible. They're not exactly stripped or anything having left some nice solar panels but really started to look more like I'd expect them to be in a few months. Can't offer a pic due to personal "dark time" with the grandson leaving for work mid-afternoon. Can't crack the tent due to smells until he leaves. Anyway, I'm looking forward to seeing them in a few days. I did notice one of them has really stretched overnight. (I can peek through the green window until I can open it up) Probably the last time I'll be able to actually lift them out of the tent so hoping I done good!
Edit before posting (is that a thing?) I checked my phone and I have two pics worth loading here for reference. Second is a bit sketchy but I'm sure you'll get it.
Edit before posting (is that a thing?) I checked my phone and I have two pics worth loading here for reference. Second is a bit sketchy but I'm sure you'll get it.
Comment