Defoliation of MONSTER autoflower

[Electrobud]

Hey friends, it’s been a minute since I’ve been on here . Since last year to be precise . I’m hoping I can get some quick responses on what to do about my situation .
This year I’ve gone to the DWC, and have created a MONSTER Fruity cristal kush!!
she’s at 63 days as of this post. Taking up almost the entire footprint of my 4 x 4 tent, I’ve already done 2 defoliation sessions, but there are buds all over the place and tons of leaves.
This is fastbuds auto and I’m wanting to focus the flower time on the best bud sites for maximum yield,but don’t want to screw things up.Shes in early flower now, so...
do I go through and strip her out now?
Ill be happy to provide pics if needed.
Thanks for your help.
Electrobud

This grow- Fastbud: Fruity Cristal Kush

4x4x78 grow tent
2- Electric Sky 300 LED lights
18 gal sterlite tote
3-1/2” net pots w/ hydroton media
GH nuts- flora trio, liquid kool bloom, flora nectar, cal/mag, armor si, hydro guard
18/6 light schedule

[Electrobud]

[Electrobud]

These are 3-1/2” net pots, so you can get an idea of the absolute massive stalk on this girl !

[Electrobud]

[Troyzstang]

Well done. That's a monster for sure. Can i ask what type of lights you are using.

[Electrobud]

Well done. That's a monster for sure. Can i ask what type of lights you are using.

Yeah, I’m running 2 Electric Sky 300’s. They are pretty pricey, but man they really are top performing lights.

[FlyingDutchPaddy]

Hi Electro !

congrats on the girl... she does have a big stem for sure.
last grow i had pineapple express auto's from barneys farm.
two of them had stems at least 2" in diameter.

also in dwc, 25L water volume, 6" netpots. had to dispose the netpot after chopping the plant, roots were that big.
315W ceramic light


as for defoliation......
I'd suggest to try and 'free up' the inside of the plant most by removing inward growing fan leaves, the outer leaves are not in the way.
maybe you can snip a few leaves from the bottom where there isnt any light.

my guess is, this girl will deliver a very nice yield.

[Electrobud]

Ok, I know that folks have bigger priorities during this time so understandable that I hadn’t seen much response to my question......
FlyingDutchPaddy Thank you for the feedback friend! I did a little refresher course on the GWE website, thank you
NebulaHaze
and took the plunge. I figured.....hey, I’ve gotten these results once, if I screw this up I can always do it again !! Lol
heres the end result of my defoliation/ redirecting for better flower yields.

[Eliot Pryor]

I grew a couple of auto's that grew in a similar manner. The second one I clipped off a lot of branches as it was growing. It turned out much better. On yours at this point I would take off some of those little inside branches. I hate to cut off buds but you need some room around down in that bush. The first one had was like a bramble bush with hard stiff branches covered with small buds. It was impossible to dry and cure in my usual way so I had a bunch of tiny buds on tiny branches. I dried it eventually then I sort of forgot about it while I smoked the good stuff. It was in a plastic container about 3x6x12 inches big. I would use it up eventually. Rambling again. Oh well, Good luck have fun !!

[Electrobud]

I grew a couple of auto's that grew in a similar manner. The second one I clipped off a lot of branches as it was growing. It turned out much better. On yours at this point I would take off some of those little inside branches. I hate to cut off buds but you need some room around down in that bush. The first one had was like a bramble bush with hard stiff branches covered with small buds. It was impossible to dry and cure in my usual way so I had a bunch of tiny buds on tiny branches. I dried it eventually then I sort of forgot about it while I smoked the good stuff. It was in a plastic container about 3x6x12 inches big. I would use it up eventually. Rambling again. Oh well, Good luck have fun !!

Hey thanks for the feedback friend. The led’s I’m using are phenomenal. They get fantastic penetration hence the massive amount of buds all the way down to the bottom of the plant. You can see some of the lower branches growing out far enough that they can come up to get to the light . I did cut off a bunch of little bud sites on the bottom as you can see from the previous pics. I think I’m gonna ride with what I’ve got now and maybe do one more defoliation with flower.
I think the quality of the light that you use makes all the difference in the world . I have an air cooled dimmable 1000w high-pressure sodium light I’ve used on other grows, it’s very interesting to see what a difference each light makes in the growth of the plant .

[Electrobud]

I decided to post a few update pics for anyone interested in how things are progressing.