Beginner Grower - 2nd Grow (Hydroponics)

[hotsauceMC]

2nd time around growing two clones I cut from my previous mother plant that unfortunately didn’t make it. So far these guys look pretty good to me but I am just a beginner so any feedback from the community about any worries or tips would be great.

Rh - Ranges from 40-50
Ph- Kept around 6.23-6.3

P.S - Was thinking of trimming some fan leaves off of them to give some more bud sites better light and also improve air circulation but I read somewhere that trimming those leaves could stress the plant. Would love to get some feedback on this as well if anyone has an opinion.

Happy growing GWE community! 😀✌️

[Tedtheclown]

I would trim some, definitely getting bushy. You can always trim a few spots, wait a week and trim some more! Mine where jist fine doing some trimming! They look pretty healthy so i dont think it will stress them

[RetiredGuy]

Defoliation has been a tough thing for me to understand as well. There are so many websites advising caution if you are a beginner. Yet if you look at the yields obtained by those on this site who defoliate the most, it certainly seems to help.

The yield of my first grow suffered because of too much larfy bud that did not get enough light. This grow I am removing leafs that are covering bud sites. If possible, I try to never remove both leaves at the same node.

If those plants were mine, I would start doing the same.

I normally remove just a few leaves a day, others seem to only do major defoliation several times during the grow. I am not sure which approach is the best and would love to hear the opinion of others.

[hotsauceMC]

Yeah I think I will trim a few leaves by week just to be sure that I am not stressing out the plant that much. I’ve heard cutting too much in one day can cause major stress, so I am going to take your guys advice and remove some gradually. Thanks for the replies Tedtheclown and RetiredGuy!

[RetiredGuy]

I’ve read that too, but still have never seen any stress in my plants from gradually defoliating. Happy growing!