Defoliation tips??

[Cunjo420]

Hello.
This is my second post on this same plant.
Took photos during night so it is more visible.
​​​I want to know should I let her grow or should I do 5th defoliation so far. Plant gone wild and started producing tons of new growth. Should I let leaves bump into each other or make space in betwen them. I have feeling she is producing unnecesary leaves while taking up energy. I want to make importNt steps to get more yields. Strain is skunk xl 11 week veg state. Ive trained her, topped her even defoliate bigger leaves hoping for more growth which now went wild. Massive amounts of small leaves.leave them or cut them? Dont want whole plant in shadows and important parts not getting sun . Sorry for double post. And thanks for help

 

[Obi-Wan]

As a card carrying member of the “Defoliators” club I would say no you shouldn’t take off any leaves at this point. If you really want to open up the plant and unlock it’s potential yields, you should slowly start to bend the plant down to open up those bud sites. Work it down slowly at multiple points. Start by trying to pull the bottom of the plant 1-2 inches to the left and secure it. Then rotate the pot 90 degrees clockwise move up 4-6 inches on the plant and pull it down to the right slightly and secure it. Rotate the plant counter clockwise 90 degrees and pull the top of the plant slightly back towards you and secure it. Over the course of the next 2 weeks gently tighten your security ties and it will gradually pull the plant down and into a semi circle opening up you current bud sites in a somewhat even canopy.

 

[Gingerbeard]

5th defoliation so far? I don't see it. I see some branches that have been snipped. What do you consider defoliating? I'm not sure when you plan to flip to 12/12. Get yourself back to watching it grow a few more nodes before doing so. If you've been vegging for 11 weeks, I'm assuming it's a feminized? So you should have as much time vegging as you want. Consider doing a single topping to bring up your yield. Too much snip-snip will seriously deplete your crop. That's experience.

And what Obi-Wan said. I had to sketch up a story board to figure it out, but yeah. What OW said, plus a bigger pot.

 

[UndergroundFarmer]

I agree that spreading out the upper growth is about the best you can do for her right now. If she is an outdoor plant, you should have plenty of time (the summer solstice isn't even here yet) to get her into shape and making lots of bud sites.

Read this for more about defoliation: https://www.growweedeasy.com/nebulas-3-step-defoliation-tutorial-2020

Browsing and reading though the tutorials on the main site is a great way to learn about and possibly stop problems before they become problems. Stick with it and the big yields will come.