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Does too much defoliation make more sugar leaves grow and reduce bud size?

alltatup

alltatup

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I've been searching high and low for information on the internet, and y'all know how much crap is out there these days. An explosion of crap.

I know some species simply have more sugar leaves, which other species develop large buds with few sugar leaves.

I'm specifically wondering if the removal of too many fan leaves makes more sugar leaves grow. Enquiring minds want to know...
 
Good question. Subbed to hear everyone's thoughts. I feel that too much defoliation can impact the plant but not enough can also impact the plant when growing indoors. Now specifically growing more sugar leaves that is not something i ever considered but it kinda makes sense. If the plant is not getting enough light absorption because of lack of fan leaves maybe it could grow more sugar leaves to compensate when it reaches flower stage? This is just speculation but i would love to hear other ideas!
 
Alltatup, i have come to the conclusion that removing too many Fan leaves in the vegging stage reducess bud size. I will see when my current grow is ready for harvest. I intentionally left a lot more leaves on my plants then normally.
 
The sugar leaves will obviously grow if they receive extra light from defoilage. But only if there is growing spectrum why in flowering we reduce the photosynthesis par to red, bloom not veg.
 
I always thought sugar leaves were just genetic. But I'll hang in to see the opinions . I know from growing photos that removing a lot of bud sites make the buds denser but sometimes they kinda get away and I'm reluctant to cut off actual flowers. I have one now well maybe two now that went to stretching more than expected. Anyhow rambling on. Have a great grow !!
 
Hello all I enjoy this topic it's close to my grow i'm doing now. I've got 4 fem. photo's that are 6wks old. I generally defoliate as necessary in veg. and flower. Necessary meaning I remove very large fans and leave just a smidge of leaf stem I do not ever cut to the main branch cleanly, I always leave some tiny leaf stalk next to the small bud sites I want to keep. OK here's where i'm at they been growing very well under my 2 viper 450 LED at approx. 30" from tops. They are short flat compact plants very very tight nodes.
So I started to remove leaves more on just one plant not so much from the others but just one trying to see what she does. What I have right now on her is a bouquet of tightly clustered bud sites. So for my thoughts on removing all the large fans on her only produced a self protection mode to cover her bud sites with more leaves and cluster them together. I WON'T DO THIS TO ANOTHER PLANT I DO NOT RECOMEND IT. I'm hands off with that one till I put them in 12/12 let her stretch cause she is probley stunted now.
I do remove large leaves during flowering in the tent, but will pay more attention to the sugar leaves. I think many strains like WW will produce more resin, I think the strains of GG do also have more crystals on their sugar leaves. I've got more indica strains growing in the tent. They are cookie and kush strains so i'll keep and eye on the development of sugar. ATU thanks for interesting topic i'd love to hear more about other growers thoughts.
 
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Hmmmm. I dont heavily defoliate. I just remove any leaves blocking light or wind. Maybe I'll have a back to back comparison to see myself. Interesting question. I can ask our lead grower at the farm and see if he knows.
 
The truth is that nobody knows for sure. I mean, the very premise that defoliation affects the bud structure/size is hotly debated.
That disclaimer having been said, I tend to think it’s genetics mostly. I think different strains have different fan to sugar to bud ratios, and that’s probably the largest factor. But I could be brilliantly wrong lol!
 
Very true Eliot I've done that with one right now, yes her bud stalks are gonna be a cluster growing her out. Rambling you are not see my post LOL. I did a bad bad thang!
 
Some of the defoliation techniques I've seen like GML uses on his grows are the result of dialing the strain/room/lighting/nutes mix to perfection so that the plants are already in thumper mode and explode with new growth. I've found that defo- is very strain dependent so it just depends...
 
Interesting Sww good question. Does it go into the main body of the plant down to roots as if changing to dormancy?
 
Big Bud from I think Nirvana has so few fan leaves you never have to defoliate. And those plants can grow some massive weight.
 
I really appreciate all the comments so far. I'll be growing a few of the same strains on my upcoming grow, so I can experiment and maybe take fewer leaves. What I need to do is grow fewer colas that get much larger..., that each has her own space...
 
Alltatup, You don't have to grow fewer colas. Just keep them staked so they don't grow back together.
 

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yeah i think you have to try it out on every strain and see how it reacts, ive done this experiment with the only strain ive saved over several years and have grown inside and outside, small and big, nutrients no nutrients, defoliated and not. in my particular case any real defoliation in flowering will have a negative impact on the bud and cola size, i do a bit of pruning at the bottom but nothing else. the only way the plant really gets into making lots of sugar leaves (this and many other strains ive tried) its when it foxtails due to too much heat, i think we all saw a lot of that this summer. very interesting question, some food for thought
 
This is something I am actually working through, great question ATU.... in a test prior, defoliation was consistent in flower and bud development was good but I have seen better when the defoliation was minimal. The affect to sugar leaves seems to have been related to bud girth and length but that may be expected based on size alone such as bigger is more and smaller bud was less. Next time I will need to not defoliate at all and just tie and spread the branches and see if the buds develop as the first grow did by not knowing about defoliation nor doing it. The other LST method may have been more ideal. I had had some colas the size of kitchen fire extinguishers with topping alone in unrestricted indoor spaces. I did post a picture of that so I’ll try to find it again.
 
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