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"HOW OFTEN TO REMOVE FAN LEAF'S.."

I think cutting one fan Leaf is considered defoliation I think you're right on topic weasel I may not agree with you but you are on topic
 
Weasel said:
Defoliation is one of those terms that sometimes gets people all excited and make some choose sides over the issue. In reality I think it's a tool that has its place in certain circumstances.

Other people seem to have different experiences than mine so I'll just say my experience and I fully accept that other people have had different ones- it's not black and white.

My experience is that it works well with heavy Indicas like Kush strains and with sativas it mostly just slows them down.

Most of my pure sativas tend to go through their own natural defoliation process and lose a lot of their leaves during flowering. Some sativa strains end up with almost no fan leaves by harvest time.

Defol also seems to be something that might come in handy when you're growing with LED lights, which generally have poor penetration.

As long as my plant is receiving lots of light I don't see any need to remove leaves. I do believe they are there for a purpose.

I do remove plenty of growth when it's in a shaded spot, or when it is causing major shading itself - too bushy and needs thinning out.

I don't remove fan leaves as a matter of course.
I rarely defol at all anymore other than trimming undergrowth- but I'm growing mainly sativas and they don't seem to like it, IME.

There is a technique of heavy defol which in my experience works best with heavy indicas, and involves removing most fans two or three times during flowering. Timing of the defol seems to be important in this technique- generally a process of constantly removing leaves seems to slow the plant down too much.


I've done side by side grows with this type of major defoliation, vs none,and was happier with the untouched plants. The defol plants yielded slightly more but at harvest time it was a matter of trimming hundreds of tiny buds vs a few dozen big ones.


But- I don't grow the kind of strains that seem to take to it- I haven't done it very much- it's not really my thing. I'm not an expert.
That method of defol can definitely increase yield in some strains- up to 30% it seems.

My best plants yield around one gram per watt. That's a very good yield. I don't feel the need to go to extra work removing leaves even if it did increase yield for me. Besides which I'm almost 100% sure it would reduce my yield, in my situation.

I'd encourage anyone considering defol to have an open mind about it, and constantly experiment to see when it works and when it doesn't

This is a Critical Cheese plant I grew 12/12 from seed as part of a solo cup grow competition. It took 101 days from seed to harvest. I didn't remove a single leaf on it till harvest. Why would I?
I don't believe any defoliation would have done anything but slow it down and give me a smaller plant. I realize the picture proves nothing whatsoever I'm just tossing it in because I feel like it.;)

This plant yielded just over 42 grams. Something like 42.1 I think. So almost an ounce and a half. That completely kicks ass on my regular plants, yield wise.

Click to expand...

Just wondering; is that an 'auto' or a 'photoperiod' plant? Thanks in advance!:)
 
Yeah it's a pretty divisive topic. Reality is - there are different realities -and more than one right way of doing things. People get so worked up 'knowing' that they're right and the other guy is wrong.
As long as we're still having fun discussing and growing our favourite beautiful plant, then it's all good.
​​​​​​​ Keep on trying new stuff and learning.
 
I will be honest,i only looked through the thread to see if Green has been on here...And he has so there's pretty much nothing i can say..I can post pictures that would hurt peoples eyes....
P1310030.JPG
 
It's a photo- Dinafem Critical Cheese. Grown 12/12 from seed.
If it was an auto I would have done 24/0 or 18/6
 
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So I can trim off leaves well into bloom without stressing plant? Thought this can stress them to much but I feel the need to strip them to many leaves.
 
The herb you mean? Yes and I still have the big top bud of that plant curing since harvest last April.
I screwed up the reveg of that solo cup plant- (got in a funk and somehow missed a watering (Doh!) )
But I had one other CC seed which I planted and have been growing that one and it's clones ever since in my regular scrogged ten gallon pots. Have produced many ounces of it. The second seed/pheno was a little different but still great. Goes purple late in harvest.
I don't smoke indica strains just sativa, the indicas and crosses go to the three licensed patients I supply.
My experience with the Cheese was that I liked it and it was strong as hell but like most indica/crosses it wasn't to my taste really.
But- it's kick-ass herb, gets the A+ rating from everyone who tries it, and is the favourite of the patients with the exception maybe of Pineapple Chunk. They're about equally strong. I'm trying to phase out the PC and replace it with the Cheese because the PC is a pain to grow.
I can recommend the CC strain 110%. Amazing genetics. Even in veg the perfect structure and health of the plant is just incredible to look at.
 
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I defoliate from the very beginning so my plants are used to it not quite sure how your plants would react to something so drastic this late in the game if you haven't practiced defoliation on them at all.. start small increase every few days till you're happy
 
Wow thats great info right there man thanks!!I have been really thinking of quitting photoperiod unless it comes to something i really want to grow (i even listed frisian dew so the duck is out my photoperiod plants)!I have a good list with 21%+ thc that goes up to 35 strains of autos i can put in a single order and get done with it!!(That includes a decent number of extra auto freebies unless a photoperiod premium strain is around) !

The reason im thinking of this is because gram per watt wont change and you can do the same amount of bud with less trying and more enjoying,plus it takes a month less and the varieties are going mad lately !!
 
Well Nartak that plant is a photo- in case you missed it. I don't grow autos myself.
But in terms of straight up production yield as well as fun- the 12/12 solo cup grow was great.
It's fun growing new strains from seed and the old veg, clone, label, flower, repeat- routine can feel like work sometimes.
So that would definitely be one attraction to autos.
I grow small one-off strains like that solo cup thing for fun and strain exploration. If they're good enough they become one of the cloned bread and butter strains or personal smoke strains.
 
I know she is a photo,was thinking an auto would be the same in terms of yield and an overall less work for me...I have yet to reach the point where im "researching strains" In time... ;) thanks for the tips man!
 
There are many very experienced growers who say that autos are a waste of time and energy indoors - because they use more energy overall, aren't faster in the end, and produce lower grade herb. It's not an argument I'd ever get into and I've got no interest in them to begin with- but probably worth looking into. Depends on your priorities. Yet another touchy subject no doubt.
 
KingSimon - yes it was grown in coco. I watered it three times a day (had to to keep it from drying out). So I would call that drain-to-waste hydro.
 
I wasn't going to be around to water the thing constantly so I made a quick auto-watering system. A garbage can for a reservoir, a little electric pump on a timer, with a garden hose running to a 'manifold', which is basically a splitter turning the garden hose flow into a bunch of 1/4" lines. The res was mixed with nutrients and I set the timer for three waterings a day - one minute is the lowest setting in the timer. Nutes were weak- never got much past 1.1 EC. But yes- it got fed with every watering. This was my first time doing any of this hydro type stuff - I just sort of whipped it together from stuff I had around. It was easy and worked well.
 
Wow, that's hard core. I'm looking forward to seeing her in a few days. I've not been doing that much, but I have been following the cutters. Mostly because it feels like something that I can "do", you know, gardening and shit, because this is all so new to me. But my plants are doing well, and it's a real rush seeing them go from hairless pups to thick bushes again.
 
DingusKhan said:
Wow, that's hard core. I'm looking forward to seeing her in a few days. I've not been doing that much, but I have been following the cutters. Mostly because it feels like something that I can "do", you know, gardening and shit, because this is all so new to me. But my plants are doing well, and it's a real rush seeing them go from hairless pups to thick bushes again.
Click to expand...

Haha yeah it looks extreme but their leaves on top are already touching on 2 out of 4 plants so 2moro they will be shading budsites again ;) I'll give them 4 days this time and it will keep getting longer and longer before i pinch every time but im not going to stop until the 5th or so week...
 
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