Need advice please on current condition

[Dannyboy58]

Canuck147 I appreciate any advice or criticism but I'm not sure I understand what defol you're referring to? Are you referring to what you see in these photos? Because i did remove leaves just prior to these photos. Most of the ones I removed were 3 lobe leaves that were shading buds beneath.

The only leaves I ever clipped prior to the first flower were fan leaves that I thought were blocking light to bloom sites. I did this a few times during the veg stage and training. Are you referring to those leaves?

Is there reference material you could point me to that would help? I've wondered all along if I was being too liberal with the shears but I was trying to follow what I was seeing in the other training threads.

I have the afghans right behind the NLs so I'd like to treat them the best way possible to get the highest production.

 

[Canuck147]

Referring to the post on June 6 - and to the pic above.
Not sure of any reference material - I've never looked for any in the defoliate category. I just go by what I've done in the past.
I feel that I've got a pretty good read on autoflowers - so I adjust to their needs.

 

[Dannyboy58]

Canuck147. Gotcha so the picture on the 6th I had just taken leaves off too, mostly fans I think but also a few 3 lobes I'd seen that may have been sugar leaves... So so you defol early in flowering? Or you just think I just took too much? Like I said I'm just going by gut and my gut is in over it's head ATM. Also I just kinda like fiddling with them I guess...

I just found a defoliation tutorial by Nebula and another by Keef Treez, both regarding defol during flowering to increase yield, neither focuses on autos but I assume once flowering begins all things are about equal between photos/autos?

I'll read those more than once and see what other threads I can find on the subject. When the Afghans begin to flower maybe I'll start a thread on the topic and ask for advice prior to sharpening my shears...

I plan on sticking with autos for the foreseeable future so feel free to share your experiences.

 

[Canuck147]

Best experience I can tell you is what I'm calling '8 leaf removal' - this is done early on - as the nodes and branches are developing.

It's also the best way to tell if your particular plant us finicky to training or not.

Plant should be growing well by the time they're working on their third or fourth node. Those big fan leaves on top are the first pairs to go - only snip 2 at a time. - the ones blocking potential growth. Watch how they react.
Not long after - probably just a few days - snip off the next pair doing the most blocking from above.

All in all onecuts off 4 pairs of leaves allowing the growth below to develop into branches and if done early on and properly one will have 8 branches plus the main cola - lot of the time those 8 branches grow almost as high as the main .

Thats what I'm doing next - LST is not really my cup of tea - I'll do LST only if I have to.

 

[Dannyboy58]

Canuck147 but that's during veg right? What about topping? That one pictured above was not topped and no LST. I have a NL a week behind it that was topped after the 5th node and has had LST. It has had fairly liberal removal of large fan leaves up until flowering and not a lot since then. That's it in the first pic. The second pic is my two afghans. I think they're about to flower at 7 weeks from seed for the one in back, 6 the one in front. The one in the back was also topped above the 5th node, neither LST'd but have had big fans removed a few times. Otherwise they'd be even more dense. Way too much plant in the one container so lesson learned there. Anyway as these progress into flower I'd appreciate any advice on when and how to defol. Seems the afghans will certainly need it. I took a few big fan leaves off the front one today.

 

[RonnieB]

When you checked your ph was it at a different time than usual? Ph will fluctuate a bit during the day. Or did you check it at your usual time. When checking ph in reservoirs its wise to check it at the same time every time.

 

[Dannyboy58]

Interesting that you say that....I was just wondering that yesterday. I've had a few super low pH readings recently and even changed out the water early a couple of days ago. When the pH was very low and tds had dropped a lot. Based on the feeding chart, drinking water, low TDS, low pH, I felt it needed a change and increase in TDS. Then yesterday when I checked it pH had risen to 6.9.

So that begs the question, when do you respond to a radical pH change?