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Should I defoliate more?

I'm not sure it will increase yields on a single plant per say just saying that if I manifold I will be able to fit more plants in my space. Instead of tying and managing a canopy that can explode in bloom. I think I could have done a scrog and had better management but live and learn I guess. My first grow was phenomenal for such a novice I actually had it tested Integrity Labs passed all my molds no pesticides and thc was 24.35% I could have gotten off a better cure and it probably would have been better but now I know where I went wrong. The strain I grew averages at 16% so I thought I was well on my way to being a better then average grower. Just wish I wrote some stuff down that I did my first go to produce some higher quality. Yield isn't as important if it's not quality if you want good smoke imo but to make edibles and tinctures quantity would be ideal.
 
Way to make one word "here" turn into one of the deeper rabbit holes on GWE DangerDan! That's some intense, mind-melting stuff. Compliments to defining terms clearly such as pruning vs leafing.

So...I'm one of those who said they would do a defoliation experiment. I tried to keep it as objective and unbiased as I could. Overall I would rate the experiment as a complete success, it indeed showed a clear difference between defoliating and not. I pruned and trained them all the same up until flipping the lights and then I chose to leave one plant from each strain untouched for the remainder of the grow (still bent and spread physically to control shape). I was lured into thinking that defoliation increases yields and I wanted to give "shwazzing" a try - defoliate HEAVY in week 1 and 3 of Bloom. My pictures kinda suck and I don't have any quantifiable evidence such as total yield amounts.

My conclusions mirror yours. Enjoyable reads, thanks!
 
This is very interesting maybe a good expirement for my next grow. I plan on doing test subjects from seed. Same strain and see the difference of the outcome. Few questions. Obviously there is a difference in the amount of foliage taken off from pruning to lolipopping. Isn't it still the act of defoliating? So you're saying not to prune at all? When you top a plant is that not a form of pruning or defoliation? So no topping? I wouldn't have a problem growing a little bigger indoors but would have to keep veg down to a minimum in order to contain this expirement. My next harvest will be late March or early April which will be a great time of the year to start seeds. Looking forward to a little expirement since I won't have the time for more then 2. Think it will be fun.
 
Chefbjy, I'm somewhat in the middle- I top the 5th node and give the plants plenty of time to grow on it's own.
I do not lollipop, but at flowering week #3, I defoliate leaving a skirt of large fan leaves and 10 cola's to develop buds. (amount of defoliation (or not) is left to judgement)
There are long periods of time when the plant is left untouched, except food and water.

Here is one grow in progress: https://forum.growweedeasy.com/foru...s-grow-fastbuds-girl-scout-cookies-autoflower
 
Weed Pharma I didn't lollipop either per say but I did cut away a lot to produce one with around 30 tops one with around 20 and another with 15. My canopy is pretty large on 2 plants and they cover almost half my grow tent. Also like to imply that defoliating in my current grow environment has to have a lot of effect on humidity and would be harder to control with more vegetation. I was thinking of cutting more off in week 3 but I don't think it will help or increase yields by any means so I've decided against it. I have 8-9 week strains so I have a ways to go and going to get a better camera so my pics will be clearer like yours are. I'm going to be posting to try a journal of sorts I guess. I don't know if I made it properly and maybe not the best well written journal out there but I started it here https://forum.growweedeasy.com/forum/growing-community/174383-she-s-a-beast
 
Don't sell yourself short, your efforts are outstanding! Thanks for compiling all this information on the subject. This won't be the first or last thread on the matter but hopefully it encourages people to try their own comparisons.

I'm assuming we are privy to the content of another future article "To Defoliate Or Not To Defoliate" Too bad you keep unearthing with more and more awesome material or else you could finish and publish by now. Much love!
 
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Yes, i have been focusing on the biggest questions relating to growing and lighting. This forum has allowed me to understand what those are and to investigate. So the people here really give me the content to work off. The defoliate article has mostly been done with my posts from that thread, it just needs to be consolidated, revised and restructured for easier readability.
 
@chefbjy

Everything that removes material from a plant is a form of pruning, which is to control the shape, structure and function of a plant and improve its overall health, performance or appearance.

Here are some popular methods of pruning.

Defoliating is the action of removing leaves for agriculture or military tactic purposes. The practice of defoliating in agriculture is not a practice used for improving fruit yield, but for other practical purposes such as harvesting efficiency, forced dormancy, disease control etc.

Shaping or controlling a plants structure through apical manipulation has a few names, usually defined by the type of manipulation. For cannabis we typically just call it topping. By manipulating where a plants apical dominance is directed. A grower can change the natural structure of a plant to something more preferred by the grower.

Fruit, flower or branch thinning is a process of removing plant material to make way for other growth. This is very important for example in orchards where the developement of fruit is of priority. Thinning either from branch, flower or fruit thinning. Can help to promote healthier, larger or tastier fruit.
 
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