would you defoliate outdoors ?

[Cunjo420]

Big ? mark, since its debate if you even should defoliate outdoors some say not at all some say before flower some say only middle for airflow.
I understand all 3 might sound correct but Im sure it isnt. Indoor and outdoor I know they are 2 different songs haha.
So growers what is your opinion on outdoor defoliation when and why?

Second question I got these 2 my concern is this lemon skunk in white pot has kinda long distance betwen new growth compared to this orange bud in smaller pot which is bushier twice as much.
So is lack of training problem? I see she grows perfectly so only thing Im worried with this lemon is I dont want massive big plant with small amount of bud sites, will LST make less space between new growth.

Orange bud I like how many branches it shoots. I only had to deal with Magnesium defficency and PH.
Lemon so far 0 problems only this shoots that are in smaller number than other plant.

Thank you and sorry for writting a Bible

 

[SoOrbudgal]

Only if i get a reveg do i heavly defoiliate outdoors. I pray every summer i hit the time right for not needing to do so LOL. I don't fuss with them much outdoors i may top, or bend over the main stem only if i needed to but i normally just top and will take clones from side shoots to clone and trade with.

 

[Cunjo420]

it bothers me when I see leaves on top on another and lower leaves look like they are underdeveloped, and it makes me think its all those leaves in middle blocking the sun, but who am I to know haha. So you recommend not to defoliate right. I get scared of bushes. Cant see trough haha

 

[SoOrbudgal]

Well Cunjo420 my weather is so different from yours i believe. We are not at least i am not getting the warmer, dryer days i need to get these growing fast but it's coming around next week they say. So mine are like not bushy and i don't want to cause a slow down with removing these big fat fan leaf yet. I'm a firm believer in not removing healthy leaf on outdoor plants until they start to really block flowering bud sites so that's my answer. Later on come late aug. i'll answer that with yellowing removeal.

 

[Cunjo420]

appriciate it buddy ty alot

 

[crucialbunny]

I grow outdoors and often defoliate larger fan leaves. I have found that doing this strategically during early veg stimulates new growth for a more robust plant. I look for fan leaves that have new growth at its node. If left alone that new growth remains small and undeveloped. If I take the fan leaf the new growth will often develop into 2 or 3 new branches. I think a lot has to do with strain. For example; I have a couple Vanilla Frosting plants that need defoliation to fill out, whereas the OG Kush plants need very little attention other than some training on lower branches. Just before flower time I will also remove some leaves to allow better light penetration to the interior of the plants.

 

[SoOrbudgal]

I'm happy to hear that crucialbunny as i know i will remove these " dinner plate size fans " once they begin to show flower but they are not connected to a stem bud site just grew from the stalk but shit there huge mo fo's i'm not against it just too healthy right now shortly i think these are going to start growing much taller i got that feeling and i only topped 2 of the photos others are christmas trees hopefully 6+ft. Got them in 15gal only worked really good last summer. More indica dom. strains not suppose to grow to 12ft OMG i'd faint at the thought of trimming just one of those.

 

[crucialbunny]

SoOrbudgal My Vanilla Frosting plants are putting out some of the largest fan leaves I have ever seen. Growing for the first time in 30 gallon bags and all my plants are responding by getting so much bigger than my past 5 gallon grows. I fear that come bud time I'm going to be overwhelmed. I've been threatening to buy myself a bud trimmer for years and I think I will need to pull the trigger this year.

 

[Cunjo420]

exactly what I did, since I removed those top big fan leaves, smaller ones in middle just grew bigger and I got some branches extra

 

[Rwise]

I take off as few leaves as I can get away with, just for air flow.
However I am thinking about removing the lowest 4-6 limbs.

 

[SoOrbudgal]

Now i've done the " lollipop" type of defoil on my outdoor before and indoor taken several lower node branches off. Yes i've done radical types of torture to my outdoor towards the last month of wanting to harvest before mold might set in. But i don't normally tell new growers to try it. It's something i do to encourage bigger growth focus on the colas. But i do it very late in the flowering process.