Defoliation Help

[Radar5756]

This is my first attempt at defoliation. I'm using a 7 gallon container. 6 parts pro mix and 1 part emerald Mountain for my medium. 600 watt HPS light in a 4x4x7 tent. While in veg I removed most of the fan leaves. I did top the plant once at the 3rd node while in its early stages. This is where I'm at after 6 days in flower. Bushy thing. It measures 20" wide by 16 high.

[suneday11]

I would focus the defoliation on the bottom portion of the plant and anywhere in the middle that is too crowded. I personally don't defoliate, but I do lollipop about 1/3 of the plant. I have a panama/dc that has fan leaves that about the size of a gorilla head, but I just tuck those. Good luck. Looks healthy!

 

Is that fan a little close? hard to tell in the picture.

[pic book]

in last year's outdoor grow of blue dream, I found defoliation to be the least yield-productive of 5 training strategies, so i'd recommend running multiple plants, each with its own style of haircut, plus a control, left natural.

[suneday11]

Another thing to note is that strains react differently to defoliation. A pineapple express from years ago seemed to love it, but pic tried the experiment and got the result.....maybe a different strain does better (or worse)?

[Radar5756]

I know that fan is deceiving in that picture. I have it pointing up and over the top. I have the plant sitting on a 5 gallon bucket for now. The strain I'm working with is Space Ripper. Space Crush (female) X Jack the Ripper. She seems to be taking it well. I'm only 6 days into flower though. I have no idea what the colas look like at this point.

[ilynnboy]

Leave the sun leaves.

That's what they are there for, to catch all the sunlight for photosynthesis.

Remove the foliage from the bottom 1/3 of the plant.

Remove 1/3 of the foliage from the trunk out towards the branch tips.

That should about do it.

You may need a little LST to control her stretch.

Should stretch pretty good.

Good luck.

There was just an article on The Weed Blog about this very subject.

Here's the link;

http://www.theweedblog.com/distribution-of-sugars-within-marijuana-plants/

Enjoy

[trichcycler]

^^^^ this

 

 

what ever does nature do with all those little powerhouse leaves that plague us?

 

 

I observe she removes them when broken or not photosynthesizing any longer, and at the end of the season, when resources become scarce, she takes good care to get rid of those big ones first as they wilt and wither ........

 

I remove only damaged ones. Each individual bud does not care if its shaded by the other leaves or not. I'm guessing if less leaves made for a happier healthier plant then we would see this in nature by now?

[Radar5756]

It doesn't seem right to pluck the fan leaves while in flower. I wasn't to concerned about plucking the fan leaves off the top half of the plant while in veg. I knew they would grow back. It seemed to slow the top growth while the sides filled out. It definitely bushed out and stayed short from that. I'll post pictures every couple of weeks if anyone is interested. Thanks

[Highlander]

I only remove fan leaves that are compromised or maybe blocking light to buds...until about two weeks prior to harvest.  At that point, I snap off most fan leaves for the flush period.  In my own experience, this is the best approach.

[Radar5756]

 

33 days in flower. It measures 3' wide by 2.5' tall. I did some LST but did not remove anymore fan leaves once I flipped it to flower

 

 

 

 

I'm seeing this on some of the leaves. I have flushed and cut back on the recommended amount of nutrients. Overall the plant seems to be growing well.

[suneday11]

Not too shabby!

[Radar5756]

Thanks. This is my 5th grow.

[Radar5756]

 

 

I learned I need to use smaller pots. I'll try SCRog or manifold/mainlining before I do something like this again. It was a good learning experience.

Edited July 1, 2015 by Radar5756

[suneday11]

7 gallon pots are big, but not unheard of. I know I few people that go 10, but they veg for a good chunk of time. I find #7 nursery pots to be my best option. They hold about 5.5 real gallons and are a little more shallow than 5 gal. buckets.

[Radar5756]

I had posted pictures and took them down. I got paranoid after I medicated ????. I was able to keep the plant short (3' high x 3' wide). The first 2 weeks of flower the stems were plyable enough to were I could hang yoyos off the ends to pull the stems down. Eventually I had to use them to support the colas. 9 weeks in flower the trechomes clear to cloudy. More so cloudy with a few ambor.

[imiubu]