For a few years now - the boss (Mr GreenJeans) has been pushing me further and further in defoliating my plants in the second week in flower. Basically leaving the tops and stripping everything else off. I hav found that this decreases my popcorn and waste and increases my cola count and size/mass. It has proven at least for me that it works. Below are some pictures of some Lemonberry I just defoliated Does anyone else out there aggressively defoliate??
DXE there is a book out called three pounds per light. One of their techniques is to remove all fan leaves/defoliate the day the lights are flipped to 12/12. Three weeks later they defoliate the flowering plants one more time. I may adjust my defoliation technique a little after this next run. The wildberry I have on the table in veg I will be trying their time frame for defoliation. Defoliation works but is scary if you have never tried it. DXE keep up the good work:thumbs-up:
There's proof on GK that defoliating works. I don't have the balls for heavy duty stuff like some...boss.... But will say that even my gardens get a full prune when they switch to flower. The entire bottom 30% of the plant gets denuded. Then any shoots or branches that are not going to be of value get lopped off. My weights have stayed virtually constant from before I started using this practice. The difference is the better overall quality and consistency of the buds. Much much less popcorn. Which means more marketable weight.
Resin I am sold on the practice - It's kind of fun (n a sick way) to push this - you really think you are hurting the plant but 24 hours after the trim the plant explodes with new growth. I believe the plant thinks it was injured - prolly a natural response to the wild - an animal breaks off a branch - the plant must release chemicals to repair/stimulate growth. Couple that with a feeding and watch it go. I do agree the overall quality of the finished product is better and I still have plenty of sugar leaves and other trim to make BHO or hash. I think a general rule of thumb would be 2/3 of the plant is completly stripped, all lower branches that have not grown up to the canopy are gone. In my case I would say I am at about 80% stripped. Try it one day on a single plant and compare
Some good info here. I have been defoliating at the start of flower but leaving a few fans. Bottom 30 percent of the plant is bare. Kinda feeling my way along but this thread affirms what I am trying to accomplish. Have been getting better yields . Is kinda scary at times, wondering now far to push it.
Here are some pictures - the one on the right shows the room I just defoliated 48 hours ago the other is lemonberry and GSC at 5 weeks (3 weeks after defoliation)
Any one have any active comparison photos , heavily vs lightly defaulted from beginning to end under same conditions and genetics etc.. to see actual side by side comparrison? I'm curios. I've always defoilated but more along the lines of bottom 30 percent like most , really interested in the 3lb per light book mrgreenjeans, would you say you've the read helped you to significantly increase your yields?
is it bad to keep cutting big fan leaves up to week 4 of flower as part of defoliation? If I dont keep up with it in my dwc totes its a major jungle. I dont do the major chop at light flip because I like the good size smaller buds I get with Led lights. I cant seem to trade getting rid of all those smaller buds for a little fatter tops, not to mention all the material that can be used for extracts, but if I were depending on making the cash from the bigger tops I would do the lower chop. We all know alot of paying customers like big cola buds, but if you making hash or oil....its kind of a trade off.
This is typically what my garden looks like after the final trim two weeks into flower. Pics should be right side up this time /monthly_2016_04/57a6cc84490d3_image_275271.jpg.75dc46ac01d6fdc1203808ae0951ab6b.jpg /monthly_2016_04/57a6cc84e8694_image_275261.jpg.8fe702c97c48a6892f5ff7d84ac964ff.jpg /monthly_2016_04/image.jpeg.4b36080c2cdcb5e96b2466b5f08a00a8.jpeg /monthly_2016_04/image.jpeg.fa4b29547fb4bc267d19e0be55644ef1.jpeg
Ok, I took the plunge and defoliated the hell out of a couple of plants and yes, they started springing back with new growth. Buds are fattening up quicker and I am a believer. Still kinda spooky, though.
Ducrider, what ferts you using, I don't have any where near that amount of bud production until week 4 ... just curiuos.. right now I'm using ionic 1 part veg / bloom and aptus line up for flower. Thumbs up dude. Looks good !
Duc and I are using pretty much the same - a classic soil mix that has been posted on here before (I think it was Resins formula) (bone meal, blood meal, epsome salt,dolomite lime, mykos, liquid fish fert and liquid kelp) - during veg we give Drammatic-o and during flower drammatic-k with calmag and I use carboload (sugar). Form me its cal-mag and sugar every water (after 2 weeks flower) and alternate water gets dramm-kAttached is a picture of Lemonberry and Aurora Borealis 3 weeks after defoliation (5 weeks flower). This is typical of bud formation i get using this technique /monthly_2016_04/IMG_6255.jpg.fd2d4ea61eabf7c18ce7c8f83afadcc2.jpg
