I'm going back to defoliating at two weeks for this run. I'm about to finish up the third run that I defoliated at three weeks and while this run is better than the last it's not showing me the increased yield I'd hoped for. I'm beginning to think that while defoliating at three weeks may be the magic number for hydro/tables it may not be the idea time for an organic dirt garden.. With things happening a little slower in soil and with less root mass than the same plant being run on a table I believe three weeks is too late to defoliate for us dirt diggers.. Sooooo I'm giving a full defoliation at two weeks a try. here's the group a couple of days beyond their two week trim.
Duc, do you find that the defoliation affects the stretch? When does stretch end relative to the second trim?
OS. They'll still stretch for a good 2 1/2 to 3 wks after the flip. There may be some reduction in stretch when defoliating at 2 weeks but not much and by 3 weeks they've already stretched all they're going to. I'm really just hedging by bets with this run. See, the last run that was defoliated at 3wks has a couple of weeks to and it while they look ok they don't look super fat. Last round was 8zips short, not something I'm in a hurry to repeat so a two week trim is sort of my safety net until I see how this last round turns out.
Ouch, 8 zips is a lot. I'm looking forward to seeing how your efforts turn out, as mine didn't turn out so well.
OS. In all fairness I screwed the pooch that run by defoliating them beyond the three week mark by a good 3 days. That combined with another minor issue was the real issue. 3 week defoliation for sure works with the tables and MGJ has proven time and time again, just not so sure about us dirt guys. But yeah is sucked ass to be short that much on a single run.
I'm on the chase myself brother. I've nothing to add other than for everybody's particular style of growing there is an optimum: plant size vs veg time, level of understory clean-out, level of fan leaf defoliation, and timing of defoliation. There are a lot of variables. I'm hooked on the plant sized atm. I have always thought that a small plant will produce as much as a large plant given the right structure and light. Not so. Now I think larger plants make more weight. All else being equal. You planning to plow in there?
Plant size has me running toward smaller, but not too small. I've grown gardens of 4 footers and found they produce, but are a bitch to manage and get lots of subpar buds and a few spectacular big tops. Done scrogs with tons of little plants, too much fuckin' work. Get lots of solid 3-5 gram nuggs though! For my style, garden arrangements, and patience level I settled on 24"-30" topped once with the bottom 30% bare. Gets me good light coverage, little popcorn, plenty of 5-1o gram buds and weighs out the same as fewer big plants without having to deal with the subpar lower buds. No two gardens are the same though. In a different arrangement I'd probably being growing a different style. Just gotta be flexible.
