Defoliation.

Thedocbrown

New Member
I have a critical mass plant that has been Budding for about a week, I decided to defoliate it last night, I feel like I may have cut too many leaves, here is a picture of it before I cut, give me some advise
 

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VX420

Active Member
it looked fine BEFORE you cut.. don't know what it looks like now Funny how we DEFOILATE trees and plants (Agent Orange) to kill them, but some people just want to cut those leave off anyway.

Pruning is not Defoilateing
 

rickymac21

Well-Known Member
That plant doesnt nees pruning. Your just hurting it.

Most of the time i prune, its with a plant that got a little too bushy in the lower section. And even then i dont cut off the leaves. Just the skinny budsites on branches. Ill end up with 1 decent bud from that lower branch instead of 3 fluffy buds.

Anyways, the idea is to cut as little of the plant as possible.
 

howsitgrowin420

Well-Known Member
You opened the door to comments from a bunch of....well, let's not call names, but you can already see that people are just going to jump into the defoliation debate without really giving you any advice. Additionally, people don't realize that you can't read sarcasm...you can assume it, but you can't read it directly.

Your plant looks fine for its age. But, you've chosen to grow a lot of undergrowth and I'd bet that most of that will be pretty whispy late in flower. Later in flower, after your top buds fatten up, you may want to strategically remove some fan leaves to allow some light to get through to the lower branches. Now watch people call me a retard: they will take what I said to the extreme of defoliation and tell me that "buds need leaves!" or, my favorite, someone will post a picture of a harvested plant [insert overplayed joke here].

Good luck, save cutting off fan leaves for later in flower when you are trying to strategically free up light for the lower buds.
 
You opened the door to comments from a bunch of....well, let's not call names, but you can already see that people are just going to jump into the defoliation debate without really giving you any advice. Additionally, people don't realize that you can't read sarcasm...you can assume it, but you can't read it directly.

Your plant looks fine for its age. But, you've chosen to grow a lot of undergrowth and I'd bet that most of that will be pretty whispy late in flower. Later in flower, after your top buds fatten up, you may want to strategically remove some fan leaves to allow some light to get through to the lower branches. Now watch people call me a retard: they will take what I said to the extreme of defoliation and tell me that "buds need leaves!" or, my favorite, someone will post a picture of a harvested plant [insert overplayed joke here].

Good luck, save cutting off fan leaves for later in flower when you are trying to strategically free up light for the lower buds.
No need for that, you proved it!!!
 

howsitgrowin420

Well-Known Member
No need for that, you proved it!!!
So, just to be clear, saying that strategically removing leaves late in flower to allow for additional light penetration proves that I am a retard? Also, just to be clear, your contribution was somehow valuable? Did its value come from making 7 words in my post bold faced or did you say something that I missed?

Many people need to justify not working in their gardens. These same people can often be heard saying "it's a weed, it grows in ditches" or "mother nature doesn't remove any leaves"....personally, I gave up ditch weed a long time ago. Grow some plants out, remove some upper fan leaves on one and not on another and then compare your top and bottom buds....or, listen to the guy whose only contribution is 'no need for that, you proved it!!!!'
 
So, just to be clear, saying that strategically removing leaves late in flower to allow for additional light penetration proves that I am a retard? Also, just to be clear, your contribution was somehow valuable? Did its value come from making 7 words in my post bold faced or did you say something that I missed?

Many people need to justify not working in their gardens. These same people can often be heard saying "it's a weed, it grows in ditches" or "mother nature doesn't remove any leaves"....personally, I gave up ditch weed a long time ago. Grow some plants out, remove some upper fan leaves on one and not on another and then compare your top and bottom buds....or, listen to the guy whose only contribution is 'no need for that, you proved it!!!!'
or listen to the guy who is the ONLY one is this thread telling you to do stupid shit with your plant. HMMMMMM that's 10 for my side and 1 stupid advise,you lose
 

sandjsdad

Well-Known Member
or listen to the guy who is the ONLY one is this thread telling you to do stupid shit with your plant. HMMMMMM that's 10 for my side and 1 stupid advise,you lose
He's not telling anybody to do anything, stupid. He's offering suggestions about what to do later on when the plant is flowering. I've trimmed leaves on some plants and left them alone on some. Experimentation is a great thing. What works for you may not work for somebody else and vice versa. There are just too many variables between growers and their set-ups.

Wise people offer and take advice graciously and don't insult those they don't agree with. We can all learn something from each other.
 
He's not telling anybody to do anything, stupid. He's offering suggestions about what to do later on when the plant is flowering. I've trimmed leaves on some plants and left them alone on some. Experimentation is a great thing. What works for you may not work for somebody else and vice versa. There are just too many variables between growers and their set-ups.

Wise people offer and take advice graciously and don't insult those they don't agree with. We can all learn something from each other.
I know, mother nature is so stupid for putting those leaves there.
 

rickymac21

Well-Known Member
I never cut leaves. Ill cut off budsites that i know wont produce anything, but i always keep the all the leafs. Theres no reason to cut them.
 

Dan Drews

Well-Known Member
From what I've read, the LAST THING you want to do is remove healthy leaves from a plant that's just starting bud. You showed a before pic, cam you provide the 'after' pics?
 

howsitgrowin420

Well-Known Member
I know, mother nature is so stupid for putting those leaves there.
by that logic I am almost positive that 'mother nature' knocks leaves off. Wind, passing animals, sticks falling off of trees.....if you are going to use bad logic, then you should at least think it through. Dang, mother nature has bugs and I don't have any bugs...I must be doing something wrong!
 

Ninjabowler

Well-Known Member
I deleafed two different strains. Id call it a "medium" deleafing. Very close to the size shown in the photo. Four plants were tested next to each other. Two deleafed, two not. The end weight on both strains deleafed was very noticeably lighter. According to my tests the OP should expect less of a harvest than he should have expected.
I did this test because some idiot told me to. My plants as well as yours were in no need of deleafing given the scarcity of leaves on the plant anyway. Its not like that leggy plant is even blocking any buds with leaves anyway.
So your answer is yes, you did too much....regardless of how many leaves youve removed.
 
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