First time growing, went a little overboard with defoliation. Never expected my girls to do this

[Alwayslearnin]

This is my first grow, I chose to go with La confidential and Blue dream. Basically cause i wanted begginer friendly strains that would tolorate anthing stupid i would most likely do being my first go at it.
Though im no kid, and i am well obsessive compulsive when it comes to learning about things long before i try it. This is no different, i spent the better part of a year and a half reading and asking other growers who have grown these strains. So im fairly confident about the choices up to now as being able to grow these babies to get the absolute most out of them.
The day i posted in the newbie forum pics of my babies with their very bushy canopy, i got alot of they look great, people asking how much planned to get out of them. Then i posted pics minutes after i heavily defoliated them, all i left were the flat tops of the newly formed bud sights! And wow did i get crap for that, so i wanted to see if i posyed to a different forum before and after pics them last nights pics and see what you all had to say about it. So anyway herr they are, starting with just before defoliating and ending with the latest pics. im not sure why they ended up this way, the order i mean. but im sure you can tell which are recen and which are not. What do you all think about this. ai have 7 more weeks since these strains take 9-10 weeks.

 

[chemphlegm]

if you woul dhave just left them alone you would have been blessed with four times as much weight and better quality too.
every leaf is an engine running on light making food for your plants flowers. you killed their engines. you cut their fuel off.
you stole that from them. now you shall pay with dinky buds, and less of them too. live and learn. too bad too, they look really healthy otherwise
notice, nature's leaves are at their fullest when trees herbs veggies etc are flowering. follow nature for best results.

 

[lio lacidem]

This is my first grow, I chose to go with La confidential and Blue dream. Basically cause i wanted begginer friendly strains that would tolorate anthing stupid i would most likely do being my first go at it.
Though im no kid, and i am well obsessive compulsive when it comes to learning about things long before i try it. This is no different, i spent the better part of a year and a half reading and asking other growers who have grown these strains. So im fairly confident about the choices up to now as being able to grow these babies to get the absolute most out of them.
The day i posted in the newbie forum pics of my babies with their very bushy canopy, i got alot of they look great, people asking how much planned to get out of them. Then i posted pics minutes after i heavily defoliated them, all i left were the flat tops of the newly formed bud sights! And wow did i get crap for that, so i wanted to see if i posyed to a different forum before and after pics them last nights pics and see what you all had to say about it. So anyway herr they are, starting with just before defoliating and ending with the latest pics.View attachment 3853266 View attachment 3853271 View attachment 3853289View attachment 3853266 View attachment 3853271 View attachment 3853289 View attachment 3853295 View attachment 3853296 View attachment 3853312 View attachment 3853318 View attachment 3853319 View attachment 3853266 View attachment 3853271 View attachment 3853289 View attachment 3853295 View attachment 3853296im not sure why they ended up this way, the order i mean. but im sure you can tell which are recen and which are not. What do you all think about this. ai have 7 more weeks since these strains take 9-10 weeks.

Unfortunately always learning your eyes are seeing what you want them to see. If you would have left them alone or lightly pruned the yield would be alot more. At 3 weeks you should be starting to stack buds to make main colas but you left nothing too stack.

 

[idfuckmyplants]

Haha you really did rape the poor girls didn't you , you can convince yourself there doing well from it but unfortunately, you will never know what could have been .

I admire your bollox though , I wouldn't be able to bring my self to defoliate anything to that extreme lol not unless I was abusing it on purpose

 

[NuggODank]

Yikes..
To begin I understand your thought behind opening up your plant to allow light and air to penetrate your plant but you also have to realize how important the leafs are to your plant.
Not just because of the energy they create for you plant to then use to make big buds but also so you can be able to diagnose any def that happen. If you dont have leaves to read, how are you gonna know what is really wrong with your plant.
So yeah.. you went over board and it might affect your overall yield but work from here.....NO MORE PRUNING!
Just let them do their thing and next time definitely do some research about how to properly defoliate your plant so it wont affect your yields!
I hope this helps

 

[greasemonkeymann]

This is my first grow, I chose to go with La confidential and Blue dream. Basically cause i wanted begginer friendly strains that would tolorate anthing stupid i would most likely do being my first go at it.
Though im no kid, and i am well obsessive compulsive when it comes to learning about things long before i try it. This is no different, i spent the better part of a year and a half reading and asking other growers who have grown these strains. So im fairly confident about the choices up to now as being able to grow these babies to get the absolute most out of them.
The day i posted in the newbie forum pics of my babies with their very bushy canopy, i got alot of they look great, people asking how much planned to get out of them. Then i posted pics minutes after i heavily defoliated them, all i left were the flat tops of the newly formed bud sights! And wow did i get crap for that, so i wanted to see if i posyed to a different forum before and after pics them last nights pics and see what you all had to say about it. So anyway herr they are, starting with just before defoliating and ending with the latest pics.View attachment 3853266 View attachment 3853271 View attachment 3853289View attachment 3853266 View attachment 3853271 View attachment 3853289 View attachment 3853295 View attachment 3853296 View attachment 3853312 View attachment 3853318 View attachment 3853319 View attachment 3853266 View attachment 3853271 View attachment 3853289 View attachment 3853295 View attachment 3853296im not sure why they ended up this way, the order i mean. but im sure you can tell which are recen and which are not. What do you all think about this. ai have 7 more weeks since these strains take 9-10 weeks.

ouch, everyone please lament for this poor man's loss, lesson learned my man.
probably cost you nearly a pound if not more.
being a lil neurotic myself I learned decades ago, that nature has the best design, plants grow themselves. Less is better, think how a forest works.
use compost, use organics, it's easy-peazy, and I guarantee the pepsi challenge at the end will convince you to stay with that approach

 

[greasemonkeymann]

This is my first grow,
Though im no kid, and i am well obsessive compulsive when it comes to learning about things long before i try it. This is no different, i spent the better part of a year and a half reading and asking other growers who have grown these strains. So im fairly confident about the choices up to now as being able to grow these babies to get the absolute most out of them.
.

just curious, in the year and a half of research did other growers tell you to do this?
if so, please OUT them here so we can all point our fingers and flame away.
this shit has GOT to stop, you poor first time growers and all the weird bullshit that people do..
my advice is to ascertain the knowledge needed simply by reading botany/horticulture books.
Stoners are, for the most part, well... lets just say that you'd be better off by just reading how to grow roses, tomatoes, etc.
cannabis is a plant, it does NOT require any special needs what-so-fuckin-ever.

Spend a day and a half in a library, and that'll be better than a year and a half on a stoner-forum.

 

[NaturalFarmer]

just curious, in the year and a half of research did other growers tell you to do this?
if so, please OUT them here so we can all point our fingers and flame away.
this shit has GOT to stop, you poor first time growers and all the weird bullshit that people do..
my advice is to ascertain the knowledge needed simply by reading botany/horticulture books.
Stoners are, for the most part, well... lets just say that you'd be better off by just reading how to grow roses, tomatoes, etc.
cannabis is a plant, it does NOT require any special needs what-so-fuckin-ever.

Spend a day and a half in a library, and that'll be better than a year and a half on a stoner-forum.

This technique works well if done correctly. This wasn't done properly obviously but I don't get your point. Are you an anti defo? Does pruning apple trees selectively increase fruit production?

 

[Flowki]

What ever you do get off those you would have got double or more if leaves were left alone. Most of them don't look that tall to begin with so the light penetration would have got to bottom leaves as well so slight loli pop would also have been pointless.

On the bright side, from that anger you've learned (hopefully) the most important lessons first time and first hand and it will save you in the long run. It's not like you're the first person to majorly fk up.. just that a lot don't post about it. The lesson is, if you missed it to not listen to anybody with less than 10 but preferably 20 years of experience. At that, don't just listen to one, look for a 3rd and 4th opinion.

Then, if you get conflicting info from the truly experienced or you think they could be wrong one something, experiment but do it with only one plant. Experimenting with one plant will be inconvenient as it may end up taller, smaller, on a diff neut routine or amount than the rest etc etc but that is the price for not doing what you've just done.

This link is unrelated but will give you something to focus on while wishing the time away on your current cycle. Take the time to get the full info and feeding amounts, same advice as above.

https://www.rollitup.org/t/jacks-for-dummies.907678/

 

[NaturalFarmer]

Last week after defoliation.
Last night

Second and last defoliation will be next week (second week of flower).

 

[MichiganMedGrower]

I am pretty sure you won't do this again. And if you keep them happy they will grow some new leaves and still flower. But if you want to experiment with the techniques some growers show why not do a side by side?.

You have the means to defoliate one plant and leave the one next to it alone.

Just a tip to allow some experimentation without damaging a whole crop.

I never cut any healthy leaves from a plant. Seems weird. All of the pruning techniques in gardening have to do with removing select branches and maybe undergrowth.

And the more and healthier the foliage I see the more yield and quality every time. Strain dependent of course.

 

[NaturalFarmer]

The OP should have done this to open up bud sites starting prior to flower instead of thee weeks in and they should have left any fans that weren't covering sites. Either way it isn't for a beginner. Your fan leaves will show deficiencies from mobile nutrients and some should be kept any that aren't in the way should be tucked.

 

[greasemonkeymann]

This technique works well if done correctly. This wasn't done properly obviously but I don't get your point. Are you an anti defo? Does pruning apple trees selectively increase fruit production?

yes, I am absolutely against cutting off any leaves that are healthy and producing/contributing to photosynthesis.
training for light-footprint is different
given ample light, defoliation is not beneficial.
somehow people associate light at the "bud-sites" to create bigger nugs...
and comparing apple trees to cannabis, is like um
comparing apples to cannabis.
certain plants benefit from this technique, roses in particular
but not cannabis

 

[greasemonkeymann]

The OP should have done this to open up bud sites starting prior to flower instead of thee weeks in and they should have left any fans that weren't covering sites. Either way it isn't for a beginner. Your fan leaves will show deficiencies from mobile nutrients and some should be kept any that aren't in the way should be tucked.

given the pictures provided you think he was needing a defoliation?
his plants looked pretty good beforehand...
I'm confused as to how smaller (and much less of them) leaves would power the plant better.

 

[MichiganMedGrower]

The OP should have done this to open up bud sites starting prior to flower instead of thee weeks in and they should have left any fans that weren't covering sites. Your fan leaves will show deficiencies from mobile nutrients and some should be kept any that aren't in the way should be tucked..

I see in your method reasons to remove foliage as it would get in the way and likely hinder air flow under the screen and maybe collect moisture but why the need to remove any from the op's grow.

I keep my plants in pots movable and under 30" tall with a little space around them and grow for as much original leaves kept as possible and I get dense buds from top to bottom.

I am going to attach pics I posted in another thread to show what grows under the dense canopy for @Alwayslearnin

Removing leaves does not help light make buds bigger. The light passes through the leaves in different spectrums differently and the leaves are arranged to make the most of it.

Harvesting plant still with all leaves intact.



She was in the flower room 13.5 weeks and her leaves look a bit rough but only a few leaves were lost during her cycle.

Here is after we removed the fan leaves.



I hope this shows that the buds don't need fan leaves removed to flourish.

 

[MichiganMedGrower]

Oh. I want to add. Here is a good reason not to lollipop a short plant.



Lowest original branches on above plant.

 

[Uberknot]

I see in your method reasons to remove foliage as it would get in the way and likely hinder air flow under the screen and maybe collect moisture but why the need to remove any from the op's grow.

I keep my plants in pots movable and under 30" tall with a little space around them and grow for as much original leaves kept as possible and I get dense buds from top to bottom.

I am going to attach pics I posted in another thread to show what grows under the dense canopy for @Alwayslearnin

Removing leaves does not help light make buds bigger. The light passes through the leaves in different spectrums differently and the leaves are arranged to make the most of it.

Harvesting plant still with all leaves intact.

View attachment 3853446

She was in the flower room 13.5 weeks and her leaves look a bit rough but only a few leaves were lost during her cycle.

Here is after we removed the fan leaves.

View attachment 3853461

I hope this shows that the buds don't need fan leaves removed to flourish.

Definitely one of the FAT bud types there looking like major flowering.

I can tell you My plant had at least 3 times that many Fan leaves.

That thing looks like it was eating fan leaves...

 

[Uberknot]

Last week after defoliation.View attachment 3853418

Last night
View attachment 3853420
Second and last defoliation will be next week (second week of flower).

Oh hell yeah!!

 

[NaturalFarmer]

given the pictures provided you think he was needing a defoliation?
his plants looked pretty good beforehand...
I'm confused as to how smaller (and much less of them) leaves would power the plant better.

His plants were not going to produce a very high volume regardless but no I don't think the OP benefited at all from doing this and actually probably added 7-10 days to his flower. The bud-sites need to developed before stretch starting about 2 weeks before flip. I welcome you to come back and see my harvest brother. It is not about bigger buds, it is about efficiency of space/higher quality buds/less stick. The only thing I truly know is that I don't know everything, so I welcome your feedback, even if it is an antagonistic view like I have seen from you.

 

[SPLFreak808]

Tried this multiple times years ago in a tight footprint under 1kw & feed levels,metabolism,water uptake all dropped like hell..

Not sure what happens if done in a room lacking light though..