2nd week of flower- would people advise to defoliate or??? :)

Currently have 3 plants in flower

2 gelato #41 cuttings and a greenhouse SSH from seed under a 600wt adjustable ballast light

Havent had any issues regarding this grow. All plants have been lollipopped and topped in there 2nd-3rd week of veg.

Would anyone recommend to take off a few leaves to let more light appear or leave alone until chop down. Thanks

jordan5star said:

Currently have 3 plants in flower

2 gelato #41 cuttings and a greenhouse SSH from seed under a 600wt adjustable ballast light

Havent had any issues regarding this grow. All plants have been lollipopped and topped in there 2nd-3rd week of veg.

Would anyone recommend to take off a few leaves to let more light appear or leave alone until chop down. Thanks

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No., Just some trimming and pruning

jordan5star said:

Currently have 3 plants in flower

2 gelato #41 cuttings and a greenhouse SSH from seed under a 600wt adjustable ballast light

Havent had any issues regarding this grow. All plants have been lollipopped and topped in there 2nd-3rd week of veg.

Would anyone recommend to take off a few leaves to let more light appear or leave alone until chop down. Thanks

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agreed @ Tupapa
I remove damaged leaves and most growth below my light penetration point, not to allow more light but to allow better air circulation.
your plant looks good!

jordan5star said:

Currently have 3 plants in flower

2 gelato #41 cuttings and a greenhouse SSH from seed under a 600wt adjustable ballast light

Havent had any issues regarding this grow. All plants have been lollipopped and topped in there 2nd-3rd week of veg.

Would anyone recommend to take off a few leaves to let more light appear or leave alone until chop down. Thanks

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yes,remove some fan leaves,its fine.it'll obviously improve air flow and light penetration.
I do it all the time without any issues.

resinousflowers420 said:

yes,remove some fan leaves,its fine.it'll obviously improve air flow and light penetration.
I do it all the time without any issues.

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That was what i was slightly optimistic about while there in flower but they are still stretching so i presumed it may be ok to get away with

They look fine imo i wouldn't do anything that would stress them during flower, if you want more light to penetrate then just use something to spread the branches apart a little. i would not take any fan leaves from the top unless they become unhealthy.

Happy Growing

It's very dense. I would remove some leaves and open it up a bit.

coppershot said:

It's very dense. I would remove some leaves and open it up a bit.

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Why not lst better than removing healthy leaves?

jordan5star said:

Currently have 3 plants in flower

2 gelato #41 cuttings and a greenhouse SSH from seed under a 600wt adjustable ballast light

Havent had any issues regarding this grow. All plants have been lollipopped and topped in there 2nd-3rd week of veg.

Would anyone recommend to take off a few leaves to let more light appear or leave alone until chop down. Thanks

Click to expand...

Fat fuckin ladies! 2 week of flower is about when I decide who's staying and who's going(branches) I grow commercially as well as at home, and I've found getting rid of everything below YOUR wanted canopy level helps, airflow, and light penetration, but more importantly, your plants stop focusing energy in the areas you removed, and all on the colas you WANT.

Tupapa said:

Why not lst better than removing healthy leaves?

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Both is actually better. I know there's an old school train of thought that all removal of growth is bad, but that's just not true, redirecting energy is a very real thing, look at cloning, cut the leaves to divert all energy to root growth.

botanistprime said:

Fat fuckin ladies! 2 week of flower is about when I decide who's staying and who's going(branches) I grow commercially as well as at home, and I've found getting rid of everything below YOUR wanted canopy level helps, airflow, and light penetration, but more importantly, your plants stop focusing energy in the areas you removed, and all on the colas you WANT.

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They are quite big...normally i let them grow around knee height but these bad girls are coming close to my chest. Thought id try something new and see if it made any difference to yield at the end of it

jordan5star said:

That was what i was slightly optimistic about while there in flower but they are still stretching so i presumed it may be ok to get away with

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there's nothing to get away with. Depending on your expectations you can remove all the fan leaves at any stage of growth without killing a plant. Worried about stress? temperatures, humidity, artificial light, inadequate c02/air circ/exchange, etc .. those are where plant stresses originate, not plucking leaves, topping,training, etc.

Along with horticultural habits/space we remove plant bits in veg to cause hormonal changes/messages to initiate new growth, which we train to our expected outcome.
Before flowering we remove lower growth. It doesnt make bigger/better buds ime but it does increase air flow, allow for inspection, pest controls, watering etc. My par meter shows the most useful light to me is 24 inches from my desired canopy, anything below that is removed.
I've let it remain and saw no advantage/disadvantage to yield, health, vigor either way. The buds that form beneath my penetration point are good smoke, nice little nugs of course, but I harvest every week and have no time/space for trimming/tying/training/drying larf while a fresh dozen cup winning colas are awaiting my sampling full time.

If I see a leaf not doing its job in flower or veg I remove it. I find really big frosty nuggets tucked under hand sized fan leaves every day and smile @ RIU

botanistprime said:

Fat fuckin ladies! 2 week of flower is about when I decide who's staying and who's going(branches) I grow commercially as well as at home, and I've found getting rid of everything below YOUR wanted canopy level helps, airflow, and light penetration, but more importantly, your plants stop focusing energy in the areas you removed, and all on the colas you WANT.

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That's called lollipoping and trimming and pruning but NOT DEFOLIATION DEFOLIATION: to strip a plant of ALL leaves which op is not doing. Lollipoping is beneficial.

I would defo lollipop them.
Trim so many leaves over a course of weeks e.g trim the under canopy then focus on the dark spots and trim according to what's underneath.
Them bottom nugs will harden up nicely.

Tupapa said:

Why not lst better than removing healthy leaves?

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By the looks of the photo the plants have reached the sides if the tent. I dont think that the space and the plants would bennefit from being tied back at this point. I would remove some of fans and see what your dealing with for room and if possible and desired, tie them down at that point, but I would just let them go cause it looks pretty tight. Plus you're 2 weeks in so....

This is just my opinion to open up air flow and let light in. I typically run a scrog in a 4x4 so I tend to remove uneccesary growth anyway.

Two threads about defoliate going side by side.
I'll post to both at the same time.
1st time growers and future growers are reading this.
Anyone posting think a 1st time grower should defoliate or remove fan leaves that are healthy?
If No. How many grows should a newbie have under his belt before doing it. 2, 3, more???

botanistprime said:

Both is actually better. I know there's an old school train of thought that all removal of growth is bad, but that's just not true, redirecting energy is a very real thing, look at cloning, cut the leaves to divert all energy to root growth.

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I thought cutting a clones leaves was done to lower the transpiration of the plant?

SonsOfAvery said:

I thought cutting a clones leaves was done to lower the transpiration of the plant?

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Transpiration is the process by which moisture is carried through plants from roots to small pores on the underside of leaves, where it changes to vapor and is released to the atmosphere. Transpiration is essentially evaporation of water from plant leaves.

Cutting the leaves on clones stops growth at the leaves and diverts growth back to the roots. Lowering humidity makes no sense, clones and seedlings alike need high humidity. And transpiration is essentially the plant helping create higher humidity in its atmosphere, hence the travel of moisture from roots to the underside of the leaves. Not to mention there are no roots in a fresh clone....so I think it's already lowered when you remove it from the mother

botanistprime said:

Transpiration is the process by which moisture is carried through plants from roots to small pores on the underside of leaves, where it changes to vapor and is released to the atmosphere. Transpiration is essentially evaporation of water from plant leaves.

Cutting the leaves on clones stops growth at the leaves and diverts growth back to the roots. Lowering humidity makes no sense, clones and seedlings alike need high humidity. And transpiration is essentially the plant helping create higher humidity in its atmosphere, hence the travel of moisture from roots to the underside of the leaves. Not to mention there are no roots in a fresh clone....so I think it's already lowered when you remove it from the mother

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I understand the terms, I just didn't realise it redirects the energy to the roots.
With a clone, I just assumed it was done to reduce the amount of water lost by (what is now) a small plant relative to its leaf size.
All leaves on clones that I have cut have continued to grow in size, sonic assumed it didn't stop the growth.
I'm not trying to argumentative, I'm just looking to learn.

The leaves do continue to grow, but only after roots are established. Other wise there is no way for nutrient uptake therfore no growth. Sorry if I cam off argumentative. Just sharing what I know.