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

MichiganMedGrower

MichiganMedGrower

Well-Known Member
Bugeye said:
I know I've read that the spectrum of light that allows photosynthesis to occur is invisible to the human eye and can pass through leaves. If this is true, why pull fan leaves off for better light? Or is my premise wrong?
Click to expand...
I posted this same info earlier in the thread and know it to be true however. The plant I posted to prove not to defoliate had this spot on the bottom of the main cola and it was heavily covered by multiple fan leaves there. When we removed them we saw this...

image.jpeg

image.jpeg

The spot lacking photosynthesis in the dark under all the leaves started to green up right away under just the kitchen lights.

So now I wonder if it would have been helpful to remove some of those leaves.
 
tharoomman

tharoomman

Well-Known Member
MichiganMedGrower said:
I posted this same info earlier in the thread and know it to be true however. The plant I posted to prove not to defoliate had this spot on the bottom of the main cola and it was heavily covered by multiple fan leaves there. When we removed them we saw this...

View attachment 3854303

View attachment 3854306

The spot lacking photosynthesis in the dark under all the leaves started to green up right away under just the kitchen lights.

So now I wonder if it would have been helpful to remove some of those leaves.
Click to expand...
I've seen so many threads on successful lolipoping/defoliating...so I believe there is some truth to it, however I also think if it was the best way to do it, then evolution would have worked it into these plants traits...to have less fan leaves. Right? They been around for quite some time.

I will only defoliate under certain circumstances.
 
RMNPurps

RMNPurps

Well-Known Member
Defoliation is an advanced technique. If it is done right it can work really well, if it is done incorrectly it will mess your plants up bigly. There is a super fine line between success and failure. People always say that the fan leaves are like solar panels for your plant. This is not true. They are more like nutrient reservoirs and shock absorbers. If you are planning to remove the fan leaves from your plant you should make sure your plant is as healthy as it can possibly be. You should usually pump up the nutrients on these plants as well. If they can't draw nutrients stored in the fan leaves then they need to be force-fed through the roots. It is much easier to do this with chemical nutrients than with organics. I have defoliated hydro crops in rockwool and they will show a deficiency at 1600ppm. I always pump these crops up to at least 2000ppm and can pump up some strains to over 3000ppm with no ill effects.
 
MichiganMedGrower

MichiganMedGrower

Well-Known Member
RMNPurps said:
Defoliation is an advanced technique. If it is done right it can work really well, if it is done incorrectly it will mess your plants up bigly. There is a super fine line between success and failure. People always say that the fan leaves are like solar panels for your plant. This is not true. They are more like nutrient reservoirs and shock absorbers. If you are planning to remove the fan leaves from your plant you should make sure your plant is as healthy as it can possibly be. You should usually pump up the nutrients on these plants as well. If they can't draw nutrients stored in the fan leaves then they need to be force-fed through the roots. It is much easier to do this with chemical nutrients than with organics. I have defoliated hydro crops in rockwool and they will show a deficiency at 1600ppm. I always pump these crops up to at least 2000ppm and can pump up some strains to over 3000ppm with no ill effects.
Click to expand...
Good explanation about the fan leaves. But they become storage as the plant matures. They are the main collectors before that.

The rest seems counter productive to my garden but I have said there are many reasons to.

And I really like your use of the word "bigly" (:
 
RMNPurps

RMNPurps

Well-Known Member
MichiganMedGrower said:
Good explanation about the fan leaves. But they become storage as the plant matures. They are the main collectors before that.

The rest seems counter productive to my garden but I have said there are many reasons to.

And I really like your use of the word "bigly" (:
Click to expand...
Like he said at the beginning of this post he went overboard with the lollipopping and defoliation. If you are going to defoliate then you don't really need to lollipop them. The point of the defoliation is to let light into the lower bud sites so that they fill out. if you prune out all of those lower bud sites then there is no need to defoliate. Luckily he is growing Blue Dream which is the easiest strain in the world to grow. He might actually end up with some decent nugs but he is not going to have a bigger yield than he would have had if he had just lollipopped and not defoliated. Whenever I defoliate a crop it always makes the plants take at least a week longer to finish so he might have just delayed his harvest by a week or so.
You are right about the leaves being storage. The cheap-ass in me always thinks about all the nutrients that I am just throwing in the trash when I am stripping leaves off a plant. I have been experimenting with defoliation techniques for a couple of years now and it is always variable and tricky to do. A couple of days one way or the other can make a big difference. I once defoliated half a table of plants and then ran out of time and didn't get to the other half until two days later and the first half of the plants yielded twice as much as the second half. When doing serious defoliation the rule of thumb seems to be to strip all the leaves once right when you put them into flower and then do it again about 2 1/2 to 3 weeks later.
 
MichiganMedGrower

MichiganMedGrower

Well-Known Member
RMNPurps said:
Like he said at the beginning of this post he went overboard with the lollipopping and defoliation. If you are going to defoliate then you don't really need to lollipop them. The point of the defoliation is to let light into the lower bud sites so that they fill out. if you prune out all of those lower bud sites then there is no need to defoliate. Luckily he is growing Blue Dream which is the easiest strain in the world to grow. He might actually end up with some decent nugs but he is not going to have a bigger yield than he would have had if he had just lollipopped and not defoliated. Whenever I defoliate a crop it always makes the plants take at least a week longer to finish so he might have just delayed his harvest by a week or so.
You are right about the leaves being storage. The cheap-ass in me always thinks about all the nutrients that I am just throwing in the trash when I am stripping leaves off a plant. I have been experimenting with defoliation techniques for a couple of years now and it is always variable and tricky to do. A couple of days one way or the other can make a big difference. I once defoliated half a table of plants and then ran out of time and didn't get to the other half until two days later and the first half of the plants yielded twice as much as the second half. When doing serious defoliation the rule of thumb seems to be to strip all the leaves once right when you put them into flower and then do it again about 2 1/2 to 3 weeks later.
Click to expand...
Ok. I already understand. The cutting off plant processed mobile nutrients that are already stored for the plants potential is my point. And I showed earlier my plant budded to the bottom under a thick canopy.

But my garden and style are set up to maximize the light footprint. I look at it 3 dimensionally but have height restrictions so I keep plants to 30" or so. No need to cut anything that way.

But I have stated numerous times that I can see it is necessary in different situations.
 
RMNPurps

RMNPurps

Well-Known Member
MichiganMedGrower said:
Ok. I already understand. The cutting off plant processed mobile nutrients that are already stored for the plants potential is my point. And I showed earlier my plant budded to the bottom under a thick canopy.

But my garden and style are set up to maximize the light footprint. I look at it 3 dimensionally but have height restrictions so I keep plants to 30" or so. No need to cut anything that way.

But I have stated numerous times that I can see it is necessary in different situations.
Click to expand...
Yeah sorry, didn't mean to sound condescending. You obviously get it. I should not have quoted your post since my comment was not really directed at you but rather at no one in particular. Bad forum etiquette on my part. It's my first day. :wink:
 
lio lacidem

lio lacidem

Well-Known Member
It really doesnt matter about the over defoliation as she has pm and possible bugs as well so if plant does make it till harvest we wont know if the defo made it that way or other problems
 
ISK

ISK

Well-Known Member
Alwayslearnin said:
PM? im first timer what does that mean
Click to expand...
I see you mention the Powdery Mildew in your link....what have you been using to combat this?

This is what I have used for PM...cheap but effective

Ingredients:
  • 1 gallon of water
  • 1 tablespoon of baking soda
  • 1 tablespoon of vegetable oil
  • 1 tablespoon of dish washing liquid
Mix the ingredients together and add them to a spray bottle
 
A.K.A. Overgrowem

A.K.A. Overgrowem

Well-Known Member
MichiganMedGrower said:
I posted this same info earlier in the thread and know it to be true however. The plant I posted to prove not to defoliate had this spot on the bottom of the main cola and it was heavily covered by multiple fan leaves there. When we removed them we saw this...

View attachment 3854303

View attachment 3854306

The spot lacking photosynthesis in the dark under all the leaves started to green up right away under just the kitchen lights.

So now I wonder if it would have been helpful to remove some of those leaves.
Click to expand...
Dang that is a nice plant. I have a Lemon Thai around somewhere. Think I'll rummage around and see if I can turn it up.
 
Alwayslearnin

Alwayslearnin

Well-Known Member
tharoomman said:
I've seen so many threads on successful lolipoping/defoliating...so I believe there is some truth to it, however I also think if it was the best way to do it, then evolution would have worked it into these plants traits...to have less fan leaves. Right? They been around for quite some time.

I will only defoliate under certain circumstances.
Click to expand...
I defoiliated these way to much and caught hell for it. as i should cause im a first timer, but ive seen way to much evidence to say it isnt the right thing to do. here are my little stunted ladies. LA confidential &blue dream as of todayits been 8 days since i did it at the end of week two in flower after they werent streching. i figured what have i got to loose. I have no fucking idea who it could have been on for about an hour
Dr.Nick Riviera said:
powdery mildew
Click to expand...
ot it tre treated it with hydrogen peroxide and water
 
Alwayslearnin

Alwayslearnin

Well-Known Member
Ok i mixed 1 cup of hydrogen peroxide with a gallon of water and sprayed my plants for the powdery mildew is it common for the Leafs they get lighter colored or almost like a whitish color to them after being sprayed
 
Alwayslearnin

Alwayslearnin

Well-Known Member
And from everything I've read it's not supposed to run the plant but after I get it in the leaves seem to be a bit more light colored almost bleached
 
MichiganMedGrower

MichiganMedGrower

Well-Known Member
I want to mention. Defoliation is an advanced technique. I don't know why new growers want to cut up their plant so bad but if the leaves are kept and kept healthy there is a much bigger cushion when we make mistakes. The leaves buffer the damage. More leaves. More chances to succeed.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top