Testing the old "Defoliation" Argument

CaretakerDad said:

If increasing gas exchange is your goal then removing the leaves is counterproductive as you can see in the illustration below. Gas is ONLY exchanged through Stoma which are located on the underside of the leaf. Another important function that is often overlooked is that of the guard cells which open to allow water vapor to escape which draws nutrients up through the roots and closes when temperatures are too high or water is not available at the roots. These are also ONLY located on the leaf. Therefore removing fan leaves impairs the plants ability to produce sugars, capture energy and regulate its internal temperature and moisture levels.

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Lol I just threw the gas exchange in for a bonus but really If a leaf is laying on top of another then the one on top would in theory have its ability to exchange gas restricted to an extent right?

Honestly if u saw my girls I think you'd wanna prune them , they r just a big leaf pile atm. Stretch = -1

I promise I'm in the no defoliation club but I just wanna see what the hype is about with cutting up plants so I'm doing it on a couple.

Also these are autos so I want to see how it impacts the yield seeing how they have very little time to veg n recover from ANY damage..

I'm expecting the ones that are being defoliated to yield less than their untouched counterparts (same strains) but I'll let the results speak rather than guessing.

I'm certainly no botonist and not even an experienced grower but I have to see it to believe it so I'm giving it a go. There prob really is no benefit to removing leaves aside from increasing airflow and reducing the chances of pests n molds - but there is also no doubt in my mind that if a part of the plant is removed then more energy will be directed to growth in other areas, even if the plant's ability to produce energy is hindered by the removal of a leaf..

It's like UB said in the last defoliation thread I read - every new crop of noobs brings in another discussion about defoliation...I'm part of the new crop of noobs

purplehays1 said:

So ive seen a bunch of threads with people arguing and shooting out claims about how great or terrible cutting leaves off cannabis plants is. I have always used a technique of topping pretty early and then removing all but the best 4-6 branches before flowering and just keeping an even canopy and only removing the leaves that block top bud sites. I am about 6 weeks in veg and have 4 plants that were very similar yesterday before i chopped the hell out of 2 of them. I took every fan leaf that was blocking a new growth site. On the other two i did almost nothing. All 4 plants were trained the same, topped/LST into 8-10 strong branches. I will train one the same as i have always, leave one full bush and continue to defoliate the two. My signature has a link to my journal if you want to follow along and see the results. I will flower as soon as they look to have recovered.

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I'm doing a similar test also. 9 Clones all from the same mother. In 18/6 for 4 weeks, then moved to bloom tent. All of them topped once. 3 plants I defoliated from branches to lower bud sides to leaves at day 21, basically anything in the shade, 1 of them trimmed VERY heavy. The other 6 have not been touched at all, I'm at day 27 so time will tell. Either way the ones with some trimming look SO much better as a nice clean indoor look of a perfect plant, not some wild over grown plant choking itself.

Then again that is why I'm running a test also, just to see and for my own amusement. Hope you remember to update us, Subed up!

It's like UB said in the last defoliation thread I read - every new crop of noobs brings in another discussion about defoliation...I'm part of the new crop of noobs

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The question is has UB even tried to defoliate? Does he only have a 2x2x5ft tent to work with?

Just for fun - what do you do if a big Ass fan leaf is holding down a bud site like this:

A - cut off the fan leaf
B - tie it to the side
C - nothing, just hope it grows around it

Each strain requires different defoliation - Indica's like defoliation but Sativa's not so much, but with their leaf shape not much is required anyway, Remember - after the 4th week of flower the plant has no use for "fan" leaves - a goof time to defoliate. If one defoliated to much you will really "stunt" the plants growth Hey goggle"defoliation of marijuana plants" much info!

harris hawk said:

Each strain requires different defoliation - Indica's like defoliation but Sativa's not so much, but with their leaf shape not much is required anyway, Remember - after the 4th week of flower the plant has no use for "fan" leaves - a goof time to defoliate. If one defoliated to much you will really "stunt" the plants growth Hey goggle"defoliation of marijuana plants" much info!

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Bullshit!!!!!

purplehays1 said:

The question is has UB even tried to defoliate? Does he only have a 2x2x5ft tent to work with?

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UB also says a real gardener should know what makes a plant tick and should be able to apply the propper nutes in the propped ratios, and then talks shit about hydro guys who mix their own raw salts and says they should just use Dynagro and that supersoil is a joke, he also says bulb spectrum is just hype and that lumens are relevant and then recommends full SPECTRUM bulbs, see where this is going? If you want to take indoor growing advice from someone who got bored and did an indoor grow in 1972 then as he says so often, a fool and his money are soon parted. None of that was directed at you I was just piggy backin off your post. And I don't defoliate

harris hawk said:

Each strain requires different defoliation - Indica's like defoliation but Sativa's not so much, but with their leaf shape not much is required anyway, Remember - after the 4th week of flower the plant has no use for "fan" leaves - a goof time to defoliate. If one defoliated to much you will really "stunt" the plants growth Hey goggle"defoliation of marijuana plants" much info!

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How could you possibly "stunt" the plant by removing something it doesn't use?

ayr0n said:

It's like UB said in the last defoliation thread I read - every new crop of noobs brings in another discussion about defoliation...I'm part of the new crop of noobs

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Not again! Unfuckin' believable........

Jbone77 said:

UB also says a real gardener should know what makes a plant tick

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correct

and should be able to apply the propper nutes in the propped ratios,

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yep

and then talks shit about hydro guys who mix their own raw salts

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yep, cause it's a waste of time and none will get it right, and that includes you

and says they should just use Dynagro

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best bang for the buck

and that supersoil is a joke,

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There is no such thing as "supersoil", at least I've never seen lab analysis of someone's hype. Guess I need to call my soil concoction "super soil" so I can be cool too LOL

he also says bulb spectrum is just hype and that lumens are relevant and then recommends full SPECTRUM bulbs,

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Shit-fer-brains, if you're gonna put words in my mouth as least it get right and in the right context.

see where this is going?

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Sho do. Can you say "trolling"? I knew you could.

Uncle Ben

harris hawk said:

Each strain requires different defoliation - Indica's like defoliation but Sativa's not so much, but with their leaf shape not much is required anyway, Remember - after the 4th week of flower the plant has no use for "fan" leaves - a goof time to defoliate. If one defoliated to much you will really "stunt" the plants growth Hey goggle"defoliation of marijuana plants" much info!

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Mo noob talk. See mah sig line.

harris hawk said:

Each strain requires different defoliation - Indica's like defoliation but Sativa's not so much, but with their leaf shape not much is required anyway, Remember - after the 4th week of flower the plant has no use for "fan" leaves - a goof time to defoliate. If one defoliated to much you will really "stunt" the plants growth Hey goggle"defoliation of marijuana plants" much info!

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that's a new one on me. Do you have some proof, or is this something you pulled out of your ass?

Lmfao heeeere we go!

Uncle Ben said:

correct



yep



yep, cause it's a waste of time and none will get it right, and that includes you



best bang for the buck


There is no such thing as "supersoil", at least I've never seen lab analysis of someone's hype. Guess I need to call my soil concoction "super soil" so I can be cool too LOL



Shit-fer-brains, if you're gonna put words in my mouth as least it get right and in the right context.



Sho do. Can you say "trolling"? I knew you could.

Uncle Ben

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Well princess, you posted in the Lumen thread and said all of us saying lumens were irrelevant and that spectrum/par was what was important, you said we were all pitching theories and as usual you pitch a full spectrum bulb, so obviously spectrum is kinda important dont ya think? What is the definition of lumens again?

it's official now,

Is it too late for my plant to recover from defoliation?

ayr0n said:

Is it too late for my plant to recover from defoliation?

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Now that IS funny!

ayr0n said:

Is it too late for my plant to recover from defoliation?

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Nope, that is perfect... now flush for a week and harvest

Commander Strax said:

Nope, that is perfect... now flush for a week and harvest

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Do I have to leave the lights out for 72 hours first and then flush with 75x the pot size worth of water? Also could you estimate my yield on this plant?