Flowering question.

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linzwa

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I am almost 3 weeks into flowering and I was wondering if trimming the big leaves will help get bigger bud? I don't have any experience in it and have always left my leaves on until they were yellowing good. Thanks for any imput you can give me.
 
Generally you don't want to trim leaves off a flowering plant. They are the solar panels for your plant. Advanced growers do use defoliation techniques but it's a fine line between doing it right and over doing it IMO. What I almost always do is remove the bottom 1/4 to 1/3 of the plant before I flip them. This helps focus the plants energy on the bud sites that produce the bigger buds and keeps it from wasting it on the pop corn buds. Occasionally I get a strain that produces fat beefy pop corn so I will leave it be. jmo
 
Leaving the leaves on will make bigger bud, as Hamster said, they are the solar panels..

Mine fan leaves get pretty rugged looking by 9-10 weeks, but that's ok.
 
I agree with the above statements. The ffan leaves are where the sugars and complex carbohydrates are made which are used to power the bud production and the vital chemical production. The only time I would consider removing them would be in the last week to allow any hidden buds to get light for ripening. I also do the lower branch/bud trim like Hamster and find that works better than anything else for improving top bud development. :)
 
those above have spoken the truth and grow the dank---from my personal preference i also will defoliate before the plant is put into flower---trim lowers for clones, wild branches growing horizontal and outside the designated space, maybe a couple big fat leaves on the top shading the interior---thin the interior of small suckers for air circulation---but once in flower i let her go---no mo defoliation because the plant is now led to concentrate and direct its energy to producing flowers and not repairing the damage from the cutback and hacking you just did on its limbs
 
I'd have to disagree. The strains I'm running have responded favorably to high pruning in flower. Thinning the canopy allows the mid and lower level buds to fill out considerably more. I'm running multiple thousand watters close to the canopy, so penetration power is optimum.
 
I'm running multiple thousand watters close to the canopy, so penetration power is optimum.


I take it from this statement that you have been growing for a while correct? I agree that it can help and can also be strain or even pheno related as far as it helping. The problem is you don't want new growers to do this as it is usually over done. Once you get some experience under your belt I am all for experimenting with advanced techniques.
 
I have, and it is certainly the strains. Very indica dominant with thick, dense canopies. And I also agree that it must be measured. I would never take more than 20% of foliage at one time for fear of stressing. The strains I run have shown no ill effects though. And I did it the "au natural" way for a few years before trial runs at high prune. The differences are notable.
 
I have, and it is certainly the strains. Very indica dominant with thick, dense canopies. And I also agree that it must be measured. I would never take more than 20% of foliage at one time for fear of stressing. The strains I run have shown no ill effects though. And I did it the "au natural" way for a few years before trial runs at high prune. The differences are notable.


Thanks for the insightful post my friend. Experience is the best teacher. I would encourage everyone to first get their technique and basic growing skills down before experimenting. But you need to try different things and see what is right for your style. I am a believer in using defoliation techniques when done correctly and at the correct times.
 
I'd have to disagree. The strains I'm running have responded favorably to high pruning in flower. Thinning the canopy allows the mid and lower level buds to fill out considerably more. I'm running multiple thousand watters close to the canopy, so penetration power is optimum.

A person just has to sit here for a moment and think what is actual purpose of plants, animals our life period,,,, Then put it all into perspective they all want to multiply as much as possible ..
now there is a difference between pruning and defoilating a plant pruning is done to control your plant and also to produce more yield but this is done in early veg state .
There is no Scientific study to prove defoilating increase yield but there is on the bad effects of it such as stressing a plant , slowing growth rates as well as hermie traits, and a lot more . Now with that said
each growers room style strains are different, marijuana has been around longer then humans yet one only has to think marijuana wants to only reproduce and as much as possible Evolution ???? how animals surrounding areas change as well as plants change DNA changes so it will survive that is embedded in everything so with that said you could only think that a MJ plant would drop its leaves to produce more when in fact it doesn't , so defoilating is thrown out the door on this one
Think of a MJ plant and tomato plant as brother and sister and and what do we do to tomato plants we remove them sucker's and why so that all plants energy gets used up in producing mid to upper quality product
MJ is no Different in order to produce the most yield and the best quality product we need to either run lots of power having vetical lighting inbetween plants as well as horizontal if were really worried about lower bud sites other then that
I don't care what anyone says defoilating is NO GOOD PERIOD Why cause your lower bud sites your so worried about never get the proper lighting anyways defoiled or not cause from light source to lower plant diminishes quickly End result LARF fluffy B Grade product that only turns into shake eventually
so lets be realistic here peeps Yield is determined by light source and a canopy with as many bud sites in that light source get rid of all them lower sucker buds growing cause they are only hash material dried there light underdeveloped buds that took away plants energy in producing the money making pot when you buy a bag of weed you want decent buds or small light fluffy shake ??????

I have grown tons of weed take it from experience there is no scientific study proving defoilating yields more i have defoiled and it FAILED take my word peeps first pic defoiled plant yield was used for making hash period lost time lost money second pic undefoiled harvest dried buds all nice size quality and money maker so dont waste your time and money defoilating

View attachment img1037ik.jpg

View attachment picture489gr.jpg
 
Oh here some more pics of my experiment these plants were CO2 enriched medium promix BX with sea composts , shrimp and manures as well as chem feedings dont know whats going on cannot upload anymore pictures but have pics of actual defoiled buds and non defoiled that you can compare well really there is no comparison Defoiled Failed tremediously
 
scientific studies proving Failed harvests
Can someone direct me to actual study proving more yield better growth shorter flowering times etc or what ever hahaha

also from reading this below one tends to think the importance of leafs in certain areas of the plant as stated below


The effect of northern leaf blight (NLB) or leaf defoliation on the yield of nine sweet corn cultivars was studied in field experiments. Plants were defoliated or infected in the bottom, middle or top third of the leaf canopy. The effect of defoliation or infection on yield was significantly higher for plants treated 55 days after planting than for those treated 70 days after planting. Cultivar response differed significantly for both treatments, the most sensitive cultivar being ‘Jubilee’ and the least sensitive being Ssupersweet 7900. In all cases, the highest yield loss was recorded when the middle third of the leaf canopy was treated. The relative importance of the top third of the leaf canopy increased if the treatment was done 3 weeks before harvesting. This study emphasized the importance of leaf position, cultivar, and plant growth stage for evaluating losses caused by NLB, and may explain the failure of various models to describe yield loss due to NLB.
Journal: Phytoparasitica , vol. 20, no. 2, pp. 113-121, 1992
 
DrFever; I think you have a vast knowledge of MJ growing, and solid understanding of the best methods for producing quality harvests. Where you are lacking, and I find it difficult to understand you sometimes is in punctuation :eek: I am kidding, of course, but your writing is lacking in punctuation and that makes it difficult to read my friend :)
 
hahaha yea i become lazy with my punctuations and periods i just write it out ....
 

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