Trimming water leaves 3 weeks into flower

[astrobud]

just think of the bud it could have had if you had not cut them leaves. nice new pic htg

 

[WillyGreen28]

Ok so I have been trimming shade leaves for a while and have found no negative effects. I prune throughout the entire flower cycle. I have a DWC setup with one 600w HPS in a 3 x 5 space. I'm averaging 5-8oz per plant dry. I've been getting these results for a few years with several strains. According to everyone here, I should be getting terrible results. That's just not the case.

 

[Hick]

it isn't only according to the folkls here, it is "SCIENCE"...:confused2:
http://www.marijuanapassion.com/forum/showpost.php?p=753165&postcount=16
http://www.marijuanapassion.com/forum/showpost.php?p=752816&postcount=5

 

[Jericho]

:yeahthat:

 

[The Hemp Goddess]

Sorry, but I want to see some of those 8 oz plants that you trimmed 1/3 of the plant away and took fan leaves off in your 3 x 5' room with a 600W...

 

[Bong Puller]

Would love to see one of your "Water leaves" from your 1 gm a watt grow. :hubba: What kind of nutes you using and how strong are ya running them in veg. and flower? I would really like to hear where your G-13 is from is it the old cut from the government? So many G-13 stories out there ya know..:ignore:
Karma brother,
B.P.

 

[WillyGreen28]

I appreciate everyones opinion on this matter. I have learned a ton on this site from reading all of your posts and am gratefull for the knowledge. I'm sure you all have much more experience than I do. I have just always trimmed shade leaves. Not all of them, but a lot of the upper leaves & throughout the stalk. I have done it thoughout the entire flower cycle. Now after reading all of you seasoned growers opinions, I'm going to stop & see if I get better results. I'm just saying that I have been getting these same results consistantly since switching to DWC. THG I don't have any pics from past crops but I'll take pics of my next crop. I don't think I'm talking about crazy numbers. I see other people on here with similar setups getting similar results.

 

[Grower13]

I have read a strain description recently on a seed site. Where the breeder suggest the upper leaves be removed well into flower. So the lower buds can get light and grow. If pressed I could find it...... it is on one of two sites. This is how growers start pulling leaves off their plants. I look at it this way..... I can't think of a single crop, flower, bush or tree which does anything better after the leaves are pulled of it. :bolt:

 

[WillyGreen28]

I'm not saying to remove all the shade leaves, but some yes. I don't know specifics, but I think it's somewhat common knowledge that pruning plants will help them to grow bigger yields. Am I just confused? It's possible.

 

[Hick]

..I was..."defoliating"... in the early 80s (ala 1970s mentor ho also taught me to drive a nail into the stalk,to boil the roots, and to hang them upside down to allow the thc to run to the tops..:rofl
NONE of it improved anything IME. Then I read a book about plant physiology, and it all made sense...

 

[Hick]

good for you hick

Your happy with your methods and I am very happy with my methods. I am also well read and experienced in not only growing Cannabis but also a wide variety of horticulture experience.

exactly..... but the fact is, 'you' are also employing extensive and advanced, in your words, "canopy management". Not simply plucking off leaves.
I don't like it when you appear ..'confrontational" (ie.."those who constantly bash the technique without having ever experimented with it")
I AM farmer...:farm: for over fifty years...My lively-hood depends on it. AND I've been growing pot for over 30 years. thg is a grower for 30+ years. To suggest lack of experience or experimenting I see as a feeble attempt to discredit quite honestly, and it irks me.

 

[ozzydiodude]

For the Defoliation method to work right you have to start from seedling pulling the sun leaves off and you do not remove any lower branches. IME with it the plants took 2 or 3 extra weeks and I may have seen a 10% difference. I tried the method in 92.

 

[greenmentat]

I think it's also going to depend a lot on the strain and the height of the plant. If you veg a GDP for two-three months and top it to turn it into a bush then the whole thing is likely to be one large mass of thick fan leaves and there's no way light is going to penetrate into that After kicking it into flower some of the branches will stretch up and extend out of the fan leaf mass but a lot of the branches will still be concealed by the fan leaves. The accepted scientific opinion that I'm reading here, I think, says that the fan leaves will collect the energy and buds will grow well on the lower part of the branches that are concealed by fan leaves. I say..sure.... but, not as well as if you had cut off some of the fan leaves so that some light could hit some of the lower nodes on the branches. I like to expose at least three nodes down. Just sharing my very humble experiences.

 

[OGKushman]

This whole thread :rofl: has. to. be. a. joke.

 

[NCGuerrillaking]

Word, i tried that last season on 3 of my viking clones and it was a bad idea. my plant stopped growing and my buds dried out on the plant. some ******* told me it would make my buds grow faster and that wasnt the case at all. Dont do that.

 

[migia]

This is crazy!!!
Why not just ask the plant.......:doh:

 

[Markers]

thg is a grower for 30+ years.

Thats funny she dont hardly look 30 in her picture. as for the leaves I think they're fine where they are

 

[PartyBro420]

Every grow I've had so far I've trimmed leaves off. I understand why people choose to remove leaves. And to me it does make sense that it would in some ways be beneficial.

I mentioned trimming some leaves in my first journal post and it sparked a bit of a controversy.

In my honest opinion, I believe that towards the 2/3+ point of your flowering stage, giving your plants a light shake, or even snapping a few leaves isn't necessarily for increasing the production so much as speeding up the latter portion of the flowering cycle. When it's "assaulted" for lack of a better word, It strengthens itself like any living organism. As well, like any other organism, if you attack/wound it, It's still wounded and it is going to take time to heal especially if you go a bit overboard.

My next grow I'm not gonna be cutting or trimming or breaking any leaves off.

I also understand from the opposite side, that the plant uses it's leaves to feed, so removing them is essentially like adding an extra length to your oesophagus. It's going to take longer for food to reach where it needs to get.

So... In my conclusion... The benefits and drawbacks end up weighing even, so it just isn't necessary. You may end up with a few harder denser nugs on the plant, but the area in which you trimmed from isn't going to feed properly from that point on, and you will probably lose a bit of density and content in that area.

 

[NorCalHal]

All Bad.

Cutting leaves 2/3rds into flower is plain crazy. Do what you will. You said it yourself, it "speeds up" flowering cycle. Why would anyone want that? If it "speeds up", it's not growing to full potential, which equatyes to lesser quality and lesser yield. Why grow at all then?

Most folks know that the last 2-3 weeks is the most critical in herb production, and that is where most folks blow it. I trip out on it.

Defoliate is also a bad word....pruning....that is the key.

 

[Roddy]

When it's "assaulted" for lack of a better word, It strengthens itself like any living organism. As well, like any other organism, if you attack/wound it, It's still wounded and it is going to take time to heal especially if you go a bit overboard.

IMHO, you're making the plant heal herself when all it's energies should be going to bud production.