School me on defoliating in flower.

[UrbanHillbilly]

I have three photo plants that are about 4.5 weeks into flower. This is my first time growing clones and man alive, these girls are much bushier than I'm used to. In the past few days I have lightly defoliated two of the three, the one at the right front of the tent, and the one at the left rear. Pay no attention to the little runt of an auto at the right front. BTW, this is a 3x3 tent. I've been coping with a nasty case of the flu so my energy is even lower than usual and I only defoliated one plant at a time.




FWIW, here are the next clones I'm working on. I took two from each of these three photos and have to decide which are worth keeping because I don't expect to put all of them in a 3x3 tent. Right now they're in the tiny 2x2 I use for veg and drying. Two of them look less healthy than the others so I will likely try to squeeze 4 of them into the other tent when it's time, or maybe I'll flip them to flower when they're still small enough to rub in the 2x2x4 tent? I dunno, I'm just figuring this out as I go.

 

[Southside112]

Me personally I try and do as little defoliation as possible. If I remove a leaf it is for a reason. Increase air flow, get light further down canopy etc. I look at more leaves as an insurance policy. Ymmv.

 

[greenmachine29]

My rule of thumb in flower, clean the bottom fully, take leaves if they “blanket” big buds and cover or hide them… some strains need a ton, some need none

 

[Amarok]

Once the stretch is done, I remove fan leaves if they are blocking bud sites. On bushy indicas I remove as much foliage as possible to encourage budding, reduce RH, and make the final trim easier. A healthy plant rarely objects.

 

[sportyridr]

At this stage if there was any big leaves blocking bud sites, they get removed or bent out of the way until I get tired of fooling with them and remove them . I'm all about good air flow so I go after the "interior" fans that block air and light. These side branches are usually are first and second branches out from the main stem with poor growth anyway. To me, these have got to go as they just make more humidity at lights off.

It's not for everyone but take a few here n there that you believe will benefit the bud growth, that's what it's all about anyway right, we want nice sized nuggets. No real right or wrong IMO here unless you go way overboard on the defoliation.

 

[RookieBuds]

Arnold Schwazzenegger says "get the leaves to the choppa!"

All kidding aside, honestly I do a lollipopping at least halfway up the plant, some people strip as much as the bottom 2/3 of the plant. As far as defoliation goes, similar to as previously mentioned, I just pull leaves as needed to unblock a bud site or free-up space between branches.

A plant will ALWAYS make more leaves than it actually needs, and IMO leaving indoor plants un-pruned is sub-optimal.

 

[UrbanHillbilly]

One factor I should have mentioned is that last night when I was clipping leaves, I saw a couple near that bottom with what looked like a few spots of powdery mildew.

 

[DemonTrich]

I would always lollipop plants in veg 3 weeks before flip. Then again 2-3 weeks after flip. Did this for 60+ strains over the 15+yrs of flowering. Scrog net, fill the canopy, anything 1' below the canopy was removed.

 

[Southside112]

Me personally I try and do as little defoliation as possible. If I remove a leaf it is for a reason. Increase air flow, get light further down canopy etc. I look at more leaves as an insurance policy. Ymmv.

Yeah I lollipop the lowers that won't amount to anything. Others reminded me.

 

[greenmachine29]

I would always lollipop plants in veg 3 weeks before flip. Then again 2-3 weeks after flip. Did this for 60+ strains over the 15+yrs of flowering. Scrog net, fill the canopy, anything 1' below the canopy was removed.View attachment 224236View attachment 224237View attachment 224238

Make me miss the old ac hoods ….

 

[UrbanHillbilly]

I got into my tent today to do some more chopping. It's about a month into flower so I feel like it's an awkward time to put up a net, but I gave it a shot anyway. All three of these (ignore the runt auto in the front) were cloned from the same plant. My priorities were airflow, light penetration, and taking off lower branches with tiny popcorn nubs.

Before, after, and with net

 

[sportyridr]

I got into my tent today to do some more chopping. It's about a month into flower so I feel like it's an awkward time to put up a net, but I gave it a shot anyway. All three of these (ignore the runt auto in the front) were cloned from the same plant. My priorities were airflow, light penetration, and taking off lower branches with tiny popcorn nubs.

Before, after, and with net

This is the way man. Could be a bit cleaner around the bottom but that's just my preference. May have even dropped you RH a few percent along the way. Nice job!

 

[DemonTrich]

Imo, if the plant doesn't spend needed time growing larffy lowers, it can grow larger colas with the same energy it would have used to grow larffy lower budsites.

 

[webeblzr]

I usually wait to after the third week in flower.
I start at the bottom of the plant, and remove the main stalk fan leaves, and the ugly ones if any.
Later on, maybe a week or so later, I'll start with the branch fan leaves, coming up from the bottom.
I do not really strip all the leaf, I leave a few by the bud.
They are usually starting to fade or pale out out somewhat anyway.
All my leaves go into my worm bins.
Once the plant is culled , I let the pot and main stalk dry out, then cutting the main stalk, and grinding them down for the worm bedding mix.
Waste not, want not, or so I hear!
PM being spotted now, is not good, I'll give you a *danger danger Will Robinson* warning alert!
I sealed up UNKNOWLINGLY, some super delicious buds a couple years back, close to a pounds worth.
made one nice long seal a meal pouch.
Waited a few months to sample them.
When I opened it up, all my delicious terps, were muted into a dull stale smell.
I knew instantly that some PM infected bud, got in there, it's a distinct smell I hope none of you ever get to smell.
The entire package was compost food'
And that is when I got mad dog crazy about PM issues and started the Joe Cool PM protocol, spraying EVERY plant in veg, with soluble Sulphur, then once in early (18/6) preflower, but never in flower.
I spray my floor, tables, everywhere I walk , a couple time a year now.
To steal a line from Brando in Apocalypse Now, *The Horror, The Horror* he was talking about PM, LOL!

 

[UrbanHillbilly]

I usually wait to after the third week in flower.
I start at the bottom of the plant, and remove the main stalk fan leaves, and the ugly ones if any.
Later on, maybe a week or so later, I'll start with the branch fan leaves, coming up from the bottom.
I do not really strip all the leaf, I leave a few by the bud.
They are usually starting to fade or pale out out somewhat anyway.
All my leaves go into my worm bins.
Once the plant is culled , I let the pot and main stalk dry out, then cutting the main stalk, and grinding them down for the worm bedding mix.
Waste not, want not, or so I hear!
PM being spotted now, is not good, I'll give you a *danger danger Will Robinson* warning alert!
I sealed up UNKNOWLINGLY, some super delicious buds a couple years back, close to a pounds worth.
made one nice long seal a meal pouch.
Waited a few months to sample them.
When I opened it up, all my delicious terps, were muted into a dull stale smell.
I knew instantly that some PM infected bud, got in there, it's a distinct smell I hope none of you ever get to smell.
The entire package was compost food'
And that is when I got mad dog crazy about PM issues and started the Joe Cool PM protocol, spraying EVERY plant in veg, with soluble Sulphur, then once in early (18/6) preflower, but never in flower.
I spray my floor, tables, everywhere I walk , a couple time a year now.
To steal a line from Brando in Apocalypse Now, *The Horror, The Horror* he was talking about PM, LOL!

Yeah, those spots have me a bit nervous. I wish I'd taken a pic, but it was on 2 or 3 leaves at the bottom of one of the plants. Each spot was probably about 1/2". When I was doing the snipping yesterday I kept a close eye out and didn't see anymore on any of the plants, so fingers crossed. I know those tiny spores can be little demons, but I'm not certain what I can do as far as treating the plants now.

 

[DemonTrich]

Pure crop 1 works awesome. It can be sprayed even on day of harvest w/o issues.

 

[UrbanHillbilly]

Pure crop 1 works awesome. It can be sprayed even on day of harvest w/o issues.

I spoke to someone at a local plant store today who says she used to work in the industry in Colorado. She recommended copper fungicide from Home Depot and says they used it up to 3 days before harvest. I really don't have a good feeling about that. S'pose I should order some of that pure crop 1.

 

[DemonTrich]

Copper fungicide is dr bronners main ingredient (iirc). I wouldn't feel safe spraying that in a flowering plant.

Alot of OD guys who do bud washing before trim, use PC1 in one of their bucket dunks.

PC1 bucket, plain h2o, plain h2o. And see zero issues with texture, trichome issues, or taste.

I did bud washing last yr on my OD plants (Lemon juice/baking soda, plain h2o, plain h2o). Absolutely game changer. Best end result on my flower in the 15+yrs of flowering and drying.

 

[Chefdave]

Copper fungicide is dr bronners main ingredient (iirc). I wouldn't feel safe spraying that in a flowering plant.

Alot of OD guys who do bud washing before trim, use PC1 in one of their bucket dunks.

PC1 bucket, plain h2o, plain h2o. And see zero issues with texture, trichome issues, or taste.

I did bud washing last yr on my OD plants (Lemon juice/baking soda, plain h2o, plain h2o). Absolutely game changer. Best end result on my flower in the 15+yrs of flowering and drying.

Just out of curiosity, does it brighten buds, like washing non cannabis herbs?

 

[DemonTrich]

It washes away all the environmental fall-out (dirt, bugs, floating, spores, etc). This way your not smoking it.

Helps with PM in flower and bud rot (at the 1st sign). Can soil drench and foliar, starting in veg, 1x a week theu flower if/as needed.


@Chefdave
Do you remember the "whitening powder" they used to mix into the iceberg lettuce for salads back in the day? What was that stuff? It was like an anti-wilting food safe powder. We used to make a 55gal brute can filled with salad mix and water.