How much to defoliate?

[jerrinja2540]

Hi,new grower here,was after some advice on which part of my girl and how much I should defoliate,all advice appreciated

 

[Growtogrow]

Hi,new grower here,was after some advice on which part of my girl and how much I should defoliate,all advice appreciated

A lot... Lot's

Welcome to AFN
Hi,new grower here,was after some advice on which part of my girl and how much I should defoliate,all advice appreciated

You can D Fuller ization those girls a lot. Take off all the large sucker leaves all of them. Then take off all of the small Bud sites that are nearest the main stock on every branch. This is usually the first two are the smallest and junk. They generally don't produce a whole lot of anything. Until you get to the top three or four branches.

Like these

Before trimming

After

Before

After

Yesterday 9 day's after trimming

 

[Creature]

Leaves need light to function, light hitting the floor is wasted.
I tend to only remove select leaves for airflow purposes. Some strip their plants almost entirely.
The choice is ultimately yours, there is no right way.

 

[Death The Cultivator]

You could remove a lot of the lower branches, especially in the middle, rather than just the leaves unless you have airflow issues. I'd trim off at least a quarter to a third of the bottom to encourage everything to grow upwards

 

[Sheriffatman]

may Be a good idea for some defol just to open up the canopy a bit let some light and air in, don’t go too mad in one go, maybe drag it out over a few days, personally I try not to defol until late into flower, and only if I have to. There’s good cases for and against defol, like others have said it’s a personal choice, get in there give it a go if you want, just learn from it for next time.

 

[Mañ'O'Green]

My yields improved quite a bit when I stopped defoliating except for air flow underneath in late flower. I grow indoors exclusively.

 

[jerrinja2540]

Thanks guys,should have joined this network on my first grow,might not have been a dud,no thanks to reddit

 

[Mañ'O'Green]

Thanks guys,should have joined this network on my first grow,might not have been a dud,no thanks to reddit

Well you are going to find many opinions in here and for each Farmer their answer will be the right one. Simple answer is they all work .

I am lazy so I have a tendency to let the plants grow themselves. I still average over 5 oz per plant on autos and almost 12 oz. for Photos. My Panama Red went over 1 pound.

We pride our selves on being nothing like other forums. We do not Flame or Troll our fellow growers. We like the vibe like that .

 

[MassMom]

My yields improved quite a bit when I stopped defoliating except for air flow underneath in late flower. I grow indoors exclusively.

I agree with ManO'Green. I used to defoliate my regular plants, but with these autos I am leery. I feel that every leaf I remove sets her back some. Especially after topping her, I dont want to put her through any more abuse! I am going to use a net this time over the ladies, and once they are in flower take off ALL foliage under the net that is just taking away energy from the bud production. But, I will leave her alone and let her do her thing until then. JMHO
Everyone has their own ways, and over time you will figure out yours

 

[Rapha El]

I also defoliate but not a lot and especially not early. Leaves aren't suckers, they convert light and air into energy your plant can use to grow, you need as many leaves as you can get.
But you also need light to hit the leaves on your lower budsites and air to get through your canopy and prevent sweating, especially in flower. When I defoliate I look onto the plant from above and snip the ones that occlude lower budsites, then i look up their skirts and make sure it's all light and breezy. That's it.

On occasion, depending on how claustrophobic it gets in the tent, I defoliate the fan leaves in very late flower so they can't touch and transpire on the buds.