OGKZ by HSO

Hey there, hope i answered your question ! anything else you need just let me know 👊

I broke the cardinal "rule" that you shouldn't defoliate on your first grow; but I think my crop, on balance, is probably bigger than it would have been and I learned things from doing it and seeing the results (drying on a coat hanger now) that I'm not sure it really matters which grow you learn them in: your 1st or 10th. One thing about defoliation, is that even when you do it 'right' - and there's no one way to do it - your plant will look noticeably thinner when your done, which is normal, but to avoid taking off too much (an easy trap the first time) you should decide which way you want to do it, note the leaves that need to go that correspond to that method, then take only those leaves. As to the method, you can lollipop the bottom 1/3rd-1/5th of the branches, removing either all or most; and you can do it either a few branches a day, spacing this a couple days apart, or you could take them all in one shot once you've decided how much you want to remove. I don't think you need to remove any top branches in week 6 unless they're blocking bud sites, though I would prefer to tuck top branches instead of cutting or pulling them. In fact, one option you have is to lightly defoliate where you just tuck branches instead of cutting them off. I didn't use this method, but I did tuck some branches to reduce stress. The other is whether to defoliate by "pinching" the stems off with thumb and finger, or prune with small trimmers; I prefer my fingers when the plant is young (like in week 6), but found that later - to remove leaves obstructing bud sites - that trimmers worked better. Though if you use trimmers you should cut at 45 degrees. You can never put leaves back on, so its worth reading guides people have written just on defoliation first, before you do it. I don't regret doing it despite breaking the rule not to do it in the first grow, and will do it in the second as well though next grow I'll be making more use of leaf tucking as its less stressful and accomplishes the same goal: better yield with very little LARF.