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The purpose of this diary is to track the merits or shortcomings of heavy defoliation. I have always defoliated first day of flower and quite a bit through veg for shaping. I defoliate at the end of flower stretch as well to very good results. Many would argue this to the end.
I have to see for myself, and will track the weekly growth differences and final harvest weights.
Thanks for looking
The bounceback is real. The amount of fan leaf growback is immense over four days. I feel like the plants didnt miss a beat, and in the time that the growth tips were exposed to light, they became more vigorous. I beleive in heavy defoliation, this practice so far has hardened my opinion.
Thanks for looking
We shall see. So far, both plants are similar in stature. Obviously larger fan leaves on the one that wasnt plucked, but a tonne of growback at day F5 on the defoliated one. Non defoliated one seems to have some thicker stems. The final weights will tell all
Well, the room is looking huge. If I didnt defoliate, I feel like the harder to reach areas would be difficult to maintain and that the transpiration would be too much to control. I like what I have going on so far. The defoliated plant has stretched higher than the defoliated one. Underneath they look similar, and it will be very interesting to see the end results for myself. SBG a CHAMP!!
Second round of defoliation scheduled for 3 days from now.
Thanks for looking
Oh it was a special week. Day 21 of flower marks the Silver Back Guerilla defoliation day!!!!
I left one be. For him. To prove me wrong. BUT!!! That one had some dead leaves at the bottom that needed removal, not the defoliated plants!!
Time will tell as to if what Im doing is right. I stick to my guns that this works for my room. Even though I read differently, removal of foliage has lowered my rh. Could very well be outside environment, however.
By day 21F the room was a bush again. In my opinion, it needed the heavy defo to breathe. As for light penetration, I am extremely happy with the amount of heads receiving direct light. Im a pig in shit
Thanks for looking, I dont want to hear your opinion on defo or schawazze, unless youre SBG
5 weeks of flower complete and its still a jungle in there despite the heavy defoliation. Too early to tell, but this defo may be a great tool, or it could be a flop. An article shared with me by BeanswithPork via JohnnyRonco says that what I am doing is idiotic. We shall see. Ive been called worse. Having fun, gonna be a massive harvest
Article for those interested: https://www.cocoforcannabis.com/community/photons_corner/to-defoliate-or-not-to-defoliate/
SBG will love it
Well fuck me sideways, SBG may have been right. A noticeably large cola exists between these 2 test plants, and it looks to belong to non defo. ...
I may have fucked up, but lets wait to find out!!!!
Thanks for looking
Still waiting to see if Defoliating my entire room was indeed a good idea. Who knows? Not me. SBG? Maybe. I will know in a few weeks. Thanks for staying tuned
Tick tock SBG, follow him on tik tok too.
So far the rest of the plants are yielding really nicely all the way down. Minimal larf and 5oz+ average. Lets see what a non defo will do
Thanks for lookin
We are an update away from the results. Both control plants chopped by way of spin trimmer. Non defo has the biggest cola, defo plant has the most mains and seems a bit heavier when wet. Results in a week or so
Sbg.com
@Silverback_Guerilla won this bet.
Non defoliated plant = 155g dry
Defoliated plant = 135g dry
Doesnt account for larf weight. Non defo had more as well.
I feel the defo at day 1 and day 21 of flower helped with air flow in the garden as a whole. Will certainly adjust my future grows based on my results
Conclusion = think about defo before you defo. Do your own test, because there is a lot of misinformation floating around. Do not attempt schwazzing, do not buy the 3 a light book
What was trimming / bud quality / crown quality comparing the two plants? I suspect the defoliated one was much easier process down the line, and we are talking 13% difference which could arguably be negligible depending on the grower. More details please.
@GreenHouseLab,@@BeanswithPork
Okay. Trimming is barbaric, i literally pinch the stem and yank off all flower and it gets tossed in the trimmer. So trimming is the same chore for almost all my plnts. I hand trim prize colas only. Crowns were all similar. The non defo had an 18g dry main cola, which is nice. More larf on non defo, but it just makes its way into the spinner and becomes hash. My main benchmark was the 20g weight diff. There is a balance somewhere that a certain amount of defo will benefit airflow, and too kuch causes lower yields. I dont care too much. It shows that i can still attain my hoal with defo or not, but may get more with no defo. Will still trial and adapt
Can I call slight shenanigans in this? To the defoliated one, clearly you took off a ton underneath, I think you should have lollipopped the crown. Especially, both in the back like that, the main crowns which look similar in terms of fam leaves are getting the majority of the light. Lollipop next time.
@@BeanswithPork, youre a shenanigans. They get two main defos 1 at flip 1 at f21. Other than that, i cant rrally get to em for maintenance. Not a perfect test, if i find a vast difference one way or the other, i will refine a test on the next run
@BudXs,
Some techniques adopted from large-scale commercial cannabis growers, like lollipopping, simply aren't applicable to small-scale subsistence farmers with very limited space and a high rate of consumption, like me. I have found over the decades that adopting the Native American hunting philosophy works best for me. When hunting for meat, they also use the antlers, horns, tusks, bones, and teeth as tools and weapons. They use the organs as medicine and sinew for cordage. They use the hides as clothing and such. They use the the smaller bits as fish bait...etc..etc..
If I am gonna dedicate prime indoor garden real-estate, and take the time to grow a plant, spend money on the electricity and nutrients for it, etc....I want to get every last trichome off of the plant through one method or another. In just my last harvest, I had a full quart jar of lower nuggs and larfy bud from each of the 13 plants..which translated to 18 grams of bubble hash, and maybe 4 grams of rosin. I use any larfy bud to fill in the pre-press mold with the nuggs and it binds it all together really well, or I decarb it and use it to make e-liquid or cannabutter...waste not, want not.
@Silverback_Guerilla, will weigh all buds. Will do apex colas too. If im getting the weight i lost to larf put back into my top buds, we all win. Dunno, will see, this is a decent test to satisfy my knowledge thirst
@BudXs,
So, will you just weigh the apex colas from the un-defo'd and the defo'd plants as comparison, or will you weigh all buds from each plant? Or, both measures?
If the plants are equal in all the other criterion and each weigh 70g+, I predict there will be less than 3 grams difference in the apex cola weights, and the plant without defo's total bud weight will be about 20g heavier than the defo'd plant...in other words, I predict that you will lose a half ounce or more in total yield by defoliating and lollipopping all those lowers.
As I said before...it makes no sense at all to me to throw away the lower 1/3 of your plant...especially early on in the grow...
Increasing light to those lower buds converts them from larf to nuggs..so, by lollipopping, you are throwing away potential nuggs...
If you are growing for the purpose of selling your produce, then I get it..you only want the stuff with the best bag appeal, but if you are growing for your own consumption, why not maximize your yields?? The lower, lesser-quality buds, at harvest, have nearly as high a THC concentration as your apex cola..they just aren't pretty. But they are perfect for rosin pressing or other extractions.
And...if you must defo because you can't buy a bigger fan to prevent mold, at least defo later, in flower, when the leaves have had a chance to produce some THC and it's worthwhile to be put into the trim bag for a bubble hash run.
@GreenHouseLab, it looks that way, and to be expected on account of penetration. These plants stretched insane. I did see a noticeable difference in the quality of lowers being better on the defo. Also, weight seems to be on the defo side. That bejng said, im sure i lost a lot of larf on the non defo to my spin trimmer
Great looking canopy, I definitely definitely would have defoliate her down and lollipoped at the latest week 4 of flower. Just let her finish, doing it now will only hurt your natural senescence of the plants. The stress could hurt potential potency.
I won!!!...but you're the one with the big jars full of BB3 😕
I'll always find a way to add more light and/or ventilation before considering cutting away anything with potential...
And like I told you before...guys who lose a leg or two don't just suddenly grow a bigger head...
Bigger buds come from plants that are given higher average PPFD and tender loving care...not brutal branch rape...😅
In my experience it’s best not to defoliate until week 3 flower because much growth occurs during that period. Not to be mistaken with pruning which I would do as early as possible unless growing for total mass weight, best when making oils. Only my personal observations but a very interesting subj - Thanks for sharing
Book is tree of light ;) 500 buks, that was best spam ever ;)))
swazing is fine, loads of waves of defo is fine, just have healthy plants and know what you do !
BudXs
