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LST or defoliation on autos

elcoyote
elcoyotestarted grow question 4 years ago
I think I will need to defoliate a bit those bushy ladies, but I am not so confident about that because, from what I've read and since it's my first time growing autos, defoliation or lst is not advisable because it may stress them a looooot or am I wrong?
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Week 3
Techniques. LST
Techniques. Defoliation
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Organoman
Organomananswered grow question 4 years ago
Some gentle LST will be fine, however removing any healthy green leaves will just reduce your plants ability to produce energy and will slow growth. Defoliation, in my opinion, is just so wrong on so many levels, that any wise grower would not contemplate removing healthy green leaves. I agree with some well considered "lollipopping", but try and leaves as many green leaves behind, just removing small inner, weak and spindly branches. Leaves are like solar panels. The less solar panels, the less energy and the less growing. Bushy plants are good, they are producing bulk energy to grow flowers. Try and only remove yellow leaves, just like in nature, and I think you will find your plants will grow their biggest and best flowers that way. After all, they have been doing so for 100s of thousands of years by themselves, with no defoliation going on. Plants can not channel energy, they have no decision making skills at all. All energy is used through out the entire plant. Removing leaves to "channel" energy into "bud sites" is pointless, for if you remove the leaves, their is less energy available, resulting in stunted and slower growth, meanwhile, those "bud sites" are wondering what happened to their energy producing solar panels! On top of this, defoliation if done, can also cause a metabolic "shock" to your plant, resulting in your plant almost "closing down" for up to 2-3 weeks, while it tries to recover from the reduction of energy production. All in all, de-leafing = bad karma for your plant.. Hope this helps,... Organoman.
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HeavyHittah
HeavyHittahanswered grow question 4 years ago
I wouldn't recommend topping an auto. You can do it but it will add time to the grow and slow then down. Defoliation however I still do a lot of . I think if your plants are healthy they appreciate a good hair cut . They perk right up once I take off leaves which then allows me to increase airflow through them .they love it .
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Finsch420
Finsch420answered grow question 4 years ago
If you go for lst your fine with an auto. But never ever top or fim them just to avoid as mutch stress as possible. Cutting away to mutch leafs can outsress a auto easily. So to avoid that you can remove lower growth but try to avoid trimming the fanleafs. If budsides are blocked by fanleafs don't remove the whole leafe. clipp away just enough fingers of the leaf so that the budsides are exposed to light. Clipping only away a few fingers is not as stressful as cutting a whole leafe. Hope that can help a bit Happy growing, Finsch
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IvorytTower
IvorytToweranswered grow question 4 years ago
Lst all the way. If you have an autoflower that goes for 12 weeks or so id say you could risk it if you really wanted but in my experience they don't react well to it. LST often shows no slow down in growth at all and can create a great canopy without any lst/fim
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Nor_Cal_Kannabliss
Nor_Cal_Kannablissanswered grow question 4 years ago
You can lst an autoflower all you wish. But I suggest not defoliating autoflower. You can strip useless bud sites but I'd leave all the fans. 🤘😤
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