Are you a defoliation grower? What are your experi...

It depend on the plant itself. Let say it's a bushy plant in general then defoliation is a must unless you like popcorn buds and higher probability of issues like bud rot etc. more common outdoors but still. You will definitely get better results with a defoliation at week 3 of flower when space is requires and better air circulation is a must.

Any basic Gardner knows that pruning and defoliation is essentialto a plants health and the yield. Yes there are plants that don't like it and plants that absolutely need it. It also depends on the environment too. But I take leaves off as I see need it and little by little, I also take a few smaller , Lower bud sites off but they are obviously taking energy away from the bigger "fruits "

Hi @BongEd! Some plants won't let you no other choice. Leafy plants with big indica-style shaped leaves will create a lot of shades onto lower bud sites. Defoliation is awesome when done correctly, but it could be a nightmare if done too much or at the wrong time. Before removing a leaf, I always ask myself: is this leaf really blocking the light? For how many nodes / bud sites? How close are the next leaves? How healthy is this leaf? You should make your own experiments and see how it goes. Keep us up-to-date, happy growing! 👊

I'm defoliating now. And also I remove 1/4 of all growth from bottom of my plants to give more energy to top buds. I think that before when I did not defol or lollipop I did get like 15% less yield than get now. So I recommend. But try it your self depends on the strain also how these work. Happy growing!

I've been experimenting with defoliation over the last couple grows and found the way that works for me: Top week 3 veg - Days 15-20 at 5th node. When it is ready to go to flower, at least 10 days to give her time to recover, I strip the lowest bud sites right before the 12/12 flip. During flower I let her go until week 3 (F16-21) and then I remove branches, bud sites, and fan leaves that are covering bud sites or aren't getting any light. Some plants will require more defoliation than others. My Kosher Sorbet needed very little, while the OG Kush I have been battling for the last 2 weeks. I also prefer to do my defoliation in 2 stages. 1st stage is to see how the plant responds and the 2nd is to remove anything I missed during the 1st defoliation. Plants that I don't defoliate have reduced yields because the light couldn't get to the lower bud sites and those turned into edible/concentrate. Smaller buds make trimming a lot more troublesome as well. Good luck and happy growing!! 💪

defoliation and other types of HST you dont really want to do during flowering because it may shock the plant and you want the plant to focus on yielding instead. However defoliation for sure works great, even removing flower nodes does improve yields. defoliation for me certainly works, probably you get something like 20% more plus if you do it correctly. Anyway just my experience, hope this helps 🚀

I do it when ever I want , flower / veg when ever I see that it needs it wether its to remove lower branches because they arent developing or to remove leaves because they are blocking out the light to the tops ultimately you can do it when ever in my experience it actually helps the plant because in a sense the plant thinks its being grazed by an animal so it will work in over time to make up for what it has lost , some people will tell you no dont do it for x number of reasons they may have and some people will tell you to do it for x number of reasons . For me the only time I wouldn't do it is if the plant truely didn't need it and when I do defoliate I only do a little at a time watch the plant see how it reacts then if everything is good after 2 days I do it again and repeat until im satisfied with the result . ALWAYS take the time to watch how your plants react to a method of training this will tell you if they like it or dont . I hope this information helps you ! -Happy Growing!

This is a very controversial topic. you will get a lot of different answers. The best advice would be to try it yourself and form your own opinion. On my experience, yield wise, defoliating achieved no better results than a non defoliated plant, but it took longer while the plant recovered from the lack of foliage.

Happy to do it up until 3rd week of flower.