When should i defoliate? Would it slow down flower...

@lanren Hi mate the only leaves I would be removing would be some of the larger fan leaves and only for allowing more air flow between the plants Hope this helps mate 😎

At this point in your grow I wouldn't bother defoliating. Next time around look to defoliate at week 2-3 of flower but yet again different plants may require defoliation more frequently than others.

I took a back stage tour of the Tweed operation here in Ontario and the lab techs there do it during the second week of flowering. You do need to be careful because if you do it too soon you can certainly stunt the growth of the plant. When you change to 12-12 the plant will start a growth spurt and buds will pop out... two weeks later you can start to remove the largest fan leaves to allow more light to reach further down into the plant. I take the interior fan leaves out and leave the ones on the outside of the plant... as long as they aren't casting too much shate.

I am a fan. If you're new to growing just take big leaves that are blocking bud sites away and bud sites completely hidden from light, also taking yellow leaves off but beware it might cry out for more nutrients

Hi @Ianren! Defoliation is a controversial topic but in my opinion some plants gives 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. I usually try not to defoliate after the 2nd week into flowering stage, I want my plants to focus on bud sites and resin production, not on recovering from leaf tucking. Keep us up-to-date, happy growing! 👊

I like to do it after second week of flowering. And be careful you don't wanna take too much off. First remove fan leafs facing inwards that are blocking buds from getting light. Then you don't rip too much leafs off. After that you'll be good. I have noticed that is good thing to do. I have much less larf and bigger main buds than before I used to defol... Happy growing!

Let me start first by stating that I'm no fan of defoliating. Now, it should be done after the stretch, that is after the 3d week of flower, after that, you have 2 possibilities, a 2nd major defoliation around day 42 of flower (2 weeks later) or little by little over the whole 4th to 6th week.