How much / often should I be defoliating?

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Hello. When in veg you can take leaves and branches off about once a week. But if you take any more than 1/3 of the leaves off at any one time it will send the plant into shock. The plant can handle a big shock about 3 weeks apart. I LST a few days before turning over to flower. Any topping will be done then too. Let the plants heal for 3 to 4 days then turn to flower. At about the 3 week in flowering do another LST. The plant will take about 3 or 4 days to heal and then go straight back to flowering. Then no more till harvest. Taking the odd leaf off is ok. Never top a plant in flowering; try super cropping instead. Let the plant heal between shocks and your plants won't go hermie on you. Chuck.

Never, only ever remove yellow leaves, for by the time they are yellow, they have served their purpose. Your plants need every single healthy green leaf they have to make the energy they need to grow. As you found out, removing leaves just causes the plant to grow new ones, wasting a lot of energy that could have gone into other growth. If you are dead keen on defoliating, doing so in veg is possible, but it should be avoided at all costs during flowering. Just remember, - Maximum amount of healthy green leaves = maximum energy production = maximum growth.

I defoliate and lst as needed, which during peak growth is daily, and its never had an adverse effect. Light needs to get in there, period. When you remove a leaf the other leaves fill the void. When you don't, you get light airy popcorn below the top canopy.

Newbie myself. But from what I k ow, desolation should be done carefully and correctly timed. Don't chop in mid/late flower. I made that mistake. Optimally it's done during the stretch. Late veg

Im still learning..but,i never remove leaves if under them there's nothing. I try to remove only a few leaves at time and i start always from the older one.then if there is something that is obstacolating a big portion of the plant i remove it,but only if i cant bend the leaf in a good spot. it depends also on how much air circulation u can provide..bushier plants need a good air girculation ergo if you have a good setup you can handle certain situations. Leaves are really important and normally the plant removes unecesary leaves by itself, hope it helped 👊🏽🍀

I was always told this: Only defoliate big fan leaves and only when its needed to increase light penetration to the lower buds and maximize airflow. I find outdoor its very useful. Indoors also useful, but can get away with a little bit less of it if you wanted. Hope this helps Happy Growing!