Defoliation and pruning timing in Flower (Week 4)

Now. Take all those big fan leaves, especially in the middle. But Remember you can always take more but you can never put any back

I have to say thank you to everyone taking their time to answer. Extremely good informational thread, that hopefully will help and guide others as well. Today i will start, and go slow. My plan is to remove almost all leaves under SCROG net. ( Not much left anyways ) Also remove the small bud sights that is way under SCROG net. Then i will prioritize removing inward facing leaves and overlapping leaves. I will only remove them, if i can move them out the way I will try my best to remove similar amounts across branches. Hopefully this will give me better light penetration, help the airflow and keep the humidity down. Good growing to everyone and thanks again👏

To defoliate or not to defoliate…that is the question. I personally like to defoliate to help light penetration and air circulation, plus more space for more plants 😁. leave the sugar leaves alone, sharp CLEAN cutters, start low, go slow, get the inward growing leaves, work your way up from the bottom, move leaves before cutting and check if they allow light to a bud. Commercial growers strip all fan leaves called schwazzing. I say this for you not to worry if you go a bit crazy 😉 (you’ll be surprised 3/4 days later when it’s all grown back 😁 I like to leave two fan leaves down the bottom of my plants and I use these as indicators for the plant. If they’re drooping she’s thirsty, if there’s a nute problem, they’re the first to turn meaning a day or two head start on any issues…..

Just remember........... Maximum amount of healthy green leaves = maximum amount of energy production = maximum amount of (bud) growth. Your plant is relying on eveyone of those leaves to make the energy she needs to grow her biggest and best flowers. Far better to tuck or train any leaves out of the way of any "bud sites" you think might need more exposure. For me, I can see absolutely no benefit or reason to defoliate ever........unless excessive humidity is an actual huge problem.....but there are far better ways to reduce humidity than defoliation anyhow.

Less is more, imo, but you could probably take a few out for better airflow. be systematic and stagger the leaf loss among colas evenly. maybe, work across left to right and only take off the left leaf in areas that needs it. or inward facing leaves on centrally located colas ... it just helps even it out if you create 2-3 simple rules to follow. 2nd vid doesn't look like it would need much... the plant is noticably praying more in 2nd vid too. looks pretty happy all over. The plant will shed excess leaves. it'll suck them down of resources first, then they can be lightly plucked off or they just fall off. i don't think removing foliage helps yield. in fact i expect it to have the opposite overall effect. It doesn't make it a bad idea on its own. you may be able to get a higher proportion of A nd B quality nugs, for example, and vast majority of the loss would be larfy trash anyway. leaves removed from top will impact local buds more than the gain below (primarily due to inverse square law). The added weight to the better nugs probably won't outweigh the lost larf + any off top. if you cook edibles or make hash, this may not be the best for you. Good larf makes some of the best hash and just as easily used for extractions. So, context matters. Avoiding microbial growth is another excellent reason for some minimal defoliation. leaves resting on other leaves creates resting water which is a foothold for microbes. Low air flow and higher RH% around leaves is an opportunity for microbial growth. This stuff is ever-present in the air unless you got a lot of hepa air filters running and replace them often. uvc would help too. Good circulation obviously helps too. i'm so scared shitless of microbial growth i usually overdo it slightly. 2 years no problems like that but last few grows.. big problem.. lol, it's always there in the air.. waiting. i'm still working back toward being reasonable about defoliation, lol.

What an absolutely beautiful grow! Yes - your timing is spot on... but take it slowly - I wouldn't want anything to harm them 'cause they're gorgeous! Congrats and good luck!!

Perfect time. Leave first top set of fully matured fan leaves and everything above, all bellow it should go away. Do some lolipoping too, leave max 1.5 feet high canopy. Or you can selectively clear top fan leaves, here and there, carry on with 5 a day from this time and slowly open them, lolipoping is still advised . Both ways will bring solid buds and good harvest. I am advising only because your plants ARE VERY HEALTHY, so you know what you do ... Good luck !

Hey Growmie, You're actually right on time for a defoliation and pruning and judging from the video the ladies could really use one. Plus they say you aren't supposed to do anything to plant during the first 3 weeks of flower because it could stunt the plant. Hopefully, this was helpful, and remember ... "Happy Growing" and "Free your mind one puff at a time"