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Rhymes and reasons
sanibelislstarted grow question 14 hours ago
Autoflowers and fan leaves? With their fast life cycle when are the best times to defoliate with out arbitrarily not stunting them. Before stretch. After stretch. And maybe the better question is when not to defoliate.
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00110001001001111Oanswered grow question 12 hours ago
There's never a good reason to blindly defoliate a plant. Selectively pruning off a leaf for a very good reason is fine, but never do it whimsically or because of some concept that isn't evidence-based.
if you aren't getting good light penetration or there is a lot of congestion, consider changing your procedure to avoid such things in the future... don't over-crowd the canopy. If you don't pack it tight, there's rarely a reason to remove a leaf. Even the shileded fugly ones at the bottom of a larger plant are still value-added.
Crusty_Juggleranswered grow question 12 hours ago
Rule of thumb = When the leaf is shading out a bud site and you can't fold the leaf under the bud site.
When defoliating autos it's generally recommended to only defoliate a little bit at a time and then wait a few days before doing it again.
However, I have topped indoor autos early and later stripped them of all fan leaves after stretch without any issues at all and grown autos outdoor guerilla style in perpetual nordic rain and under constant attack from slugs and deer, and those plants still produced a good amount of nice bud.
This is a plant that's built to take a helluva beating, don't be scared to try different techniques out :)
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Mooncatanswered grow question 12 hours ago
An even better Question would be why you think there is a need to defoliate in the first place...
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ATLien415answered grow question 14 hours ago
Anything done to the plant during the stretch is going to be exaggerated - so generally, don't. Anytime after the stretch, usually around the 3 week mark is when folks like to hit the first round of defoliation. If you need another round for light penetration or airflow then go for it once the plants recover. Otherwise prune as you see fit - whether that is for ease of harvest, appearence, light, or air, or your fancy.
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