The Grow Awards 2026 🏆

Defoliating

womar
womarstarted grow question 22d ago
This is what my blue mystic auto looks like now, 47 days after sprouting. I have removed so far a few large yellow fan leaves about a week ago, should i get rid of more and if so when? I tucked several so 95% of bud sites are for now mostly exposed to light
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00110001001001111O
00110001001001111Oanswered grow question 21d ago
Light needs to hit the tops of leaves, not the sex organs. There is 100-1000x more photoreactive pigment in the top layers of leaves than anywhere else on the plant. The products of photosynthesis are highly mobile. Light hitting buds is not effective light absorption. Out of spite of this bro science, i purposely let leaves cover up buds all the time, lol. Relative to other buds with similar apical dominance, there is no noticeable difference. Many years and still haven't seen any buds adversely impacted. Even shielded leaves perform very important tasks beyond capturing light. They store nutrients you've paid for to give to the plants. They take in CO2, which is a limiting factor to production/growth.
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Hashy
Hashyanswered grow question 21d ago
I wouldn't touch anymore leaves, you have plenty of air flow through her. Removing anymore will be harmful to her development especially at this stage.
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DrGruen
DrGruenanswered grow question 21d ago
HI Womar..... das sieht doch gut aus 👍 Ich würde sie allerdings untenrum noch etwas entlauben, damit auch die Luft besser zirkulieren kann und mehr Energie in die oberen Bereiche gelangen kann.😉 Wünsche dir eine fette Ernte und lass es dir schmecken 😎
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DogDoctorOfficial
DogDoctorOfficialanswered grow question 22d ago
hi Biddy, If this were my plant, at ~47 days from sprout and clearly in mid-flower, I’d say you’ve already done the right kind of work. You: • removed only yellowing / spent fans ✅ • tucked instead of stripping ✅ • opened up bud sites without shocking her ✅ That’s honestly the sweet spot for autos. At this stage, I personally wouldn’t do a real defoliation anymore. Autos don’t have the same recovery window as photos, and she’s already spending energy on flower stacking now. What I would keep doing instead: • Pluck only what the plant is already letting go of → fully yellow fans → leaves that come off with almost no resistance • Selective removal only if a leaf is truly blocking airflow or sitting on a bud Not “this could be better,” but “this is clearly in the way.” • Keep tucking as your main tool, especially since you’ve already got ~95% of bud sites seeing light. That’s honestly great. One thing I’d gently mention (without alarming him): Those lower yellowing fans are normal at this point, especially on an auto that’s putting real effort into flowers. I’d read that more as energy redistribution, not a problem to fix aggressively. So yeah — if this were my tent: • No scheduled defoliation • No big clean-ups • Just light, respectful maintenance and observation Sometimes the best move late flower is doing less, not more. Growers love my friend and please remember this is just my humble opinion, please follow your instinct 👊🙏🙌
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Purrple_Haze
Purrple_Hazeanswered grow question 22d ago
hey growmie, I’d personally divide the plant into three sections from bottom to top. I would clean up the lowest third by removing some growth to improve airflow and light penetration. From the top it already looks good, so I’d mainly focus on taking off just the lowest few leaves that aren’t getting much light anyway. That way the plant can focus its energy where it really matters, without adding unnecessary stress 🌱
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