So I have 2 ILGM WW fem photos, roughly 3 weeks into veg. One has been topped with light lst, and the other is only LST. Im wondering if removing some of the bigger fan leaves would be beneficial at this point? Is it too early still?
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I normally try to keep the bottom cleaned up like the single finger leaves until I decide where I’m gonna top it or if I’m going to do a manifold is different all together because once you top you take off everything except the node you are using. I guess what I’m saying is that there’s not a single answer to your question lol
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My rule of thumb is if it’s not getting sun it’s a leech and gotta go otherwise keep the fans up top that are feeding your growth
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I don’t really mess with defoliation during veg. Not much point that I can see. There aren’t any bud sites being blocked and those are powering your girls.
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I leave them on. You don’t have flowers yet.
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Too early. Plant is using those fan leaves to grow. Wait until shes bigger and looks like she needs tidying up. Plants looks great btw. I’d wait until your plant looks like this and needs it
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I don’t agree I would rather train them to get big buds the 1st two are not mine but wanted to show what I’m going for just not there yet
Not letting it just grow on it’s own
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Removing leaves at this point will almost certainly be detrimental. And in general, I’m not a proponent of drastic defoliation as it’s used in bloom either.
The fan leaves drive photosynthesis.
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I am seeing people advocate both ways… not just here but also internet searches… My LST only girl does block a lot of light below for the nodes trying to stretch out. So I usually just pull the fan leaves around and try to Get light down there.
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My biggest fear is taking away something it deems vital at this point. Ive had some hicc-em-ups on this journey, i broke a node branch of the topped one trying to lst it a few days ago. It didnt seem bothered by it but did boost the smaller branches by a considerable amount. Thats why i raised the question of a defol.
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What do yields look like with this?
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I would separate training technique from defoliating. Front left is a NL monster cropped clone. The other three are AK-47. I have only removed a couple leaves from each plant - at most.
I keep tucking them underneath. Today is the first brown leaf I have seen in 63 days. And that is because it was laying flat on the soil. I have removed the first growth tips from each stem already. This coming week when I switch to 12/12 is when I will start defoliating the bottom 30 - 40%, and good bit of the interior and most of the unwanted buds and growth tips. I will do this during the first three weeks with a final clean up around week 5.
Defoliating during veg will prolong veg period. Nothing wrong with that. It just depends on what you are looking to do in the end.
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Ahh, i would rather not prolong the veg any longer than I have to, Im hoping to flip at halloween. I plan to add a scrog to this soon, i figured a little defol would help boost sites up to the net. But I dont want to slow them down too much either. Thanks.
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Bottom third for airflow, any fan leaves blocking bud sites, any leaves pointing in towards the center. But trying to keep as many leaves ( solar panels) as I can . Not saying this is best for you , but this is the way I did it.
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The two pics in the middle up there are of my current grow I switched to flower on 9/9 they went in the ground as sprouts 7/21. I’m only running 431w total actual half of it are two 600w off brand blurples 113w each actual. When I had all the light in the world I agree with keeping all the leaves that you can and did almost no defoliation and limited training, but indoor you are limited to a single source of light and all those leaves are not going to do anything but slow your growth because 75% of them are shaded by the ones on top. I’m not a scientist and can’t name every part of a plant and the chemical reaction that is happening in your soil. But I have been growing weed for 36 years and before I was forced to move indoor I was bed ridden for 3 years and read about techniques to maximize harvest and if you are wasting your nutes on growing leaves in the shade you are not going to have a very good harvest unless you have thousands of dollars in lights. Photosynthesis will not happen in the shade.
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@KoolHandLuke that actually is what I’m working on achieving and every grow I’m getting closer. I’m just gonna guess you have a couple more watts to work with. This go around I’m trying manifold training on 4 of em 1 was male and he had to move out then I have 2 that I trained more traditional like yours I’m experimenting to see which way I can get more out of. Unfairly because of the different lights I have, I’m hoping to fix that before I start the next ones. I asked Santa for a new one lol…
Beautiful plants sir
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@DefNSmokn I am still tweaking my skills so I’m not getting what I would like but last round I harvested 526.8 grams under 430w half of which is old blurples. It was 6 plants all I ever let grow was about 1/3-1/2 of the top everything from there down I took off. If it’s in the shade it’s stealing from you including the little pencil eraser sized buds, once dry it would take 10 of em to fill a one hitter lol… of course if you have enough light you can leave more on the top it’s about penetration of light. My $400 didn’t buy enough.
Now if you grow outside don’t pay any attention to anything I said. The sun moves and gets great penetration so training is WAY DIFFERENT
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I agree, I was wasnt saying dont defoliate. Just not at his stage. That picture i used got heavily defoliated. And then lollipped. Theres a time for trimming fan leaves and a time to let them grow the plant. I went from this
then defoliated to uncover bud sites and improve airflow and redirect energy to the right parts. Trimmed off bottom 3rd and resulted to this and currently developed some nice bud. although I’m annoyed my canopy is all over the place. Want to get a more even one next time and control it better
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@HanJolo lol that’s what made me try to manifold it makes a more symmetrical plant and is much easier to manage 8 tops than 20 going the traditional way. So far it’s been worth it but let’s see if I can get the same weight at the end. I’m just coming up on a month since switch to 12s and they’re gaining weight and stinky. I do wait until I get to like the 6th node then top down to 3 or 4 and let em go between trimmings to make sure they are completely recovered or you just stunt the hell out of em. I’m not a pro man and I want to learn more 4sure don’t ever hesitate correcting me if you have a better way. I got sick like 5 years ago spent three in bed with nothing but a TV and a tablet so I spent a lot of time reading the big guys shit now I’m a little over two years into trying all their stuff or maybe I should say fucking up their stuff lol… other than the uneven tops those are lookin damn good keep em comin WE will get to the top one day … Good luck
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@MeEasy amen brother. I’m new to this aswel. Just sharing what I’ve learnt and read. If you’ve got a journal tag me in. Be good to see your grow. Thanks pal, yeah there fattening up nicely. Reckon I’ve got at least 3 weeks to go. Next grow I’m looking at monster cropping to control the canopy more with those main colas. Bloody love this stuff 
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