Hi ILGM TEAM!
Newbie grower here down in the Southern hemisphere. This one has gone to flower, just wondering if I should have already started to defoliate or now and how much should I take off. Any help would be greatly appreciated! Thanks Team!
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It’s quite impressive, how your plants are growing outside so well during this part of the year. I must add that I’ve never seen anyone with outdoor plants in January, except my neighbors who have a climate control grow shed for year round gardening.
I’m not a veteran Indoor guy.
But I know that 7 freezes come from November to February and likely that would kill the plants so April or May is safest to plant outdoors.
I’m having a hard time with this
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Hey SpaceyX !
Thanks for checking in,
Im in the Southern Hemisphere it’s Summer here 
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From what I read, and I’ve read a lot about when and how to Defol, yes you should defol now and then agian before the 5th week of flower. Unless you’re already close to that then do it now and not again. The defol you will do will severely stress the plant so just do it and get it over with and then treat her well while she recovers. You will definitely want to take any leaves that are blocking the light from getting to the leaves below it. With that many to deal with, I would try to like stagger them down. You could leave the ones on the outside to take care of the photosynthesis and then you’ll need to take a lot from the inside. They say to take anything that drops shade on any other bud spots but I think it would look bald compared to now. Idk how the center of the plant is getting any light. Dude you must have the patience of Jobe to had not already been tearing it apart. Lol! Better than me. I have trouble keeping my hands off them. Maybe take half a day and Google how and when to defol and read up some. Or wait til Monday and I bet you’ll start getting responses from some of the more experienced folks in here. They are a great bunch but seem to take weekends off. Lol! Shame on them. Anyways, good luck and she is a very nice looking gal. Yay you!
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Hey ShureGreen!
I appreciate the help I will only defoliate once and stagger it, I think. I don’t want to stress it out too much as the conditions here can be a bit harsh(like today 50-60 km wind approx 40 miles, all day and into the night) she’s tied down at the base but man they are getting blown around tonight! Do you think excess wind can stress them out? if they don’t get blown over of course. I will take it easy on the defoliate. Thank you!
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Don’t worry too much about defoliation. You’re outdoors so airflow and light exposure are about the best you can get! You can spread the branches a tad, that way she isn’t crowded up too much in the middle and you don’t take away any growth. Or if you want to snip the older, fading fan leaves that’s fine too. Heavy defoliation is more for indoor growing to aid in light penetration and air flow. Bud development is a big factor, but outdoors, full exposure, I’d just take little tiny sucker branches from the bottom and spread her out some.
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The kind of reply I was waiting on no doubt.
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Exactly
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I only defol the middle lower half of my outdoor plants. Mostly just large fan leaves that get zero light and a few small bud sites that have no chance of producing anymore than a small popcorn bud. Otherwise i leave 90-95% because as @Borderryan22 was saying airflow shouldn’t be an issue and it gets tons of light from different angles during the course of the day.
I want to add if you’re worried about the wind you could put a stake in to stabilize it further up than just the bottom. Ive had plants snap/bend over before and it can recover with some repair work in veg but in flower it could be a pretty bad deal.
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This is great!
Thank you so much for the info Team! Really appreciated!
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