Ok… I feel like I have a pretty good handle on when to begin LST. But…when should I consider stopping this?
Autoflower
Plants just finishing week 7 (or) day 54. I started LST right around week 3 and continue to tie these girls back and defoliate as needed to open up the inner part of the plant. Everything looks healthy and vibrant! No yellowing of the leaves no sign of nutrient burn…everything looks great to me!
however, my question is when should I stop LST and just focus on defoliation?
It looks like you shaped the two in front to have a really nice canopy. I usually don’t associate defoliation with autos. At least as aggressively as it appears. Is this your standard procedure and have you had success with it?
In all honesty I really don’t have a standard procedure just yet. But…what I do have is a lot of seeds and a lot of time on my hand to see what works best. On my first two grows I did minimum…if any LST at all. I vowed that the next time (now)… I’d be a lot more aggressive in my LST and all around general grooming of the plants. I will agree with you I have been quite aggressive with removal of (many) the larger fan leaves that developed during vegetation. I started removing these large obstructive leaves around week 4 after heavy canopy growth. I’ve continued this process until you see what the results are around week 7. I’m not really sure what’s going to happen when it’s all said and done. I guess they call that progress? I can tell you that this set of plants look way better than my first few. I guess the proof is in the pudding as they say. I’ll keep you posted though!
Looks great! The only thing I would worry about is bending any of the branches much this far into flower, but I lightly bend for better light exposure to the end. I defoliate straight through and hope to have very little to trim when they are done flowering.
