Defoliate? And how much?

[perm1226]

Hi all, first auto indoor grow here at day 59 with a simple question.
Should I defoliate? Specifically the plant on the left since it is shorter and more bushy.
Also, how much would be a good amount if any?

thank you so much!

 

[CannabisMingus]

Should I defoliate?

IMHO - no. I would wait until fuller bud formation to see if you really needed for ventilation in the middle. At this point, though, I see no need. FWIW, YMMV, etc.

 

[Growtogrow]

Is it a auto or is it a photo plant?
That will determine what type of defaultization is required.

If it's a photo?

Then you can take some of the bigger hand leaves off or do leaf tucking whichever you prefer. Also if it is a photo plant? Then the innermost smallest Bud nodes near the main stalk on each branch from the bottom up to the third node down from the top can be removed, to allow energy transfer to the end of the branches for the larger buds that will appear there.

If it's an auto?
I'll let somebody else answer the question then. I defolarize Autos too but I don't grow Autos near as much as I do photo plants. And I'd rather have a somebody that has much more experience growing Autos than I do answer a good question like you have.

There's plenty of them on afn you've come to the right spot for a good question like that.

Happy growing

 

[perm1226]

IMHO - no. I would wait until fuller bud formation to see if you really needed for ventilation in the middle. At this point, though, I see no need. FWIW, YMMV, etc.

Thanks for the wisdom my friend!

 

[perm1226]

Is it a auto or is it a photo plant?
That will determine what type of defaultization is required.

If it's a photo?

Then you can take some of the bigger hand leaves off or do leaf tucking whichever you prefer. Also if it is a photo plant? Then the innermost smallest Bud nodes near the main stalk on each branch from the bottom up to the third node down from the top can be removed, to allow energy transfer to the end of the branches for the larger buds that will appear there.

If it's an auto?
I'll let somebody else answer the question then. I defolarize Autos too but I don't grow Autos near as much as I do photo plants. And I'd rather have a somebody that has much more experience growing Autos than I do answer a good question like you have.

There's plenty of them on afn you've come to the right spot for a good question like that.

Happy growing

Yes, it’s an auto. I’ve plucked a few here and there I guess I just wanna see everyone else’s take on it.

I really appreciate the time you took for the full fledged response!!

 

[Bill.de.Cat]

Yeah, gotta balance energy production vs air flow, but doesn't look crowded enough yet.

 

[Death The Cultivator]

View attachment 1496068
Hi all, first auto indoor grow here at day 59 with a simple question.
Should I defoliate? Specifically the plant on the left since it is shorter and more bushy.
Also, how much would be a good amount if any?

thank you so much!

Why are you wanting to remove leaves?

I can't entirely tell from the picture but more than a defoliation they could have been bottom pruned to remove all the thin(smaller than a pencil) branches. You're humidity looks right according to your sensor, I don't think you needed to remove any leaves at all.

I'm off the opinion that the less stress the better so I don't remove leaves unless there is a pest/pathogen issue or airflow but I use fans that blow down on the canopy (side mounted fans suck). I prune thin/weak/short branches that do not reach the canopy. I do that two at day 10/21 of flower otherwise I don't remove any biomass.

There's no reason to defoliate outside of pest/pathogens and anything else is either poor canopy management or an environmental/ipm issue that can be rectified or at least hit with preventative treatments without removing leaves. People swear by schwazzing and other methods but none of them do anything to improve yield but can stress the plants or lead to issues later in the grow.

 

[olbobcat]

Since you are new I would not take anything off. They look fairly open. Remember that the leaves are your buffers for the mistakes you make in nutrients. Myself I am a less is more type of guy. Less leaves that is, leads to more weight. But that does make me right.

 

[Olderfart]

I only remove leaves or small branches, and only lower somewhat shaded ones, to improve air flow to avoid mold. Your plant does not look like it needs thinning out yet, but you might keep it in mind for later. If you do remove leaves, it makes sense to minimize stress by just taking a few at a time, but I confess that I tend to do a serious haircut when I figure one is needed.

Shaded fan leaves that receive (as I recall) less than ~200 μmol/m²/s PPFD use more energy than they produce, so leaves low and inside of the canopy don't provide a lot if any energy for the plant in an indoor grow. Outdoor is different because the sun is the same distance (or close enough) from every leaf, so all leaves that get any direct light receive useful levels of light for photosynthesis. Further, the sun moves, so leaves shaded sometimes see direct light at other times. In an indoor grow the light level delivered to the shaded lower canopy is a fraction of the light delivered high in the canopy and in most setups the lights and plants don't move, so lower leaves often don't get enough light to accomplish much. My measurements show that lower leaves in my setup often receive less than 200 μmol/m²/s PPFD, so many of them are useless for producing bud. IMO of course.

In any case, in an indoor grow, you can thin things out in the lower canopy with negligible impact on yield as long as you don't overdo it and stress the plant. I have removed piles of fans and small branches with little apparent impact on plant happiness.

Good luck with it.