Should I defoliate more or not

So here's a photo from yesterday of my scrog 27 days into 12/12. I have removed most leaves etc under the screen and did a little bit of defoliating at day 21.

Should I do more? Or let it go now?

In my experience, when I have defoliated more than just the very very bottom of my plants, I have lost out on what would have been bigger yields. I'd leave it be.

My rule of thumb is imagine how tall the plant would be bny end of flowering, calculate how deep your light can effectively penetrate, usually around 3 feet, and erradicate everything below the light penetration frontier, unless S0G. The only time you shouldnt do this is if youre wanting to reveg the plant to keep for mother.

im starting to do a little experiment vs pruned, lightly pruned and never pruned, so far the never pruned is already 7 feet tall and the pruned ones are 4.5-5 ft.

So it seems most are against it

Looks like a beautiful plant you got there. I think you are ok as is.

you could defoliate a couple leafs that are covering some buds. You can actually just cut off the green part and leave the stem so it dosent hstress the plant that much.

Daggy said:

you could defoliate a couple leafs that are covering some buds. You can actually just cut off the green part and leave the stem so it doesnt stress the plant that much.

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Cutting it in a different spot will still make the plant focus on healing the end of that stock no matter where it gets cut, she will know. you can do lst without needing to prune and get sunlight to all bud sites.

This is my Space dawg, shes 7 foot touching the light 1st week in flower, never pruned. I do believe we have a huge difference.

BigTexan said:

Cutting it in a different spot will still make the plant focus on healing the end of that stock no matter where it gets cut, she will know. you can do lst without needing to prune and get sunlight to all bud sites.

This is my Space dawg, shes 7 foot touching the light 1st week in flower, never pruned. I do believe we have a huge difference.
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Cheers man quite a different style of growing. I gave up just letting them grow like that as you end up with one cola touching the light and the rest of the plant miles away.

in my personal opinion Defoliate all the lower leave/branches that are not getting lights. They are going to be small little popcorn nugs if that so you might as well defoliate and conserve energy at the bud sites that get light. Less popcorn, fatter main colas is how i look at it

Clean that bitch man unless you like headachy harvests or small buds for extractions, Im serious erradicate at the bottom 2 feet of it and whatever is deep inside that plant, better for air and those points wont produce much.

KLITE said:

Clean that bitch man unless you like headachy harvests or small buds for extractions, Im serious erradicate at the bottom 2 feet of it and whatever is deep inside that plant, better for air and those points wont produce much.

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You just made a point. I like doing extractions. So maybe I should leave it

i hope my vote is anonymous

@BigTexan

why are you growing 7ft sativas indoor?

You just made a point. I like doing extractions. So maybe I should leave it

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Ye but that half ounce of tiny crap will steal a lot of plant energy from the plants budding points which are receiving optimum lighting. What you lose in the bottom is less than gained at the top in my opinion.

butsack said:

@BigTexan

why are you growing 7ft sativas indoor?

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wasnt my intention lol i keep my girls no more than 5 ft i just havnt touched her at all all with scissors shes going crazy.

I defoliate like crazy once a week after switch to 10/13.
Pretty much cut any fan leave with a stem over 2"
Plant jus grows a crap ton more leaves real quick. But it also allows those little budsites that arent getting direct light to grow.
A week later plants are bushy as shit again.


This is week 3 right after her 3rd pruning. Still looks bushy rii? Its a sativa strain too. I tuck as many fans behind her as i can, the rest are cut off when long enugh.
V-scrog ftw

Sir KK

BigTexan said:

Cutting it in a different spot will still make the plant focus on healing the end of that stock no matter where it gets cut, she will know. you can do lst without needing to prune and get sunlight to all bud sites.

This is my Space dawg, shes 7 foot touching the light 1st week in flower, never pruned. I do believe we have a huge difference.
View attachment 3300024

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They way you grow your plants does not require pruning of leaves because you do not train your plant very much.
When you grow more of a bush you need to prune.

Daggy said:

They way you grow your plants does not require pruning of leaves because you do not train your plant very much.
When you grow more of a bush you need to prune.

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I know, I do lst frequently and do nug buckets technique getting 8-16 colas tied down. Ive done lots of methods, no pruning im seeing more results with LST or not. my spacedawg was topped many times but still outgrew my lights.

BigTexan said:

I know, I do lst frequently and do nug buckets technique getting 8-16 colas tied down. Ive done lots of methods, no pruning im seeing more results with LST or not. my spacedawg was topped many times but still outgrew my lights.

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I used to grow big trees 1 plant per light and trellis them hard, now I run 2 per light in 10 gal fabric pots for a shorter veg time. If your gonna do this it takes alot of super croping and defoliating because it becomes too much