Hey dudes just discovered the show. Loving it so far especially the deep cuts from the “guru”. My question is about leaf stripping in flower. I am running 7 plants in a 8×2 closet and it is getting very crowded. This is only my second grow and first in this 8×2 space. I have managed the canopy pretty well i think and it is even and fully covers the 8×2 space with lots of tops. I am 15 days into flower and thinking it is about tome to do some leaf stripping. I am a little apprehensive as it is my first time taking leaves off the canopy. My plants are very healthy but the room is very crowded. So far i have only taken off the dying leaves at the bottom that are in the dark. My question is now a good time to do some defoliation to the canopy? Should i wait for the “stretch” to complete? Also what about “lollipoping”? Shod this be done at the same time as the canopy defoliation or is it better to spread it out over a few weeks ? Love the show and my new bag of recharge works great
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If had a nug for everytime someone asked about stripping leaves, I’d have no reason to grow lol.
Everyone has their own techniques they have developed from their grow style. If you’re worrying about causing problems in flower, you’re good to do a pretty substantial leaf stripping during the first 3 weeks in my experience. This is something you just get better at grow by grow and eventually you get into flower without needing to do anything major.
So, I don’t want to say you should do it my way, but I’ll tell you what I do…..I’m defoliating throughout the grow. In veg it’s about getting rid of lower shit I wont need later anyway and removing leaves that get in the way when training. In prep for flower, I defoliate 1 week before the flip. I draw a line below the canopy in my head and remove everything below that line. Sure you can call it lollipoping…most of that lower stuff is already gone since I keep up on it. Then the final defoliating comes on week 3 day 1 where I pull 10-15 leaves blocking bud sites. It’s cruise control from there, but I’m not afraid to pull a couple more leaves anytime up until week 5.
So yeah man, clear what you need this go around, but try to be better prepared before flower next time is my advice.
Rodger that… thanks my dude
It would help to have less plants in that small space as well. You can easily fill that canopy space with 3-4 plants in 5-7 gallon pots.
Yea i think you are right… i was trying to cut down on veg time by having more plants in three gallons. I will definitely run less plants next time. thank you
Sounds like an arm muscle back work out. Most recommend defoliating lollipopping up to week 3 in flower. Growing strong and stretching, so hard to slow them down. Usually bottom third is removed due to popcorn nugs. Usually top 12 inches of bud produce good nugs. Some folks will only leave top three to four nodes just depends on lights, strain, environment. You might have noticed first run if similar light how far down the colas was good dense bud and where the small airy bud started. Defoliating is selectively removing leaves blocking bud sites from direct light or if your getting better light coverage or airflow through canopy by removing a leaf or few. Lollipopping or shaving her legs removes all the lower crap that won’t produce leaves and stems with small bud not making it to canopy. So making it a bud on a stick lollipop.
Good info justcoolin thank you
I feel your pain! Figuring out which leaves to pull and when to pull them is one of the most hotly debated topics in cannabis growing! But, with indoor growing for max weight, you HAVE to defoilate. Personally, I am a scrogger and must defoilate constantly in flower otherwise i’ll end up with an impenetrable thatch of leaves wrapped around sickly looking lime green light-starved larf ghost buds. Right around the time I flip to 12/12, I do an aggressive stripping to where I pretty much take off all leaves and keep the top 2-3 leaves intact. But by the end of stretch, it will look like you never popped a leaf and I will strip it back down again to the top-most leaves. After that, it’s all by feel, but generally will do a semi-aggressive strip at week 6 where I pop leaves blocking bud sites, but leave as many as I can. You just have to remember that if a leaf is shading 1, 2, 3+ leaves below it, only the top leaf is photosynthesizing at it’s fullest and the leaves it is blocking are deadbeats… get rid of them!
Thank you! Great info still learning