Can I trim bigger fan leaves that block light with an auto? I read that you should not but have seen people that do defoliating of autos. I’m kinda confused and this is my first time growing an auto and this is only my second grow.
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Any leaf that blocks light to a bud… I trim. I don’t cut anything that I don’t have to.
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@Ottis84 I trimmed (defol & lollipop) mine and had no I’ll effects. Others though do. But I can’t speak to their style or methods. But for me no stunting or early flower onset.
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In all fairness I use a net so anything below it is gone anyway. I tie autos down like photos. I defoliate quite a bit and I haven’t seen it hurt anything. I just make sure to leave plenty of fan leaves. I just hit a personal record of 7oz of Blueberry CBD auto. I trimmed her all the way through until chop
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Thanks for your help I will have to watch some videos on pruning. How far into flower or preflower can you prune?
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Thanks for the help. That is a very nice yield from that auto. Does defoliating help a lot with yield? I just start LST for the first time I don’t quite have it down yet and thought I should defoliate some to get more light through the canopy.
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Whatever you do dont defoil more then 1/3 of the total leaves in 1 sitting. always feed and haircut on same day and remember fan leaves are solar panels for plants, try training the leaves out of the way instead of removing them, when you can.
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@Ottis84 so there is a process some growers use for heavy defol just before the flip and at days 21 & 42 of flower. And like @Docnraq said keep it to less than 1/3.
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Heres a pic of one of my blue dream autos. 50 days since popping out of soil. I did heavy trim a few days after flowering and take a few off here and there during watering / feeding. I’ve had no I’ll effects ( not related to defoliating anyways).
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Right? I cannot believe how amazing it’s doing for my first grow and only like 50 days old. Now to keep it alive until harvest 
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Keep doing what your doing…its working!
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I defoliate all my autos and never had a problem but sometimes you dont have to cut leaves off u can do leaf tucking instead if u have some leafs that are blocking bud sites yes u can cut them off or u can leaf tuck them
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Thanks!
Very very nice!
Thanks and I was scared to defoliate because I read mixed things. They have seemed to take well to it but I guess everyones plants are different.
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I stick to just taking 5 maybe 6 at most leaves off a day if I feel it needs it, only ones that block light penetration and any that are yellowing off or changing colour due to lack of light. As they’re not getting used, mine was super super bushy a couple weeks ago, but I think now the bids are fattening up she’s swallowing them, and I’m not having to remove as many now
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