Hey All. I have a multi-part question to ask. I’m in week 2 of flowering and working on defol to help the plants breathe as well as accept more light. I’ve taken off a good amount of lower branches and nodes to promote growth at bud sites, but I’m curious at what point I should either stop or keep going. I’ve already removed about half of the overall growth. Is there a point of diminished returns?
The second part is more about plant biology. I’m removing fan leaves to make space and open up the canopy for light. I know fan leaves are a big part of the photosynthesis process. I’m curious if fan leaves more specifically fuel the node regions to which their attached, or if they support overall plant growth with no specific allocation of resources. I don’t want to remove fan leaves that may be a detriment to growth of specific sites along a main cola.
From the side it looks like the amount removed is right on target. the bottom is clean with no suckers or small branches to steal resources.
As for fan leaves I do not know the answer specifically. What I think is the leaves and roots make a system similar to our vascular system. The plant as a whole benefits when working properly.
What affects individual nodes / growth points has more to do with forcing or encouraging the plant’s hormones to be redirected from what they would do uninterrupted. That is, the correct application of high and low stress training techniques.
I only found it again because I commented on the post and just went to my activity page to find it again. The determining factor for me when I was researching the topic some years ago was photos of commercial growers. Pics of grow houses never show defoliated plants. They are always fully leafed and pretty natural looking. If commercial growers let the plant alone then I figured I should do the same…within reason in my small tent.
