Lollipopping after Inducing flower?

Hey everyone, I’m looking for some advice on what to do after Inducing flower, and how to get the best even canopy as possible !?

@MD_Herbology, you mentioned it before, do you have any tips? (Amount to take off, recover time, ect…)

1 Like

@MattyBear has a good plan I follow. You really don’t lollipop until just before harvest. Some judicious fan leaf removal about 3 weeks into flower is what I do. Remember that the plant derives it’s food from the leaves so removing can affect yields.

5 Likes

Photosynthesis is important, leaves are what makes that happen. Buds dont have many leaves and so the fan leaves provide a source of scavenged nitrogen as well as photosynthesis.
Some people tend to go way overboard on the defoliation. The main reason to do it is to promote better air flow. Another thing is to remove lower buds and branches that have little chance of producing any volume of bud. There isnt much point diverting energy to useless material that sees very little light energy. Other than that, the upper fan leaves are quite important for healthy growth. Im not even certain the actual bud material itself is photosynthesizing? Perhaps the sugar leaves to a lesser extent. The main purpose of the cola is seed production.

2 Likes

@Eagergrower,
I typically cut clones in the first week of flower and defoliate at the second week.
A thick Even canopy will not allow much light penitration. So most of the lower leaves can go. Cannabian is correct and there is definitely a point of going overboard however, in my grows I have had the same plants cloned for many rotations. I have been able to see how my changes in technique have directly effected the same plants over n over.
When I defoliate I remove all bud sites and leaves below the canopy. This has noticably given me the most dense Budds and the highest yeilds to date.
I can only speak for the tests I have run myself but training and lollypop are definitely choices, cut what your comfortable with.

After I lolly, you would think the plants would need recovery but immediately after they really start to fill out fast.

2 Likes

That was my aggressive lollypop, and you can see how thin my canopy was, the other pics are about 4 days later. I don’t know if you can tell In the pic but those are my cheap old lights. Still had slot of growth quick.

1 Like

Lollipopping is done early in flower, from week 1 to week 4 I would say. As soon as you see little useless budsites, you remove them.

Most Lollipopped plants I see on the Internet are overdone. People remove too many budsites too far down the branch.
I only remove the lowest 20%

edit: MD_Herbology did it really nice, you could take it as a good example

4 Likes

Wow those are some nice looking plants ! Thanks for getting back to me.

In the picture above where you can see the lower branches you cut off, was that done in one cutting session, or did you cut that much off over time ?

And as far as the clones, where exactly on the plant are you making the cuts(top, middle, bottom of plant) ?

Thanks again! :v:

1 Like

I take my clones from the bottom as I lollypop them. And I do that all at once.

Like I said before you would think after a shock like that they would need some recovery time but since you have just made an Express highway of nutrient energy to the upper canopy it just exploded with growth.
Once the canopy fills out still keep an eye on those upper fan leaves because they can get very dense and if there is too much laying on top of one another you can get powdery mild. Or other related issues. I keep two fans below my canopy and an oscillating fan above. I trim fan leaves weekly to keep good circulation. Only when needed.

Trim off any bud sites that are below your screen because once your screen fills out there is no light left for growth. All you will have is wasted small immature buds below the canopy. And keep with it because a few weeks into flower a few will try to grow back down there​:+1::+1::+1:

1 Like

So I’ve looked up “lollipop” and still a little confused on when to do and really wtf it is? Anyone explain or here I’ll tag in my journal so it can Be there so I can reference later

Sorry guys; that is a defoliation and not a lollipop. The lollipop technique is performed as part of the final steps toward harvest and strips most leaves from the upper canopy; leaving cola and some sugar leaves. We can be a bit aggressive under artificial lighting but you have to have leaves to build your yield.

I could not find any examples on Google.

Here’s a great example of a lollipop:

And the term makes sense when you see it done.

1 Like

That’s “total lollipopping” :wink: Reminds me of those poodles you see sometimes (but green)

3 Likes

Yeah; sometimes it’s a good idea (like humid conditions at harvest) but I have a fairly dry climate so it’s good to leave a few leaves on as a moisture reservoir when drying.

@Dickrick527. Most people defoliate more then this video series recommends. It keeps on the safe side but it explains in alot of easy to understand detail.

And my friend 410 is correct, technically my lollipop is just a similar form of defoliation at another stage in growth. :+1::+1::+1:

2 Likes

Really good video.

I’ve never gone as far as lollipopping, but I do defoliate quite a bit. I’ve got 2 girls about 3 weeks into flower right now. I bring them out every 3 or 4 days for a haircut to remove vegetation that isn’t contributing directly to a flower, is blocking light to a decent potential flowing site, or isn’t getting any light on its own. I usually leave at least 3 nodes below the tops rather than lollipopping. I’ve also supercropped twice since flipping to flower. Once a few days into flower, and once again just a couple of days ago. I think supercropping is HST, but I’ve never noticed it slowing any of my plant’s growth down.

1 Like

@Dickrick527
to me Lollipopping = removing lower smaller budsites to get the energy into the bigger buds

removing leaves = defoliation

Lollipopping because you remove all lower growth so it looks like the stick of a Lollipop… as said before, only remove up to the lowest 20% (my oppinion) but remove almost all leaves (more towards the end of flower to get light to the buds, I do it as soon as the pistils go brown and the plant goes into the last flowering phase)

1 Like

Thanks for all the info! I’ll post some pictures when I’m done so if you guys/gals want to give some feedback I’d appreciate it!


Kind of hard to see, but this is my first attempt at " lollipopping defoliating/opening it up" whatever it is called

2 Likes

looks very good and right. When new budsites try to form, on the lower ends where you removed already, remove again :slight_smile:

Good Luck

This guy grows some great weed (makes some nice lights too)

2 Likes

Good video for newer growers who have reservations about defoliating. I defoliate pretty heavily myself, but I don’t think I’d ever take that much off in one session though.

He’s got a really nice setup.