don’t let leaves or colloidal’s touch soil. I use rapid rooter (Clonex) if I bury a stem works for me but not necessary.
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Royc, I don’t know how to contact you directly on here so I thought I would continue this thread. I transplanted my seedling today and it didn’t go great. I saw a root at the bottom of the clay pot and the leaf spread was 3.5". The top of the pot is 4" and it tapers at the bottom to less than 3 so it seemed like the right time to transplant. I had a really hard time getting the seedling out of the clay pot. The soil was stuck to the pot in areas. I finally got it out and there was hardly any dirt around the roots. There were not many roots at all which was a surprise to me. I thought there would be more. I held the stem at the height I wanted in the new pot and moved the soil around the roots from all sides. I gave it a good drink and put it under my light at 24" on the dimmest setting. The humidity is 66% and 72 degrees. I will say FF soil is impressive. It was nice and light with very few pieces of junk like rocks or sticks.
Right now the plant still looks good. I am crossing my fingers it makes it through the transplant.
I buried the stem with the cotyledons 1/2" above the soil.
There are a total of 8 leaves now not counting the cotyledons.
5 Gallon Smart Pot with approximately 25% additional perlite added to Fox Farm Ocean Forest soil.
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I have seen many pictures on here and online in general that show a plant that has nothing but huge buds all up and down the stems and NO leaves anywhere. Is this normal or did the grower cut off all the leaves for some reason? Or do the plants just drop all their leaves at some point. I have also seen pictures of plants with the leaves all turning yellow before harvest and have read this is normal.
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The grower removes the leaves to let more light into the lower buds.
Helps to make the lowers fatter and tighter so less larf.
And yes. This is normal too.
Some folks don’t trim as much as others do during the grow.
As the plant ripens the leaves will die off.
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Doesn’t the plant need SOME leaves to continue bud development?
I was thinking some of the pictures I have seen may be people trimming off all the leaves right before they cut the stalk for harvest?
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I have read that u defoliate at 2 points: after u flip to 12/12 light/dark schedule, 21 days later do a modified pruning. Then 42 days after remove more leaves. 42 days is just 6 weeks, so u have a good point! Seems like they should keep some leaves longer. I havent done a flower cycle yet. @Bulldognuts
I’ve had cultivars that were so bushy it was hours of trimming and others where I did no trimming at all. Some of it is genetics but many growers in anticipation of a lot of work will ‘lollipop’ their plant a week or so before harvest.
FYI flowers don’t produce chlorophyll and do not contribute sugars to the plant. Leaves do that job and removing too many means the plant is starved.
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@Myfriendis410 do you feel I defoliated too much here? SD autoflower into soil 4/1 and about 10 days give or take away from harvest with target date of 6/10. Tagging @NeoGroR. I think most people do not defoliate but I did and this is my first grow
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I’ve seen pictures of plants almost stripped clean. I have read you want to defoliate to allow light penetration. I also think many seasoned growers defoliate as well.
I’m going to.
You’ve seen my grow. When I get home on Tuesday, I’m transplanting and Scrogging. I’ll probably defoliate Thursday after seeing how the Scrog takes.
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This is a random picture I pulled off the internet. This is close to what I was questioning. There are so few leaves on this plant and I have seen other pictures with no leaves at all.
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That’s particular result I’ve heard is dependent on a lot of things not just defoliating heavy. Some strains stack And respond well to it more than others from what I’ve read. This is something that I’m continually learning about. I’ve heard a lot especially from experienced growers to defoliate at the flip then at 21 days and then again at 42 days. I look at this as a good base to use and as I see the different results from different strains I could adjust if needed.
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FYI that plant has another month or so. Assuming high efficacy lights you should not have any problems.
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There’s defoliating and then there’s defoliating. Buds don’t need light to mature. Buds don’t produce sugar for the plant. You have to have leaves to produce sugar for the plant to use. If you remove leaves at the wrong time you just sabotaged your harvest.
I happen to be an experienced grower and know a lot of other experienced growers: they are all cautious about leaf removal.
Also that plant is ready to chop. Defoliating just before then can be good depending on circumstances.
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About a week before chop I start taking leaves everyday. Has nothing to do with the plant growth, it’s just spreading out the trimming over a week instead of all at once. Trimming is quite laborious.
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I have an HLG 260W QB V2 rspec light. It is the newest version with a potentiometer to dim the light. I have it turned up halfway and the driver is very hot to the touch. It is the Meanwell XLG driver. I can keep my hand on it but if it was any hotter I would not be able to.
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That sounds about right.
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This is why its a good idea to put the drivers on the outside of the tent. They do get hot. I used 14 or 16 gauge solid core wire and my two drivers is on top of the tent. 
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I’ve finally got mine all bolted to 1x6’s and have them hung on the wall outside the tents. It makes a big difference. Between that and venting my exhausts to the attic it is now pushing too cold in my tents, but it’s easier to manage that being too hot.
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