Cannabis "defoliation" is the process of removing leaves from your cannabis plants. Some growers call this "lollipopping" when applied to the bottom of the plant. Many growers believe defoliation can be used as a tool to increase cannabis yields indoors, but there are also a lot of cannabis growers who say that plucking leaves off cannabis plants (defoliation) is not beneficial for your cannabis yields in any way. Today, I'm going to provide evidence that defoliation does indeed works
Defoliation means strategically removing leaves to "hack" the plant's natural processes so you get bigger yields.
Over the years I’ve heard many naysayers swear defoliation can't work:
“My friend is a grower and he says defoliation doesn’t work”
“I read in a book that defoliation is a terrible idea”
There is some truth to what they’re saying. Defoliation isn’t for everyone in all setups. It should only be used in specific situations. If you do defoliation the wrong way it will hurt your plant and reduce your yields. As one example, defoliation doesn’t appear to be effective at significantly increasing yields for outdoor plants. But for indoor growers, cannabis defoliation done right results in larger yields.
Unfortunately, I’ve also seen growers try to defoliate their cannabis plants the wrong way, most especially by pulling leaves from plants that are slow-growing and/or sickly. Defoliation will not make up for other problems like too-hot conditions, not enough light (or conversely too much light) or nutrient deficiencies. If you try to defoliate plants that are not in top condition, you're asking for trouble because defoliation will only stress your sick plants further.
The truth is, when growers defoliate their plants the wrong way, they'll end up with slow growth and reduced yields, and I believe that is where a lot of the criticism of defoliation is coming from.
So many growers say, "Defoliation doesn't work!"
"I tried it and it hurt my yields!"
“The plant NEEDS those leaves or it wouldn’t grow them”
But the fact that defoliation doesn’t work for all growers in all setups doesn’t mean that it doesn’t increase yields when done the right way!
Today I’d like to show you what successful cannabis defoliation looks like, and how to use it to increase your yields indoors. You’ll see examples and lots of picture-proof! If you still don’t believe properly-done defoliation works to increase yields after reading this article, I still encourage you to give it a try if you can afford to do so. You don’t need to do any defoliation on your plants... just don’t complain when the defoliators get better yields ;)
Growing wide and flat is the key to producing the best yields indoors under grow lights! I used the manifold technique on this plant.
Just before switch to 12/12 - After defoliation
I started by removing the biggest fan leaves, especially any that were hand-sized and bigger. Some growers like to defoliate the bottom 20% of the plant at this stage. Make sure not to disturb bud sites, and always leave enough leaf cover that you still can't really see through the plant very well. The plant needs a table of leaves to power the growth and stretch the way we want in the next few weeks! I think it's common to go overboard at this stage, so I recommend taking a few less leaves than you think. It's easy to get lost in the zone and realize you've completely plucked your plant bald! Just remember, you can't put leaves back but you can always take more later :)
How can this be? Why would the plant make leaves if it doesn't need them?
Outdoors, cannabis plants need extra leaves to store nutrients and create an extra wall of defense in case the plant gets attacked by pests or otherwise loses all its leaves. But indoors there should be no pests, and you are there to give your plants the exact nutrients it wants at the exact right time. This makes holding onto leaves a lot less useful for the plant, especially some plants which get extremely bushy without defoliation.
“In the wild a fan leaf is a pretty necessary thing. Not only is it a solar panel but it is also a holding center for the plants nutrients. Indoor grows, where you control a constant supply of food to your plants, makes the fan leaf less necessary. Yes, they are a solar panel but they are also a huge blocker of light to your offshoots which need daily development to achieve greatness.”
- AK GreenLover
happy growing