Trouble reading today's article? Click
here: Issue
#203 - Sunday, March 13, 2016 Dear Fellow Grower,
In today's issue... - Learn how you can use defoliation (the process of removing leaves strategically) to increase your yields and growth rates!
- Learn what buds look like when they've reached their highest potency, and get the tools you need to determine the exact right time to harvest every
time!
- Ready to jump in and get started growing for the first time? I've put together a few resources that can be really helpful for new (and also experienced) growers.
- Check out this week's trophy pic featuring some fat LED-grown
buds!
Nebula Haze & Sirius Fourside (founders of GrowWeedEasy.com) "My mission in life is not merely to survive, but to thrive."
~Maya Angelou
Cannabis Defoliation Tutorial by Nebula Haze |
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Cannabis "defoliation" is the process of removing leaves from your cannabis plants. 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 work and I believe the pictures I'm going to show you in this article will speak for themselves! 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.”
"I tried it and it hurt my yields!"
“The plant NEEDS those leaves or it wouldn’t grow them.”
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.
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 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 ;)
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 Cannabis isn't the only plant that benefits from defoliation
To those naysayers who claim defoliation can NEVER work, I think it's important to point out that cannabis isn’t the only plant that rewards growers with bigger yields and higher
quality from defoliation. Some commercial crops, such as cotton, need to be defoliated during their grow to produce the best yields and quality of cotton. In fact, even after 40 years of intense study on cotton defoliation, there is still controversy and ongoing research by commercial crop producers to further pinpoint the exact time and way to defoliate cotton plants in the field to produce the best results. In a study with subterranean clovers, defoliation in early to mid flowering dramatically increased the number and size of flowers, but continuing defoliation until later in the flowering stage dramatically reduced flower yields. Cowpeas and some palms are other plants that produce better yields in response to thoughtful defoliation, but again yields are lower when too many leaves are taken, or if they're taken at the wrong time.
Some palms produce more flowers in response to being defoliated
I think these examples demonstrate the main thing you need to remember: Defoliation is definitely not some magical way to increase cannabis yields; it's a technique like any
other and it can be done in both good and bad ways.
Let's learn how to do defoliation the right way for cannabis plants!
I'll show you a quick cannabis defoliation sequence, and there are lots more pictures of defoliation in the full article.
Defoliation: Before - notice how leafy the plant is; no light can get down past the top canopy. Way-too-bushy plants like this are prime candidates for defoliation in the flowering
stage.
Before plucking Immediately after plucking 4 days later, look at the incredible bud growth!
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If you want to maximize the potency of your buds and achieve the highest levels of THC, it's important to harvest your buds at the right time!
- Too Early - If you harvest too early it can cause headaches and/or anxiety.
- Beginning of Harvest Window - If you harvest on the
earlier side, you will get more psychoactive buds (effects are "in your head").
- End of Harvest Window - If you harvest on the later side, it will produce a more relaxing, body effect.
- Too Late - If you harvest too late, your buds will stop being as potent and can make you
sleepy.
Harvest at the Right Time To Get the Results You Want!!
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You only need 3 things: - The knowledge of when to harvest - Read the full tutorial here!
- Eyes for visual inspection - You've probably had these for a while!
- A magnifying tool (optional) - Make those
sparkly trichomes easier to see
Not Ready to Harvest
Still has white pistils sticking straight out
Ready to Harvest All the pistils have
darkened and curled in
Looking at your buds is a great way to get a quick estimate of when to harvest, but if you want to be really accurate, you need to look at the trichomes under a magnifier. These are the small "sparkly"
stuff growing on your buds and when they turn from clear to milky white it means they have reached their highest levels of THC.
When it comes to magnifying tools to get a better look at your trichomes, there are a few
options: - Jeweler's Loupe - This is the cheapest and most low tech way to get the job done. Unfortunately, it will also give you the least insight into how your buds are doing.
- Handheld Magnifier - These can create a much larger picture because they can magnify up to 10x more than a jewelers loupe. However, this power makes them a bit harder to focus.
- Digital Microscope - A digital microscope is the final word in determining harvest time. It costs a bit more and needs a connecting laptop, but it'll get you face-to-face with your trichomes. You'll be almost uncomfortably close to your
trichomes! Check out the videos in the article for a demonstration!
Click the
picture to see the trichome diagram up close!
Ready to Get Started Growing? |
Have you been lurking? Is it finally time to start your grow?
Problems & Symptoms |
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NEBULA and SIRIUS, I love your website. It's so easy to use, and packed with very usefull information. I cant think of a question I've had or came across that I could'nt find an answer to in your website. The weekly articals are so helpful and easy to understand. I look forward to getting them and reading something New and saying to myself, Damn, Now I understand how/why that works so well. :-)
Barry
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First pic 12 days into flower, other two 7 1/2 weeks. I flower until amber trics this is Nirvana's Black Jack. Grown under two 350 watt
(actual draw) LED lights (S540 Advance Spectrum) and one 90watt red UFO.
This strain usually flowers 9
weeks. so roughly 790 watts and got 728 grams (almost 26 ounces!) after curing. Lights were expensive but I LOVE them. No more a/c and elec went from 350mo. to 250mo. and I thank you for this site. Taught me a lot.
~Jetta
12 days into the flowering stage
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7 1/2 weeks into the flowering stage We encourage you to forward this email to a friend in need!
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Nebula Haze:
Medical cannabis is important to me personally, and I'm dedicated to showing others how easy it is to grow their own supply of
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It is my mission to educate and build growing resources to help both new and advanced growers get bigger, better yields with less time and money. We update GrowWeedEasy.com at least weekly (often even more often!) to make sure that our website provides you with all the information you need to succeed at growing! |
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Sirius Fourside:
Sirius Fourside is a hobbyist grower who has gained the bulk of his experience growing in water as a medium (deep water culture,
bubbleponics).
"Growing cannabis is a relaxing hobby in and of itself, but it also saves you money and keeps you from having to deal with shady characters. Cannabis is much
easier to grow than people give it credit for, and growing in water doesn't increase the difficulty much, if any. But whether you want to grow in water, coco, or a different medium, we'll show you how easy it can be!"
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