consider this:
in veg – in week 3 - lower fan leaves
4 days Just before 12/12 flip – remove all leaves that are blocking light
then once in flower week 4 of flower (heavy defoliation)
Then after that remove any leaves that are blocking light __NO SUGAR LEAVES
As mentioned defoliation is strain dependent - For indoor growing “defoliation” is a must for big yields
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Check this out … 
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Yeah, I’d probably say this thread can be merged by the @moderators with the one George posted.
@splinter7 that search function is your friend!
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sorry, i post first, search later
Definitely a habit to change 
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we’ll see my dude. old habits are hard to change.
It’s really out of respect for the site and its membership, as it is a specific request in the sticky threads for new members. Multiple posts on the exact same topic clutter up the site, and make info more difficult to find.
It also makes little sense to start a new topic to glean information that already has hundreds of posts about it on the forum.
So let’s work on those habits hmmm?
i know, i know…lol.
i guess i could just ask in an active thread if i can’t find the right place myself.
I use defoliation as a means of keeping growth slower, so that I don’t overfill my 2x2 before moving things to flower. I also use it as a means of reducing overall humidity in the grow space.
Keep in mind also, as it goes for indoor growing under lights, especially LED: the light intensity is ONLY straight-down, so having too many big leaves can reduce light intensity to the parts of the plant that really need it. Some branches can stay small & short if the nodes of that branch are blocked by leaves above it.
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A cheap lux meter helps measure light anywhere at any angle. Phone app too but it reflects and hard to see live.
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Awsome post as usual @Hobbes
I tried schwazzing years ago after seeing your grows. Also saw your side by side with the pretty much similar yields
so glad you came over to overgrow, you are a wealth of knowledge, ill definitely check out what you have going on. It’s much friendlier here compared to rollitup
Thanks again for the great in-depth post
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I just read through my own post and I can’t believe how vague I was?
For me defoliation is a means of keeping my mother’s under control, I don’t want 8/12 fast growing plants to maintain.
With defoliation I don’t need to trim them back so frequently.
Flowering…
As a means to control or limit stretch after flipping I defoliate accordingly.
The 3 at the back were more sativa, the front 3 more indica so I defoliated the back one’s to limit the ability to gatherlight and grow.
Edit…I found a picture later in the grow, all considered it’s pretty level.
Take care folk’s
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I’m liking genetics that don’t need any pruning after flip.
I’d like to find more strains with a nice open structure, more bamboo than bush, only branching from the main trunk, and finishing under 60 days or so. I’ve got a Dante’s Inferno that does a good job of this every time with good yield under 60 days, fruit-fuel. And a Shwale - Torus that’s viney but stays open and excellent yields, breathy og kush terps.
Anybody know of any fancy strains that tend to do this sort of growth?
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@XtraGood I’ve a bluchi that produces dense nuggets top to bottom, it’s structure is open and light can flood down into the plant.
I’ve another from the same breeder called cheese dipz it has that same trait, they’re also a breeze to trim up.
Edit…bluchi pics
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Motorbreath is like this, so is double Kush . Plants were a breeze to grow
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@Star_Dog those are good uses of defoliation!
I’ve seen enough studies that have compared yield and cannabinoid content in defoliated strains that I believe the true benefit is just more consistent quality across plants in terms of cannabinoids. I have yet to see work that convinces me defoliating (people don’t want to hear it, but same with scrogging) increases biomass yield.
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@ThePotanist Hey buddy, thank you I appreciate you saying.
Have I got this right, you think the plant is only going to x amount regardless of scrogging or training?
Tbh I would expect a scrog to yeild a bit more because of the way it’s set up.
It’s been a while tbf I’ve been growing them regularly of recent.
I do plan on tieing and training after I’ve selected suitable mums worth putting my efforts into, having had so much mediocre/crap in the last couple years it’s made me reluctant to put in much effort into training.
Jfc my definition of a scrog is pretty broad it only requires a net lol
My own version would be simply tieing the plants over then netting them, twice if required.
I don’t do the tucking and weaving thing I find i can get my own version to flower much quicker and less work, I’d be interested to hear what you think?
Thank you
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So from what I have read and my experience, you might yield a little bit more, but its a negligible amount. Its the difference between say 2 ounce and 2 ounces 2 grams. The 2 grams is nice, but I wouldn’t call it significant.
Now, would some strains really do better and yield significantly more? I could see it. Every research paper I have read has only looked at a few genotypes, and with the amount of different genotypes I could see it being more helpful for some and not so helpful for others. Its possible these studies are looking at genotypes it doesn’t help.
I think the benefits in terms of cannabinoid development and overall quality are absolutely worth it though. While 2 gram increase in yield is negligible, if you can open the plant so that lets say half an ounce worth of bud sites that were previously covered are now receiving light and they may go from 10% THC to 15%THC depending plants potential. That is worth it to me
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It’s also what those extra two grams are, If it’s lowers we’re weighing in this situation
If you grow one once untouched, you’ll know what to do next time in your environment. It’s cool to have options and a bit of control 
but sometimes it’s cool to watch the plant load up the one main heavy as it can…
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Nailed it! This is a lot of personal preference and while a full trellis of tops is amazing to see so is an 11 ft tall Christmas tree!
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