Looking bare in there! Good job on the uniformity.
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Hahaha, that staement reminds me of a time in 2008 when I was training a young lad hehehehe.
It was a similar setup to above a little bit bigger as it had 6 x 600w over 6 Sq meteres holding 96 White widow clones.
It was the day I had put up the 3rd layer of nets and was about to do the defoliating, a job I hate but has to be done, you need a body like a snake to twist and bend to get it all done. Anyway this lad wasnt pulling his weight and I couldnt trust him to defoliate it was his first grow.
All the questions started to ensue what your taking leaves of, yes I explained about humidity air flow, light penetration, quality buds and popcorn buds that dont get trimmed but thrown straight into the trim bin for the pollinator.
I told him to go make some food, drinks and joints and just leave me, LEAF ME to it, as the questions were now pissing me off as it was slowing me down.
A couple of hours went by, he had shouted th efood was ready, drinks, joints etc it was break time, but I had done the job, just putting all the fan leaves and suckers that wouldnt ever grow any quality bud into the bin bags.
I will never forget this lads face of pure shock, terror, like he had seen a gohst, or a gohst had come and took all his leaves anyway.
IS THAT REALLY NECESSARY WERE THE WORDS THAT CAME OUT OF HIS MOUTH AS HE ENTERED THE ROOM WITH A SLIGHT TEAR FORMING IN HIS EYE
After explaining again and agin that yes it is, he accepted it but with a grain of salt dtill in dissbelief. A few days after the buds were swellling, the leaves that were left had grown, you coulnt see down to the soil from above the canopy anymore etc
It was only after I let this lad go fly on his own, that I started getting calls to go see his room, He wasnt getting the yeild all tiny popcron buds, he struggled like this for a year before consulting me.
I explained about the strip and he wasnt doing it, he said he was, I went and had a look when he had done it and laughed. I offered him the choice of the IS THAT REALLY NECESSARY moment. He grasped at the chance so I sat for hours again stripping showing him, how and what I leave and remove.
That yeild was the best he has had without my constant supervision. Now he strips each time never quite as aggresive as me but he still gets a lot of popcorn bud, that he spends hours trimming that I would just throw in the trim bin.
The memory will never leave from that day he walked in the room hehehehehe, Its still a joke between us now.
IS THAT REALLY NECESSARY?
YES!
His face was like I had just taken his super model girlfriend in sexy lingerie and replaced her with a crack head in hessian sacking with track marks from head to toe. Ive never seen shock horror or dissapointment quite like it 
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Generally speaking,pruning is used in many areas of gardening and horticulture it is used to direct growth or improve fruit quality.
In a way its also called defoliation, but this is incorrect, (in my opinion) it should be called pruning.
Pruning Basics
- Prune to maintain structure of the plant or intentionally cut to direct growth in a trellis. I try to keep the shape or by pruning or cut a top off if I am looking for a multiple cola. (like the structural pruning of trees) Or pick a growing situation where little lateral branching occurs like SOG, where height and side branching is limited.
2)Directing growth for proper exposure. Most indoor lighting situations have a fixed plane of exposure, or foliage can block proper exposure. Flowers closest to the light usually have better quality, flowers that are not blocked have better quality,
In fact the top colas are selected for lab testing because they are the highest potency. I got a test to go as high as 30% with a grower I work with. This is generally why SCROG is used to flatten the exposure plane, Some fruit trees like apples need proper exposure for proper fruit development.
3)Dont apply excessive pruning. I generally find that you can induce watersprouts, they do appear on their own but I like a heavy initial prune of no more than 30 % of the canopy I’ll continue to prune to keep flower sites exposed, and I will keep lower canopy growth stripped under the screen, because its an obvious dead spot. You can stunt a cola or the plant in general depending on the cultivars tolerance to pruning and its structure.
- Prune to prevent disease pressure, you have to thin the canopy, overlapping leaves, dying fans, bad airflow, etc.
My opinion on this…
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I call defoliating pulling leaves off, I call pruning cutting branches off. But each to their own, is it a Tom-R-toe or a
Tom-A-toe. Hehehe 
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Here’s a related method I’ve been developing, similar to lollipopping, I’ve coined “Rose Pruning”. Thoughts?
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so the red indicates a cut blue indicates keep i guess? i’ll probably be trying the severe stripping method 15 days in flower removing all leaves branches etc except bud sites i want to keep.
@Herbie is the defoliating an ongoing thing for you during flower, aggressively removing leaves that are shading budding sites?
In my SOG I find defoliation absolutely necessary not just for light penetration but more-so for the increased airflow.
Normally I defoliate twice in the plants short life and any time I see that leaves are laying flat on each other to prevent any sort of mould or powdery mildew.
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A lot of people are doing this. That really overly expensive book talks about doing this. They call it like the schwazz or something. Jungle boys cut all but the top nudes off before flower and then defoliate. I believe this creates bigger denser and ultimately more quality bud and less larf. I honestly think the “leaves are the solar panels, be like nature, only cut them if they’re half dead” theory is really old hat, outdated, and obsolete. Pruning and defoliation is used by many top growers.
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I like to take the odd leaf here and there. I feel like it would happen in the wild with herbivores munching a couple of leaves. The plant is resilient, and will bounce back.
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OMG! Dony give Texas any ideas!
Before switching to flower I lollipop alot of my lower growth. Anything that looks sickly, or doesn’t get adequate light goes. I find the benefits to this outweigh the negatives. I’ve found it helpful to keep pests away and it also opens up the bottom of the plant for more air circulation so less chance of mold of PM.
On my current grow I waited a little too long before doing this and I got mites for my first time ever. I did it then treated them with insectisidal soap and the problem seems to have went away.
I can’t really say it’s affected my yield but I do get more yield now than I did years ago before lollipopping.
EDIT: Spider mites are back with a vengeance just had to remove a bunch more foliage and spent an hour spraying my plants top to bottom. I wish I could get my hands on neem lol
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I agree on the Plantstress, especcially the sativa races seem to have a higher growth assignment in their genetically code. As Fans on bottom of grow room? Hmm, I don’t know, I see faster evaporation of Water, not to speak that a dry floor is not too ideal, if you have the right bacteria spectrum. Sativas can grow very well in wet soil and high humidity. So warmth and good bit of mist is not too bad if you don’t scare a bit of “resin loss” threw this. Do you? 
Be well.
I.
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Flushing you plants like a maniac is not necessary if you have living soil, plant and soil going to have symbiosis if relations are right. Search for symbiosis in bacteria, mychorizzae plant and nutrients out of Bio sources which bring no disruption in nature and everyone will have his goods. Throw away the apples.
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Of course if you make seeds, it would maybe not be the best to stress the shit out your plants, or would it?
Try it! I assume hermaphrodism been a genetical defect threw inbreeding not stress. Focus on the selection not the inbreeding and you can find a pick out of every bunch. If you havn’t got big growspace g®ow for small pots. As for Sativas, Plants can life in those too. And 20-30 Plants are managable. Try it.
Be well.
I.
leaf stripper
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Horny little bugger.
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