When defoliating during flower is it ok to snip the stems with scissors or should you pop the stem of the leaf off the main stem ?
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My opinion would be the cleaner the cut the better, I wouldn’t defoliate after 3 weeks or so in flower. A leaf here or there is fine.
Welcome to OG
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I prefer to rip them off
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Cut the leaf stem as close to the main stem or branch as possible but no heavy drfoliation after 21 days.
If you want to expose bud sights you can tuck green leaves out of the way.
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dont tell him where you put them though! 
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I pluck, reach in and with a flick of the fingers they pop off right at their base. 
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If we wanna be all surgical then it’s exacto knife, cuts on both sides of branch like an arborist, then cut through. dip in alcohol. on to next one. 
but I’m dirty like @Foreigner & rip pluck sometimes yell at them
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scissors will be easier on the plant. sometimes they rip and tear long parts of the stem when you rip them off or pinch them. this is a touchy subject too. i like to strip mine of all fan leaves below the scrog and anything shading the buds up top. all the way to the end, every leaf.
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On my outdoor plants those long tears of tissue are where fungus can start. Seems Sativa heavy strains can have that more often. Lanky, tall plants. Makes sense the long tissue fibers.
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Very wise! This is why I always cut, those tears are only opening up the plant to pathogens etc. I used to pull,snap but you get those strip tears and I’ve seen them start to darken up or worse get the white fuzz. Better safe than sorry, personally I do a last big defoliation at 17-20 days .
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Love this shirt! I need one
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I remember reading the opposite somewhere. When you cut you cut cell walls open. When you rip they rip along the line of the cells. Open cells = risk.
Whether or not this is true I can’t say but it’s the methodology I use.
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I don’t get the not plucking after so many days of flower. Just don’t pluck every day on the same plant if you’re going for handfuls. I pluck almost through all of flower. Autos I especially just keep shwacking like once a week until it’s done. To expose the bud sights though and lowers for penetration. If it’s an outside pointing leaf it’ll stay till the end.
This is Paul Staments explanation on why you should tear mushrooms for cooking and not cutting, too.
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I was referring to those long strips that come off sometimes when pulling a leaf that will run the entirety of a branch, I definitely can see the logic, just what I was taught. I have seen fungal issues on those tears outdoors before and in an aeroponics setup so I suppose it depends upon your style too
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Lollipop the bottoms when you flip. Defoliate at day 21 and then again 10 days to harvest. Boom done. I just pinch them off with these pincer things I bought from Amazon, as close to the stem as possible.
Those tears where a fiber goes with the leaf are maddening. Especially an early pluck and you rip off a lower bud site too
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Oh god I hate that! But if close enough gives an excuse for an early sample lol. They drive me nuts too, when I’m at my buddies and he just starts tearing strips it makes me cringe 
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The pathogen thing from cutting and not taking the whole leaf stem has never happened to me. I’ve gone to just pinching it off with my fingers. If your environment is dialed in at flower they should just be dry sticks in a day or two.
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