gladstoned
Well-Known Member
I am pretty ripped. Are you saying you take off a bunch of fan leaves to get light to your buckets?
Removing Fan Leaves During Flower? Are you serious?
- Thread starter longroot
- Start date
donutpunched
Active Member
Not to the buckets.. I was using that as an example as to how thick the canopy gets when you are cranking watts and feeding the shit out of the girls... It is not a good idea to get light on the buckets as it can raise temps in the buckets to causing algae to grow (DWC)... I ...just trim the top large fan leaves to allow light to get down into the "popcorn" so it hardens up, otherwise that shit goes in the trim bucket because it is not worth the time and money to clean it up... I am no near an expert as many of these guys are on the board and canopy control is very important so you dont have to trim the leaves... If I had a wharehouse where there was plenty of room around the plants I would not touch them, there would be no need, but I like to try different strains and am not always sure at what time to flip.... and sometimes I flip a little late and thats when it gets crowded and I have to trim leaves....
DinafemHashPlant
Active Member
All fan leaves hellz na but if they r big as shady leaves covering everything beneith then either tuck it under another leaf or cut it off but not alot just the BIG ASS ONES..I would also think about clipping most leaves off a few days 4-5 before harvest...JMO
ismokealotofpot
New Member
Don't go trim crazy just every small branch off the main stalk just before flower.
roosba
Active Member
one word "pinning". if the leaves are in your way move, not remove them. As I studied this very question I gathered that you shouldn't remove them until they are no longer viable! that was the word from not only this website but others as well. I don't remove them and everyone wants to know how I get buds so big. I could only imagine how big they would be if I took off all the fan leaves, lol..
darkdestruction420
Well-Known Member
donutpunch-to be fair when youve got a really dense bushy plant it can be helpful to remove some foliage for better air circulation but why take off the big fan leaves as they are the most effecient and productive parts of the plants? and here is something you probably didnt know(dont mean it in a rude way or anything)-Leaves are not as solid as they look, only about 15% of the light that hits a leaf is used and 85% goes on to the next one and so on and so on, so you are very minimally increasing the amount of light the area that the big main most effecient fan leaves are covering. you only hurt yourself removing those leaves, the plant grows them there for a reason. i know where you are coming from on the super thick canopy part but why sacrifice the great shit for the popcorn? cut that popcorn shit off dude and leave the main buds and leaves alone.
Buddy Ganga
Active Member
You are looking down at a plant LSTed in a 5 gal pot. The pot itself measures 18 inch across. The plant, over 32 across. By opening up the plant v.s. trimming it I am able to keep all of the needed fan leaves and get light to the lower bud sites which changes them from popcorn to nugs.
To the left you can see what the same plant looks like towards the end of flower after I've released the tie downs.. The light the lower leaves absorb is just as beneficial to the tops as it is to the lower part of the plant. Sure it takes a little more space for each plant, but it more then makes up for it in weight.
Here is the same plant a week before harvest, you can see the lower branches produced nice size nugs and very little popcorn..
st0wandgrow
Well-Known Member
Agreed, Buddy. No need to do a hatchet job on the plant when it can just as easily be trained to accomplish the same effect.
Buddy Ganga
Active Member
I've tried the lower trim and removal thing on a few crops (removing all lower growth and trimming leaves)and my harvest weight went way down.
Taking away all lower growth does not add the missing smaller nugs or popcorn weight to the tops.
It actually reduces over all weight.
Doesn't matter how full the plant is, if I use my oso fans they will get all the air flow etc needed around the base of the plant, besides the constant air flow makes for much stronger, healthier and higher producing branches.
I've found through my own experience that it's the same as dropping a quarter every time I reach down to pick up a nickle.
Train Wreck and some Mango's LSTed:
Taking away all lower growth does not add the missing smaller nugs or popcorn weight to the tops.
It actually reduces over all weight.
Doesn't matter how full the plant is, if I use my oso fans they will get all the air flow etc needed around the base of the plant, besides the constant air flow makes for much stronger, healthier and higher producing branches.
I've found through my own experience that it's the same as dropping a quarter every time I reach down to pick up a nickle.
Train Wreck and some Mango's LSTed:
Pimpernickel
Well-Known Member
I trim large ones that block light from a lot of other growth, that's not very many though.
stonestare
Active Member
The argument will never be settled. I cut off all the fan leaves the last 2 weeks, when I start to flush. I do not have stress issues at all and if you lightly trim the midle out you will get more bud. The reason I cut ALL of the fan leaves is I want my light on every inch of the plant for its last 2 weeks. Trust me youwill gain on your yield.
stumpjumper
Well-Known Member
I trim only dying leaves and a few that block light from lower nodes.... I would never trim all of them off, assnine..
gladstoned
Well-Known Member
You are saying last two weeks, other dude said at 12/12 flip - HUGE difference.
But I agree with stumpjumper.
bob harris
Well-Known Member
Ahhh.a classic argument. For the last week, I pretty much "pre manicure". I also "lolipop" about week 3 to 4...but over all..the fan leaves ain't hurting anything and I leave em alone for the most part during the grow.
I do think that the plant is "done" with the fan leaves once the sugar leaves are developed. The fan leaves drive the "growth" of the plant...stalk, stems, new leaves...most of that growth gas stopped by week 4 or 5. So I understand the logic behind cutting all the fans then. I don;t think the plant is growing, as much as maturing after about the 5th week. Maturing seems to involve a different kinda growth, Fattening, if you will, verses "stretching", and I think the sugar leaves can power that.
But it's truly a "to each his own" topic...
darkdestruction420
Well-Known Member
I do think that the plant is "done" with the fan leaves once the sugar leaves are developed. The fan leaves drive the "growth" of the plant...stalk, stems, new leaves...most of that growth gas stopped by week 4 or 5. So I understand the logic behind cutting all the fans then. I don;t think the plant is growing, as much as maturing after about the 5th week. Maturing seems to involve a different kinda growth, Fattening, if you will, verses "stretching", and I think the sugar leaves can power that.
how many books about botany have you read? just wondering.
how many books about botany have you read? just wondering.
KidneyStoner420
Well-Known Member
I've always left them alone unless they are already falling off
bob harris
Well-Known Member
Some..mostly specifically about cannabis. Like I said..it's a no win debate. Stripping all fan leaves early in flower is ridiculous..I don't think many would disagree, but late in flower has been debated forever.
The other thing that confuses me is how people can argue "the right way" to do things like it's a generality. I've found that different strains have completely different reactions to a given stimulus.
12/12 for flowering is a good example...it's a generic "one size fits all" lighting schedule, not necessarily the best one. 18/6 or 24/0 for veg? Same un winnable debate. It really comes down to what works with the specific strain you are growing.
gladstoned
Well-Known Member
Bob,
I think you just explained it. If you stick with a strain and keep fine tuning and getting better, then you learn what is the right way and what is the wrong way.
If you have been growing a strain for several runs and then you pluck off all the fan leaves early in flowering and you don't yield nearly as much, then YOU KNOW that is the wrong way, if it increases it, then it's the right way. It is that simple. I don't know the answer, cuz I have never experimented with it. I, like many others, have always plucked them when they looked half dead (or worse obviously). I think this is one debate that does have a right answer, and I sure am curious. It is a concept that I don't think would vary greatly between strains either.
Very Interesting I think.
I think you just explained it. If you stick with a strain and keep fine tuning and getting better, then you learn what is the right way and what is the wrong way.
If you have been growing a strain for several runs and then you pluck off all the fan leaves early in flowering and you don't yield nearly as much, then YOU KNOW that is the wrong way, if it increases it, then it's the right way. It is that simple. I don't know the answer, cuz I have never experimented with it. I, like many others, have always plucked them when they looked half dead (or worse obviously). I think this is one debate that does have a right answer, and I sure am curious. It is a concept that I don't think would vary greatly between strains either.
Very Interesting I think.
mufastaa
Active Member
I like this argument.
Its my first time through, and after a lot of research I have just been trimming the shit out of my fan leaves. I wanted to do it once and stop, but they just keep growing. its not that i dont like them, i just hate to see my budsites in the shade, and from what i can see from the ones i left on the outside, they dont help much if at all. In a crowded scrog like mine, you cant really pin down or tuck large fan leaves out of the way because there are buds all over the place, and if they arent large now they will be in a few days. I look at the new growth at the base of the leaf and cut it once it has an alright start and is getting some small leaves of its own.
I know just by looking at the fat bag of trim i have that if it was still on the plant there would be serious ventilation issues, and im worried about mold as it is.
I followed alonefarmer's journal he grew fat buds without any fan leaves in a similarly small tent.
Its my first time through, and after a lot of research I have just been trimming the shit out of my fan leaves. I wanted to do it once and stop, but they just keep growing. its not that i dont like them, i just hate to see my budsites in the shade, and from what i can see from the ones i left on the outside, they dont help much if at all. In a crowded scrog like mine, you cant really pin down or tuck large fan leaves out of the way because there are buds all over the place, and if they arent large now they will be in a few days. I look at the new growth at the base of the leaf and cut it once it has an alright start and is getting some small leaves of its own.
I know just by looking at the fat bag of trim i have that if it was still on the plant there would be serious ventilation issues, and im worried about mold as it is.
I followed alonefarmer's journal he grew fat buds without any fan leaves in a similarly small tent.