Sucker Leaves On or Off !

Going to see for myself. Have done a few grows with the same strain. Know it pretty well. This round I'm going to leave every sucker leaf on them. Last run I cut them off 2 weeks before harvest. Results were okay. The main colas never quite got to where I had hoped originally. Run before I cut them all off a couple weeks into switching to 12/12. Even worse outcome with none. Going to keep them all until they are history. I trim the bottom third off the plants when switching to 12/12. Mainly concentraiting on 6 or 8 main colas. I usually average 2 zips per plant. Growing in my own soil in 5gl buckets. I have 9 plants in a 3x3 square. It's pretty tight but, none of them seem to be too claustophobic. They are clones vegged for 5 weeks then transplanted and put in flower. Here is a pic from almost 2 weeks ago they were a month in since switch to 12/12. Will update a new pic this weekend. Just really want to know for myself. 9 week strain by the way.

Your plants look quite far along mate. I don't know how much difference it would make now imo. I've just tried to do some defoliation with two of my plants. I am shitting my pants about how they are going to turn out.

I'm trying to leave all the leaves to see if it makes a difference. Trial and error I guess.

Nothing necessarily scientific here but i think of any leaf as more area to catch light. How much the plant needs this late in flowering is debateable as its using less water, nutrients, etc.

I try to find a happy medium of removing fan leaves and keeping them on. I do most of my triming after three weeks into flower, my reason behind that is most stretching and new growth is done and I can get a good look at exactly what I'm dealing with. I clean up most of the under growth as well as the first and sometimes second node of any latereral branches. At that time I'll remove any large fan leaves that I see covering any potentially decent sized buds. Hope this helps and keep on growing on

The big leaves are certainly covering lots of buds but, i'm going to let nature take it's course to see if it increases yield and potencey. I've grown outdoors for many years and don't ever remove any leaves. Time will tell. A month left in flower. Here's a current pic. Some yellowing going on will give them one more shot of fish emulsion along with bloom nutes. Hopefully it will help keep them green till harvest.

You could do a Tuck-under on some leaves if you don't really want to cut them off. Take the leaves that are blocking light from buds and tuck them under some other leaves out of the way.

zack66 said:

I'm trying to leave all the leaves to see if it makes a difference. Trial and error I guess.

Click to expand...

Probably won't help if you cut them off while they are in flowering, trimming your plant will stunt it's growth, I suggest doing this before you flower.

reppinhigh22 said:

You could do a Tuck-under on some leaves if you don't really want to cut them off. Take the leaves that are blocking light from buds and tuck them under some other leaves out of the way.

Click to expand...

I've done the tuck the suckers out of the way. My main grow area is only 3x3 with 9 plants in 5 gl buckets. I'm constantly moving them around. Like twice a day trying to keep them all well lit. It's hard to keep leaves folded under with my constant moving of the buckets. Thanks for the input. 6 weeks today since switch to 12/12. Fan leaves intact and still green. I feed N for 5-6 weeks into bloom. Or as needed!

your plants look awesome man. I would just let them do their thing now.

i would def take some of those fans off. at least those monsters shading half ur buds. just did a cpl plants. the1s i uncovered were still on the smaller side.. but they did firm up and mature instead of staying pale green and fluffy like the 1s i didnt uncover.

dimebag87 said:

your plants look awesome man. I would just let them do their thing now.

Click to expand...

Thanks man that's my plan. Let nature run it's course. I figure nature put those suckers on there for a reason.

nick88 said:

i would def take some of those fans off. at least those monsters shading half ur buds. just did a cpl plants. the1s i uncovered were still on the smaller side.. but they did firm up and mature instead of staying pale green and fluffy like the 1s i didnt uncover.

Click to expand...

It's really tempting to pull them off but, i'm leaving them on to see the end results. Buds seem to have a bit more resin on them at 6 weeks then in past grows. I figure if my girls don't want the sucker leaves on them they know how to get rid of them. Time will tell. Should get interesting over the next month. They should start cranking on the weight over the next few weeks. Feeding full strength nutes using the GO line. With teas every 2 weeks.

That's cool, i've got a strain now that i've got a few runs on thats bout 4wks in.. I'm going in tonight and taking all the node fans out, then with 2 wks left i'm taking everything thats not coming out of or near bud.. Basically this is just like yours, experimenting.. We can compare results.

I've tried whacking all big leaves off 2 weeks beore chop. Not really sure if it helped bud production at all. Results were okay. Hoping this run they bulk up a little more. Time will tell.

I think where it helps the most is the maturation of the lower buds.. You've seen those small fluffy buds that were covered the whole time how they look pale green.. What i've noticed is that the actual size of the smaller buds doesn't increase a great amount.. But they do firm up and mature a whole lot more, giving slight weight increase and huge increase in quality.. Remember this is not done to improve the upper buds, but the lower so those are the ones you need to compare.

Some folks just take the main colas then give the bottom ones another week or so to mature. Me, I just whack the whole plant at once. I initially chop the bottom third off the plants before putting in flower. So I don't have alot of bottom growth to deal with anyway.

That's true but you got some major shading going on in that last pic.. Have you thought about maybe just trimming some of those big fans like you do with clone leaves..

From my understanding those big leaves look to us like they are blocking light but, in reality the light gets through them just fine. Who am I to go against natures process? And remember this is a comparison test for me cause I have tried it lots of different ways. Going with the plants natural process this run. If she doesn't want the big suckers she knows what to do!

Just a quick update. 7 weeks today since switch to 12/12. Dropping nite temps to 60. Daytime around 75. Humidity around 40%. Still feeding full strength nutes until next week then i'll start cutting them back. Plants are starting to purple and buds are starting to swell. 3 weeks left.