To trim or not to trim, that is the question

To trim or not to trim?

  • Yes!, I trim to allow more light on the bud's

    Votes: 5 35.7%

  • No!, Why trim it takes away the engine of the plant

    Votes: 9 64.3%
  • Total voters
    14
TheDude0007

TheDude0007

Active Member
I do not trim any leaves off my plants when they are vegging and the first 2 weeks in flowering I also do not touch any of the leaves.

After 2 weeks of flowering I remove about 50% of the leaves throughout the plant to allow more light on the lower buds.

I find this works for me. Who agrees with me and who disagrees?

:joint:
 
T

thalboy

Active Member
I don't trim in that fashion. I think defoliation can work for certain strains, but you don't really train the plant with defoliation, you just defoliate at a critical time.

I think you need to either defoliate starting in veg so you can train your plant to get used to it, or try and leave as many fan leaves on as possible for at least the first half of flowering.
 
tamjam69

tamjam69

Well-Known Member
heres what i saw "bricktop" post a while back, and have seen these kind of facts posted alot of times so no you should not trim your plants, the only trimming that should be done is when you have harvested

Fan leaves are the largest most efficient solar collectors plants have. They absorb the largest amount of light rays and transform it into energy. Large fan leaves are factories where sugars/carbohydrates are created and stored for later use, as in for use during periods of darkness when plants operated on stored energy, etc.

Any healthy plant will attempt to replace any lost healthy foliage, until fairly well along in flowering anyway. When you remove fan leaves a healthy plant will divert energy that would otherwise be used for continued upward/outward growth, and when in flower for bud production and also THC production, and use it to attempt to replace the lost healthy foliage.

The idea of removing fan leaves is based in a flawed pseudo-logic. People assume a plant has X amount of energy to use and then assume that those large fan leaves have to use a great deal of energy plus they shade buds from direct light and of course people assume you have to have buds flooded with light. Well when you remove the healthy fan leaves the amount of energy plants had to rely on, X, is dropped to P. Then the P amount of energy is in part diverted to replace the lost healthy foliage and the rest of the plant then has K amount of energy to rely on for growth and bud development.

Many people do not realize the importance of fan leaves and they do not understand how plants actually work, what they do, how they react to different things. Something else some, or maybe even many do not know is that on average 85% of light that strikes a leaf passes through. On average a leaf will only collect 15% of the light that strikes it and again, the rest passes through the leaf to then strike lower leaves.

Do not remove large fan leaves unless you want to reduce your plants capabilities to function as they normally do.
 
GoldenGanja13

GoldenGanja13

Well-Known Member
I don't trim leafs off, for obvious reasons/arguments. But I do trim out all the thin branches at the 2nd week of 12/12
 
T

thalboy

Active Member
tamjam69 said:
heres what i saw "bricktop" post a while back, and have seen these kind of facts posted alot of times so no you should not trim your plants, the only trimming that should be done is when you have harvested

Fan leaves are the largest most efficient solar collectors plants have. They absorb the largest amount of light rays and transform it into energy. Large fan leaves are factories where sugars/carbohydrates are created and stored for later use, as in for use during periods of darkness when plants operated on stored energy, etc.

Any healthy plant will attempt to replace any lost healthy foliage, until fairly well along in flowering anyway. When you remove fan leaves a healthy plant will divert energy that would otherwise be used for continued upward/outward growth, and when in flower for bud production and also THC production, and use it to attempt to replace the lost healthy foliage.

The idea of removing fan leaves is based in a flawed pseudo-logic. People assume a plant has X amount of energy to use and then assume that those large fan leaves have to use a great deal of energy plus they shade buds from direct light and of course people assume you have to have buds flooded with light. Well when you remove the healthy fan leaves the amount of energy plants had to rely on, X, is dropped to P. Then the P amount of energy is in part diverted to replace the lost healthy foliage and the rest of the plant then has K amount of energy to rely on for growth and bud development.

Many people do not realize the importance of fan leaves and they do not understand how plants actually work, what they do, how they react to different things. Something else some, or maybe even many do not know is that on average 85% of light that strikes a leaf passes through. On average a leaf will only collect 15% of the light that strikes it and again, the rest passes through the leaf to then strike lower leaves.

Do not remove large fan leaves unless you want to reduce your plants capabilities to function as they normally do.
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I agree with a lot of what you have written, and it s commonly accepted, but defoliation can be used to increase plant productivity. My buddy is currently running a defoliation test on a run of 12 clones or so. Right now they are in veg and have been defoliated once. They will get defoliated once again at day 23 in flower and again at day 40. We'll see how they yield.
 
GoldenGanja13

GoldenGanja13

Well-Known Member
No I do not Lollipop. I veg for 2-3 months, then take off the bottoms for clones, then 2 weeks in I take out the thin branches. Here let me show you some pics. The first 2 pics are The Church, you can see how my method works for me. The last 2 are a before taking cuts and after taking cuts, then the cuts are cloned.
tamjam69 said:
thats called lollipopping, i do that quite often when the plants end up to tall
Click to expand...
 
tamjam69

tamjam69

Well-Known Member
GoldenGanja13 said:
No I do not Lollipop. I veg for 2-3 months, then take off the bottoms for clones, then 2 weeks in I take out the thin branches. Here let me show you some pics. The first 2 pics are The Church, you can see how my method works for me. The last 2 are a before taking cuts and after taking cuts, then the cuts are cloned.
Click to expand...
Them plants look awesome :) so what it is lollipopping? What you have done to the plant in the first pic is what I have always thought lollipopping was lol sorry I'm still a bit noobish
 
GoldenGanja13

GoldenGanja13

Well-Known Member
:joint: ,,Lollypopping is more like when you have a clone and you trim off all stems and just allow her to go up, then say about 8-12" you have one main stem and no side stems, then you drop her in 12/12 with a whole group all done the same. You get one main bud, no laterals.
 
tamjam69

tamjam69

Well-Known Member
GoldenGanja13 said:
:joint: ,,Lollypopping is more like when you have a clone and you trim off all stems and just allow her to go up, then say about 8-12" you have one main stem and no side stems, then you drop her in 12/12 with a whole group all done the same. You get one main bud, no laterals.
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cheers dude i got ya :)
 
tip top toker

tip top toker

Well-Known Member
I noticed something the other day to emphasize the importance of fan leaves verses sugar leaves etc. i chopped 3 plants but left some bud on each one, 2 there was just a big bud left, and the other had bud and a leaf (did this out of seed curiosity) and the two plants with the single buds on them have now died, the bud has turned pale and crumbly, the one with the fan leaf however is still lovely and vibrant and green and healthy :) all in the same DWC tub so no other variables really. I found it a bit interesting.

I personally trim lower branches prior to 12/12 and then leave it be.
 
mcpurple

mcpurple

Well-Known Member
the leaf is what makes the buds more light to the buds doesnt do nothing, leave the leafs unless they are almost dead or infested. or if they are so many that it may cause mold then remove a FEW. a plant needs its leaves to produce the buds if they werent ment to be their they would be
 
TheDude0007

TheDude0007

Active Member
THT said:
Here is a post by desertrat explaining his top and prune method, https://www.rollitup.org/advanced-marijuana-cultivation/330111-anybody-want-double-their-yield.html

I assume if your limited on watts and/or space, topping and pruning may not be such a bad idea. Sure, you take away from the plants full potential as brick top suggested, but in return you gain a lower profile and more compact plant that still has plenty of potential in the right hands.
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I am limited in space and I am limited to 400w hps for flowering yes. All I know is, iv tried cutting no leaves and my current method gives me better results. I just think the buds do better. There is still more than enough leaves for the plant. In nature the wind would have broken branches and shed leaves, also insects would have eaten leaves. In my grow groom my sisors do that job :-) Works for me and another 2 people in the pole so I am not alone :-)
 
pointswest

pointswest

Active Member
The flowers do not have to be in the direct light. The leaves photosynthetic process are what create the energy for flower growth. I like to use the example of fruit trees. The canopy of leaves are on the top of the plant and the fruits under the canopy. There are very few exceptions to this in all of the plant kingdom.

Removing fan leaves before they are ready to be dropped by the plant only stunts growth. Defoliation of the fan leaves is a terrible thing to do and will only inhibit growth. The flowers do not increase in size because they are in the sun, but because the leaf in the node with the flower is providing the needed nutrients for growth.

To grow good buds, keep your plant healthy and vigorous, especially at flowering. Stressing a plant only inhibits growth. Please use some common sense. Pruning for shape and size in pre-flowering is not the same as removing the most important part of the plant at flowering.
 
TheDude0007

TheDude0007

Active Member
I see the majority are dead against removing leaves. All I am saying is that I have tried both ways ie leaving all the leaves but the yellow ones and I have also tried removing leaves to open the plant up. So far my results have been far better when I have removed some leaves.

My plant's certainly have never died and when I do it the plant has 8 weeks to go untill harvest. So after vegging for 3 to 4 months there is not that much left to grow. Sure they still grow in the last 8 weeks and sure I can see that the oplant would have been bigger had I not done this. But to say that the bigger plant = better weed flowers I don't agree with.

Maybe I am not explaining myself well. I remove alot of leaf but I think I know what and what not to remove. There are still plenty of fan leaves on the plant. I just find that buds that are completely covered by loads and loads of leaves just does not develop at all. But it is my opinion even if 75% of the poll disagrees.

I would be nice to have more people vote, if we can get say at least 100 votes it would be interesting to see what the balance is.
 
THT

THT

Well-Known Member
If there was another choice on the poll "What ever works for you" I'd vote for it. See I don't believe in topping/or removing fan leaves unless it is absolutely necessary to maintain a short height, even then, I would first consider LST'ing or a scrog. But like i said, what ever works for you. In the end, you get the satisfaction of smoking some amazingly fresh, home grown flowers that you can be proud of.
 
TheDude0007

TheDude0007

Active Member
THT said:
If there was another choice on the poll "What ever works for you" I'd vote for it. See I don't believe in topping/or removing fan leaves unless it is absolutely necessary to maintain a short height, even then, I would first consider LST'ing or a scrog. But like i said, what ever works for you. In the end, you get the satisfaction of smoking some amazingly fresh, home grown flowers that you can be proud of.
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I like it. :-)
 
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