I was wondering the same thing. I went ahead and clipped some fan leaves off of a few branches just to see. Im interested to see if the branches I clipped the fan leaves off yield more than the ones with them. I also clipped a few leaves up top to allow more light to get to the lower branches. Nothing major as to fuck the plant off, just a bigger leaf here and there. Id do a grow journal on it, but Im a lazy weedhead, so I havent.
I see those fan leaves as little sugar factories for my buds, I'll keep them! And what if removing the big fan leaves encouraged smaller leaf growth within the buds? (I don't know if that's the case, but leaves are responsible for capturing light, not flowers!) There is something to removing the under growth that is not receiving any light anyway - fan leaves and popcorn sites alike. Opinions that I share with growers I respect, but that's all they are, my opinions! If you'd care to do a side by side with a couple clones, one pruned of fan leaves, one not, that'd be something to watch!
Fan leaves are the food factories of your plant! Removing them reduces your yield! You starve your buds! And I never remove the popcorn buds- instead, I do a 2 part harvest. I take the big top buds, lower the light and let the small ones fatten up for another week or two! They take off once they get light!
Never remove leaves. Just tuck them. Trimming could/might make it hermie. And the diff in yield wont b that much more/less. Peace
My question didnt apply to the bud phase, just veg. I noticed where I trimmed a few of the really big leaves that were blocking the light from the bottom branches has already filled in. Ive never heard of a plant hermieing from being trimmed during veg.
I remove plenty of leaves in both veg and flower...I wouldn't do it if I didn't think it was helping. I mostly do it for better airflow in veg....I do it in flower to get more light to the buds. The grow community is basically split 50/50 on the practice of removing leaves. It's really up to you. There's a monster of a thread around here on 'defoliating' that's probably 100+ pages of arguing.
Don't take anything off unless it's to manipulate which way the plant grows. Like fim or lst or topping it. Removing fans is gonna fuck you six ways sideways bro. The more foliage the longer you keep it on the plant the better your end product. When you remove fans too soon you'll stop branches from growing and that's deffinitly something you don't want
Leafs are gonna fall and die anyway dont speed up the process. Your not doing harm removing a couple from the inside of a bush but when you have a seedling and you start removing fans you destroy the plants chance. I personally never remove a leaf unless it's already dying or unless I'm manipulating the plant to grow a certain way. Bad idea removing leafs IMO
see? 50/50 we can agree to disagree here's the defoliation thread...which lacks any definitive answers supporting either practice imo.
I'm gonna upload some pics to your thread this evening...but I defoliated a couple days ago and I wanna show my theory in action...perfect timing for a thread... Pretty much the way it works (As to my understanding) is that theres really 2 sets of fan leaves...fan leaves to grow branches and fan leaves to grow axial brances ( Bud spots ). So what I did was removed the large fan leaves that are used to grow the main branches...it opened up my plants a good bit without hardly any stress. This all with the understanding that after branches have developed, the branch will become sustainable and fed by axial fan leaves. I'm also in my 2nd week of flower...I feel that trimming anything in veg is foolish as you're cutting down on the potential growth of bud spots...but if you're like me with 4 ft. tall chambas this early on I have to train for my bud spots now instead of trying to grow more... Cannabis to me is an entire thought process from beginning to end...everything you one day is for the next...training and planning early and appropriately is the key...keep a firm plan and stick to it from day one...streamlined...
It seems like we all have different opinions, and Im sure they all work just fine. Otherwise none of us would be having this discussion here. If trimming during veg fucks up a plant, and causes it to hermie, then how come so many people lollipop their plants, like I do? I trim off dead or dying leaves, and a few of the huge fan leaves. Other than that, I leave everything up top, and a little on the bottom. Its like the tastes great.... less filling.... argument.
Trimming is about taste and style of the grower. Me, personally ! I remove the leaves that look absolutely fukd up or by just touching the leaves it drops ! Otherwise I just hide the fan leave in order to allow more light penetration. HIH ZS
Never pluck fan leaves, its your plants "solar panels". Its this little thing we call "photosynthesis"... Anyone heard of it?! That argument is just simply dumb. BTW, BUDS do not absorb LIGHT! The fan leaves you're cutting off do! I will pull leaves that have already fell off the branch, but that's IT. In Flower, the leaves will change colors and eventually die and fall off (Think Fall, when all the leaves on the trees are gorgeous!). Anyone's best bet is just like someone already mentioned... When the upper buds get nice and FAT, harvest them but keep the little "Lolly Pop" buds underneath to swell up. However, this will not be possible if you clip all your lower fan leaves, because there's no "solar panels" to collect the light!!!
I know this is an older post but I came across it through due diligence so maybe this link will help somebody else as well. Absolutely defoliate in veg! www.growweedeasy.com/defoliation
Absolutely don't. Just because you find something on the Internet does it mean that it's true? Why on earth would you EVER want to remove your plants leaves during veg??? Why would you even pass this idiocy on to new gardeners? J Edit: the single only time I would (personally) recommend removing anything from a plant in veg would be to clean up the lower scrap/spindly bottom branches. To remove fan leaves or any vegetative growth on purpose from a healthy plant is ludicrous. J
Ummm, because it's effective. Ha ha! To each their own. I certainly do and have cut most of my foliage on indoor grows in vegative. In comparison to the plants I don't, I hold more yield from the plants I defoliate. Just because you have an opinion, doesn't mean you're right. What I think is idiocy is when people regurgitate opinions they have obtained from a friend without shit for a science background. If you can't understand how it would benefit the production of top shoots and its flowers in a compact grow room then I have no interest in debating this technique with you.
Good luck in your garden! Keep cutting off that foliage! Lol "when people regurgitate opinions they have obtained from a friend without shit for a science background" Please - explain to us the science behind removing healthy plant leaves on a plant in vegetative state and its correlation to increased yields. I can't wait to hear this... Gotta love the Internet... J