damnn... so to trim or not to trim??? I have very big fan leaves covering my smaller bud sites...what to do??
I say remove any offending fan leaf as long as the branch from the same node has decent sized leaves on it.
i pluck off any leaves that die on their own, the only trimming i do is 3 weeks into flowering, i trim off all tiny popcorn budlets, low down on the plant, basically leaving a bare sphere area in the center of the plant, because they are a pain in the ass when it's harvest time, but i always leave the fan leaves at those sites, that way those leaves will die off as the stem uses the nutes in the leaves to heal the cut where i trimmed the budlets, it makes the buds on the ends of these stems bulk up alot better, and also follows my rule of only pulling off leaves that are dead anyways
If any of the leaves are blocking light to other buds then I cut them off. I will only cut one leaf off per bud. I don't agree with folding leaves over it effectively makes them redundant. Selective trimming is the answer.
I am 9 days into 12/12 of my first grow . Yesterday I trimmed a total of 40 fan leaves from my 10 superskunk females. PLants look fine today, with noticeable height increase and white hairs. A lot of the leaves were chopped cuz they were at intersections of plants in my 6'' space. I thought that the only reason i needed to prune was that my plants were so bushy and had high amounts of foliage. So, the leafs served their purpose in bringing the plant this far, but they had to go. Again: Chopped leaves, plant doing okay, better light penetration. There are many more ways to stress a plant more harshly than by pruning off leaves.
I cut mine up until week 4 of flower where the serious flowers start oh and twice during veg, but as stated before i use scrog, whole different ballgame WARNING - Noob tip - WARNING Funny that no one has mentioned that its best to cut fan leaves as your light comes on in the morning, #1. always smells the best #2 also it allows your plant the all healing light for an extended period after the cut, the sooner in the day the better. and to answer the question, my buds get huge this way, im just sayin c;
Well said Big Poppa Puff, i totally agree. How can some people say that Scrog is a different animal - therefore heavy pruning is ok? it's the same bloody plant. I've seen plants heavily pruned right upto 3-4 wks into bloom, and they've finished up very well. I personally believe that a plant gets all the energy it requires for bud development from the secondary leaves that accompany the buds themselves btw it also helps cut down on humidity/mold.
LOL, I totally agree. I read that all the time too. Just because the scrog is a different grow technique, that does not make the plant act differently when you chop a leaf off. The plants reaction will be the same no matter what the reason for chopping them. My plants thank me for chopping leaves the block the light. I am also in a small grow tent, so I want maximum light penetration. I bend and tuck when I can, and I pluck them off when I need to. I am about to harvest and have a really successful grow, which will show in the harvest post that I will put up. Theory is great for reading and discussing, but actual first hand proof is what I go by in the end.
I have a 22'x15'x10' (feet) 15 hps lights. 23 plants on 15 gallon buckets in Coco. My plants grow to 48" in veg. Then 12/12. They end up at 60"-66" tops. Bloom for 75 days (NYSD). Flush last 5 days. Max ppm in veg 1550. Max ppm in bloom 1400. Defoliate every two weeks in veg. right when induced to flower, an a month into bloom. Yields of @ 1lb dried bud per plant. I If youre looking for the entire plant to be full of buds. Defoliation is a must. The plant stores every where. Not only in leaves. I dont cut out the N during my bloom (House and Garden Coco A+B), just increase the PK with additives (Mr. Bloombastic a must!!!!). IMO, defoliation is a must to get max yields. Plants NEED, NEED, CANNOT EMPHASIZE ANY MORE, NEED to be green in order for this to happen right. Otherwise, your buds will turn yellow (the leaves on the nugs will turn yellow due to lack of N in the entire plant) Been doing this for 12 yrs, with the best results. Tried defoliation with lack on nitrogen, and 20 lbs with Ranch dressing was tough. Tried it with no N deficiency and chaching!!! ! lb per tree!!! Kept on doing the same and still doing it. Good luck!
My first grow, I really enjoy the postings. It is really, the Art & Science of growing where one can make one of thousands of decisions to create a good grow. I just have put 5 Indicas into flowering. Quite bushy with many pre´flowers. One of the Ladies I pinched about 12 big fan leaves that were covering many of the sites. I will leave the others alone. Now, wait and see. So much fun to experiment and see what works best for me. I will keep you updated. I have learned so much from the postings here, a really good site for people who want to learn (a never-ending process) and for people who enjoy sharing their hard earned secrets. I live in Berlin, Germany and I really love it. A large growing community and many sweet people. I live a beautiful flat for about $400 a month (everything else, not so cheap). Summer is here and when it's hot, with HPS, well, you have to keep an eye on your stable.
I only remove select fans that are too big near the tops if they are covering a large majority of side bud to let more light through. Also if it is half yellow or more it gets cut.
In my experience there is nothing wrong with removing fan leaves. I am an outdoor grower but I don't see much of a difference light is light. I remove all fan leaves that are obstructing the light of bottom branches out of the way. Branches only need 4 fan leaves for enough energy to give you good buds and support that branch. I have also heard that removing fan leaves promotes branching and I can tell you one thing it definitely doesn't stunt growth.
Doesn't the sun blast right through leaves anyway meaning the "shaded" branches or the ones that look shaded, aren't actually shaded at all? That's what i've read, but theory and practice are two different things.. Anyway thats a bit off topic. I (and the majority of others) can guarantee you will see more yield by removing SOME of the fan leaves in most situations. Some situations don't call for it. Do people doing sog remove their fan leaves? I don't actually know lol, but i wouldn't. The question should be "To what extent should i defoliate?" I pluck many many leaves during flowering, and every day those smaller leaves grow bigger and bigger and replace some of the big fan leaves i've been plucking off. My plants (LST) are so bushy i'd hate to think how they would look if i didn't defoliate. And they still have a lot of foliage left on them Now i'm not sure how defoliating EVERYTHING like some people do goes. Their buds look ok, but the plant looks like shit. Find a happy medium
Ask any famous grower and they will tell you. Never remove healthy fan leaves, as it reduces the plants ability to photosynthesize. Which has an overall negative effect on the plants growth.
It does stunt growth alittle but I do this to I defoliate twice in the plants life once in veg to force branch growth...I do this when branches r bout 3 in. Long and once again a week after I put in bud for better penetration
Ok so I have always been on the boat that you leave all leaves on unless they are dying, until harvest. I have enjoyed all of my harvest so far, and nto really had a second thought of remove or not. Well now I am a few weeks into flower this grow, and a plant I had given to me just blew up with mites. I have sprayed with water and dawn, and 1 single drop of bleach. The mites are not moving, but I don't want to spray any more. I am thinking of just cutting all the fan leaves to get rid of any mites that may have survived. This would leave me with more of a chance to rid the mites, but not sure what it will do to the plant. What would you do in this situation? P.S. the other plants have not mites but I sprayed them anyway.