I just started the flowering process today on my first grow. They are just some bagseed but they are going strong. I wanted to clear up some leaves to lets some light through for the flowering process but I want to make sure I don't cut the wrong thing. Now on my stalk I always have two stems coming from the center. The top stem will contain alternating nodes with leaves coming out of each node. I understand at these alternating nodes will produce the bud. The lower stem of the two comes out and always contains just one big leaf. While these big leaves are beautiful, they aren't exactly necessary, are they? In fact they usually block light to the stems with nodes on them. So should I cut these stems that just contain a singular leaf? Will doing this create nodes on that branch? I enclosed a crappy paint diagram I did real quick if my description is confusing. Thanks for any help you can give.
from what ive heard u shouldnt cut anything in flower, as it takes more energy to heal. N u want all the energy u can get to produce buds.. i would put back into veg... cut what u want, let it heal then flower.. Or tuck them in
Tuck or tie before cutting. Especially in flowering, when pretty soon your plant will need to turn to its storehouse of nutrients in the fan leaves.
To clarify what Toasty said (I think) if you can get away with tucking the leaves or tieing them down/back, do that instead of cutting.
ive chopped loadsss of leaves on my flowering plants because theres just no way i could get light to penetrate otherwise. it hope it was the lesser of two evils to do this... my logic is that the fan leaves are just like emergency packs of food. which the plant may not use if it isnt entirely necessary. for example if you continue to use N during flowering, very few leaves should die and fall off because the resources can be gained directly from the roots. its only when there is no longer sufficient nutrients within the medium (soil/hydro, whatever) that the plant will start to use the energy stored in leaves to support itself. therefor the fan leaves are like a life support mechanism to protect against tough times. if there is no source of food (ie no light) then the fan leaves will be eaten by the plant to keep it surviving. therefore my logic is that if you can ensure the plant has enough nutrients available for direct uptake, then clipping fan leaves shouldnt be particularly relevant. as the plant may not get around to using them anyway.. i accept i'm probably completely wrong. and at best, this is pseudo science. but that was the excuse i gave myself to take out the scissors and start snipping.. its probably made about 60% more light available to lower buds.. and buds themselves have leaves so that they can support themselves.. i hope i wasnt too wrong. lol. is it not true that towards the end of flowering, the reason for flushing is so that there are no more [chemical] nutrients available in the medium, and so you are encouraging the plant to use its own nutrients? hence the yellowing. well it follows then that the first port of call for nutrients for the plant is in the medium. not directly from the leaves. so my logic surely cant be too far off?
Yes exactly. When I said "before cutting", I meant before you resort to or consider cutting. Now that I re-read it, I see how it could be taken as advice to tie or tuck then cut, not what I meant. Lord Sativa brings clarity to the detritus of my cluttered mind...