Hey so this guy that grows (not sure how great he is) tells me that I should trim all leaves after the growth above the leaf was one inch tall... This sounds crazy to me because the leaves are where energy is made/stored. I've also been told to selectively trim leaves to allow better light penetration, this sounds reasonable but to what extent? Currently i've been trimming dead leaves and leaves that catch my eye and are killing the light to a bud below it, also strategically tucking fan leaves that are covering budsites. To trim or not to trim....
I'm day 39 in flowering, and am getting a few yellow leaves here and there. Should I chop? I was under the understanding that you give them a tug and if they don't come off to leave them as the plant still has use for it. Should I keep following that method or should I do a little spring cleaning of the yellow leaves? Sorry to hijack lol but if anything you could always follow the rule I've been following.
I never trim my plant until like the last 2 weeks.. I also assume, if the plant doesn't need it, it will fall off. Which makes perfect sense. Only trim the plant to let light in to crucial budsites, and even then most of the time they can be tied/folded/pulled over to somewhere to let the light in. People who constantly cut their plant up confuse me it needs those leaves!
it depends on the strain of the plant. If it has small sparce leaves like Mr Nice you would be crazy to remove any. If it is an average plant like blueberry kush you are doing fine. If it is a mass of leaves like snow cap you will actually increase yeild if you remove about 1/3 of the leaves about three to four weeks after flipping and removing about 1/3 of remaining leaves two weeks before harvest. The fan leaves primary roll is development of stems, the leaves that are coming out of bud create most of the energy for the bud, so if no light is getting to those leaves they won't develop very well. The plants can transmitt some energy from fans to buds but it is very limited. On the same hand they do need some of those leaves because it is what draws nutes from roots and keeps plants generally healthy. What it comes down to is experiment and instead of changing strains every time learn to grow one you like well as the are all different with regards to watering, trimming leaves, nutes, etc.
i trim alot of lower green to promote bigger bud development on the main cola. and to let light into the lower parts of the plants.