REMOVING FAN LEAVES

Does removing fan leaves during flower improve bud quality and/or yield?

  • Yes! 100% verifiable fact backed by evidence that I can share right here!

  • Yes, because I read it once and loadsa growers do it so must be true

  • It does help, but only at very specific times in the flower cycle

  • Tucking away or under is better than removing

  • Its possible, but can't say for sure

  • Unlikely, since fan leaves are the solar panels of the plant

  • Absolutely not, totally against the accepted laws of botany... stop being silly


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ruwtz

Well-Known Member
As a side note. I grow for myself only. I am in no way concerned or desire massive yields. I grow 3 strains one plant of each per grow. I use it for medicinal reasons and to find strains I really enjoy. I am not a commercial grower. I don't grow to sell. I don't even grow to share...lol....So my perspective is probably going to be much different than most folks on this site.
I wouldn't count on it. For whatever purpose we grow, surely everyone here is interested in either quality or yield as a priority? The way we reach either - or both - is what these discussions are about.
 

dargd1

Well-Known Member
I would suggest not altering your plants too much until you have a few good grows.
Thank you for your input, personally I don't alter my plants nearly as much as you may think.....lol...I am a new grower with common sense and an appetite to experiment within reason. I can assure you my plants are in good health and good hands.
 

Haze the maze

Well-Known Member
I was told to clean out the middle and bottom third. Keep as many outside leaves as possible. This will improve the bud quality as the buds will get more light and not MOLD when they thicken up into dense nugs.
So, Ya thinning improves bud quality!
Also. I enjoy cutting little pieces off My girl. I close the scissors really slow and yank off bits that I'm not happy with. Moo Ha Ha Ha..
Don't want to live in My grow room!
 

ruwtz

Well-Known Member
I was told to clean out the middle and bottom third. Keep as many outside leaves as possible. This will improve the bud quality as the buds will get more light and not MOLD when they thicken up into dense nugs.
So, Ya thinning improves bud quality!
Also. I enjoy cutting little pieces off My girl. I close the scissors really slow and yank off bits that I'm not happy with. Moo Ha Ha Ha..
Don't want to live in My grow room!
[1] Lollipopping lower plant isn't what we're on about here.

[2] Mold can be inhibited with a clean space and controlled environment (temps/RH): high transpiration rates in dense foliage and poorly managed humidity will cause problems.

This isn't a quality or yield technique, just solid grow practice.
 
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whitebb2727

Well-Known Member
Thank you for your input, personally I don't alter my plants nearly as much as you may think.....lol...I am a new grower with common sense and an appetite to experiment within reason. I can assure you my plants are in good health and good hands.
Wasn't really directed at you. Guilty much? I joke.
 

ruwtz

Well-Known Member
Always guilty .Just ask my Mother. At 55 yo I am still always guilty....lol A couple pics of current plants. Hard not to thin them but they are doing fine:

View attachment 3841959
View attachment 3841961
youngins are doing fine. They did receive a few leaf extractions...lol
Looks like good canopy spread to me.

Here's my first run of Larry OG from seed, day 45, topped and LST'd in veg but still unruly and very lanky. Canopy unmanaged in flower and thick, dense shiny green foliage easily half way down these 5ft trees.

Not a single fan removed. Good or bad for bud quality? I have no idea, I just see healthy plants.

IMG_0017_1.JPG
 

dargd1

Well-Known Member
Looks like good canopy spread to me.

Here's my first run of Larry OG from seed, day 45, topped and LST'd in veg but still unruly and very lanky. Canopy unmanaged in flower and thick, dense shiny green foliage easily half way down these 5ft trees.

Not a single fan removed. Good or bad for bud quality? I have no idea, I just see healthy plants.

View attachment 3841962
Very nice. I was dangerously short on stash so I admit; I only did a 4 week veg from seed then flipped to flower....lol...Mine are on the short side for obvious reasons. Planned! Mine are 22 days into flower.
 

bryan oconner

Well-Known Member
Looks like good canopy spread to me.

Here's my first run of Larry OG from seed, day 45, topped and LST'd in veg but still unruly and very lanky. Canopy unmanaged in flower and thick, dense shiny green foliage easily half way down these 5ft trees.

Not a single fan removed. Good or bad for bud quality? I have no idea, I just see healthy plants.

View attachment 3841962
what light do you have over that plant curious ,
 

Afgan King

Well-Known Member
Works but only really with hybrids and Sativa's, Indica's like their leaves so I don't touch em much. Day 4 of flower and day 23 remove all large water leaves from the third node down. Have tested on tens of thousands of plants there's a lot of grey area and people don't know how to properly do it and we get varying results because I know if you do it like 3 a light says shit hits the fan. That dude goes fuckin nuts when it's really a horrible idea unless it's a really vigorous hybrid and even then he pulls way too much. Did testing in warehouse with 7 rooms of 180 plants 20+ strains per rooms over 100 strains total and each room 45k watts. You really shouldn't do it unless you really know your plants because it can be detrimental for sure if not done properly. I'm not gonna argue I don't care to I've been doing this technique for years I've seen it work I know it works and i know why it doesn't work for everyone is because there are a lot variables to take in when deciding to defoliate.
 

Tyleb173rd

Well-Known Member
I can't speak to what the difference would be had I not removed certain fan leafs. My strains that are not bushy I don't remove anything above the bottom 1/3rd. The extremely bushy strains like the White Widow I have in week 4 of flower is beyond bushy. I doubt she will skip a beat from removing a few fan leafs.....lol...I have seen some folks that do massive defoliation and I have watch some youtube videos on some growers that do it. I have no knowledge of or the desire to do that so I can't offer anything on it. Also I have a strain Crown Royal also in week 4 that has "HUGE" fan leafs that was overlapping and blocking all light below the canopy. After removing a couple of the I had several colas come to the top as well. Here is a photo of one of the fan leafs I removed. I have standard size hands not small:
View attachment 3841875
That leaf is no joke!!!!
 

ruwtz

Well-Known Member
Here's a different common sense way to look at it: maximum light efficacy is reached when 100% of the light footprint is met by leaf canopy.

Any less than 100% coverage and light passes through to the ground (= inefficient), whereas any surplus coverage and we can say energy has been unnecessarily expended building leaves that are not required.

Leaves with direct light exposure receive useful blue/red spectrum plus UVA and UVB, with only some green passing through to lower leaves, ie. unusable.

Presumably some of these leaves will assimilate photosynthate / store energy, but not all, and besides how can we tell which ones? In any case, a healthy functional plant will mobilize sugars to where needed most in the plant, so perhaps it is not important. This is a function of metabolism: to use energy as quickly as it can be created for optimum growth, and I expect we are all aiming for this streamlined process with indoor growing, hydroponics or whatever system where time and cost is an implication.

Thinking about it this way brings me closer to accepting the logic of defoliating - strategically and deliberately - as a practice that can deliver improved yield and/or quality, if one knows what one is doing.
 
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Haze the maze

Well-Known Member
Wouldn't exposing the flowers also help the plant to grow.. Is there any difference between leaf material and flower parts in photosynthesis ? If there is no difference, then exposing more bud would help to make better bud. Obviously removing within reason.IMO
 

ruwtz

Well-Known Member
Wouldn't exposing the flowers also help the plant to grow.. Is there any difference between leaf material and flower parts in photosynthesis ? If there is no difference, then exposing more bud would help to make better bud. Obviously removing within reason.IMO
Flowers barely have any photosynthetic properties. They assimilate sugars for growth rather than produce them. This is why exposing them to light doesn't make any sense.

At the same time we know buds at the top of the plant nearest the light develop the best. Is this simply light exposure (sun ripening) or hormonal response (such as apical dominance), or something else??

This is the part nobody seems to be able to explain.
 

whitebb2727

Well-Known Member
Wouldn't exposing the flowers also help the plant to grow.. Is there any difference between leaf material and flower parts in photosynthesis ? If there is no difference, then exposing more bud would help to make better bud. Obviously removing within reason.IMO
I stated that earlier. Sugar leaves and buds are nowhere as good at using light as fan leaves. Like 5-10% compared to 90%.
 
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