Fan leaves

I decided to trim my fan leaves for the first time, I've always left them on previous grows. I chose to trim them this time because I have 6 plants in a 4x4 tent and my tent is getting too crowded. I'm only 2 weeks into flower, and cut about 3/4 of the fan leaves on each plant, leaving just the top ones on for light absorption.

When is the ideal time to trim them without shocking the plant too much? I hope I didn't stress them too much while they are working on producing buds... Poor things!

If you don’t do it she’ll do it herself eventually. Just keep in mind that if you piss her off too much she could hermie.

Hopefully I didn't piss them off too much...
They're already showing their sex, would the little male balls still form this late if they were to hermie?

Canuck3 said:

Hopefully I didn't piss them off too much...
They're already showing their sex, would the little male balls still form this late if they were to hermie?

Click to expand...

Yes I think it’s possible almost all the way to the end. Just keep a close eye on them if you watch closely enough nothing bad can happen or at least it won’t get to the point of being bad.

@okmtnbiker Thank you

I remove my fan leaves too, dont think it would herm them though, never happened to me yet. They look pretty without all the leaves imo. I do to most of my plants, better airflow and l live in very humid area. Only started to flower a few weeks ago now.

Southernontariogrower said:

I remove my fan leaves too, dont think it would herm them though, never happened to me yet. They look pretty without all the leaves imo. I do to most of my plants, better airflow and l live in very humid area. Only started to flower a few weeks ago now.

Click to expand...

Mine got way too tall because of lack of experience, but on my tallest girl (15’) I have trimmed her so high that her lowest buds are about eye level lol it’s just silly. I’ll try to get a picture later for a good example of how to do it wrong. Humidity is an issue here too so that’s a another good reason for trimming good point

okmtnbiker said:

Mine got way too tall because of lack of experience, but on my tallest girl (15’) I have trimmed her so high that her lowest buds are about eye level lol it’s just silly. I’ll try to get a picture later for a good example of how to do it wrong. Humidity is an issue here too so that’s a another good reason for trimming good point

Click to expand...

If you LST enough you will turn tree into bush, no dominate top cola. Every bud will be uniform. I find this as well as lollipoping gives most from plants. Ive got one that has nothing until eye level and up too. Wouldnt branch out no matter how much l trained her. Not the norm. Powdery mildew was very bad this year, we had rain for first half of summer almost every day. Some strains seem not to mind the moisture so much, others cant take it at all.

My biggest came from bag seed so she was my “test” plant. I topped her several times and did quite the bad job, and every time it just made her grow faster. I’m organic so I check everything several times a day, and almost everything bad I’ve found in my garden i found first in the same area of the same plant. So I picked one particular cola (out of 8 that was trimmed down from 12), and I’ve made that cola my test area, where I test my home insect brews to make sure they work. So far that cola is still going strong and it has allowed me to keep a pretty clean garden otherwise.

okmtnbiker said:

My biggest came from bag seed so she was my “test” plant. I topped her several times and did quite the bad job, and every time it just made her grow faster. I’m organic so I check everything several times a day, and almost everything bad I’ve found in my garden i found first in the same area of the same plant. So I picked one particular cola (out of 8 that was trimmed down from 12), and I’ve made that cola my test area, where I test my home insect brews to make sure they work. So far that cola is still going strong and it has allowed me to keep a pretty clean garden otherwise.

Click to expand...

I use them all as test plants, if l screw up they are all toast. Havent sprayed for bugs since the june thrips hatch. I try to catch bugs before they become problematic. PM is my biggest foe this year. Been spraying for it since July. I find most problems with buds start at approximately the same location on bud. Unless caused by catipillar shit.

@Southernontariogrower @okmtnbiker How exactly do you top or LST? Are they the same thing? As I mentioned I currently have 6 plants in 3 gallon containers, in a 4x4 tent. No topping done, nothing. Just let them grow naturally. Do you think 1 well topped plant in say a 10 gallon (or more) container filling up the whole 4x4 tent would produce more than the 6 naturals? And if that's the case, why doesn't everyone do this?
I think I want to try this next time...
Thanks!

Topping is when you actually remove the top of a young plant, usually when they have around 6 nodes you chop the top right off the sucker. Then right below where you cut it will sprout two new branches giving you two colas. You can repeat again to get four colas, and on and on if you do it right you call it a manifold. LST = low stress training for example if you want a branch to grow in a new direction you can rub it between your fingers until you break it just a little, then tape it to grow where you want. It will build a knuckle where you broke it and be very strong. That’s it basically and can get pretty involved. Google cannabis manifold and look at the pictures.

@Canuck3 read up on sea of green, that’s where you have more smaller plants and you don’t let them get very tall. It depends on your growing space mainly I think which method is best. There is much debate which is better and it depends on your layout which is best. Sea of green takes more horizontal space, fewer taller plants are obviously the opposite.

@okmtnbiker great info, thanks! Topping one giant plant/bush vs a bunch of little plants in a sea of green seems like much less work... For sure less seeds to buy and less to germinate and plant etc... Is the downside to topping a big tree being that it takes much longer in veg? Vs sea of green you can flip to flower much sooner?

I find if l top, when plant grows up it splits in half. LST gives me just as many or more tops faster. And if done properly no dominate tops. And no splitting. Turn into bushes not trees.

Southernontariogrower said:

I find if l top, when plant grows up it splits in half. LST gives me just as many or more tops faster. And if done properly no dominate tops. And no splitting. Turn into bushes not trees.

Click to expand...

I’ve only tried lst as a test, and in plants or parts if plants that weren’t valuable so my experience is limited but I agree and plan on trying more in the future. By the way I spent a week in Quetico fishing, are you familiar? @Canuck3 one advantage of sea of green is if one of your plants gets sick you can fill that area with her neighbors, if you have one tall plant only that gets sick you get nothing.

Once I started mainlining indoors, I never went back. You don't need to do it, you can just leave all the branches and start topping and training and get a nice canopy that way, but look into mainlining if you aren't really sure how or when to start topping-there are plenty of pictorial guides online to get you started.

As far as defoliation, just keep in mind you are removing leaves that could save your plant in the event something goes wrong-like nutrient lockout, AC giving out, etc. I like to trim underneath the canopy a bit, just to open it up for the fan I keep down there, but I don't remove any fan leaves that are receiving direct light. Defoliation can induce systemic resistance by simulating an herbivore or pathogen attacking the plant-it doesn't require the removing of the majority of leaves to do this-but most people don't defoliate for that reason, or for increasing air circulation. Most do it because they read that fan leaves "drain the plant of energy" or some other such nonsense. Imagine a solar farm....now imagine someone removing solar panels because they are "draining the farm of energy." Does that make sense? Fan leaves store nutrients for the plant to use at will-like a prepper with a shed full of baked beans-don't leave your plant unprepared!

Anyway, check out mainlining as a training technique-it results in very nice uniform buds, whether you top for 8 colas or 32+. The more bud sites you leave, the smaller the resulting buds will be, but you'll get maximum yield out of a given space by filling it up with colas. Good luck!

@Rurumo great post! Thank you

Rurumo said:

As far as defoliation, just keep in mind you are removing leaves that could save your plant in the event something goes wrong-like nutrient lockout, AC giving out, etc.

Click to expand...

This is the best argument against defoliating. The leaves act as an indicator as well as a buffer. I remember reading that a taproot will drive deep into the earth in case of a drought. I feel the same way about fan leaves: the plant doesn't need them until it does. They power the vegging plant and then act as a buffer through the flowering cycle.

Thanks everyone! I was given a bunch of seeds from a friend, I'm going to practice these methods under a fluorescent light while my plants finish up flowering in the tent, and when the tent is ready for the next crop I'll have some experience!