Give this girl a hair cut?

This is an Oil plant from Autofem. She started flowering after about 2 mos (way late) and then stalled. Now on 12/12 & KoolBloom she is starting to set buds.

She makes a lot of salad. It's hard to see the buds unless you push the fans aside. Should I take off some/most/all of those fan leaves?

I did this once before about 1 mo ago and she just grew them right back as you can see.







Thank you

No!!!!!!!!

What he said!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Just let it be. Some strains just straight up aren't very good from a production standpoint. Bummer, but it's just how it is.

By taking the leaves off you're screwing with how it naturally grows.

I'd say try your hand with some different strains?

Leaves make take in light that is turned into growing energy. I only cut leaves when important bud sites are being shaded. Important being a branch with potential to get taller and closer to canopy top.

I don't cut leaves at all anymore. There is just no point in it. The only leaves I remove are those that fall off the plant by lightly grazing it.

Looks like it will be a trimming nightmare.

Another point, this isn't at all scientific as there are too many variables.... but a while back and in my journal I have pics of this somewhere, but I had a plant I hacked away at a bit. And I didn't even go overboard with the trimming. Next to it was another plant, same seeds, same soil, same watering schedule, same lighting. It even had leaves blocking budsites etc.......

But side by side at the end of the grow, there was no comparison between the look of the two plants. The one I let be was much greener, it had less dead material on it at the end since it had plenty of food from its leaves, it yielded better. It was way easier to trim also.

The smoke, I would say there wasn't much of a difference in that regard.

I'm no expert, and I honestly don't know much beyond how to simply grow a plant in the most basic fashion, but if there is something I have learned that I could share, that would be: STOP CUTTING AWAY AT YOUR PLANTS!!!!

Being a simple grower myself, I totally understand the compulsion to want to do it though, so I'm there with you. I think a big portion of it is wanting to do something with the plant beyond just letting it grow naturally. Well since plants, particularly weeds don't need that much attention, get more into LST'ng or topping instead of removing foilage.

pelt1 said:

Being a simple grower myself, I totally understand the compulsion to want to do it though, so I'm there with you. I think a big portion of it is wanting to do something with the plant beyond just letting it grow naturally. ....

Click to expand...

Yep. My motto is "If it ain't broke, keep fixing it 'till it is!"

@Everyone: Thanks for the help! I sorta knew I should leave it alone but I kept wanting to pick up the scissors . Hearing this is a big help! Makes sense that it's the light on the leaves that make the bud, not the light on the buds themselves.

Interestingly, the last set of leaves I took off had no visible trichs, just those little bumps at the base of the leaf blades but it was pretty potent! I water cured them and I've been smoking them. So even if she doesnt make a lot of bud, it will be good.

@LVTDY: Really! I'm not buying gear from Autofem again. I planted three of these. Two of the seedling stretched wildy and then fell over and died. I complained to them. They said they would send more seeds but so far havent arrived. This plant is a hold over from my last grow which was all autos. I have some C99s in the flower closet now.

This plant is named 'Olive Oyl', also "The Bitch that won't put out". I dont recall that Popeye ever got any either.

Yield is not my primary concern. The closet easily produces more than we need. But by the time this thing finishes it will have been five months!!! I could have flowered two sativas in that time.