Should I trim fan leaves?

I disagree, in my 20+ years working with the cannabis plant I have come to the conclusion that removing large fans is perfectly ok. In fact will benefit the overall quality of your flowers. Think of the trichomes as a sun screen, the more direct light on the buds, the more trichomes the plant will produce to protect the flowers. Remember that the plants only goal in life is to reproduce, or make seeds. seeds will require more stored up sugars/carbs that are stored in the leaves. If your goal is trichome covered bud, lose the leaf. The best way to learn is to try it yourself, you have nothing to lose.




cheers Itsme.

itsmehigh said:

I grow bud, not leaves.

pull them pesky leaves. It works just fine. Try it yourself, you have nothing to lose. This is how you learn.

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Cheers itsme.

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what do you think feeds a plant to it allow those buds you want to grow ? It's surely not the buds..
Try this, cut off all the leaves on your plant and see how big those buds you grow get all on their own..

I like to leave my leaves on.

I've got some extra clones hanging around. I'm going to do a day to day journal with pictures so show what happens when you remove or don't remove fan leaves. Watch and enjoy!

i look at it from an engineering perspective

i aim for maximum foliage, because that means most captured light, maximizing production for whatever you're doing

yes you can LST to expose more foliage. You could also add supplemental lighting if the HID or whatever won't penetrate the canopy enough.

a light rail is sweet, yes you will get more smaller sized bud instead of a lesser amount of large buds because you have less lumens in one spot, but it helps with heat and light distribution
the cabinet i made is here, the only time i cut off branches was to clone. I did this right before transplanting, and transplanted from 4 gallon to 15 gallon pots, burying the spots that i cut off.

https://www.rollitup.org/indoor-growing/773447-nizzas-3x-15-gallon-feminized-2.html#post10051272

basically what it comes down to is making the room reflective, getting good soil and lighting, and giving the plant what it needs.
the more leaves capturing light, the more exponential things will grow.
cutting a leaf off may expose the branch underneath and let it stretch up, but the same effect is given when you just train a branch into the light

i made all the nodes in the middle plant come up to an even level by pulling the 2 main cola's apart

I'm making sure they veg long enough to take up all the space possible. I don't want light going to the floor because it gets wasted down there, I even lined the cieling to reflect more light around.

racerboy71 said:

what do you think feeds a plant to it allow those buds you want to grow ? It's surely not the buds..
Try this, cut off all the leaves on your plant and see how big those buds you grow get all on their own..

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lol there will always be exceptions to the rule m8
the better question for me is, how do these buds still get big with hardly any leaves

peace

Kanaplya said:

If your leaves are dark green when you harvest, you're drowning your plants in nitrogen which is not gonna help your yield any. There is a reason why flowering is different from veg. But like I said, you can talk out of your ass all day. Show me some results of your non-scientific growing techniques (unless you're growing with god or something in which case I simply don't care).

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Results are in my profile and sigs brother. Too lazy to look, figures. I document everything and have hundreds of pics on my threads to back up my procedures. As I said on my first post, some growers trim the leaves some don't.

I don't care what you do, but you're wrong about why flowering is different from veg. It has to do with the light schedule not the feed. Nature doesn't all of sudden remove nutrients from the soil when fall comes around "genius".

You guys... feeding the greedy cannabis industry. Guess someone has to buy all the pretty labels and plastic feed bottles.

i go on my own experience , personally i have found removing leaves from indica type phenos wide leafed plants
can cause distorted re-growth and smaller colas leafy colas because of this i would only remove a few leaves if any from
these types

with sativa and sativa hybrids thin leaf plants i have found these can have many leaves removed with no issues
they produce colas from the top to the bottom of branches
i try to avoid picking leaves as after all it is just more work
some plants grow in a much more open helpful shape and do not require much attention anyway i favour these type of plants
a canopy of fan leaves with only a singe cola poking out from each plant is not a good idea imo
maybe somefolk like these white calyx bleached buds or are not so fussy

peace

Kanaplya said:

Everyone always says 'DO NOT TOUCH THE FAN LEAVES!!', 'SOLAR PANELS!!' and all that shit but you know what - from what I've seen experimenting with this, that's a bunch of bullshit. You ever notice how towards the end of flower all the big fan leaves are either yellow or dead? Following that logic, the growth should stop right there and then. But in reality - that is when you get the most increase in size an potency. Buds have clusters of smaller leaves that do most of the work for those specific buds. But fuck the speculation, you know how I know this to be true by myself and not giving a damn about what anyone else says about this? When I had the same question and couldn't find anything conclusive here, I took two identical plants a few weeks into flower and trimmed the big fan leaves off one and left the other alone. The one I trimmed grew better and frostier than the one left alone. I am not saying trim them naked in the middle of flower, but if your leaves are blocking the light and reduce air flow (especially SOG when you're risking mold hiding in the jungle) cut those fuckers off! By then you should know how your plants respond to stress and how not to overdo it.

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No. Sounds like your plants are having trouble staying alive.
What are you feeding them?

If you can't even keep leaves alive to the end of harvest how can you expect people to buy into your methods? Lucky for you, MJ is a very resilient plant.

Try out a balanced feed.. try out 1/3-1/2 strength. Something.. if your leaves are dying before harvest you are doing something wrong.. you're not reaching full potential. I promise..

Of course.. "wrong" is subjective. Maybe you like buds produced from plants that did not have optimal health. "stress grows" or whatever.

" try this, cut off all the leaves on you plant and see how big those buds you grow get all on their own"

thats is just silly, why would I remove all my leaves? I thought the subject was large fans.

Every night when I go down and service my Bud Room....
A large portion of my plants [in different weeks of Bud] ....
Will have there top fan leaves pointing up at a 45 degree angle....
IDK... pointing at lights gathering up energy, or something from the lights...
I guess they are gathering up energy for the plants... IDK... haha...
If they were not on my plant, gathering up who knows what?
Would there be a plus or a minus of growth activity on my plant?
If you said: More growth activity... or same... Guess again...

itsmehigh said:

" try this, cut off all the leaves on you plant and see how big those buds you grow get all on their own"

thats is just silly, why would I remove all my leaves? I thought the subject was large fans.

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That is a 100% totally bitchen plant man... I dig it

skunkd0c said:

i go on my own experience , personally i have found removing leaves from indica type phenos wide leafed plants
can cause distorted re-growth and smaller colas leafy colas because of this i would only remove a few leaves if any from
these types

with sativa and sativa hybrids thin leaf plants i have found these can have many leaves removed with no issues
they produce colas from the top to the bottom of branches
i try to avoid picking leaves as after all it is just more work
some plants grow in a much more open helpful shape and do not require much attention anyway i favour these type of plants
a canopy of fan leaves with only a singe cola poking out from each plant is not a good idea imo
maybe somefolk like these white calyx bleached buds or are not so fussy

peace

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I found the same thing a long time ago.. the leaves that are sandwiched between clusters become larger in size and number.

For sativa dom.. idk, i don't recall experimenting with defol on sativas. Interesting stuff tho skunkdoc

Sand4x105 said:

Every night when I go down and service my Bud Room....
A large portion of my plants [in different weeks of Bud] ....
Will have there top fan leaves pointing up at a 45 degree angle....
IDK... pointing at lights gathering up energy, or something from the lights...
I guess they are gathering up energy for the plants... IDK... haha...
If they were not on my plant, gathering up who knows what?
Would there be a plus or a minus of growth activity on my plant?
If you said: More growth activity... or same... Guess again...

Click to expand...

That is not leaves "reaching for light".. it is a sign of stress with water.

I forget..I believe it is like being overly hydrated shortly after being under hydrated..
Don't quote me on the 2nd part..

Buds are green, correct? Green = chlorophyl= photosynthesis. Buds are a modified leaf. Fact.

leaves are like solar panels......blah blah blah
how well do your solar panels work in the shade?

cheers Itsme.

TexasHank said:

That is not leaves "reaching for light".. it is a sign of stress with water.

I forget..I believe it is like being overly hydrated shortly after being under hydrated..
Don't quote me on the 2nd part..

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Hahahaa..... yea right... the lights come on... your healthy leaves will reach a bit...
Don't you ever watch your plants grow?
Seriously spend some time with them...
They talk to me every day [veg]
Night --Bud room...

itsmehigh said:

I disagree, in my 20+ years working with the cannabis plant I have come to the conclusion that removing large fans is perfectly ok. In fact will benefit the overall quality of your flowers. Think of the trichomes as a sun screen, the more direct light on the buds, the more trichomes the plant will produce to protect the flowers. Remember that the plants only goal in life is to reproduce, or make seeds. seeds will require more stored up sugars/carbs that are stored in the leaves. If your goal is trichome covered bud, lose the leaf. The best way to learn is to try it yourself, you have nothing to lose.




cheers Itsme.

View attachment 2959412

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You've got a bit of false information there guy..

Basically, flip what you just said around.. and you would be correct.

higher light levels lower levels of the goods we want in the resin heads.. not raise them..

check out your lowest bud.. check out your highest bud.. which one is more resinous?

skunkd0c said:

lol there will always be exceptions to the rule m8
the better question for me is, how do these buds still get big with hardly any leaves

peace

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Lol, look how loose and airy those buds are I'm sure they shriveled up like a penis in.cold water when dried, and why do you think that is?
I'll give you one guess..

Sand4x105 said:

Hahahaa..... yea right... the lights come on... your healthy leaves will reach a bit...
Don't you ever watch your plants grow?
Seriously spend some time with them...
They talk to me every day [veg]
Night --Bud room...

Click to expand...

I know, I know.. it's strange.

You see, growers frequently connect dots.. example... leaves are pointed up.. they must be reaching..
Nope.

I ain't lying to you bud.. I don't come on RIU often because this kind of misunderstanding is the whole damn site + a couple dozen really cool folks..

I seem to just stir up shit every time i share some knowledge.

Alright, have fun man, yes, your leaves are reaching for the light. Good job. Keep getting those leaves reaching and producing more buds.

Ouch racer, we moved to penis talk so quick in this defoliation thread, seems too soon