Stripping Leaves?

[SteveLane1]

Hey guys,

My friend was telling me to pick off fan leaves that are blocking light to the lower plant or plants around it. I feel like I made a mistake because after I picked a large number of fan leaves off the plant I read in high times that many people receive similar advice and that its wrong, I believe the author of whatever article I was reading refered to it as "know-nothing friends advice". This got me a little nervouse, the author said to never pick leaves that are less than 50% damaged.

So anyways, my 3 plants are very large (4ft-5ft) and after being thinned out in this manor still look healthy. I guess my question is should I continue to let them veg any longer so they can recooperate from this mistake or should I just throw them into flower.

I should add that i only took about 25%-40% of the fan leaves off of each plant "tops". Like I said they still look good I just hope I didnt "really" hurt anything yield wise.

Any advice on this subject is welcome, I'm just worried.

Thanks guys,

Later,

-SLane

 

[chubbynugs]

I only do it while the plants are in veg. It has helped my plants node out evenly. I wouldnt do it if full flower though.

 

[Greyskull]

I prune lower growth & bud sights thru week 3 of flower.... by week 5/6 I remove all of the fan leaves that are covering bud sights. I do all of my pruning very slowly... never more than 10 leaves per plant per day. I think I have bigger buds than if I dond't prune. Check out some materials by Ed Rosenthal... a definate alternative to Jorge Cervantes. Its good to learn!

 

[Leonidas]

What you can do is prune the leaves in half and the plant will still grow very well , I kinda trim them like I do my clones and sometimes I just don't touch them and let them get their groove on . Zoo

 

[pezoholic]

Im a fan of the tuck

 

[Greyskull]

I can personally vouch for zoo's skills. He's got it going on, for reals.
I keep saying this, and it sucks.... but there are so many ways to skin the cat and they all work. Just gotta find the one that works for you.

edit: You must spread some Reputation around before giving it to Leonidas again.

 

[Guest]

A good rule of thumb is to only take leaves off that are dead/dying. Those that come off with a gentle tug. Cutting healthy fan leaves will stress the plant and focus its energy on repair rather than growth or bud production/development. Tuck them like zoo says, it is the best alternative. This is why finding strains with high bud to leaf ratio's are so great. Although some of the best smoke has been from buds with low bud to leaf ratio. All that trim just means more hash! Get your bubble bags ready =)

 

[anna]

never pull your fan leaves off, they are your power supply, let them die off naturally.anna

 

[SacredBreh]

Hello Anna.... Never!

Hello Anna.... Never!

Both George and Ed are of the opinion not to remove the fan leaves. The fan leaves are the power houses of the plant. They produce energy and building supplies that are then shipped to the buds for construction.

I trim the lower part of the plants that only produce "popcorn" buds. More energy for the upper buds. Even if the lower bud sites receive light they will not produce like the upper sites. The plant produces auxins and other messengers that keep the lower buds smaller. (less in Indica dominate) Only way to change this is to keep all the sites at the same level like with a SCROG.

Peace

 

[terminalc]

Big leaf the plants a couple times in flower, and lollypop after 2 wk in flower. You can overdo it but if you get a 4-5' plant the inside will become very overgrown and the lower budsites won't get light. I do believe you get better yields if done correctly. Also thick vegitation will increase the chance of mold, bugs, etc.

 

[Blunt_69]

Nope nope nope.....this misconception that fan leaves must be pruned is WRONG. removing lower branch growth is one thing, removing leaves to uncover lower sites is another. I never, never remove a fan leave if it is healty, these are your power suncatchers.. and as you progress into flower they will die off slowly anyways. So NO never remove suncatcher... where this came from makes no sense to me.. Lower bud sites should be removed, so that the upper colas can thrive.

 

[Guest]

Both George and Ed are of the opinion not to remove the fan leaves. The fan leaves are the power houses of the plant. They produce energy and building supplies that are then shipped to the buds for construction.

I trim the lower part of the plants that only produce "popcorn" buds. More energy for the upper buds. Even if the lower bud sites receive light they will not produce like the upper sites. The plant produces auxins and other messengers that keep the lower buds smaller. (less in Indica dominate) Only way to change this is to keep all the sites at the same level like with a SCROG.

Peace

hi scredbreh,

I was always under the assumption that the lower bud sites produced smaller buds because of the lack of available lumens. Weather its receiving light or not, its the intensity of that light that is a determining factor. Light intensity and lumens decrease exponentially as distance increases. I am not saying what you say is incorrect, I am just wondering about these auxins and other messengers. Can you elaborate more about them? Does light intensity have a relationship with these auxins?

 

[terminalc]

Someone should do a comparison. Anyone have spare time... Most people i know defoliate to some degree though i have never seen a test with control group

 

[Guest]

Look for the post by jrosek in this thread..... http://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?t=100749&page=1&pp=40

He trims all the leaves on day 20 and day 40 of flower. He said he did a side by side and yielded more by taking all the leaves at those points.

 

[Greyskull]

wow this is like "my jesus is better than your jesus... well my buddah is better than your jah"

Fuck its all the same and its all good!

Look for the post by jrosek in this thread..... http://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?t=100749&page=1&pp=40

He trims all the leaves on day 20 and day 40 of flower. He said he did a side by side and yielded more by taking all the leaves at those points.

edit: direct link to start of relevant posts: http://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?p=1942562&highlight=Hey+buddy#post1942562

 

[Guest]

edit: hey man that link goes to a thread about container size... not relevanet to "to strip or not to strip"

Check out page 2 and read the posts by jrosek. He lays out his methods on stripping the leaves and who I was trying to link to.

 

[Greyskull]

Here's the link to the beef we want to chew on:
http://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?p=1942562&highlight=Hey+buddy#post1942562

Here's the posts from jrosek:

I trim all of the fan leaves at 21 days flower and again at 45 days flower, This allows all the lower sight's to get maximum light. I'de have to say im a believer in maximum plant numbers for the maximum weight.
When growing with a 600,many small plants will get much better coverage than bush growing. Of course this is only my opinion and no offense intended to anyone.

The most important thing i noticed about shorter multiple plants in 1gal is the penetration. with a 600, we had a difficult time getting the lower parts to finish up properly, we could superharvest but in all would waist an extra month in flower.
The smaller ones average around 15" and fully rippen under 60 days, wich is another benefit with smaller, It cuts a week off flowering with the same strain. Nothing like having the biggest and most potent buds with no scraps left over!
In my experience, i could never achieve 2lbs from bushes with 1 600hps, i would say it's very difficult to even get 1lb.

I must say i was shocked when i first heard of this procedure! Everything i knew and learned over 14yrs told me that it was insane to cut off all the fan leaves!
Low and behold, after a couple experiments, there is NO turning back!
After Long and carefull thought of why this works... I come to this conclusion:
1, The bud site itself grows small fan leaves that support the growth of the bud, Do not remove these, You can trim them if they are to large and shading other buds.
2, once the roots are established and the plant is healthy, the support of the large fan leaf is not necessary. I believe they are more essential for outside growth where the conditions are no perfect, watering feeding , ect...

I was very scared to rape my pride and joy's. But i can tell you... they each way atleast 8 grams more from non trimmed, and there are no light green fluffies either. the first time i did this was with eight girls out of 30, side by side. I was very impressed!

I agree with him 100000000% percent.

 

[jrosek]

Here's the link to the beef we want to chew on:
http://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?p=1942562&highlight=Hey+buddy#post1942562

Here's the posts from jrosek:





I agree with him 100000000% percent.

Bro, Are you trying to get me beat up??lol!
Seriously tho, Thank you for the support my friend!
In case with a large plant... I would wait until 3 weeks of flower to prune, This will let your branching establish. When pruning in veg it will slow the growth rate considerably, of course this can be used as a tactic in training your girl as well. Also this will help stop stretch in early flower with out serious set backs. I have found after many different trial and errors that the large fan leaves are more important to the structure and size of the plant. I am no geneticist and do not claim to be... however personal experience is they only proof i can offer!
I feel that the bud site grows its own small fan leaves that will provide all the energy needed for large fully developed buds.
I do not remove lower branches either, I have experimented with this philosophy as well. removing the large fan leaves will enable the lower bud sites to receive maximum light and nutrient's hence fully developed plants. this is of course if your using adequate lighting and feed schedule's.
This practice is not for everyone naturally, However... in a growers specific need it can work extremely well! to maximize yield in small spaces with small lighting it is simply the best strategy i have ever seen, and i have tried just about everything!lol
I am surely not trying to offend anyone so please be gentle on the beat down, I get very sensitive when im hi!
Greyskull, thanks for inviting me over here, I love to be part of a good debate, Hopefully we can all learn a thing or 2 and share our experiences!
Peace all, Jrosek
Here is a pic of some bog bubblicious at around 40 days.....




here's one at 56days.........

 

[THRIPS AHOY!]

It depends on the strain too. I would usualllly do my first pluck around 3 weeks after triggering. Then do some plucking as need be until about five weeks when i would do another big plucking seesion and then just clean up till the end.Some strains handle better than others though.Some strains if you pluck hard they will be stunted badly and others not so much.So it takes a little work with each strain to decide.Genearally i would say that its better to underpluck than to overpluck.Based on an 8 week strain.

 

[jrosek]

It depends on the strain too. I would usualllly do my first pluck around 3 weeks after triggering. Then do some plucking as need be until about five weeks when i would do another big plucking seesion and then just clean up till the end.Some strains handle better than others though.Some strains if you pluck hard they will be stunted badly and others not so much.So it takes a little work with each strain to decide.Genearally i would say that its better to underpluck than to overpluck.Based on an 8 week strain.

I agree, However ... if you are going to trim, i find it better to do it all at once and let them heal. Constant plucking seems to keep the plant stressed and slows growth considerably. Peace all, Jro