Your thoughts on trimming Fan Leaves...

[eugenegreen]

The title says it all....
Just want other growers thoughts on trimming fan leaves during bloom... Do you think it's beneficial or detrimental?
Shoot...

 

[Jdizzel]

geez, buy the look of how many post u have here at this great website, I would say u should have all the anwsers. LOL
I have read here that a lot of people want to leave them as they are stored up energy, but i thnk that letting the light through to the other parts that u want to bud is inportant as wel. I cut them off only if i can not bend them out of the way anymore. I have also herd of cutting the fans leaves in half for letting the light through as well.
To each it's own I guess.
I am a fan of this in moderation.
What is ur take in it???

 

[dunkybones]

Live and let live, or so I always thought. This guy says differently---

http://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?t=174163

 

[jrosek]

http://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?t=100749

good info in that thread

 

[ChickenChaser]

Their obviously there to do a job, let them crack on with it. I think taking them off would just cause stress and add time on.
I say just tuck em' and let them carry on working.

 

[fonzee]

Working organically I don't see how it would be beneficial as you randomly count on the energy stored in the leaves.

With with high-end mineral fertilizers the plant gets everything it needs (or what you think it needs) and theoretically it should need any "backup" energy banks.


I keep my leaves on no matter how I run the cycle. Just haven't tried anything else yet.
Considering I'm working on converting to organics I doubt how beneficial it would be but If I'll change my mind (again) and go with chemicals again I might give it a go

 

[simon]

I never trim fan leaves.

Simon

 

[K.J]

I trim any leaves that seem like they need it...damaged, more than 75% yellowed, etc. If it's blocking light from getting to good, healthy leaves, I take it off.

 

[mean mr.mustard]

Both.

If it reveals a good sturdy budsite directly underneath it, I take it off.

If it doesn't, or if you do it too much in too many sites on one plant, it will take away its food factories.

In moderation it helps tremendously.

 

[Scrogerman]

I never take them from the TOP, it aint so important from down below, alot dont see light anyway, in a ScrOG, the bottom leaves dont see any light and eventually die off anyway, so i remove those & see no adverse effects, they are little mold & pest harbouring factorys imo anyway. Do Not take any from where you want Buds from or you'll hinder development of those paticular Bud sites, Mainly the Top 10-18" depending on what style of grow you are doing! Just my 20p! Good Luck!

 

[smokeymacpot]

if it blocks a sideshoot that would turn into a bud/cola, then it gets removed because all it does is hinder the growth of whatever it blocks and you are better off without it.

 

[HOZ]

in a ScrOG, the bottom leaves dont see any light and eventually die off anyway, so i remove those & see no adverse effects, they are little mold & pest harbouring factorys imo anyway.

When it comes to scrog im definitely on the same page, without trimming fan leaves i would have horrible pest problems. I actually trim almost all of the fan leaves off TWICE while in the first 3 weeks of flowering.

Growing naturally, however, is a different story. I dont remove any fan leaves unless they are worn.

 

[Scrogerman]

Hey Hoz,
Completely agree on the standard(Straight-Up) style grow. I have Taken fans from upper Buds sites half way through bloom & found out the HARD Way that this practice is terrible & should not be done. Where an upper Bud was Forming nicely, Once that fan is removed, it curtains for that paticular Budsite! fair enough if your pruning out from the Begining to End, ive seen varying results & think it is strain specific also. My advice is Not to Take any fans from the Top 10-18" or No Bud any longer grows on that site, it seems to just stop growing, you would think the plant would take the energy from elsewhere, but it doesent work like that at all.! I stop pruning after 21 days Bloom if i can help it & never take anything from that top 10-18" measure! I Think pruning is good practice & has a whelth of benefits, in moderation, & timing is also pretty critical! If a single Fan is blocking a bud site then TUCK it if you can, this is also good practice & a mix of tucking and pruning is the way to go imo~! Just Dont Leave your leaves tucked, you must rotate them back into the light or eventually they'll just shrivel and die off! Good Luck all!

 

[mefistyou]

Im running an experiment with my current grow (its in the grow journal section) where i trimmed all the fan leaves off one plant and left its clone alone (I trimmed on day 20 of flower)....they are on day 40 now and I cant tell a difference between the 2 (other than i can now pack a bunch more in my cab now).....so in my limited experience thus far I say its not nearly as detrimental as people claim to trim off all the leaves.

 

[mefistyou]

I meant to attach these pics to show one of my sets of clones....this is NYCD, the one on the left had all but 2 of its fan leaves removed on day 20 of flower (these are on day 40) the one on the right was untouched except for one fan that was lost due to a horrible, horrible farming accident.

 

[Xtensity]

You need to think of how much light energy you are loosing from the fan leaves, and how much light energy you are gaining from the lower leaves.

If the lower leaves have a greater surface area than the fan leaves that block them, it's better to let the lower ones get more light..

So bigger leaf surface area = more energy in plant = bigger buds.

 

[Matanuskan Flo]

yea, i still have seen zero proof that light to the calyxii & actual pre-flower corpsules makes them bigger. i feel it is a combo of light to the fan leaf, entire top cola area & to the calyxii. i would like to see actual proof or side by side comparison of an experiment where a cola is trimmed entirely & another cola left alone & see the difference in yield, taste, & potency.

personally, i leave them on until they are basically dead or will fall off imminently on its own. i do believe that the plant is uptaking the stored sugars within the fan leaf, or it would just fall of or die green. so, removing green fan leaves would suggest only that the sugars in that leaf will be inaccessible. however, we all supplement with nutes & other sugars etc, so again; where is the solid proof pointing in one direction vs another???

on a side note, in sog set up obviously; i have seen 100 plants. each plant was about 2 feet tall, they only had leaves on the top 6 inches or so of the plant. however, some plants did have a huge fan leaf left on, or most of them did half way down the stem. i do not know why they left that one big fan leaf on with each plant, but they cut every single other shoot off besides the very top(this is confusing b/c why leave one fan leaf & cut all the others?? they must have seen value in leaving the giant fan leaf, so why not leave more on???). anyhow, this suggest 2 things, one; that where the leaves are up top, there will be a single cola with all energy focused on it. 2, that even though there is a fan leaf 6 inches lower, there was never any bud growth or colas in that area. this may be b/c they chopped anything that did form OR that leaf presence does not correlate to bud growth. i believe healthy leaves create healthy buds, even if they do shade the actual bud. but, i have no proof & i don't know if anybody here does beyond their own experimentation. if monsanto or Dow chem chime in, I will be allllll ears. sorry if this sounds confusing, im obv blazed. hope i helped somewhere in this rant.

 

[smokeymacpot]

@ matanskan, i have seen the proof that removing a fan leave that blocks a sideshoot/cola will make it bigger. do remember that buds also grow leaves and once those leaves receive light, they take off and grow big.