cut off the leaves in wk 7 or 8?

[moresntoil]

Hello brothers, my buddy asked me a question that I could not answer in regards to his plants.
They are Chronic fems from Serious, starting week 8 of flowering. Buds look juicy and very fat. He has given only water for the last 2 wks, in soil/perlite. Most leaves turning yellow....

1)so would it hurt or benefit them by removing the fan leaves for the last wk or two? If so what time is the best time to do this? what good or bad would come out of this?

2)Is it normal to have the "crystals" (round pollen, not sure what there called, that turn from milky to clear to golden) fall off before the buds are ready? or before they have turn golden? What causes this? He has alot of crystal stalks with no crystals on them!? Im pretty sure they have not turned golden an fallen off, they have just fallen off???

My friend who is doing the growing(who is not me) Thanks You!

 

[!!!]

Read the "defoliation" thread. It's a sticky in they Grow - Hydro forum. Basically, yes take off fan leaves especially if they are shading bud sites. It won't hurt the plant.

Does s/he rough handle the plants? what are night temps? Trichomes don't normally break off unless the plant is being touched (by a human or another plant) or is swaying too hard (fan) perhaps. Very cold temps may freeze trichomes and make them drop off easily. Doubt that's your problem though as temps that cold will have noticeable symptoms I'm sure..

 

[ibjamming]

moresntoil,

There is debate over defoliating...read the thread !!! suggested before you do anything "rash".

They don't and they didn't...fall off...

 

[Pompey_Monkey]

2)Is it normal to have the "crystals" (round pollen, not sure what there called, that turn from milky to clear to golden) fall off before the buds are ready? or before they have turn golden? What causes this? He has alot of crystal stalks with no crystals on them!? Im pretty sure they have not turned golden an fallen off, they have just fallen off???

My friend who is doing the growing(who is not me) Thanks You!

Is it possible that your friend is confusing the pistils (white/orange/brown) hair-like things about 1/4 to 1/3 inches long with the trichome stalks which are tiny and need a microscope to be seen properly?

 

[moresntoil]

Hey fellas, thanks for the info. I will go and read that thread!!!
night temps are about 60f
not touching the plants much at all
fan is about 4 ft away, 16" diameter osilating
Not talking about the pistils, talking about the trichomes, he does have a small hand held 100x scope.
And alot of the trichomes did fall off, we have found several of them sitting on foliage with the scope, the ones that fell off are clear in color.
Something that I didnt mention was the plants where subjected to some heavy smoke due to a small electrical fire, ooops.
Was hoping you would give other causes for the trichomes to fall off, but sense you have not Im pretty sure that it was caused by the smoke.
Most of the buds are not showing signs of this, just on the one plant that was closes to being done. Other than some slight dead spots on some of the small bud leaves everything looks and smells good. Ill let you know how it smokes, and may post some pics.
Has anyone had any experiance with smoke damage to plants?
Thanks

 

[Noobian]

The trich heads are being broken off from being touched. It happens if you touch the buds they are real delicate, like glass really. It's normal and not something to freak out about. I would only remove the fan leaves if they are shading a bud site, otherwise let the plant extract all the sugars it can from them before you take em off. That is a controversial subject though

 

[Critter]

Trichs go from clear to cloudy to amber just so you know. Good luck!

 

[Fear]

High sugar content maybe can make the plants trichs more fragile. I notice this when making BHO, some plants turn out waxy and some brittle glass I feel is due to sugar in the plant. I could be wrong.

Also I trim leaves 3rd and 6th week maybe 8 or so leaves per plant to help out below or removing touching or crowded leaves. That Just what I do.

 

[guambomb813]

The trich heads are being broken off from being touched. It happens if you touch the buds they are real delicate, like glass really. It's normal and not something to freak out about. I would only remove the fan leaves if they are shading a bud site, otherwise let the plant extract all the sugars it can from them before you take em off. That is a controversial subject though

This is true, very controversial subject. I have yet to grow the balls to be able to defoliate a whole garden because I don't necessarily agree, although very tempting to see results for myself. But I have always taken off fan leaves or so called "suckers" that take more energy then that they give to the flowers. I have done this towards the end of flower and throughout the veg process, but due to my research I try to do as little pruning as possible during the switch from veg-flower and through the beginning cycle of flower for this could stunt the plant or even prevent flowers from forming in certain conditions. It is a good practice to try to remove the bigger fan leaves earlier on to promote bud growth by allowing as much light in anyways.