Remove Fan Leaves veg (side-by-side request!)

[DiscoBiscuit]

Well this one must be working it's ass off, lol.



I don't advocate going hog wild on trimming fans. Limited space sometimes means limited options. Small bulbs don't penetrate very far and excess fans block light and air circulation.

I don't have room for comparison but past SOGs have performed well with large fans and w/o.

I like mysophilia's stomata tips, immature leaves might photosynthesize as soon as they're green but not so sure about their transpiration rates. I try to leave a couple sets of mature fans up top. Secondary fans at each node eventually get big and have to go as well.

 

[HawaiianGrown]

It is really a question of rot!!!

old and dying fan leaves, and especially the little collateral leaves, when dead or dying, are an invitation to bud mold and rot and bug homes and must be eliminated from the scene, dude.

 

[esbe]

i leaf trimmed for 10 years, but the last 20 i only remove sick or very yellow leafs

 

[Hammerhead]

me to only the ones that need trimming. Leave them leaves alone.

 

[THC123]

In veg i would never remove them

But some strains(outdoors) that are too leafy get trimmed halfway through flower

 

[mrwags]

I think it like anything else we do here depends on the strain. I got a Black Widow in a bucket and we all know how big it's fan leaves gets.

I have one that is a tree and the other is a bush and all I did was remove 8 fan leaves as she grew to get light to the newer growth below.

I don't think much light will go through a leaf imho to me if I filled my sealed lamp up with a single row of leaves no light will go through it so I would say tuck or cut your call but getting light no matter how you do it is a plus and I even use a mover so don't try that one next lol.


My Penny
Mr.Wags

 

[C21H30O2]

Isn't this really a question of whether carbohydrates from fan leaves can trans locate to buds, well since carbs trans locate to roots I would think they also trans locate to buds. If buds carry seeds to reproduce and reproduction is the main function of the plant why would the plan evolve to limit its reproductive ability? I get great results not defoliating and so do many others.

 

[AmeriSkunk]

I have always thought of the leafs as solar panels in a way, they make food, which provides energy for growth. Plus each leaf pushes growth to a certain node, weather it be a water leaf, fan leaf, whatever. when you remove a leaf you remove food for bud/stem to grow from.

I like a lot of people that have posted only remove a leaf if it is shading buds that need light. But i will tuck until the leaf dies of thats what happens before i will jut cut it off unless it is just all around in the way.

Im not even growing right now, havent in a while but that is my technique.

 

[mrwags]

I have always thought of the leafs as solar panels in a way.

You are exactly correct BUT when the lights go out they push their stored energy down to the roots (battery so to speak) and that is where the action happens.

This is why it is always recommended that you have a 24 to 48 hour dark cycle b4 you chop that way all starch's and sugar's and energy is down in the roots. I even go as far as cutting in the dark just to make sure they stay there.

The point is the simple things are what separates Excellent bud for decent bud. I will be doing a side by side with Female Seeds new Black Sugar on this very topic. I then will be able to display a bush compared to a tree simply by removing a few fan leaves and NEVER harming my girl. If you take a little honey and rub on the cut of the big ass fan leaf you took off you to will find it's ALL GOOD as long as you don't get carried away with it.


Have A Great Day
Mr.Wags

 

[grassott]

After researching this topic I just had to experiment with it in the art of ganja science...

So far I'm liking the results!

 

[grassott]

After researching this topic I just had to experiment with it in the art of ganja science...

So far I'm liking the results!

 

[budlover123]

I also think that taking leaves off can be a good thing,

I have a theory that taking some mature fan leaves off the main stalk later in veg of an un-topped plant can promote feminine growth, but that's probably completely false, its just based on one occurrence and there were a couple other factors involved, but they were pretty minor. 3 of 3 f2's were female, next time 1 of 6 f2's were female! The first time selective mature fan leaf removal from mid to late veg, the next time no fans were removed until flowering.

 

[paulo73]

Keep it going my friend.
We need experiments like yours. Less talk more canna science on the making

 

[lost in a sea]

humans only perceive a narrow band of the light that is around us from both sunlight especially and artificial lights, and the way we see the packages of light known as photons doesnt represent the energy contained in them that can be absorbed by the plant,, so just because it doesnt look like much light is able to make it through the canopy there may still be enough to easily provide enough energy to make leaving all leaves a more sensible course of action,,

ive never improved my yield from removing fan leaves that i can think of,,, id say mainly because i try to give my plants adequate space between them to allow enough light to get all around the plant and always provide enough lumens with yearly fresh bulbs changed as the daily light integral starts to fall away,,,

if i was doing a scrog in a low box to squeeze as much yield as possible with 400w's or less for example then i probably would remove fans to allow the jungle to get as much light to the nugs in that situation,,, and it obviously depends on the genetics as well,,, but i dont think it is good growing practice to remove large numbers of fans (especially during veg) because their are better ways around needing to do it and i haven't seen the advantages,, ill happily attack alsorts of species of plants leaves and branches if i can see enough improvement but growing ganja the way i do cutting off fans doesnt seem to improve the end result. and its surely quite easy to go too far as well and act in the detriment of the plant interests.. just my opinion on the subject

 

[grassott]

^ When I saw this defol'd plant, I just had to say "GIMME SUM O DAT!"

I've never seen a thing like this in an indoor non-defol'd garden

 

[majortom9]

Wow ! Shit ton of foxtails but pure bud never the less,fukin kill !

 

[lost in a sea]

thats a strong haze dominant plant, whatever it is, and they quite often drop all their fans weeks before the plants are ready to be cut, sometimes months before ,, looks like alot of bud but it will weigh nothing,,,i cant tell you how many times ive seen that exact image in my grow boxes without removing a single healthy fan leaf,,, it wasn't defoliation that made it grow like that imo.

 

[grassott]

I think it's mango haze. Trust me, the guy who grew this defoliates. He doesn't wait for the leaves to drop off by themselves. He defoliates during veg and flower.

You think it won't weigh nothing? It came out over 20 zips dried!

Grown indoors under a 400w and a 600w to spread out the light a bit.

 

[lost in a sea]

well ive grown alot of hazes, too many as i see it,, and it is the last pool of genetics within ganja i would feel the need to defoliate to be honest,, really doesnt look like 20oz from the picture but maybe half is being blocked by the nugs near the camera and some of it is out of shot,,,

id see it as a stemmy haze wouldnt bother taking any leaves off and would get as good a result as is in the picture i reckon,, i get good yields off hazes but i wouldnt get 20 oz of the plant though tbh,, haze dom plants just take alot of time they dont need leaves removing to help them in anyway imo..

ive grown quite a few mns hazey plants all were fairly huge yielding compared to most stuff.

 

[grassott]

Another defol'd plant grown under 600w. Not sure of the strain but she weighed in at 10 zips dried.

Of course it's not just defol that produces a plant like this, but without the defol she would NOT have weighed 10 zips.

In saying that, defoliation MUST be researched properly before you give it a try. Oh, and DO NOT defol if your plants have gone into flower without any defoliation in veg. This advice was given by the guy who defols religiously.