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Flowering.... trimming fan leaves off....leaving fan leaves on

BigP

New member
I'm an old-school grower that has just gotten back into it... I thought it was common knowledge that you trim "water leaves"... not too much... be sensible with it... but that was a long time ago, and reading these kinds of threads I'm not too sure anymore. We had mostly learned from Ed R.'s book and word of mouth. We did out-door grows back then... and I'd always used it indoor too. (nothing major, just for fun and to have weed for the summer when we were kids)

Anyway my logic at the time was that more smaller leaves have more surface area to collect light... and we thought that these just sucked up water... the plants we grew at that time seemed to stretch out much more than some of the strains today, so maybe less is needed for some of these really well bred strains. Unless you did toppings and leaf trimming you wouldn't get as good of a "bush out".

Another interesting thing I just learned from watching "What Plants Talk About" (http://www.netflix.com/WiMovie/70279447 ) is that "trichomes" (we just called them crystals) are a defense mechanism against predators. The plants they studied in this nova doc produced them to lure and poison certain bugs. I hadn't seen that mentioned so I thought I'd throw that into the pot.
 

BigP

New member
I forgot to mention that the plants produced more "trichomes" after being attacked. It could also be that plants branch out more, away from the damage site, to ensure there's more possibility of establishing a seed to reproduce.
 

JointOperation

Active member
I have 1 strain that doesn't like defol.. at all.. I mean stripping almost naked defol at 1 time.. every other strain does better defol then with the fans.. so I just pull a few fans here and there till its were I need it to be.........
 

JointOperation

Active member
ya ive found if u over trim fans.. u stunt flowering. .making it take longer.. so side by sides are kinda dumb. because if someone strips an entire plant.. and then pulls at the same time as the non defol plant.. its not fair.. u need to strip the plant slowly.. a few leaves every few days.. until its were u want It to be..

but honestly. man . VERTICAL an Defol go hand in hand.. and those dudes get huge yields.. next room I set up to get back to indoors.. is going to be vert !..
 

Crooked8

Well-known member
Mentor
ICMag Donor
Veteran
I agree papa. I never see vert getting a gram per watt especially with og
 

BigP

New member
there's definitely a difference with the strains these days... I used to always top before switching the cycle, or for outdoors shortly after buds/balls showed up. The strains I have now need very little training... they bush all on their own... no topping was needed, (they seemed to be topping/branching themselves) and very very little trimming of leaves. (I held back a bit because of some of the advice in this thread and because they looked just fine as they were) These things are looking great... just naturally dropping their leaves as the buds grow larger. And feminized seeds!! (which I thought was probably bullshit) All four of them sprouted and produced females. Goddamn I love the time we live in!
 

Hash Zeppelin

Ski Bum Rodeo Clown
Premium user
ICMag Donor
Veteran
I'm not seeing it. I'm seeing a lot of people doing vert getting average to low yields.

I did vert for 3 years. I got lower yields with vert, but there was some other factors as well. Nice buds, but over all lower yields. Then added a parabolic hood, and it gave me better light concentration which helped. However I'm still getting bets yield with hoods.
 
I love all of the grumping on this thread... I miss the BOG and OldPink days where people respected each other and we kept the dumb shit in the shark tank. The benefits or liabilities of defoliation depend on lighting (one light source won't work as well as several smaller ones since the few remaining fan leaves will be deprived of light behind typical plant structures), strain, growing method, whether or not it's an indoor run or outdoors where all of the leaves on an entire side of the plant will get light opposed to top lighting where only the leaves that are on the layers touched by the artificial light will, and for fucks sake, plant health since even all of the factors being excellent with an excellent environment still won't keep a weak plant from going into shock if you go butchering everything on the bottom third of the plant at any speed. For fucks sake guys, this isn't how we help new growers. Keep the flaming under control and maybe you'll learn/teach something. Ya think people didn't shit on Bugs for the first mainstream mainline grow? Course they did, they just kept it to themselves because he's a fuckin beast.

Killer Krickit OG OG
 

Slipnot

Member
Anyone looking for a job i need some leaf trimmers on 50 hectares of land harvestin in less then 2 weeks what you think am i going to yield more:) all species of plants have a shield for protection or produce some sort of toxin to rid in infestation would this mean that my removing leafs would in fact cause more poisons in our food system ..

When you look at how nature runs its a goof figure that 30 percent of leaf matter will be attacked by some fungi, insect or natural damage Hail ..
Take any more then 30 percent off any plant and it will stress and suffer guaranteed..

So to think that removing fan leafs or any leafs that have the stored sugars and starches that remember the plant chemically changed from the nutrients you feed the plant ...
has only allowed plant to eat less. You only put your plant on a diet .. if you think about it
on another note most indoor lights are weak so for instance when you have a light hanging 5 feet and your plant is 2 feet tall its getting the right par one foot further down the plant or 2 feet the intensity or par is weak there for its a moot point

this is why even many get under canopy and prune .. like a tomato suckers wasting plants energy as well as your power energy ..

We are now seeing through science and lab tests that we just do not under stand full what plants do how ever ..
with removal of leafs the plant will use its energy to make more leafs this is why many defoil in veg to create bigger plant bushier ..
this is common knowledge but when in bloom your playing with fire not only are you removing stomata's which are a important role in photosynthesis, your effecting respiration and transpiration which will only slow everything down if that makes sense ??
Its great people have the time to experiment with bunch of theories from defoil to pouring ice water or boiling water for final flush i must say it has become rather stupid in my opinion

were here trying to grow Buds removal of leafs will trigger plant to reproduce or send energy to repair her self by making more leafs while in flower..
Any ways trim on, strip them plants to the stalk i will continue to prune lower bud sites and inner sites that are wasting plants energy ..
Stay tuned 4 more weeks i show you all what donkey diks look like and surely not from stripping a plant of its leafs

If that was the case ??? and we can all agree mj  has been around over 12,000 years its only true purpose is to produce off spring and as much as it can surely over the 12,000 years it would of evolved to drop its leafs ,,
to produce more seed now wouldn't it ????
 
I am a 30 year hydro grower who rarely says much of anything here..........BUT like the gnome said earlier in this thread. . . . .


WHEN GROWING INDOORS-----UNDER ARTIFICIAL LIGHT

PROPER DEFOILATION OF THE STRAINS THAT NEED IT, BASED STRICTLY ON THE FLOWER/LEAF RATIO OF THAT STRAIN. . . . .

IS THE ONLY WAY TO GROW PROPERLY TO ACHIEVE THE BEST YIELDS and the quality of your lower flowers--- that have been left remaining---
after the lower prune has been done (week 2 of flower).

Certain strains, (mostly taller sativa dom types) will not need any defoliation , others may need much more work and can get stupid trying to keep up with it's RIDICULOUS leaf production. The sun penetrates and produces so much better than our silly indoor lighting, but all the other variables are why outdoor is usually not as desirable as indoor product.

Keep in mind that this removal of leaves must be done in many stages-----NOT ALL AT ONCE, although it still will do fine (especially in hydro) as the recovery will be more rapid than growing in soil

I usually eliminate vey bushy strains that require too much work, having said that, growing indoors, defoliation is not a choice, it is IMPERATIVE for optimum results/yield

Outdoor light from the sun is a very different situation, but even outdoors, removing extra leaves is great to assist in proper airflow and pest/mold control
 
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