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TRIMMING FAN LEAVES DAYS BEFORE WACK

RuralRoute420

RuralRoute420

Active member
Do you think it really affects the plant that much if you cut off the larger leaves 1-3 days before chop for max light distribution - plust it makes harvest a little easier.....any opini :joint: ns?
 
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agent 420

agent 420

Member
Light distribution won't matter much if there are no large fan leaves to take in the light for the photosynthesis process. The leaves absorb the light, not the bud right?
 
G

Guest

1-3 days wont make any differance. But, if you take a fan leaf off earlier it will affect the bud its attached to. The bud will be smaller than it would have been with the fan leaf attached. Notice how the leaves yellow in the end days of budding? Thats the plant absorbing the energy from the leaf. No leaf=No extra energy.

Hope this helps,
Seed
 
G

Guest

i find lower light levels towards the end of flower make for happier harvests :smile:

TRIMMING FAN LEAVES DAYS BEFORE WACK
Do you think it really affects the plant that much if you cut off the larger leaves 1-3 days before chop for max light distribution - plust it makes harvest a little easier.....any opinions? yeah, pointless.
Click to expand...
 
C

Chamba

I've had small plants that were a few weeks from harvest attacked by grasshoppers ( a plague of Biblical proportions it was!) that ate all the fan leaves and many of the smaller 5 and 3 fingered leaves too and these plants seemed to resin up more than those that were not so badly attacked or hardly touched..but that's hardly scientific evidence!.

btw leaves are not in the way of buds..that's silly talk....think of it like this - leaves are the plant's solar panels..the more you remove, the less energy it is able to absorb ( but of course this applies to normal growing styles and conditions...but plants under scrog and other intense indoor methods benefit from some fan leaf removal during the first trimester of flowering)..of course yellowed leaves have done their job and can be removed ...

we need to experiment with leaf removal under controlled conditions (by using clones and side by side conditions) to test whether removing large leaves in the last 15, 10 or 5 days improves resin weight of the plant.

I readily remove any leaves that are yellowed and about to drop...all cannabis plants require less ferts in the last weeks of their lives.......so you should aim to grow your plants with reduced feeding towards their end , many of the fan leaves have dropped in the last few weeks of flowering anyway ..so gradually reduce fert strength down to just plain water for the last 10 ~ 3 days (depending how you grow and how the plants are growing and waht they are growing in etc)...

my guess is that plants with fans and other larger leaves removed 15 ~ 10 days before harvest would yield slighlty less bud weight and bud size..but what bud is there would have more resin.
 
K

kingjames488

Member
i know this is an old thread... but i have a new perspective on this.

I herd of a grow one time where the lights broke for a while before harvest and produced almost rock hard buds!!

so maybe if the larges fan leaves were trimmed a day or 2 before harvest then the buds would just fill in more and become more solid? idk... just a thought.
 
mean mr.mustard

mean mr.mustard

I Pass Satellites
Veteran
I hope the thread starter meant a few and not all fan leaves. I can't condone cutting them all off. Taking a few a week before harvest will let the glands swell and the bud still puts on a lil extra weight. A few days is too little time and more than a week and you really will be missing some weight. The point remains that the leaves are needed but if it lets light to lower budsites without compromising lots of energy... do it :)

Sometimes flowers want birds and sometimes they don't need anything but the wind to pollinate themselves (cannabis). Leaves sometimes want oxygen and darkness to respirate. Dusted off a three year old thread... wow :D
 
K

kingjames488

Member
better off bringing back an old thread with a little comment then starting a whole new thread for it imo...
at least im using search :p
 
F

Frozenguy

Active member
Veteran
I thought the fan leaves were used to like convert extra nutes into sugars during the drying process?
 
growMEDS

growMEDS

Member
What about cutting the biggest fan leaves and leaving the smaller sets?
I did this when I harvested the top half of a plant. The bottom took all the nutes out of all the small fan leaves and the plant really looked nice and finished
 
T

The Weed

New member
http://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?t=121710 page 6.... Bushyoldgrower says.....I LISTEN....(the low light time at the end has been called 48 hrs in the dark but dark isnt best. I move my plants a few feet away from the lights is all and remove the leaves. This lets light hit the lower buds that arent quite done. This time also lets the main colas continue to resin without going past peak)..He is the King!!!!
 
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Mr. Greengenes

Mr. Greengenes

Re-incarnated Senior Member
ICMag Donor
Veteran
Removing any sunleaves before harvest just cuts into the density and yield of bud. Cutting sun leaves after harvest, but before drying removes some of the 'sap' reserves before they get a chance to evaporate through the buds and contribute to flavor and quality. Leave the entire top of the plant intact until it's dry and the buds will be a little heavier, taste and smell much better, and keep longer.
 
R

Red Swan

I've been removing fans at harvest meaning: If I have flushed the plant and it's week 9 and ready to harvest I start cutting the fans. I've been harvesting the plants in stages to make life easier. I cut all the fans, then cut the buds I can trim that night. The next day the same. It may take me 5 nights to harvest, but then I don't have to worry the pain of cutting droopy leaves. It's not hurting since I don't cut until they are done.

I used to cut the whole plant and sit for hours cutting and cutting. Now I will actually cut all the fans off after the allotted finishing time, and have plants with just buds, then harvest those. Instead of hanging I cut leaves off the living plant. It makes it way easier on my back. I can only trim for 2 hours at a time after a long day of work.

Hope that makes sense. I don't trim any fans before the plants are done.
 
Irie_Lion

Irie_Lion

Free up the Herbs....Let the Sacrament grow!
Veteran
Red Swan said:
I've been removing fans at harvest meaning: If I have flushed the plant and it's week 9 and ready to harvest I start cutting the fans. I've been harvesting the plants in stages to make life easier. I cut all the fans, then cut the buds I can trim that night. The next day the same. It may take me 5 nights to harvest, but then I don't have to worry the pain of cutting droopy leaves. It's not hurting since I don't cut until they are done.

I used to cut the whole plant and sit for hours cutting and cutting. Now I will actually cut all the fans off after the allotted finishing time, and have plants with just buds, then harvest those. Instead of hanging I cut leaves off the living plant. It makes it way easier on my back. I can only trim for 2 hours at a time after a long day of work.

Hope that makes sense. I don't trim any fans before the plants are done.
Click to expand...


I pretty much do it the same way especially if there are multiple plants finishing at the same time since its just myself (bro in law helps from time to time) doin the trimming. Makes things easier that way not to mention that by the time i get around to the last plant i already have some dry samples to sample!

Guidance & Protection
 
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