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

[budelight]

Im curious to hear if people prefer removing fan leaves or not, i am 3 weeks from seed and going to be making the decision this weekend.

Height is a concern in my boxes so any advice is appreciated.

If this has been done, please share

If no one has done it i will try and keep track of which i do it to and report when i can. growing from bag seed so it doesn't follow the typical SbS style, however most are growing very consistently with each-other....

Till next time - smok'em if you got'em

 

[Mt Toaker]

I've done from no trimming at all to selective trimming for light to selective trimming by size and stripped all the fan leaves off. In my experience its mostly the selective trimming to both allow more light and take big old fan leaves off but I would love to see a side by side. Pruning has a lot to do with experience with a strain and knowing when to trim too. If you could it would be cool to see a plant untrimmed, one trimmed selectively and one trimmed to the extreme. Good luck!

 

[Superhoops]

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

Interesting concept.

 

[RetroGrow]

There is already a thread on this.
Bad idea.
The leaves are there for a reason.
Millions of years of evolution prove it.

 

[paulo73]

The eternal discussion.
In my experience it all depends on the set-up, growing methods, strain and grower skills. There is no perfect formula. I trim fan leaves every time i feel like i need to do it and until today i can't complain on the results.
I suspect that many of the hardcore opponents to it never even took the time to try it out.

 

[burningfire]

in veg I don't touch them, in flowering it depends really, if there's too much shade and it gets too crowded I might trim some but no more than I need.

 

[OPT]

Depends the strain imo...

OPT

 

[budelight]

Interestingly enough... The poll at the top is split 50/50 with a total of 38 votes.



Mt Toaker - Thanks sharing your experience! Your preference coincides with my beliefs so its nice to hear it reaffirmed. Trimming is not natural, can be used to improve the shape and vigor of a plant, but if someone is overly aggressive in removing leaves, it can cripple if not kill the plant. After i get settled with my cab and strains. I hope to be able to provide a side-by-side-by-side to show people plants untrimmed, trimmed selectively and trimmed to the extreme (few of each for a larger sample size, ideally from clones of the same mother)

Superhoops - What do you have to say about doing the above mentioned removing of leaves?

RetroGrow - Please share the link! I totallyyyy understand where you are coming from, yet i am still curious. I like to believe that i can help/change/work-with the plant to shift resources from an area of low importance, to an area of higher importance! Keep the opinions coming.

paulo73 - Thanks for stopping by! Reassuring to know that I'm not alone with this dilemma. not that your asking but.....
my setup - NGB grow in this size box
growing methods - If you mean the training method, i will be topping and LST by tying down branches.
growers skill - seriously questionable

burningfire - agree with the no touch in veg.... if you have to cause stress, do it to a more established plant. Thank you for chiming in!

OPT - Could you be a bit more vague?

No really. Please share what you mean. I agree that it depends on the strain but WHY does it and how do different plants show traits so we know if the plants we are growing are the right strains for this.


Cheers,
Budelight

 

[RetroGrow]

RetroGrow - Please share the link! I totallyyyy understand where you are coming from, yet i am still curious. I like to believe that i can help/change/work-with the plant to shift resources from an area of low importance, to an area of higher importance! Keep the opinions coming.

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

If you're in a box, that means height restrictions, so you should be thinking about topping, unless you have a really tall box, in which case lollypopping the plants makes sense as light doesn't penetrate to the bottom in sufficient amounts to give you worthwhile buds anyway.
If plants are short, they will be bud from top to bottom anyway. Fan leaves are there for a reason. They turn light into usable food for the plant. Mother nature planned it that way.
As plants get older, I remove fan leaves that have served their purpose. Most light passes right through the fans anyway, so they are not really blocking light to the extent you may think. 80% of light goes right through. If you're looking to increase yield, increase pot size or add CO2.
If you are restricted in area, ie., in a small box, personally I would not remove any fan leaves in veg. They are what makes the plant grow. In late flower, a different story. Anyway, read the other thread.

 

[GrowForIt]

I would love to see a side by side as well....I trim mine up most of the time and try to do it selectively over multiple sessions, if I take off too many at once the plant will slow down for a bit. I generally take off any leaf that is below the second set on the main stem or branch or any leaf that is blocking light to a budsite. I start doing it as soon as the plant starts branching and I continue to do this until about the second or third week of flowering depending on the strain.

 

[the 45 king]

During flowering, if I can't tuck them away I trim them.

 

[RetroGrow]

Light passes right through the fans to the buds below, so they really are not blocking the buds immediately below them from receiving light.

 

[Grass Lands]

Depends the strain imo...

OPT

Ya beat me to it man...its all about the strain.

A tall lanky Sativa wont need as much pruning as a nice
heavy indica will need pruning.

I run a Purple Dragon...I top at 3 weeks..let her run for
two more weeks then strip all the fan off, bend over the tops
to allow the lower branches to fill out and reach up for the light.

 

[Rowdy420]

I was one that used to pluck fan leaves, I don't do it anymore. They are there to convert light energy into usable energy for the plant. Light intensity and how much photo synthetic energy penetrates the canopy is the #1 rule of the game. Leaves will shrivel and die when there usefulness to the plant are done! The leaves are the power source for the plants, really do any of you remember biology?

Good luck, Peace

 

[KSP]

Depends the strain imo...

OPT

Exactly, like so many things.

Doesn't hurt at all with pure sativas and can be beneficial, selectively of course.

 

[Phaeton]

Same strain (sativa) for 3 years now, sometimes I prune more extensively, sometimes less. Still undecided after 3 years of both ways.

Defoliation, I saw that thread and stripped a couple plants pretty nude. Still got lots of buds, but...
In general, my strain gets slightly less dense buds with moderate trim, severe leaf reduction causes severe airbuds.

Large fan leaves still go, always have, leaving the big ones does not seem to dense up the buds, the medium fans get selectively left now, as stripping does affect my density.

Light selective trimming does not hurt anything, but mostly it is for my peace of mind. No ugly or blemished leaves makes the plant look better. But I can document absolutely no positive gains from stripping other than aesthetic. And that is enough for me, good looking plants are status.

Started an indica strain a few months back, everything is different and does not translate over very well.
Cannot expect different plants to respond the same.
:kitty:

 

[wisco61]

Light passes right through the fans to the buds below, so they really are not blocking the buds immediately below them from receiving light.

Um, what? How does light pass through an object? I decide what to trim by looking for leaves that are blocking light, which you can see because the buds below them are in shade.

 

[Grass Lands]

Um, what? How does light pass through an object? I decide what to trim by looking for leaves that are blocking light, which you can see because the buds below them are in shade.

HAHAHAHHA

I was thinking the same thing man....if I place my hand under the leaf and I see the outline of the leaf on my hand then that tells me the lower nodes are being shaded.

 

[Phaeton]

One of those 'grain of truth' things.

Far red light, it gets 90% right through the leaf. But since it is going throuh the top leaves, its going through the lower leaves also, not much help there.

Regular red gets some through also, way less than half. Still major shading.

Green is a winner, each photon of green gets five (5) hits before exiting the canopy, no shading for that color.

Trim or not trim? The trimmed leaf stopping the light, it is using the light it stopped. Will the leaves under it use the light more efficiently for our purposes?

Moderation in all things. Except napping :kitty:

 

[mysophilia]

You will slow down the plants growth by removing the fan leaves... If that is what you want to do then your on the right path..

If you want to know what is going to happen when you do so, I will attempt to explain...

Fan leaves collect energy in the cholorplasts, which helps ADP convert to ATP.. This is a very important cycle in your plants abality to turn those process to energy... Energy is needed for the plants ( cells ) to grow and multiply etc...
Also, removing those fan leaves doesnt allow stomas to open up.. That means you arent pulling food up the xylem from the root zone... That means plants arent able to feed itself.. This is what I mean by slowing down the plant grow... You wont kill the plant, you will just make it work a little harder..