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To trim fanleaves or not?

#1cheesebuds

Well-known member
Veteran
I have a bigish plant in flower cycle and Ive been trimming some fan leafs over the past 3 weeks. I was thinking of trimming some more of the fan leafs. Would doing this help any with the flower production?

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M

member 505892

Something i personally like to do (don't ask me if it actually has proven benefits :redface: ), is, instead of removing a whole fan leaf to let light through, i just bunch all the fingers of a particular leaf together and tear about 80% off, leaving the stalk and some little nubs of fingers.

The only reason i do that is so the particular 20% leaf will stay alive and (maybe)cause that node less stress than if the whole leaf was plucked.
When a whole leaf is plucked, the stalk withers and drops off, which can seem to stress the flower that's coming from that node a little.

I have never done side by side tests to verify if it makes any difference, but in my mind at least, i'm getting the light all the way through and i'm not putting stress on the node as the leaf is still intact.
 

VerdantGreen

Genetics Facilitator
Boutique Breeder
Mentor
ICMag Donor
Veteran
personally i might remove a couple of the big fans if they are covering/shading a bud site, or tuck a few under the canopy out of the way. i try and keep it to a minimum.

Others may tell you to be more brutal... but it is the leaves that convert your expensive light into energy for the plant.


VG
 

Switcher56

Comfortably numb!
IMHO it all depends on what growing technique you are using. I denude the manifold of all vegetative matter below the 8 main tops. Then as required I will remove those shadowing bud sites. I grow manifolds exclusively now. Why? I was able to dble production using the technique. I normally don't like to change too many variables between grows because, if you use many, you may not know which variance did what etc... In this instance I also changed my nutrient line from GO to Remo.

My 1st grow is in my sig. I am currently on my 3rd. 2nd week of flower (12 days) from an 8 week veg.

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Dutch Treat 12 days in flower.

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Blue Dream 12 days in flower

This current grow 1st time for Bd but not for Dt. I had to use some radical lst on the tops compared to previous runs (redirection clearly seen in pics).

Caveat
This works for me in my environment under my growing conditions.
 

simon

Weedomus Maximus
Veteran
I never remove fan leaves. IME, when the plant stops needing them it'll drop the leaves. YMMV

Simon
 

star crash

We Will Get By ... We Will Survive
ICMag Donor
Veteran
I would agree that it depends on your growing situation what kind of room you have what kind of lighting Is it a leafy strain or not, how packed it is what kind of airflow etc. if it’s so crowded and shaded underneath the canopy that no light is hitting any buds you better take those leads away you want to expose the flowers to the light so they can develop I’ve seen it time and time again in my own grow the more relief I take away a strategic times the better bud development again buds can photosynthesize themselves you know as far as I know ... Observations based on my humble experience
 

HGCC

Member
I go back and forth, its sort of situation dependent. I kept going heavier and heavier until I was down to schwazzing...I think that's a bit much unless you are running a very specific high density setup. Currently I de-fan and trim off the large around flip and then pull fans as I go/needed if blocking.

Anyone have thoughts on if stripping them leads to further leaf growth...like the old wives tale about shaving and it growing back thicker. That was a big reason I stopped stripping so aggressively, it seemed like the buds wound up significantly leafier in the end and trimming just became a nightmare. Maybe I was doing something goofy like overfeeding N...but just sort of my general observation.
 

HGCC

Member
I go back and forth, its sort of situation dependent. I kept going heavier and heavier until I was down to schwazzing...I think that's a bit much unless you are running a very specific high density setup. Currently I de-fan and trim off the large around flip and then pull fans as I go/needed if blocking.

Anyone have thoughts on if stripping them leads to further leaf growth...like the old wives tale about shaving and it growing back thicker. That was a big reason I stopped stripping so aggressively, it seemed like the buds wound up significantly leafier in the end and trimming just became a nightmare. Maybe I was doing something goofy like overfeeding N...but just sort of my general observation.

*de-fan and trim off the larf around flip.
 
do not remove fan leaves

do not remove fan leaves

I have a bigish plant in flower cycle and Ive been trimming some fan leafs over the past 3 weeks. I was thinking of trimming some more of the fan leafs. Would doing this help any with the flower production?

View Image
hello
do not remove fan leaves
they are the photo synthetic factories of the plant. they have the largest concentration of photochromes , the cells that convert light energy to chlorophyll. they make the chlorophyll and transmit it to the rest of the plant. they also have the highest concentration of stomata. they are the regulatory factories of the plant. the ability to transpire water off the leaves to facilities the uptake of nutrient solution. there is no benefit to removing them unless they are dead.
removing them is like removing your house heating systems solar panels so more light hits the roof and heat the house up .
 

Switcher56

Comfortably numb!
hello
do not remove fan leaves
they are the photo synthetic factories of the plant. they have the largest concentration of photochromes , the cells that convert light energy to chlorophyll. they make the chlorophyll and transmit it to the rest of the plant. they also have the highest concentration of stomata. they are the regulatory factories of the plant. the ability to transpire water off the leaves to facilities the uptake of nutrient solution. there is no benefit to removing them unless they are dead.
removing them is like removing your house heating systems solar panels so more light hits the roof and heat the house up .
The topic is a "hung jury", many would disagree with you :tiphat:
 

RockinRobot

Active member
removing them is like removing your house heating systems solar panels so more light hits the roof and heat the house up .

Terrible analogy. Plants would be more like having multiple solar panels blocking lower panels. If an upper leaf blocks light from 2 lower leaves then removing the upper leaf will do the plant good.
 

Switcher56

Comfortably numb!
The topic is a "hung jury", many would disagree with you :tiphat:

Terrible analogy. Plants would be more like having multiple solar panels blocking lower panels. If an upper leaf blocks light from 2 lower leaves then removing the upper leaf will do the plant good.
I will take his advice over some advice given here. (RR, I'm only quoting your post) :tiphat:

e.g https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XdfW2p-lHN0

I went from 0.6g/w to 0.9g/w manifolding. I should get or exceed a g/w this run. Read I said should, because based on previous runs, she looks very promising, in meeting the challenge. Mind you that is "my" environment, folks millage may vary.

click to enlarge
 

RockinRobot

Active member
I will take his advice over some advice given here. (RR, I'm only quoting your post) :tiphat:

e.g https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XdfW2p-lHN0

I went from 0.6g/w to 0.9g/w manifolding. I should get or exceed a g/w this run. Read I said should, because based on previous runs, she looks very promising, in meeting the challenge. Mind you that is "my" environment, folks millage may vary.
[URL=https://www.icmag.com/ic/picture.php?albumid=83457&pictureid=2067893&thumb=1]View Image[/URL]
click to enlarge

Just as an FYI. I trim very few fan leaves myself. I only pull large leaves near the top of the cola that completely block lowers from receiving light.
 

f-e

Well-known member
Mentor
Veteran
A few in the middle would expose others that could catch the light instead, and a few bud sites. While aiding air movement if that's a requirement in your setup. Some of the heads might get longer from doing this and that aids trimming. You could also find some lower bud sites that will never get any light and pull them off as you don't want to develop stuff that won't become anything.
 

Switcher56

Comfortably numb!
A few in the middle would expose others that could catch the light instead, and a few bud sites. While aiding air movement if that's a requirement in your setup. Some of the heads might get longer from doing this and that aids trimming. You could also find some lower bud sites that will never get any light and pull them off as you don't want to develop stuff that won't become anything.
... and nothing more than a waste of the "stored energy". I want my energy to go to the colas.
 
that is normal

that is normal

The topic is a "hung jury", many would disagree with you :tiphat:

there is always other opinions but science is science .
personally I ran around 80000 w fir 15 years . been growing since 1989
we put out about 80lb a month . i did a sea of green method with 9 plants per sq ft . went right from 21 day old cuttings into 4 " cubes flowered immediately.
we got an avg of 2.5 lb per 25 sq ft per 1000 w light with a 10 to 1 bloom to veg light . was able to provide enough cuts from 1000 w to supply 10000 w light . 25 lb per 11000 watt total ( 10000 bloom 1000 veg )
I have grown, cut and planted every way possible you could think of and probably several you could not. ( as we just made them )
my personal advice after doing 60 hour weeks working in grow ops is ...
add no supplements
use basic complete 12 mineral feed solution
do not use ANY other supplements. no resin enhancer, cal mag , bacterial additives ( had first beneficial bacteria company in 1994 in Toronto )
Best advice is do it with absolutely nothing beyond minimum so you got a base to compare something too
doing less will get you 95% of the best you could do with all unnecessary techniques or additives .
PLANTS GROW IN SPITE OF MAN NOT BECAUSE OF MAN
 
no

no

Terrible analogy. Plants would be more like having multiple solar panels blocking lower panels. If an upper leaf blocks light from 2 lower leaves then removing the upper leaf will do the plant good.

there is no blocking. the fan leaves manufacture more chlorophyll than any small leaf underneath
the chloraphyl and energy are transported through the vascular system
that is why plants grow leaves.
the leaves do not grow for their own sake.
plants grow in spite of man not because of man
 
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