Do you trim any fan leaves?

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bud88

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I was looking over my girls this evening under green light and noticed that the growth is super thick in area's I have a bunch of fan leaves that are blocking the sunlight to flowers...I know that the fan leaves are an important part of the process but, wouldn't it be beneficial to clip off a few here and there to get more light penetration?








Fist grow ever....

http://www.marijuanapassion.com/forum/showthread.php?t=68799
 
NO, buds do not need light. Buds feed off of the plant, and the plant, ie fan leaves are what soak in the light... I clean up my undercarriage, and will pluck an occasional leaf with pm or more than half yellow and dead, but never cut off fans in thought that light will be better used... Just my .02
 
Huh.. I just learned something.


I thought the buds grew from the light, hence your lower buds being way more underdeveloped than your top buds. If they grew just from the fan leaves, wouldn't the bottom stuff be just as large / strong?

I'm not doubting this by any means, I'm just asking more into the process behind it. I thought the leaves(mostly sugar leaves) were the ones that absorbed the lights.. the sugar leaf on the buds themselves.
 
I will remove lower stuff and up, that is 40-60% yellow. I will also remove a few green ones here and there if they cover a bud site. I will not remove many green ones at one time, as to not shock the plant. I'm under the impression that the "sugar leaves" absorb energy for the bud site.
 
Huh.. I just learned something.


I thought the buds grew from the light, hence your lower buds being way more underdeveloped than your top buds. If they grew just from the fan leafs, wouldn't the bottom stuff be just as large / strong?

I'm not doubting this by any means, I'm just asking more into the process behind it. I thought the leaf's (mostly sugar leaf's) were the ones that absorbed the lights.. the sugar leaf on the buds themselves.

Basically, the fan leaves are the places that virtually all the photosynthesis takes place. While all green parts of the plants are involved with photosynthesis, the majority of it takes place in the large fan leaves and not the sugar leaves or the buds. And as we know, photosynthesis is what turns the light, water, and nutrients into THC and other cannabinoids. I believe that the upper buds grow better because the fan leaves that feed the buds are closer to the light.
 
Surely makes sense THG, thanks for that :) Just thinking that the sugar leaves would contribute to bud growth. Ok, I'll start trying to not pull green leaves that are covering a bud site. Maybe it will help in the long run. Cheers you all :D
 
I do my best to move the fan leaves out of the way but if they are covering too many buds off they come.
 
I do my best to move the fan leaves out of the way but if they are covering too many buds off they come.

Hmm.. ok, a fellow horticulturist that thinks like i do! Yeah, I do this as well. If I can't tuck the leaf to the side away from the bud site, I will pluck it carefully. I won't take more than 3-5 in a few day period.
 
Yes Fang I do trim but as little as possible. Like you said only a leaf or two at a time but moving them out of the way is my first choice.
 
Oh absolutely. I've even super cropped a fan leaf in the past lol. :D
 
Moving a fan leaf under a bud believing that the bud will benefit from the light is counterproductive. Truly guys, virtually NO photosynthesis takes place in the bud--only green parts of the plant photosynthesize.
 
I just don't like the way the buds look when they receive very little light, very light colored, not as nice looking as the ones that get light.
 
I just don't like the way the buds look when they receive very little light, very light colored, not as nice looking as the ones that get light.

Again, I very much see this too. Also, aren't the sugar leaves directly related to the buds and considered "green parts"?

Only 1 1/2 years in, and I still feel like a noob at times hah :)
 
The leaves, sugar and fan supply energy to the buds. Fans have way more surface area to absorb more light though. And the energy distributed would most likely supply the buds in the area. Leaves up top getting the most light, supplying buds up top. Shaded leaves down inside and low, supplying lower buds that don't seem to bulk up. Just my .02, but makes sense to me.
 
I have created a debate.....lol.......But I too learned some more in this thread!! Guess I am leaving the stem that has two fan leaves and a bud growing under the canopy after all.....:)
 
OK, my turn. I'll mess it all up. My logic always messes everything up. LMAO

I know that science says that the leaves process the light and the buds eat from the leaves and blah blah. And, I don't deny it. How can you, it's science fact.

Still, I have a plant right now (and have had many in the past) that says different.

I will get a pic tomorrow if I can get a nice clear one to show what I mean. But, here's what it is...

My plants often (and have this time) grown higher than the light. Rather than train them, I have always just let them grow past the light. Like we all know, light on the lower leaves will feed the bud on top.

Not so here, or in my past experience.

The part of the cola that is growing directly under the light is definitely plumper, fuller and frostier than the top part of the cola which has grown past the light and does not get direct light.

If I can get a close-up shot you'll clearly see how the portion of the cola that's in direct light is bigger and better than the part of the cola which is not in direct light.

I'll try to get a close-up pic tomorrow but this pic shows a little about what I am saying. You can see how the cola has passed the light hood and is no longer in direct light.

I found this to sometimes be true with the Sativas that I grew for years. The cola top was still good, just not as good as what was right below it and in direct light.

So, buds that get direct light and are not shaded by other leaves (or the light hood) grow bigger, plumper and frostier.

Just coincidence? I don't think so. :)

View attachment kushmother082614-1.jpg
 
The leaves on the cola that have passed the light are not in the light. Leaves aren't feeding colas on the opposite side of the plant in my opinion. So if the cola and it's leaves aren't in direct light, you get the results you're describing.
 
In this case, the leaves are not feeding the cola even 1/4 inch from it. You can almost see a line where the frosty, plump stops. Right at the shade line.

So, if a bottom branch has a bud on it and it is shaded by the adjacent leaf, the bud would be bigger if it was not in the shade of the leaf, right?
 

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