Fan Leaves yes or no

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chronicman

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I was having an arguement with my friend. he has a big bushy plant and at the top it is almost done and the bottom is really full but very small buds. i told him to cut the upper fan leaves so the bottom can get light. he thinks this will hurt his plant and i think it will help it yeild more. Any advice would be great.
 
chronicman said:
I was having an arguement with my friend. he has a big bushy plant and at the top it is almost done and the bottom is really full but very small buds. i told him to cut the upper fan leaves so the bottom can get light. he thinks this will hurt his plant and i think it will help it yeild more. Any advice would be great.
Your friend and you have had the same argument as thousands of others before you. Scientists on both sides of that argument have lots of data that support each side.

The tried and true method of resolving it for yourself is to grow two clones of the same plant to harvest using each method. Compare and use what you like the most.

Good luck to you man. I'm not going to blow smoke up your ass about either side of that argument. As I've said, they can both prove they're right! Ha
 
Don't remove fan leaves.
It's a misconception that light has to shine directly on the buds; it doesn't.
What I do indoors is remove the entire upper part that has the ripe buds, lower the lights and leave the lower part of the plant go a bit longer.
 
Do you trim the little branches from the bottom or just let them all go GG? I'm talking about those little scrawny ones that don't do much.
 
My preferred method indoors is to remove all but the upper two or 3 branches 2.5 weeks into flowering. I cut them off at the meristem with a razor blade so they don't try to regrow.
That technique works for sog, but not for people who for some reason grow huge bushy plants indoors.
As stated many times before, a plant has fan leaves for a reason. They are food factories; removing them drops yield & potency. When the plant no longer needs them, they will wither & die and fall off.
 
I have come to find leaving the leaves on is fine, I used to pull a whole lot of them off, no more. I am usually one of those that have said "huge bushy plants", but I could change that with my vegging time. I usually go about half way up the plant with my trimming.
 
it a catch 22 i always trim all fan leaves check my threads later on today proof is in the pudding as they all looking swell and all had every big leaf removed cos of spider mites but i always trim leaves anyway.

its a tried and tested side by side comparision done on every strain i have and trimmed leaf plants yeilds more each time.
(never let the plant go few weeks longer when taking top canopy buds so maybe if this is your chosen method it could yeild more)
but im on perpetual harvest technique of sorts
lol
and this is too much hassle so i chop the lot at same time.

it is a misconception buds need light its the leaves that need light so lower down leaves are shaded if lit from above thus smaller popcorn buds basically less developed due to no light penetration lower down plant.if you had supplementary side lighting smaller buds develop fine.

pkj
 
parkingjoe said:
its a tried and tested side by side comparision done on every strain i have and trimmed leaf plants yeilds more each time.
See? That's what I mean. I've also had people tell me just the opposite about their grows.

That's why I suggested that each person try it themselves. You've had your best results with trimming so that becomes your method. Others have their best results with no trimming so they adopt that method.

Diversity is the best method of insurance of the survival of each species. MJ is a plant that will never go away. It will just continue to get better and better with more and more strains to choose from.
 
I would remove the suckling little buds to provide the big cola with the juice..lower smaller buds mature faster anyway so thats what I do as they ripen
 
Let me start with 2 things I KNOW FOR A FACT.

-Leaves are light collectors. They enable photsynthesis. The more leaves, the more photosynthesis is possible.
-Fan leaves on marijuana plants store nutrients during veg to be used by the plant during flowering. As the nutrients in them are expended during flowering, they yellow, wither and die.

Based on those 2 FACTS, I opine that when you remove leaves you cut yield and potency.

Now, maybe if you dumped a whole bunch of fertilizer on the plant you may be able to compensate for the harm you're doing. But the nutrients stored in the fan leaves have been converted into the form the plant can use easier than from extra fertilizers used during flowering to replace the nuitrients that the fan leaves held.

I too have done side-by-side comparisons, with clones from the same donor, both indoors and out, and the unmolested plants yielded more bud by weight.

"it is a misconception buds need light its the leaves that need light so lower down leaves are shaded if lit from above thus smaller popcorn buds basically less developed due to no light penetration lower down plant.if you had supplementary side lighting smaller buds develop fine."

It's true that light does not need to shine directly on a bud for it to develop to it's fullest potential. Light needs to fall ON LEAVES.
Buds on lower branches are always smaller. That's not from lower light penetration; that's the nature of the plant; that's the way pot grows. How do I know this?
Because when I grow pot outdoors, the buds on the lower branches are always smaller. After millions of miles traveling through space, I don't think the sun loses much penetration in the last 6'.
Lower light penetration indoors happens; that contributes to smaller branches and fewer, much less potent buds on the lower branches.
Outside, with no lost penetration, the buds at the bottom branches can be just as potent as the buds on the upper branches (though, to me, not as smooth).
 
let us not forget that the bottom side of the leaves take in Co2 also.
 
Im gonna answer this question as simply as possibly...
The title of the thread is "Fan Leaves yes or no"

Yes. Absolutely yes. Do not trim them, they will die and fall off the plant naturally on their own at the proper time in the plants life.
 
Do we all agree that trimming "suckers" is beneficial? How tall are your girls when they are done Ganja?
 
i just bend the leaves out of the way and tuck them in as needed.you can fold the top fans out of the way lower leaves get light
 
I vote to leave mine on. I'm doing as Spiderman does and tucking the leaves underneath the growing stem. Long ago, I went through the routine of removing excess (whatever I thought that was) fan leaves and it killed my yield. AS an older grower, I guess I'm more conservative than I used to be. I agree that each person should find their own style by working with other different styles. Be ready to re-adjust and go with the flow and needs of the plant. It's more fun than a pants full of warm mashed potatoes. :cool:
Peace
Rev
 
I once did a side by side comparison with a couple of Lavender clones, on one of them i clipped most of the fan leaves off during most of the growth, i didnt do this to the second one. All that pruning must have stunted the first plant, because it ended up 2/3's the height of the second plant. The end result was that the shorter plant had tighter nodes, the buds were longer. The Taller plant had more popcorn like buds. As for yields, the smaller one yielder a little higher. The smoke was the same though....
 
Biffdoggie said:
Do we all agree that trimming "suckers" is beneficial? How tall are your girls when they are done Ganja?

15" when I put them in the flowering chamber; they finish at 3'.
This finishing height can vary a few inches with different strains.
 

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