Fan leaves

[maineharvest]

Keep them short and tight and there is no need to trim on the top or bottom of the plant.

 

[craterlake]

Hi craterlake, here is my opinion and what I do;

Fan leaves can and should be removed WHEN THEY HAVE PROBLEMS, otherwise I never touch them. I only remove fan leaves that have more than 50% damage to the leaf otherwise I leave them alone. As far as removing fan leaves to let light penetrate below...well that is the same as cutting off your arm to get a better tan on your leg. Just move your arm so the sunlight hits your leg!

The pictures are kind of hard to understand but if you enlarge them it makes sense. Whenever I have a fan leaf that is covering the top of a growing bud, I simply adjust the leaf by bending it around to whatever position I want. In this case I pushed them down below the growing buds.
1) before, 2) after ------------------------------------- 3) before, 4) after
View attachment 162779 View attachment 162780 View attachment 162781 View attachment 162782

These are some leaves that I pulled to show what I mean. They were from very low on my plants and were getting very little light to begin with and that is why they started dying (I think). The one on the left shows a leaf I will pull, the leaf on the right is a week or so from looking like the one on the left, it is dying as well.
View attachment 162783

Hope that helps. Again, this is just what I DO. It is not necessarily the RIGHT THING TO DO. To each his own, find what you like.

-SSF-

It sure does help. I am a little sad now that I removed so many of them. I still have tons of leaves, but I have removed several of the big ones. Live and learn. I know next years crop will be much better than this years because I have already learned a lot from all you guys!! This is my first serious grow and I was relying on old info. I was already a ways into this before I found your site. Hopefully, my girls will survive me! As I said in previous posts, I never had a green thumb before. So I am developing one now and.....time will tell!! I did go and get a new camera and have taken some pics, but they all have that yellowish glow from the light and it's hard to see detail. I still am not sure how to post a pic on this site either. One person tried to show me, but it was rather a brief explanation and I need step by steps I think!

tanks!!!

 

[maineharvest]

Check your pm Crater. I gave you step by step to how I upload pics.

 

[craterlake]

Check your pm Crater. I gave you step by step to how I upload pics.

OK, I've done all this but I am still a little stuck. (not that computer savy I guess) When I click on browse in manage attachments, it opens the file of Picasa, which has several items in it. I'm not sure what to click on there. When I downloaded Picasa it loaded all my pictures from my computer into it. Soooo, when I hit browse now, it looks like it is going to upload all of it and I don't want that! Just the one file with my pertinent pics in it. So where am I going wrong this time? Hate to be a pain in the a__!

tanks again!

 

[BBFan]

:doh: ----i knew that----:doh: -----thanks---so how we gonna get more photosynthesis happening on the lower branches with out trimming a few shade leaves during veg---GROW SMALLER PLANTS---:headbang:

Hey OJ!

While they are young, I use side/angled/vertical (whatever you like to call it) and you will get more even growth with minimal training.

This plant is at 6 weeks and was topped once at an early age and grown with another under 2- 400 watts (mixed hps and mh).

View attachment 162788

 

[Roddy]

:doh: ----i knew that----:doh: -----thanks---so how we gonna get more photosynthesis happening on the lower branches with out trimming a few shade leaves during veg---GROW SMALLER PLANTS---:headbang:

Body lighting.....

 

[Roddy]

Keep them short and tight and there is no need to trim on the top or bottom of the plant.

Or provide them with plenty of light and grow baby grow!

 

[hopefullybud]

I noticed on some pics the fan leaves on some plants look as though their shriveling or bending in.. if that makes sense. why is that? have seen a little bit of it on lower growth on my plant (un-trimmed I dont like to cut leaves either)

 

[Irish]

hey bud, hard to say without a descent pic, but my first ''guess'' would be heat...

 

[hopefullybud]

Ok, that would make sense to me sometimes (hot days) my room will push to 80 degrees.. althought i generally check temp during light cycle on the hour so if it gets high i take care of it. my maine problem is cole train... it seems to be VERY sensitive to regular watering / nutes / light / everything etc. haha. Ill work harder to maintain a lower temp

 

[Jericho]

Temp of 80 wouldn't harm the leaves. My tent is usually at about 80 and dont have that problem. Where do you check the temp from?

If it was a heat problem then it would have been at the top of the plant closest to the light where its hotter.

 

[Hick]

and I've been growing for more than 30 years. I've tried it. "My verdict"..Removing healthy fan leaves provided "0" benefits IME.

 

[Jericho]

Here we go again. I thought this debate was lost to the past hehe. Just like a nasty rash i think this is one will keep coming back.

Logicically speaking as long as the same amount of light is hitting green then it shall produce the same amount of benefits to the plant whether you cut them off or dont which i dont see happening as there is enough light ender the canopy to produce.
Only way removing fan leaves would benefit the plant is if the amount of light getting to the smaller leaves was so minimal it took more energy to keep them alive than they produce. If that's the case then Some LST would benefit it more than pulling leaves off.

IMO/E

 

[Hick]

haaa haa.. nope.. never have "I" ever even thought that I was perfect....

 

[craterlake]

I can't believe this post of mine has been ressurected after all this time! I was surprised to see it again. But I guess the fan leaf saga will always be there! LOL!!