Pruning Fan Leaves In Early Flower

I unfortunately suffered great loss in the grow this year -- netted only 50% of my usual -- something just took out 3 plants.. Just when they were pushing out great shoots and flowers .. Have no idea what the fck happened...

But my nephew was a grower from the Green Triangle and is now here and I've seen the results of his defoliation - and they are astounding.. Especially in the outdoor grow it's friggin amazing.. So I am speaking from looking directly at the results..

Skunska I got a grow outside this year on account of the dismal result of my last grow -- so I will be employing this technique to the outdoor one and will post pics .

MotaMan
 
What are the functions of fan leaves?

There should be an answer in there if you read up on it.

You want consistency and improvement in your growing, removing fan leaves in flower doubt its going to get that for you.

Why not leaf them be? Specially since the science is there for doing that.

Do a side by side one leave it be the other have at it.
 
I'll try once more -- bo 14 .. When ya snip out the two middle leaves on your upward growth, what happens ? The plants upward growth is partially halted and the redirected energy causes the the plant to bush out -- right? Of course I am ..

Same applies when ya defoliate , by removing the lower "popcorn" buds and leaves (that are already being shaded by the main bud of the branch and its fan leaves) you redirect the plants energy to that branches main cola..

And side by side ?? -- I've seen the result difference grow by grow -- I know the difference... You are the grower that needs to make the jump and try it "side by side". I was a skeptic once myself -- and tried it on a "shits for giggles" grow and I was a believer ever since...

MotaMan
 
Whatever works it just goes against all the horticultural science. All I'm sayin....

Here's a pic of a plant I have running now.. plenty of side branches and see that main stem there. You top your plant and you loose all that. It doesn't grow back.. That's the facts.

I did not defoil or even take any lower branches other than probably the first 2 lowers for cuts. The lowers grow up to the same height as the other side branches. Its no popcorn either. You can easily see it there on that plant.

You can do as you wish. I'm just sayin defoil and topping aren't necessary.

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What are the functions of fan leaves?

There should be an answer in there if you read up on it.

You want consistency and improvement in your growing, removing fan leaves in flower doubt its going to get that for you.

Why not leaf them be? Specially since the science is there for doing that.

Do a side by side one leave it be the other have at it.


TAKE OFF FAN LEAVE S IN VEG TOO .. LOWER STUFF ESPECIALLY .. LET IN MORE LIGHT TO THE GROWING TIPS..

CHEERS
 
Because flower sites do more photosynthesis and transpiration that bud sites.

Plants ability to move nutrients from the soil to the flowers is by transpiration.

Removing fan leaves will decrease the amount of nutrients moved from the soil to the flowers. Also fan leaves have many many other functions including triggering plant growth.

Think about stretch in flower. How do plants know you just lowered the light to 12/12 and that triggers the plant to grow taller/larger before flower set.

The fan leaves have direct input for all of these and more.

Suggest cleaning out the lower plant material in VEG. Do that for better air flow.

Flowers dont do nearly as much photosynthesis as fan leaves.

When fan leaves get old they also are a source of nutrients for flowers and why you see plants fan leaves turn colors. That process is called translocation. Movement of nutrients stored in the fan leaves to be used to make flowers. Its more efficient for the plant to move nutrients from a fan leaf than from the root zone.
 
Let's end the friggin subject -- you WONT try the method and so be it.. WE have seen the results first hand and you refuse to.. so who the phuck cares...

You manage your grow with what works for you and we will be left to ours -- experimentation is how discoveries are made 14..

I looked at your plant and see many skinny lower buds and in deltas I see a bunch of big fatties --

MotaMan
 
Every time you take off a fan leaf that a plant needs, it replaces it. The plant knows how many fans it needs to grow. That's why so many folks who defoliate their plants in veg will come back a week later and say "It looks like I didn't prune anything."

You can use this fact to your advantage by forcing the plant to redirect new growth to the top. Why do you want it on the top when translocation will move things around regardless of whether it's getting direct light? Because it's not just light that builds the buds, it's plant growth hormones.

And where does the plant send most of those growth hormones? To the tops, which have the best chance of catching pollen on the breeze for reproduction.

So by moving new growth to the tops, you can increase the growth of your main colas.

And how do you make sure the plant focuses on growing those main colas in flower? By removing the lower bud sites after stretch, not the lower/adjoining fans. If you remove the lower fans, the plant will try to replace those fans (as mentioned above), but you don't want the plant's energy going to growing new fans in flower, you want it growing buds. And you want those buds at the tops of your plant because that's where the plant is sending the growth hormones.

Larf isn't larf because of a lack of light, it's larf because the plant really doesn't give a crap about those budlets. Their growth is distracting the plant from the upper colas, which is why I take off the larf and leave the fans.

Here is an example of how I thin post stretch, and you can see the larf goes and the fans remain:
full
 
Every time you take off a fan leaf that a plant needs, it replaces it. The plant knows how many fans it needs to grow. That's why so many folks who defoliate their plants in veg will come back a week later and say "It looks like I didn't prune anything."

You can use this fact to your advantage by forcing the plant to redirect new growth to the top. Why do you want it on the top when translocation will move things around regardless of whether it's getting direct light? Because it's not just light that builds the buds, it's plant growth hormones.

And where does the plant send most of those growth hormones? To the tops, which have the best chance of catching pollen on the breeze for reproduction.

So by moving new growth to the tops, you can increase the growth of your main colas.

And how do you make sure the plant focuses on growing those main colas in flower? By removing the lower bud sites after stretch, not the lower/adjoining fans. If you remove the lower fans, the plant will try to replace those fans (as mentioned above), but you don't want the plant's energy going to growing new fans in flower, you want it growing buds. And you want those buds at the tops of your plant because that's where the plant is sending the growth hormones.

Larf isn't larf because of a lack of light, it's larf because the plant really doesn't give a crap about those budlets. Their growth is distracting the plant from the upper colas, which is why I take off the larf and leave the fans.

Here is an example of how I thin post stretch, and you can see the larf goes and the fans remain:
full

hey buddy you got to prune the fan leaves .. now you should not talk to much and post pictures of plants like that

... buddy your plants are sick and elongated do to lack of blue light ...

grow healthy and prune the dense bush and top a few times and manage and shape your plant to your needs

cheers..
 
I would've clipped the top bud down an inch -- then come back a week and see the bottoms explode.. Try silicates , helps stack the internodes close together..

Like I said to 14 -- to each his / her own -- we all grow what we like and how.. If we grew shit crops I believe we would have given up the hobby a long time ago.. So our individual results are satisfying to each ones preferences.

My dog decimated my outdoor plants and left little to grow ( she loves raw leaves ) now a month later they're all little bushes - I thought I'd have to replant -- but phuck no -- dog did me a favor..

Winner Winner Chicken Dinner

MotaMan
 
To add to the debate -- on your left is what my dog left me of my Lavender Purple Kush -- on your right is the same plant 26 days later -- and she is in partial sun.. This is proof 14 if ya trim, the friggin weed comes back stronger !

My dog took ALL the fan leaves off as you can see and that plant at that time was only a month old. I just left her in for shits and giggles and I am glad that I did. Can't wait for those purple buds to pop out..

Delta - that sure is a pretty set of girls.. Good Luck

MotaMan

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