Question About Fan Leaves

[davduggie13]

How do U do it? I've a ww does great in vegg, very bushy. When i change to flower 12/12 lite and pluck fan leaves and spread limbs with sticks so plant get more lite, my plant freaked, been 5 wks into flowering and very small flowers. Should I not of plucked fans and left bushy? or should I pluck fans while still in vegg? Any suggestions will help!

Thanks.
Davoid.

 

[fish cake]

everybody has different opinions. but most i have seen say to let them grow. unless ther is a problem like pm or it is just dying off. im sure someone will chime in with there opinion or better yet expns. the fan leaves feed those bud that you whant just what i think

 

[Giantsfan24]

There is a grower here, 420fied, who has a great SOG grow who trims at day 21 and day 45 of flower with pretty incredible results.

The trimming isn't likely causing your plants not to flower. It's probably other factors as when I trimmed my plants, I noticed that the buds noticeably increased in size.

You could not have enough light or light leaks that are causing your plants not to flower for instance.

After seeing my results after trimming and 420fied's results, I doubt it's the trimming.

 

[davduggie13]

I think I may have pluck off to many and this ww never recovered fr shock. Plant has plenty of lite. The only other thing could be in the fertilizer. What do U think of Fox Farm. This is my 1st grow with it.

 

[Ozman]

How do U do it? I've a ww does great in vegg, very bushy. When i change to flower 12/12 lite and pluck fan leaves and spread limbs with sticks so plant get more lite, my plant freaked, been 5 wks into flowering and very small flowers. Should I not of plucked fans and left bushy? or should I pluck fans while still in vegg? Any suggestions will help!

Thanks.
Davoid.

Well you just leared a lesson You do not Remove the fan leaves !
Why not cause if you do the branch or growth it supports wont grow properly
if you want to let a bit of light in take 1 or 2 fingers from the fan leaves just dont remove the whole thing!

p.s do a test grow a plant and take off 1 fan leaf it will grow slow and watch the other branches grow where you didnt remove the leaf!

 

[Giantsfan24]

Here is a page from the journal of 420fied.

Not only does he trim fan leaves he defoliates them. Scroll down to the 3 posts on the page above.

There is a lot of debate on the subject. Here is a real time example of what trimming does to a plant.

What kind of light are you using?

There are many, many variables that go into this. It could be something other than trimming and based on the link above, I think it could be.

Trimming fan leaves, so you know, flies in the face of what Jorge Cervantes says in his Bible. But yet here are the results.

To trim or not to trim is a preference, not a fundamental of growing. It's opinion. There are pros and cons. Seek out the information and come to your own conclusions.

Kinda tough to argue with those results, aye??

I'm jus sayin.....

 

[JJ Bones]

If you have a leaf that is blocking a bud, paper clip it to fold it over and let light in without removing it.

I feel if the leaf doesn't have an issue it still has energy it can transfer to your flowers.

 

[Ozman]

Never trust a giants fan they think manning is a form of THC

 

[Stilletto]

This subject has been raised many times and there is always a variety of opinions, I have researched it myself and have decided trimming fan leaves will NOT improve yeild and WILL cause a plant to yeild less in fact. I know this is a bold statement but unless someone can show me raw data that it increases yeild then I will stand by this statement.
Here is what I can offer to this theory.
Photosynthesis is a process that converts carbon dioxide into organic compounds, especially sugars, using the energy from sunlight, the process always begins when energy from light is absorbed by proteins called photosynthetic reaction centers that contain chlorophylls.
A leaf is an above-ground plant organ specialized for the process of photosynthesis. For this purpose, a leaf is typically flat (laminar) and thin. As an evolutionary trait, the flatness of leaves works to expose the chloroplasts to more light and to increase the absorption of carbon dioxide at the expense of water loss.
What this means is that leaves produce the energy for the plant using photosynthesis, the leaves contain far more cloroplasts than buds do so they will produce more energy per square inch. The more energy a plant processes the more it will yeild. Facts are facts.
Now also, leaves are used to help a plant control its internal temperature by using a method called photopersperation, sweating. Removing the leaves will hamper the plants abilty to resist temp fluctuations.
Plant leaves serve another purpose, they store nutrients for when the plants needs change, day to day (light/dark even) and week to week. If you overnute it will send excess to the leaves to protect its reproductve ability (buds) that is why your leaves get burned first allowing you to adjust your feeding. On that note, if a plant is starrving it uses stored nutes from leaves to survive; hence the reason deficiencies show in the leaves.
I can even add more but I will hold there for now, if that can't convince you that trimming is bad then you are too stubborn.
One more point, "tucking" or "clipping" the fans down to expose a bud below is so counterproductive it seems like it was made up by the Bush gov't. (sorry bad joke but allow me to explain). First of all as I said earlier, fan leaves produce more energy than a bud, but also keep in mind that light distance is a huge factor in indoor gardens. You lose 25% of a lights energy when you increase the distance of light to plant by 100%. So by moving a big energy factory out of the way for a smaller energy factory below, the fact that it is further away is like shooting yourself in the foot twice.
I will also mention that as leaves become yellow and seem 50% used up I then remove them, rarely before that.
I DO remove all my fan leaves in the 3 days prior to harvest. small batches for first 2 days then all on harvest day. By doing this I hardly need to flush because I am not allowing the nutes stored in the leaves to seep back into the buds during the final days and drying process. I will save that for another thread.
Well I think that is enough for now, I hope this info helps out.

Peace, Jonny

 

[drofosho]

lol so much controversy over removing fanleaves. i personally only trim when necessary(limited space, light penetration, better air movement, diseases, etc.)they say removing the fan leaves only stresses out a plant and slows down growth. where as others say to trim throughout grow. so on one hand your cutting off essential nute storage for plant but at the same time if its say a lower branch/leaf and isnt in constant light, then the leaf is using more energy to stay, than its photosynthesising essentially energy used to maintain that leaf can be used else where for budsites a drain of energy(back to giants post) 420fieds journal is a perfect example of the advantages of deleafing. tight spaces and high number of plants, things can get mighty crowded. just some friendly words, just remember to not over do it. try n stay focused on the inner leaves n not the main produces. so many posts on the subject sure youve already got it all figured out.

HaPpY GrOwN