Triming lower fan leaves by 50% increases growth rate?

[nordy rascal]

Peace to all,
I started my grow with 5 (fem) big buddha cheese seeds, 4 out of the 5 germinated..., the result was 2 large plants and 2 smaller plants, I borrowed the setup from a mate and as a result gave him one of the larger plants, throughout the grow the plants grew at a good rate and I started to trim the "lower" fan leaves from "my 3 plants" by 50%, within a couple of weeks my 3 plants grew at a more rapid rate than my mates plant, the result now is that my mates plant is now "significantly" the smallest..., I doubt it is a fluke as they have all been grown under the same conditions ..., I just wonder if anyone has a similar story or maybe if other growers would be willing to experiment on a plant to see if it really increaces growth rate ..., also if it is found to contribute to significant growth rate, could it be called the "nordy rascal technique?" ...

 

[Stilletto]

I wholeheartedly disagree. There is no way that trimming fan leaves will increase growth. It would go against the law of nature to think that removing part of a plants functionary system would make it grow more, not logical at all.
There are many posts about this, some that I have authored myself.
I would need to see some hardcore tests done before I would ever beleive it.

Jonny

 

[Growing247]

It could be that he removed the lower stuff that never turns into solid colas, thus allowing the plant to focus on the bud sites closer to the top of the grow zone. The whole way we grow cannabis is out of wack. You ever notice how the lower 1/3 of the plant has tiny popcorn buds. I saw an article about this guy named Chris who runs Canna Pharm and what he does is run HPS and MH bare bulb vertical. He broadsides the plant with light and the plants get covered in dense buds top to bottom. I know I am going off on a tangent here but if we are growing plants with the light above the canopy rather than broadsiding it, maybe it would make sense to cut off the lower branches and let the plant focus energy on the top portion of the canopy.

 

[Stilletto]

247--- I agree with you completely. Trimming lower leaves, bud sites and branches will allow the plant to focus it's energy to top producing bud sites. This does not mean that trimming fan leaves will achiev greater yeilds.

Jonny

 

[kingredeye]

hey all new here with some insight. by trimmin the bottom budding sights you focus all growth auxins to the top cola. lollipopping is the term i believe. the weird thing is it does grow faster, or not faster i should say but just more focused on the top. but it makes sense that removing fan leaves would damage growth or slow it because the plant has them for a reason. storing nutes, water and sugars that the plant needs to photosynthesize (grow). i have had a couple different grows were i pruned differently. letting the plant just grow natural, lst, supercropping, topping and fimming just so i could see all the differences.all did something different but to the question at hand eliminating the bottom bud sites and leaving fan leaves doesnt make it grow faster but gives the plant a focus for top bud sites instead of the plant trying to spread out growth energy on bottom branches that dont recieve enough light. great knowledge only comes from making mistakes and learning from them

 

[kingredeye]

hope i helped a little

 

[nordy rascal]

Great allround response "cheers",

Maybe it is just coincidence that the "un trimmed" plant grew at a slower rate, I only trimmed the lower fan leaves by 50% as the plants grew too wide, as the plants got taller I would trim the next fan leaves up, and so on and so on..., but prior to trimming... the 2 biggest plants grew at a consistant rate "together" as did the 2 smaller plants, I will post pics of the two plants tomorrow "the girls are sleeping right now", but basically I measured them today and the trimmed plant is 21.5 inches and the un trimmed plant is 16 inches, thats a difference of 5 inches baring in mind prior to the trimming, they both grew at the same rate, also to back up my theory, the two smaller "trimmed" plants are 18 inches and 17.5 inches, so they seemed to have grow at the same rate....

This is my first grow and I am trying to learn and build my knowledge base both from my grow and the members of 420, stilletto said "I would need to see some hardcore tests done before I would ever beleive it." ..., well if a few of us who are growing two or more plants of equal size, trimmed one plant and seen the results ... I still want it to be known as "the nordy rascal tecnique" lol ...., I can give detailed info regarding the trimming of my ladies, then that will be the start of the hard evidence , il post pics of the two girls tomorrow.

 

[nordy rascal]

I wholeheartedly disagree. There is no way that trimming fan leaves will increase growth. It would go against the law of nature to think that removing part of a plants functionary system would make it grow more, not logical at all.
There are many posts about this, some that I have authored myself.
I would need to see some hardcore tests done before I would ever beleive it.

Jonny

I have a possible plausable reason why there is increased growth... right, say you took an average size shopping bag and tied it in the middle, then filled it with water, it would only fill to 50% of its original capacity... BUT ... where did the other 50% go to???.... "Ahh Haaaa", it was syphoned up to the top of the mother plant ....., I believe that is proof of my theory, and that the analogy I just gave is a plausable reason why trimming fan leaves speeds up growth ..., il post pics later... im just outta bed lol, peace to all.

 

[Franknstrain]

I do trim/prune my plants. I have been doing this for a few years now.

This works for me because I use the "LST" method. I like to call it "manipulating the plant". Now with this method my main objective is to get as many shutes as possible. but the one problem with that is... you get a bush from hell and if you dont prune it you are asking for major problems. here is an example... but this has no problems yet and she wont have any problems.

sorry if the quality is bad. This plant is a "Blue Light Special {blueberry x Northern lights#2}".

When you got a bush... the plant has plenty of factories to sustain a prune. I just pruned mine the other night and got 3/4 full plastic shopping bag full of pruned material. Now I dont prune until she is budding. I do this so that I know for a fact this girl has plenty of factories to sustain this plus I want my underbuds to be formed if not forming plus it allows you to open her up and allow her to breath. Cuts down on the humidity, allows airflow throughout the entire plant. They become "Happy plants"!

I will post a pick tonight of the pruned plant. I went in there to check her out this mornin before the lights went out and it doesnt even looked like she relaxed when the lights when off this mornin. shes standing perky as all get out.

Now... this is just IMHO..I do not prune plants that I do not "Manipulate" because of the fact that if I let her just grow up the way she wants, she is going to produce just enough of the factories that she needs to sustain her. so if you take her factories off.. you can possibly stunt her and bad things happen. So in that respect I wouldnt see it prudent to prune when you grow that way.

Just my 2 cents....

 

[nordy rascal]

Frank, thanks for the post... I think that there hasnt been enough study of trimming fan leaves to definatly draw any asumptions as to the benefits or draw backs of trimming fan leaves, all I stated in my post that my observations of trimming the fan leaves of "my" three girls have bourn great results.... I feel confident in making this statment that "no one" in here can confidently say trimming fan leaves is a bad thing, we are all learning together regardless of grows, what I would like to happen is some controlled tests with anyone who has two plants from the same seed group germinated at the same time, growing at the same rate.... then the results of trimming will be a start on the road to a technique known as the "nordy rascal technique", id just like to state that I have no plans for world domination

 

[nordy rascal]

its also my 42nd birthday and im havin a few beers .... but I know im in good company with 420 and if there is any chance of getting any progress... il find it right here

 

[nordy rascal]

ive just realised that my last post was my 13th... so il move on swiftly ffs lol... peace, love and unity to all who want it

 

[nordy rascal]

The effects of cannabis is by far more pleasurable than the effects of beer .... "double ffs", hand me a sick bag ... laterz ... peace out ...

 

[Franknstrain]

before prune

After prune same plant

 

[Be Irie]

There is no reason to keep the bottom sucker buds or fan leaves in an indoor environment. You don't get the penetration down to the lower or outside sites, they are just a waste of food and energy for the plant. If you doubt it then just try it with one plant, you will be surprised at the outcome... It does'nt increase yield by 50% either..
Frank, that seems like an easy prune, think I would take off more.... a second bonus is that it allows for better air circulation through the plants....

PS.. I would much rather have 3 oz's in tops bud then 2 oz's in tops and an oz in popcorn nugs...

 

[Franknstrain]

Thats cool IRIE.. The previous poster didnt say that it would make it grow by 50% he stated if you chop 50% of the fan leaves it promotes growth...I use the underbud for products that is why I do it the way I do it. This plant will go through another pruning here in a couple of weeks and then a hard final pruning when I hit the last 3 weeks mark.

 

[JimmyMac65]

I'm for only trimming leaves and suckers (on Females) that don't get enough light for proper growth and sugar production. I've had friends call me after they got carried away trimmin' plants and almost killing then, just making the veg time almost triple. Gotta Be Careful

On the Select Male Plants that I use for Breeding, I do ALOT of trimming, especially as they start dropping pollen. I'm getting an average of 1/2 gram pollen per plant per day, right now and this is from a good and proven autoflowering strain.

JMAC

 

[nordy rascal]

Peace,
This picture was taken 2/4/11, you can clearly see that there are two larger plants, and two smaller plants.

This picture was taken about 10 minutes ago, I have arranged the plants in order from 1-4 as described in my first post, you can clearly see that number 2 is the smallest, but 3 and 4 are reletivly the same size, and number 1 is the biggest.

Once I get this grow completed, I am going to start from scratch with 2 new plants, im also going to keep a detailed journal of when I trim and every aspect of the grow, and we'll see the results.... peace to all.

ps, I have the mother of all hang overs... beer is evil... cannabis is goooood

 

[Be Irie]

Frank, yep, I read it wrong..... I never do a lot of trimming at a time, but do start the lollipopping in veg and then continue in phases through flowering... I also trim some of the top fan leaves in veg witch makes them grow like a christmas tree. The bottom opens up when you open it up to light...

 

[nordy rascal]

deleted double message.