Are fan leaves actually important?

[Cheechbe2311s]

I am growing indoors and now my ladies have started to grow healthy buds, but I noticed the fan leafes are covering everything in the middle. Will my ladies continue to grow big fat buds if I trim the fan leafes off, leaving only the leafs that grow from the buds?

 

[ezenzyme]

theres a fine balance to leafing properly, some pics would give us the info on how much to take or leave

 

[TSD]

I know some people take a ton off, but I only take a few here and there when in budding, or any dying crappy ones. The leaves are the solar panels of the plant, they capture light and use it to grow... few leaves equals less growth in my opinion... that's why I train from the get go, so all the branches can get light without being shaded from above.

 

[redshift75]

i kind of balance my pruning based on if i have to for pest reasons or air flow. But overall i let the plant sort of self prune by letting me know the ones it doesn't want. I tend to avoid going for big ones even if they cover and opt for side lighting if the canopy gets too dense. Just open em up best you can.

 

[seed2green]

I've had the same question for the longest time, and I have voices in my ear telling me I need to cut more off... a lot more off. My earliest research told me to (mostly) leave the plants alone once flowering begins, so I've only been cutting off fan leaves that have been blocking other buds from getting light. But I can't help but feel that I need to remove more. This is my current plant at 5 1/2 weeks of flower. Thoughts?

 

[Cheechbe2311s]

I am growing indoors and now my ladies have started to grow healthy buds, but I noticed the fan leafes are covering everything in the middle. Will my ladies continue to grow big fat buds if I trim the fan leafes off, leaving only the leafs that grow from the buds?

 

[Shayne010944]

Trim off the ones covering the small bud areas. Once the light hits them better it will increase in size.