cabinetmaker74 said:

It is one plant and today I removed a huge fan leaf on the top part of the plant because it was laying right on top of about 5 buds and I thought that the buds really needed it to be gone. Now I'm not sure that I did the right thing and the buds have got this far being shaded. I think that I'll just leave it be from here on out and let nature do it's thing.

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You get to decide, it's your plants. ;). As long as you keep it minimal and be stingy and have a good reason, you're not going to make problems and have regrets. Maybe you look back in a week and say "eh, maybe I shouldn't have cut that one", but that's about it. And the more time you have, the more veg time there is, the greater the likelihood that new growth will fill in, those branches will develop......

Varieties are of course different, some Indicas don't branch much and things tend to stay tighter along the main stem. They don't tend to make great pruning candidates. Take the fan leaves off and they end they end up looking like one big stem with small leaves all over it. Hybrids that look like this often seem to be males but that's another story........but for most varieties, at first the fan leaves seem more important. They really are the important factories that make for more growth. But a week or two after cutting one, when branches and new growth fills in, the importance of that fan leaf is . More veg time is a friend of pruning.

Great stuff! Thanks for sharing.

cabinetmaker74 said:

Im still relatively new at this and learning every day, so I would like to know if it is better to remove the large fan leaves on the upper (top) part of the plant to allow for better light absorption to the bud sights or to leave them and let them do what nature intended. It's in week 2 of flowering cycle btw.

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I'm awakening this thread! I'm not king but getting there. If you start slow from the bottom imitating dying leaves the plant will for sure bounce back. I do a light lollipop during veg and complete during week 1 flower.

Also when it comes to defoliation, I defoliated from the bottom all big fan leaves and leave medium size. Then I'll pick and choose from the top! Yes I'll defoliated tops to make light, airflow, and promote medium leaves to take over. Afterall you have 8 weeks to focus on buds growing. Also depends on your nutrients. Right after I would feed and later when they wake give them some cal/mag or revive from AN. Goodluck...