Fan leaves. Keep them or not

jcfromsd · Mar 18, 2024

I'm still trying to find out if I should get rid of the fan leaves. Or just leave them. Im at week 5

Zill · Mar 18, 2024

What did a fan leaf do to you? Don’t pull healthy leaves.

jcfromsd · Mar 18, 2024

Zill said:
What did a fan leaf do to you? Don’t pull healthy leaves.

It got in the way of my bud. Lol. I've been keeping it at a minimum. But I see a lot of post of people getting rid of them. I'm still in the learning stage. I've haven't figured out everything about how to grow yet.

orggrwr · Mar 18, 2024

If those were mine I would prune all the fan leaves on the lower third of the plant that aren't getting much light. On the canopy I would remove any fan leaves covering bud sites and to open up the middle of plant to let light and air flow to get to all bud sites. Defoliating can be scary but with practice you'll get the hang of it. Your plants will thank you. Nice healthy looking plants, good job.

Zill · Mar 18, 2024

What does defoliating do for the plant, buds? Why defoliate?

Asmodeus · Mar 18, 2024

Zill said:
What does defoliating do for the plant, buds? Why defoliate?

If done correctly, will direct more energy to the buds and open light paths to lower buds.

Far too often beginners will strip off all the fan leaves without knowing why they're even doing it. Plants need those fan leaves.

SamSquatch · Mar 18, 2024

I remove all the growth on the lower 3rd of the plant (lollipopping) and I remove fan leaves that are blocking light generation especially in the middle but I do it gradually I don't like to stress my plants.

Newty · Mar 18, 2024

I take everything off below the scrog net a couple weeks before flipping so it has time to recover.

If I take any from above the net, I move the leaf out of the way by hand first to see what effect it will have with light penetration before cutting, this way I'm only removing leaves that will be beneficial to light penetration.

Zill · Mar 18, 2024

Thanks.

Here’s my thinking. The big fan leaves have tremendous surface area and the smaller leaves behind the fan leaves scrounge for the light making it past the fans. But that’s natural development. If you remove the fans to help the little leaves seems like you end up with the same situation.

Thinning makes loads of sense especially as the plant flowers and they naturally thin themselves, yellowing In door growing is different. Thinning in doors accounts for provided light. Good stuff.

Natep · Mar 19, 2024

Pluck the ones that shade good buds.

RGWD0202 · Mar 19, 2024

Energy collectors, keep em’ unless you need better airflow, keep em

LoveGrowingIt · Mar 19, 2024

jcfromsd said:
I'm still trying to find out if I should get rid of the fan leaves. Or just leave them.

I don't remove them for no reason. There are a few reasons why I do, though. One is to promote air flow in the center of the plant. Another is to avoid shading buds or future buds. I also remove leaves and branches near the bottom that aren't getting much light. In general, I do it to shape the plant.

Fan leaves. Keep them or not

Fan leaves. Keep them or not

jcfromsd

Zill

jcfromsd

orggrwr

Zill

Asmodeus

SamSquatch

Newty

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Zill

Natep

RGWD0202

LoveGrowingIt

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