opinions on trimming fan leaves at bud sites

[Xhale]

HI friends,

It seems that the outdoor growers are in hibernation. I'm not getting feedback (ok, it's only 1 day, but...I'm paranoid ). I'd love your opinion on my question about trimming the top fan leaves. my grow is outdoor, you guys have strong experience and opinions that I also value. I'm sure that you can give some valid recommendations.

I have 2 videos of 2 of my plants that you can watch and comment on. I'd prefer you to comment here so that I know the thoughts are coming from indoor growers...if you *do* have outdoor experience then please comment in the original post.

I need your advice about trimming the fan leaves around the heads. There are 2 videos showing how I pruned 2of my plants. I planted them on 1 September (our spring day) and started the Lollipop in late December then got aggressive towards the end of Jan until mid February.
The current challenge:
I know that indoor growers cut out the high fan leaves because they block the weak light and prevent airflow. I am outdoors with the great African sun. Should I cut the top fan leaves now? How much should I trim?

thanks

 

[hobby4life]

I have had a small amount experience with outdoor and other than tipping/topping/fiming I tend to leave outdoor plants alone to do their thing.
Nothing wrong with trying something new. Especially if you have a few plants,
Just try it with one.
Good luck

 

[Xhale]

Bump. I have updated my original thread with new vids/pics.

Hi. Here's an update 3 weeks after my original post.

 

[TSD]

I do outdoor. There's no link for another post so I'm commenting here. Early on, I remove small lower branches that won't do much... sort of lollipopping, but not fully. Mostly for airflow as we struggle with mold and cool fall temps in my climate, and I have a tendency to end up with trees. As far as fan leaves, I only remove them when they start to look sickly and are likely not doing much photosynthesis... So turning yellow and dying, there are usually a few every day. I rarely remove healthy fan leaves after my initial prune until the very end of flower. My thoughts are, that the leaves may be blocking a few buds, but they're the solar panels that catch the sun, so what does it matter? Like I said , sometimes I do one more prune in late flower, to let the sun hit the trichs and make some nice resin, but I don't find it necessary when growing in full sun, the sun moves across the sky and most areas get thier fair share, especially with some light LST early on to spread out your branches. When it's the final weeks and feedings are stopped, you can watch the plant suck the nutrients from those fan leaves to use, they will systematically turn yellow from the tip down, then the leaf is used up an falls or gets plucked off... you don't have those reserves if you take off a ton of fans, and you have less light being absorbed of you take off a ton of fans... so I'm a proponent of pruning early on for airflow, removing fans as they die, maybe taking one or two of the massive ones off if they are really making shade, but overall leaving most there to do thier job. Also, the leaves are responsible for transpiration, so in the hot African sun, they are even more essential to allow your plants to cool themselves and function properly so they don't get overheated and unnecessarily stressed. They wouldn't have all those leaves if they didn't serve a purpose right?

 

[Xhale]

There's no link for another post

oops, here's the link

Help me prune my Mothibhen

Hi my friends it’s been a long time since I posted here. You helped me with my first great grow back in ‘18 when the South African constitutional court ruled that police cannot stop us from growing canna for private use. Our politicians have not yet finalized the policies but we’re still...

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