Remove fans leaves or not?

[bigstinky123]

I talked to an old head today and he said if you remove the big fan leaves when the plant starts flowering you'll get bigger buds. I grow outdoor and have never removed leaves only top once. What do you guys do? Any advice?

 

[Natep]

That is more of an indoor deal.

 

[TheCroppeteer]

Got a picture, i decide on a case by case basis.

 

[bigstinky123]

Got a picture, i decide on a case by case basis.

 

[Oldchucky]

I remove them later in flower!

 

[TheCroppeteer]

I personally wouldn't but in my case because I hate the extra work. That's a lot to prune and I've gotten bored of pruning, so I've been trying to prune/trim as little as possible and even if it were to costs me lower yield, I'd prefer that than to waste my time/energy trimming to get more. That's a personal choice of mine.

In your case I'd still leave them. Might need those to catch as much light as it can because seems like access to the sun is limited between the buildings though not sure if the sun is moving from front to back as opposed to left to right where buildings would be blocking sun for a good chunk of the day?

 

[Oldchucky]

We always called them, shade leaves! And when they don’t have anything to shade off, they come! Just two cents!

 

[7munkee]

I only remove fan leaves if they block the lower bud sites. This is less of a problem outside.

 

[Bullmark69]

I only remove fan leaves if they block the lower bud sites. This is less of a problem outside.

I’m a big believer in removing the lower bud sites and some of the leaves.
If the site is down low, it’s likely not getting the needed light to thrive. So you’ll end up with a certain amount of loose/leafy/airy buds that aren’t worth the time spent trimming. Removing those site will allow the plant to direct its energy into the remaining sites and more than make up for any lost yield.
I like to leave a little skirt of fan leaves down low as a reserve later on.
I should point out that the plant needs to be healthy before removing anything.

 

[PlumberSoCal2]

I remove some yellowing leaves and that's all. I really like the slower drying with the leaves still on the plants. Started this a couple years ago and I'm sold but I'm usually drying in triple digit temps.

Once upon a time I had one plant just outside of my bedroom window that I topped and stripped every few days so it didn't look like a pot plant. That sucker grew into a bushy hedge with hundreds of tops. Cop chopper was flying circles in the neighborhood one day I got paranoid and I cut it down 4 weeks early. That was 40 years ago and today they get hung and cured fully dressed

 

[Oldchucky]

I remove some yellowing leaves and that's all. I really like the slower drying with the leaves still on the plants. Started this a couple years ago and I'm sold but I'm usually drying in triple digit temps.

Once upon a time I had one plant just outside of my bedroom window that I topped and stripped every few days so it didn't look like a pot plant. That sucker grew into a bushy hedge with hundreds of tops. Cop chopper was flying circles in the neighborhood one day I got paranoid and I cut it down 4 weeks early. That was 40 years ago and today they get hung and cured fully dressed

The paranoia of the old days! Every cop was looking for you! Lol!

 

[7munkee]

I’m a big believer in removing the lower bud sites and some of the leaves.
If the site is down low, it’s likely not getting the needed light to thrive. So you’ll end up with a certain amount of loose/leafy/airy buds that aren’t worth the time spent trimming. Removing those site will allow the plant to direct its energy into the remaining sites and more than make up for any lost yield.
I like to leave a little skirt of fan leaves down low as a reserve later on.
I should point out that the plant needs to be healthy before removing anything.

Yes on plants grown INSIDE because light comes only from the top, but the OP is growing outside, and light will reach the entire plant. I might remove the very lowest flowers, and possibly ones on the inside of the plant, but that is all when growing outside. You're killing your yield by removing all but the top flowers when growing under the sun.

 

[Sunin]

They look very nice Loads of airflow there means no trim in my opinion