To de-leaf plants or not to de-leaf that is the quandry

[Moses249]

Farmers,
Do most farmers remove fan leaves during flower to allow better airflow, light penetration and bud development on their plants? I usually dont thin out my plants at all or remove any leaf material cuz frankly im lazy. Many of my peers swear that thinning out fan leaves heavily during flowering helps plants "focus" on the remaning bud sites and increases yields. The other side of the arguement states that any fan leaf that is alive is capturing light and helping in the process of photosynthesis which is helping the plant in general. What say you?

 

[paulycali]

I would say most farmers remove some fan leaves during around week 5 or 6 of the flowering stage of flowering. I start removing a few around week 6
Some lollipop in flower and that would mean removing at least a 1/3 of the lower plant growth on the plant
I lollipop a week before the flip. I usually remove between 1/3-2/3 of the lower growth
Hope that helps

 

[NightShift]

I like to thin them out at the beginning of flower. I defoliate a lot of the large leaves on the top of the plant. The insides of the plants get branches removed and the bottoms stripped. Light penetration and airflow is better. My sativa doesnt need it as much because the leaves are more thin and the light penetrates better.. I only defoliate during and before the stretch. after that leaves are tucked down under. I prune the bottom branches the week before flower. First day of flower. and after the stretch is over. Uniform nugs. Very little popcorn. I have heard both sides of the argument. This works well for me because I have large plants.

 

[Oregon Panda]

I run super soil mixes and the leaves drop themselves as they are used up for their reserve nutrients.

Removing more seems ridiculous, I think the energy focus theory is dubious on the grounds that the leaves are the source of energy.

If the buds are getting so much bigger, then why? Because of increased leaf matter to compensate for the loss?

Certainly there is a botany major among us...

 

[Beastgrow]

i would wait until at least 2 weeks after a transplant to prune fan leaves.

 

[Seamaiden]

Moses, I want to put bells on what paulycali has posted up for you, with a nod to OP's mention of energy, the fan leaves that I remove are usually used up and becoming useless. I do 'shave their legs' for better airflow (indoor girls only, I don't do this for OD plants), and even more significantly for me, making the plant easier to tend, as well as creating a canopy that the light penetrates fully, instead of layers of reduced light.

You don't want to go overboard, for the reasons Oregon Panda mentions, but neither do you want shaggy bitches in your room because that makes catching problems more difficult, and can reduce airflow. The mention of phenotype (Sativa vs Afghani) is also something that should be considered before taking action, as well.

That said, consider more the idea of removing those bud sites that have the poorest potential. Those that are heavily shaded, down low on the plant. Do this AFTER the post-flip stretch is done! You want to have a good idea of which sites are progressing well and which aren't.

 

[caveman4.20]

Great thread

 

[donmekka]

Some do,some don't ....they will both tell you their way is best..

 

[Mississip Hip]

I lollipop up until week 2 of flower when I lollipop. I call it "poodle tailing"...lol...

I also defoliate with great results. I make what I call "light tunnels" between plants and branches. I dont just take off the top two or three. I go down to the bottom of the plant so that the light penetration is super awesome. I allow leaves that aren't blocking any light to remain...usually the outer most leaves. It makes the arflow much better around and thru the plants, also. By week 6-7 on a 8 weeker the big leaves are starting to die anyway.....why not help the plant out and do it for her? Mine will be completely devoid of major fans at harvest. Trust me from a "trimming" aspect.....there is still plenty of leaf for photosynthesis to occur efficiently, imho.

 

[Bentcook]

This is the way ours look.

 

[pushkushglobal]

Trimming up your plants until day 18-21 and leaving the top 1/3 will aid in producing top shelf herb. It also cuts down on all the bubble hash trim.

 

[BrianDirt]

I feel if the leaf is not getting enough light it will die out any way so No I only lolly pop them from the bottom also. They are indead energy reserves that the plant will use before dropping the leaf if it is not needed. As your plants get bigger and the lower is not getting enough light, you will see the plant take nutes out of it before it dies and move the nutes to new growth.

The pic bentcook put up vs the pic pushkush I do the later.

 

[noone88]

I always lollipop, but I never deleaf. My theory is that leaving the leaves on (heh) is like an insurance policy on the plant. Some plants will experience stress, especially during heavy flowering weeks (3-6). If the plant is stressed, it will pull nutrients from the fan leaves and drop them. If you don't have the fan leaves, it will start pulling nutrients from the "sugar" leaves and it will adversely affect the quality and yield.

 

[Dagwood]

With my style of growing, one gallon pots, training the branches down around into a low tight bundle, and packing plants into a sea of green; I have to trim leaves to get decent air circulation and light penetration. Any fan laves within the inner circle of branches get removed. Where I can, the fan leaves are turned and tucked down to get to the outside perimeter. I try to save tucked leaves until after they've yellowed.

About two-three weeks after flip there is another heavy defoliation when I can assess the developing bud sites and clear out yellowing leaves and any that are shading the flowers. Afterwards leaves are trimmed on their shading potential. Looking straight down into the plant, leaves get the cut if they shade anything I want to keep down below. Trying to arrange things so any light going into the canopy strikes a plant surface, leaf or flower. With dense buds I'll remove any stemmed leaves before the bud grows around them to avoid having a fan leaf die and the dead petiole become a source of fungal infection back within the cola. I like it best when a big portion of the trimming has been done before harvest.

 

[woodsmaneh]

People do it and have crops that look OK and they say cool things like I'm growing bud not leaf, I do lolly pop my girls indoors. I just have a problem pulling good leaves off a good plant. Using some common sense and having an understanding of how the plant works will let you decide what you want to do. The common sense part is yes you can pull the odd leaf off or tuck it behind another leaf, pull yellow leaves off is fine. Growing an indoor plant to 5 feet so you can lolly pop is great too. But pulling tons of leaves off, leaves me shaking my head. You see their is a process called Photosynthesis and that my friend happens in the leaves and thats what drives your growth in your plant. So your plant knows the right amount of leaves to grow to support optimum growth, now at some point all those leaves turn their attention to growing flowers. So along comes the whipper snipper and cuts a bunch of leaves off at some point, now all the other leaves have to work harder to produce enough energy to support the whole plant, yup they will do it but when it comes time to flower they work so muck harder and produce less. Kind of like being in a life boat with 12 people rowing vs 6 people in a life boat. Why do you think we use additives like carbo's and PK boosters, making the energy easy to get at means the plant spends more time making flowers than working on converting food for energy. So the simple answer is more leaves produce better plants, it's just science.


Peace

 

[bigdaddyg8]

there you go, i second that !

take only what is necessary at a minimal amount .
Photosynthesis !

 

[BrianDirt]

Very well done, and explained.

 

[ttystikk]

All the above are good points. To Woodsmaneh, I suggest that too many leaves get in one another's way and that hurts efficiency.

To those who grow 5 foot tall plants indoors so you can lollipop the bottom three feet of them, I suggest flipping sooner; you're wasting time!

A few years ago, a guy named desert squirrel talked a lot about selective fan leaf removal specifically for Yield Maximization. I did not fully understand his methods, but they involved removing some of the fan leaves near the top, a few at a time, to aid the plant in setting and swelling buds. This was practiced in addition to the interior pruning and bottom cleanup that we're familiar with. The thread may still be out there somewhere, 'topping and pruning techniques' or some such.

 

[Mr_GreenGenes]

I agree tty. MGG

 

[Dagwood]

Leaves play an important role in a plant's life. All green plant surfaces perform photosynthesis. Shaded nugs are inferior. Dense ovelapping growth promotes infection. Find your balance.