Trimming Leaves At End Of Flower

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StonedBlue

StonedBlue

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The last couple of runs I've been trimming off all fan leaves about the time I go into final flush. I figure why waste energy growing them at this point plus lots of flowers suddenly get much more light for their finish.
Do you do this? Comments good or bad?
 
OldPine

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For me, it depends on my setup. If I have the space, I leave the leaves alone as much as possible. If I'm in a tight closet-type grow, I defoliate to improve air movement and open the canopy so light penetrates better. But I'm particular in how I defoliate. I've never gone to the extreme of taking all the fan leaves, but I have had to come damn close at times. I also try not to cut the leaves that connect to the stems nearest the buds whose growth I want most promoted.
 
StonedBlue

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I left all fan leaves below second level of tops this time. What i dont know is does a fan leaf provide energy for whole plant or just material close to it
 
sKully

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Its been shown that when inducing high stress scenarios in the later phases of flowering it can induce higher trichome production.

weather or not that's the actual effect you're getting. I can't say.

Different strains will respond to defoliation differently. If you really want to know if your plants are being negatively or positively affected by your method, run a side by side control test and see if your yield suffers.
 
tinderthumbs

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id try and kinda sog/lst them where the light is really only hitting the buds kinda like with a auto

I do believe u can cut the tips of the leafs and that will stop with from growing any bigger

and the leafs are what gets power to your plants so with out them leafs u should not really be getting much growth ((in theory)) also u can stress the plants out by cutting them all off but if u doing it a week before or what not don't really see how seeds to grow that fast

so on one hand u getting more light to the buds but on the other u could be taking the growth right out of her

another thought by cutting all the leafs off the plant knows its dying and puts all of its left over power and pumps it in to them nugs making them plump with rezin

sorry I was all over the place and I bet tons of spelling errors really blazed in got in to it
 
OldPine

OldPine

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The last couple of runs I've been trimming off all fan leaves about the time I go into final flush. I figure why waste energy growing them at this point plus lots of flowers suddenly get much more light for their finish.
Do you do this? Comments good or bad?

I also want to mention that when I do trim leaves, it's out of necessity. I don't subscribe to the idea that removing fan leaves stops production of leafy material. In fact, the opposite is true - cutting fan leaves can cause the plant to increase development of new leaf material to make up for the lost photosynthetic ability of the plant as a whole.

And to clarify my point on light penetration. I may remove a fan leaf to help light hit lower bud sites. BUT - there is a point where this becomes useless, dependent on the distance of that bud site from the light source. Because we have to live by the inverse squared light rule, opening light penetration to the lowest bud sites is counter productive.
 
StonedBlue

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One byproduct has been that lower flowers have grown like crazy. Ive got two Mendocino Purple Kush that i did that too and two i didnt, so we'll see but it looks like the yeild is going to be much higher on the two I did it to.
Dont the sugar leaves catch some of the light?
And I still don't know if the energy caught by fan leaves goes to entire plant or just the part close to it
 
StonedBlue

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@OldPine you said
cutting fan leaves can cause the plant toincrease development of new leaf material to make up for the lost photosynthetic ability of the plant as a whole.
But I havent seen any new fan leaves. Just bud growth. But that could be because it knows its dying. Ive shortened the light, moved lights up a bit, watered once with cold water.
 
1diesel1

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Trim all large fan leaves beginning of week 6. When this is done it transfers all the energy that would go to those leaves to the buds.
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This is the beginning of week 7 today. Buds have gained approximately 15% more growth in one week from removing the large leaves.
 
OldPine

OldPine

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Trim all large fan leaves beginning of week 6. When this is done it transfers all the energy that would go to those leaves to the buds.
I know there are lots of opinions on both sides of this fence. And I've seen plenty anecdotal evidence that would suggest the best results come from extensive defoliation. I've seen just as much anecdotal evidence that it does more harm than good.

The reason I don't trim unless necessary is that I think I should help the plant to mimic what would happen if it were in nature. Many fan leaves do fall off on their own accord (both in nature and in our grow rooms), either late in the season outdoors or soon after our switch to 12/12 indoors. Those that do not fall off (and especially those that are already fully developed) are energy sources not sinks. In other words, if they were no longer providing necessary energy to the plant, they would yellow, necrosis would set in, and the plant would drop the leaves.

So I disagree that cutting fan leaves off increases bud development. My opinion is that the fan leaves continue to provide copious amounts of energy which is then used for all things the plant needs, including bud development. Of course, buds can and usually do continue to develop in size despite the loss of their fan leaves. The plant will be forced to utilize everything else that is green and can photosynthesize. Often the result is the development of additional leaf material (not necessarily fan leaf development) in an attempt to make up for the loss of the plant's largest energy factories. The question is whether or not the observed bud development is larger or smaller than it had the potential of being prior to defoliation. I believe that the observed bud development would have been even more significant had the fan leaves remained.

I'm not saying that trimming should never be done, but my reasons for doing so are usually strategic e.g. to help with light penetration for a bud site that needs additional energy resources.
 
OldPine

OldPine

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OldPine

OldPine

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Dont the sugar leaves catch some of the light?
Yeah sugar leafs definitely produce some energy...but their ability to do so is significantly hindered by the layer of trichomes. The frostier the girls are, the less those leaves are able to catch light.
 
Navillusii

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Short Story:
When I was in college one of my bio professor smoke with me on breaks, and after coaxing him with some free smoke he sat me down and explained some things. One of those is that the "fan" leaves contain energy stored by the plant because later in the cycle it not be able to keep up with the growth and acts like a battery, storing the energy for later. So i just let the leaves do their natural thing. :-)
 
StonedBlue

StonedBlue

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I fid so by raising lights and going to from 12/12 to 11/13 over 2.5 weeks. Also my last two flush/watering i used cooler water. And I like to use KoolBloom the last two feedings before flush. I started chopping today and will finish tomorrow, day 62.
 
Smerb

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Might as well throw something in. Just looking at one plant you should be able to see a fan leaf in its prime and also the older fan leaves. I'd pick a few older leaves off here and there,especially lower.
 
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