Removing fan leaves

[happybudda420]

Hey guys i've been reading heaps of information about the removal of fan leaves for pest problems and light issues etc, yesterday i went ahead and removed probably 40% of the the fan leaves on my mother, a good 200 leaves plus.

I had to remove some of the leaves due to spidermites and the I kept taking leaves off so the sun light could reach all areas of the plant.

My mother has got another 4-5 months of veg left. I went and checked her this morning and heaps of new bud sites are reaching upwards atleast doubled light exposure for her and the under canopy.

I'm thinking this can only benefit her as long as she doesn't turn hermy from the stress, she doesn't seemed stressed though.

What do you guys think, heres a pic of what she looks like today.

 

peace fellow stoners

 

[crunk]

damnnnnn, that's gonna be huge at harvest man! Looks awesome! 

[Lenore]

Sounds like you've been reading about defoliation.

I used this technique on a plant that was 5 weeks in to flower. In the past week, the buds has swollen more than I expected.

It's only recommended for indoor plants, as they are fed regularly so aren't as heavily dependent on the fan leaves.

The theory is that instead of putting energy into maintaining the big leaves, the plant focuses more on the buds, giving them all the nutrition and energy, hence making larger buds.

There's an article on High Times about it. The article called it "plucking".

If you want more info, I will gladly find the info I've read and been impressed by.

 

Happy Gardening.

Katt.

[Frank Reynolds]

But the plant also uses those leaves to produce energy and sugars! Bit of a double edged sword,

 

for me atleast I'll only remove stuff below a scrog screen otherwise it stays on the plant.

 

interesting discussion none the less

[happybudda420]

Hey Katt I would love to have a read of that article you mentioned.

I could have removed even more leaves than I did, I was mindful of removing too many as I don't want her growth to be stunted. From what I've read up to 50% removed is acceptable.

Interesting topic I think, I will be sure to keep everyone updated.

 

Peace to all

[Ferrethead]

Also meant for indoor grows as the artificial light has less penetration than the sun. I do this a little but not to the extreme I've seen in forums.

 

One thing that I find curious is, in late flower your plant stops pulling in nitrogen from its roots instead using stores from its existing foliage. So, by removing fan leaves in long term flowering strains, I believe can have a seriously detrimental effect on the final product. Basically you're reducing the finite amount of accessible nitrogen for the plant during late flower. If you do it too much you'll end up like my current situation where you have 2 weeks left and the poor things are suffering greatly from a lack of nitrogen. Of course this is just my opinion and isn't meant as a statement of fact.

[happybudda420]

All opinions are welcome Ferrethead thanks for the info.

 

Peace man

[asterisk]

generally speaking the fan leaves are producers of energy and they transpire - the more transpiration the larger the water/nutrient flow through the plant... the more growth.

 

I like to prune out underproductive branches, as they do sucker energy.

supercrop or tie down then maybe tuck large leaves during flowering.

 

but hey, high times say something else and katt's having success and your plant is looking great...

 

also. ferrethead, I remember reading something about removing fan leaves in late flower, reducing stored nutrient and in turn speeding up flush.  wortha thought

[asterisk]

Oh another thought:

 

pruning will reduce leaf size overall, so maybe a trim of fan leaves early on could stimulate a higher number of smaller leaves, giving a more even surface area later on...

 

I've haven't tried this, sounds good though ey?

[Sir PsychoHashy]

it is an interesting discussion to have, hopefully it won't turn into a shitfight between the 2 opposing arguments.  There's some good points raised about indoor vs outdoor light penetration, and the value of the fan leaves to the plants growth and production.  Personally I'm in the leave them on till they are used up by the plant camp, but can see the sense in removing them in some situations, particularly indoors and with a SCROG.  I would be particularly wary of going too hard with it mid flower though as this seems to be the time in the plants life it is most susceptible to shock.  Big healthy looking plant like that should turn out pretty good though.