clipping leaves?

[bingotoad]

I showed someone my plants the other day, and they suggested that i clip the leaves just coming it. They couldnt really explain why, but they said they knew there was a reason behind it. They pulled back the bigger leaves and pointed at the little baby leaves just starting to form at the middle of the plant, and started telling me its a good idea to do something to them. Does anyone know what they are talking about?

[Sensimilla420]

I was told the opposite i was told to clip the long lanky leaves and leave the little ones

[bingotoad]

maybe that was what they were saying. I dont know, hopefully someone else knows forsure.

[LOC NAR on probation]

This is the bottom line. The leaves are the muscles of the plant the more you have the stronger your plant. You do not want to lose any but some age and yellow and some are done to train a behavor. You may want to look into topping and femming. Don't do what some one says if they have not done this before and can not explain the purpose.

[WashougalWonder]

I wonder if they somehow got mixed up about a book that suggests clipping the leaves of the clones that will be rooted.

I do this and I think it does help with the plant's tolerance to being amputated and is now dependent upon itself for everything. Because there are no roots, the plant cannot support the majority of each larger leaf. By doing this, it seems to tolerate the trauma better and I think with some species, make them root faster.

So, possibly that is what the idea was way back and then during the telling it got lost somewhere.

[stra8outtaWeed]

This is the bottom line. The leaves are the muscles of the plant the more you have the stronger your plant. You do not want to lose any but some age and yellow and some are done to train a behavor. You may want to look into topping and femming. Don't do what some one says if they have not done this before and can not explain the purpose.

i concurr...trimming fans only hurts your yield and lessens the quality of the bud as fans are the sugar factories for your flowers and the main life support for your plant photosynthesizing light into growing plant tissue....only trim if the leaf as at the end of its life cycle :thumbsup:

[bigtopsfinn]

i concurr...trimming fans only hurts your yield and lessens the quality of the bud as fans are the sugar factories for your flowers and the main life support for your plant photosynthesizing light into growing plant tissue....only trim if the leaf as at the end of its life cycle :thumbsup:

This is probably the common belief among most indoor growers including myself... until recently. I'm not interested in getting into this debate here as I have never done it myself, but a thread at another site has many members who do trim fan leaves, some more than others and at different times. They claim that there are several advantages to doing this. For new growers however, I would never recommend it.

If anyone is interested just google "Defoliation: Hi-Yield Technique" and make your own judgments.

[stra8outtaWeed]

interesting concept...i would have to do a side by side comparison as it would seem that some strains may do well with this technique and others may suffer...but interesting none the less :smokin:

[seventhchild]

I They pulled back the bigger leaves and pointed at the little baby leaves just starting to form at the middle of the plant, and started telling me its a good idea to do something to them. ?

this is done to tobacco plants to make the leaf larger and should not be done to MJ unless you want to harvest gaint fan leaves. its a good idea to NOT do something to them.

[stevemeade]

trimming the right leaves at the right time in its developement can be vary good, if u trimming the lower leaves u can actual get a better vield from ur plants, even taking off the bottem branches(4) WILL MAKE U HARVEST MORE ON THE OTHER BRANCHES, if u hav all the braches all the food and energy is split up so every thing is growing at same rate, but if u take of the bottem braches ur giving the other branches more energy and food making them veild more

[disoBAYish]

It is ok to trim some fan leaves off of your plant in order for some light to reach the lower levels of the plant. If the plant is too bushy, the bottom looses out on sunlight. That is why I trim fan leaves off of my plants. Just never remove more than 50% of the fan leaves and you will be fine.

[cigarettes42]

It is ok to trim some fan leaves off of your plant in order for some light to reach the lower levels of the plant. If the plant is too bushy, the bottom looses out on sunlight. That is why I trim fan leaves off of my plants. Just never remove more than 50% of the fan leaves and you will be fine.

WTF? You never trim big fan leaves. You only trim the lower most branches because they will get little to no light. If a fan leaf has already developed then that one is mAjor sugar/photo leaf. Fan leafs are ment to be left alone or moved to the side if necessary.

[disoBAYish]

WTF? You never trim big fan leaves. You only trim the lower most branches because they will get little to no light. If a fan leaf has already developed then that one is mAjor sugar/photo leaf. Fan leafs are ment to be left alone or moved to the side if necessary.

Right.... only clip small to medium size fan leaves during the Veg stage at a 45degree angle. Some people do, some people don't. It won't hurt your plant if you do, so long as you keep at least 50% of them. It's all about personal choice. I have never had a problem with taking a few fan leaves off here and there.