fan leaves blocking light

[prettygirlsmokes420]

My fan leaves are big and bushy, sometimes they block the light from the new growth coming up. I have only cut three off so far, but before I continue, I want to make sure I'm not causing issues further down the line. The plant is super healthy, bushy, and has a lot of newer growth that seems to be emerging from the middle top area. I figure common sense would say all the new growth, and the location of it is mostly normal. ;)
However the growth of the fan leaves seems to be more spurratic and random, seriously, I don't see how, with there being so many, trimming the ones blocking the light from the new growth wouldn't be beneficial. Especially when there's twice as much new growth as fan leaves.
But I know fan leaves are what feeds the new growth too...
Can someone help me out here?

[darthcannabis]

I been wondering the same thing. But I figure it can't hurt to leave all the growth on them.. maby try it out on one or two and see how they compare to the ones you didn't.

[GaGrown]

Ok..This is preference only. Seedlings,I'll take the lower 2 nodes just for air circulation. That 4 leaves per plant.

Ga.

[GaGrown]

Ok..This is preference only. Seedlings,I'll take the lower 2 nodes just for air circulation. That 4 leaves per plant.

Ga.

[GaGrown]

Ok..This is preference only. Seedlings,I'll take the lower 2 nodes just for air circulation. That 4 leaves per plant.

Ga.

[GaGrown]

WTF? I must be studderin'! The sytem went down and I come back to Bam! 3 posts???:wtf:

[prettygirlsmokes420]

Ok ga, I got it, you don't gotta repeat urself...lol
It's my dwc bucket that's doing this. So I can't really do it on one plant and not Tue other, there's only one plant..
;)
I took a total of four leaves off, now my new growth in the middle of the plant is exposed to the light.
I guess well see how it turns out eh?
I say so long as I'm not doin it that much, the plant should be fine....

[drudown11]

During vegetative growth the fan needs are the main sun catchers for the plant so people tend to leave them alone.

Trimming them during flowering happens to be one of the most most argued methods in marijuana cultivation. Some say do it, others despise it. Personally Ive noticed that during flowering alot of the lower growth gets shaded and turns out to be "red headed stepchild" buds. They lack weight and density and most of the time just fall victim to my hash bags. Exposing these buds promotes growth and can turn bullshit lower growth into usable colas. It all depends on your preference.


You can grow some monsters in DWC buckets if you do it right. Ive seen 3 lbs from one plant using a 5 gallon bucket.

[Weezard]

One penny:

Well you don't have to chop off the solar cells to illuminate the stepchildren.

Momma nature has this covered.
She uses wind power, so can we. (mus' be why they're called "fan leaves", yah?)

Tuppence:

And when in the doldrums?

As the planet turns the shadows shift and everybody gets a turn at a tan.
So, if your oscillating fan should become an osculating fan. (the kiss of death)
Simply install a light mover, and stop with all the chop.

A little info:
Fan leaf feeds stalk growth from each node.
Removing them can limit "stretch" .
When the plants are through growing stalk, they suck the stored energy from the fans and then discard them safely.
They fade, yellow, form an abscission layer to prevent sap loss, and then drop to the root zone to recover their minerals as well.

Wanna know what is optimum for our green friends?
Observe, research, and think about what you see.
There is reason and logic in nature. We jus' gotta look for it. :)

Aloha,
Weezard

[jon420]

Simply cut off a couple of the fingers on the leaves that are blocking light. Been doing this for quite some time and it doesn't seem to cause any harm. Just my opinion though!!!

[XSWIDOW]

Sound advice from Weezard. Wouldn't touch the fans if possible, all you'll do is promote new growth which the plant has to find the energy for. If it's using energy to grow replacement fans, it's not hitting the bud sites with full beans. Just bend the fans out of the way or tie em to one side. The whole process is organic. When the plant doesn't need them anymore, they weaken at the node and are easily pulled off, or drop off.

[tacman7]

I'm trying the Sea of Green thing and seems to be working out. I lopped off some big leaves some then I started tucking them under the bud next door, trying to get light to as many buds as I can.

Richard cut them all off for the last week of flower, check out the first pic:
http://boards.cannabis.com/basic-growing/200326-more-pics-harvest-tonight.html

I have two clones exactly the same size so I'm going to try that myself with one of them and see how it compares.

281285

[DrWalter]

another method I have seen is to go thru and trim about a inch off the tips of each fan leaf, Theory I have heard is that the tips are not efficient at capturing light and is meant more for capturing and directing rain, trimming just the tips lets more light work its way down to lower sections. Never tried it tho

[voodoo child]

I usually take the primary fan leaves off about halfway thru flower
after that I'll take a look at the canopy and gradually,over the next few weeks remove any
leaves that are shading out lower buds............

[bobjob4u]

there is no need to remove leaves, My rule of thumb is, if there is no light reaching the bottom of the plant i need to spread out the plants alittle, or i need more light, adding side lighting will help.it will also increase heat.If you can afford the room, light and ventilation i would just increase light.it will increase yield barring you take care of them in other ways as well. maybe you have to many plants in your grow space . more is less without proper room and light.

[prettygirlsmokes420]

Well I havnt been on for a while so is didnt see al the posts! Wow. Well here's an update. I stopped trimming off the fan leaves entirely. Idk why, just wanted to see what it would do I guess. :) here's a pic of what she looks like.

[bigguy1977]

fantastic job there.. jaw dropping... i think i read somewhere that you are a beginner??IF THIS IS TRUE I THINK YOU FOUND YOUR CALLING.
and the name seems to go well to:thumbsup:

[DrWalter]

Well I havnt been on for a while so is didnt see al the posts! Wow. Well here's an update. I stopped trimming off the fan leaves entirely. Idk why, just wanted to see what it would do I guess. :) here's a pic of what she looks like.
she's purdy

[darthcannabis]

I just got my first gumby hash and I'm in love with the shit.

[jiggsaw]

Damn that's a fat ass leaf right in the front! I would take that shit and save it, like frame it and shit. I took a little one of my fan leaves and put it in a book like people do flowers to save.

[bobjob4u]

Nice plants and deer mounts. Might be moving up to michigan this spring/summer.north central.Good to see there are good growers as well as deer. best of luck, bob

[darthcannabis]

Michigan? Deer? Never hurd of em... our deer make other deer look like babies.

[GaGrown]

Michigan? Deer? Never hurd of em... our deer make other deer look like babies.

Need to come to GA and see these Mule Deer around here. Huge!

Ga.

[camoxnhx]

nice root system on her. Looks like shes gonna produce some nice buds. What strain is that btw? has a nice overall structure on her.

[prettygirlsmokes420]

Yes this is my first leap into the world of hydro, and my fourth overall grow...lol and I'm loving it! The strain is unknown as i found three small seeds in a large amount of some very stinky weed. I planted all three in dirt at first, after the smallest one was about five or six inches tall, I carefully massaged all the dirt from the roots and placed it in rockwool cube. After about a week (wanted to let the roots take to the rockwool before I just stuck it in water) at first I didn't have the two airstones in it and it was looking pretty shitty lol. She's really getting too big for my small space and I'm gonna be forced to bud her this week. I'm super excited for that. The pic i posted was from two weeks ago as well, so ill try to get some newer ones up so Yall can see how much she's really grown. ;) the other two seeds I planted in the dirt, that were bigger than the dwc one at one point, bow look dinky in comparason. Also, I'm feeding it Advanced nutrients sensi grow a&b soon to be sensi bloom a&b, with b52 and calmag. When I bloom, I wil feed her bud candy as well, which is also Advanced Nutrients as well.

Go hydro!! Woot woot! Haha ;)
PGS420

[DrWalter]

Need to come to GA and see these Mule Deer around here. Huge!

Ga.our white tail deer around here Run 200 lbs max "and that is very rare " deer in the U.P. Of Michigan can get up to 350 lbs and spreads are huge compared to the dinks in Ga
:thumbsup:

[GaGrown]

200 or 300 plus... That 30/6 will reach out and drop that big ole antler toten' rascal! Dinner is served!

Ga.

[prettygirlsmokes420]

Well, she's too fucking big and I don't have enough space! Lol its ok though I like her big like that ;) today is day one week one of flowering. Super stoked cuz she's a freaking beast.
Here's some updated pics for Yall, still havnt trimmed anymore fan leaves and I like it tyat way lol.

[GaGrown]

She's lookin' great! Mine has gone crazy like that too! I'm gonna have to LST just to get her in the flower room! Great goin',PGS!

Ga.

[DrWalter]

Well, she's too fucking big and I don't have enough space! Lol its ok though I like her big like that ;) today is day one week one of flowering. Super stoked cuz she's a freaking beast.
Here's some updated pics for Yall, still havnt trimmed anymore fan leaves and I like it tyat way lol.

I like big budz and I cannot lie

[GaGrown]

That's one of those rap songs ain't,it? Big butts..hehe

Ga.

[bobjob4u]

Cant wait to see final results.Looks like she will yield well for you. great job:thumbsup:

[dampille]

dude, gorgeous. what size bucket is the dwc? ive had a monster in a 5 gal and the roots completely enveloped the airstones!! barely made it to 56 days..
any new pics?

ciao, damp

[GanjaRobPDX]

It takes some real balance to decide to cut off a leaf or not.
My basic rules are as follows:
*if the leaf is not laying on another leaf causing moisture build-up from transpiration, leave it be.
*if the leaf in question is bocking a potentially large growth site, trim it.
*always thin out under growth to increase air flow and reduce the amount of weak or light deprived foliage.
Doing so will reduce chances for pests and disease to set in while redirecting plant energy to new growth instead of wasting plant energy
on self repair.
*if leaves are covering a bud site in such a way that moisture from transpiration is going directly onto the bud, cut it.
*Otherwise I let them stay. Fan leaves convert light energy into plant energy while also storing mobile and imobile nutrients for vital plant functions.

Lots of good advice on here, read all you can...

Hope this helps...

[tacman7]

I've been trimming a fan here and there to let flowers get light, but I'm thinking more drastic cutting might be in order, like the bottom foliage may be?

281442

The picture is large and you can see better when you blow it up.

It's kind of a mess...

[prettygirlsmokes420]

Hey yall! Yes damp, I got a new pic for ya! Lol its now residing in a new five gallon bucket as it was getting way too big, it was grown in small three gallon bucket. And as for the bottom foliage, I chopped it all off fomr the bottom, to about six inces up the stem. Because now she's in budding, I don't want her focussing on those small brances, but moreso on the big ones... ;) I'm super busy with her, its like havin a kid... Ok, maybe easier, but still. I just filled the bucket with new nutes and water three days ago, and the bucket is almost empty already. Wow. Will be mixing and refilling it again tonight. Ugh. Lol it will pay off though.

[pushit]

Shes looking great PGS. Cant wait to see her all budded up!

[drudown11]

Well I havnt been on for a while so is didnt see al the posts! Wow. Well here's an update. I stopped trimming off the fan leaves entirely. Idk why, just wanted to see what it would do I guess. :) here's a pic of what she looks like.

I know this sounds wierd but the size of your root mass turns me on..........:thumbsup: hahaha Looks beautiful. Very impressed with your work pretty girl :)

[prettygirlsmokes420]

Well here's an update day 28 of flower..
I made the mistake of relying on someone else to set my timer for the second light in my grow room nd of course that backfired on me. I woke up at noon and the light was on in the room (the one directly over my bucket shuts off at 11am so the other one was supposed to as well) well it didn't. Which means the timers been messed up since two nights ago when it was hooked up. Smh. Which also means that the whole entire day I was at work yesterday my room was well over a hundred degrees (like 110 probly) with that second light beating down all freakin day.
Note to self...
Do The Shit Yourself...
I really hope there's not too much damage done in 24 hrs...
Dammit I hate ppl who don't pay atention to detail lemme jus say that..
Well anyways she's in the dark completely now so hopefully she will recover from any stress ...
I took these pics last night when I changed her water out nd fed her...

[mr_smith]

Generally speaking, a screw up here and there shouldn't hurt.
Its consistent, dramatic changes in environment and constant light leaks that cause big big problems.
Everybody has a timer issue here and there nothing to worry about. But yeah, don't rely on other people to take care of your stuff as well as you would.

On the light penetration issue, don't do a big cut. Your plant works hard to create those leaves and removing them is just not good for the plant. Also, when you remove 15% or more of the leaves, that causes a HUGE stress on the plant. Tie the branches off and move them around to allow for better penetration ;)