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Workin' on first Grow Box project, plants are 20 days old under 6500K 100W CFL's, they are 4 inches tall and have some very large fan leaf's starting to shade lower inner nodes, wondering if I should remove these leaf's or just let nature run it's course. Did some searching and no real clear direction found.
Fan or Sun leafs serve a very important purpose to the over all health of the plant and the final size of the flowers too at harvest time.
You should understand that the plant needs those leafs to regulate the internal temperature of the nutrient uptake. MJ will grow best with in narrow, given temperature range so if the grow area suffers from high temperatures for a period of time then you will get larger fan leaves to compensate. With cooler temperatures the fan leaves do not need to be as large and if you can keep the temperature swing within 5° (+/-) of 75°f over 24 hours and through the entire grow cycle you will have leaves that are all about the same size.
Fan leaves do serve a good purpose so leave them alone. Tuck them under but do not cut them, you could raise the internal temperature of the plant and send it into shock or stunt its growth.
Great explanation, yes a little warm, just installed cooling fans and improved air flow today, funny you mentioned that as why leaf's are so big.:jointsmile:
During flowering the buds will draw nutrients and sugers from fan leaves causeing them to yellow. Trimming them off will just resut in reduced over all bud sizes and general health of them plant
im new to growing by my friend isnt, he grow one plant a year that gets 12 feet tall, he cuts most fan leafs as long as the node connected with it has two leafs that are formed not small or new. and the fan leaf stem is longer than an inch. i have been doing the same thing and have gotten AMAZING result i started a grow on the first of feb my 2 plants that i did that too( i have 6 i only did it to two of them to make sure because i wasnt sure myself) now those plants are about 3 ft tall and bushyyyyy way more than the other 4 i didnt do it to. thats just my 2 cents
When you are going to cut a fan leaf off it should be during the veg. stage. In my experiance, I wait till I see leaves forming at the base of the fan leaf. That is where a bud could form. I have a logic to it, If the fan leaf is at least 4 inches from the top/cola, I know that once those leaves start to form it has it's own sorce to grow/feed from. The way that it works out for me is, for every fan/sun leaf that I cut off, I have a new cola starting to form, and once the leave is cut off (from the base) it will start to stretch and grow on its own. To be a nice cola with time, or a good sized clone to continue the saga. . .I wish I had a pic. to show what I mean. . .
u cut where the circles are in the picture. sorry but i did it fast lol
I am not a know it all, but I had six great plants. I trimmed 4 of those.
All 4 turned male. I really believe cutting can stress a plant into changing
sex. Someone please correct me if I am wrong. You can check out the two plants I didn't trim,(that remained female) in the Basic Growing.
Take care till next time.
Wow, great reply's, I did cut one that was blocking light from lower nodes but going to keep the remainder and move/reposition and let nature run it's course.
I dont cut the fans, if you pinch them where the stem comes out from the stalk, and using your fore finger and thumb, pinch and at the same time rolling the stem between your fingers it breaks the outter hurd that supports the fan leaf, then it hangs limply outta of the way...but it still gets to do it job of holding and releasing the starches and sugars in the leaf. The best of both worlds!
I trim all my plans and rarely get a male, as for those pics. you can cut them there but I just break the whole thing off if I know the new cola is ready to grow on their own, which those look like they are. . .Quote:
Originally Posted by doobie99
but I do like Plantboxers idea and I will try that. . .
ill psot a pic of mine in like an hour.