Pruning, Grooming and Confusion

[Buzkill]

Hi all,
Just a quick question for ya today:
I am nearly ready to go into flower and am unsure on an issue between the wife and I regarding the big fan leaves that grow directly from the stem itself.
Should these be trimmed off or left or the stem?
I feel like we should trim them (prune, groom, or whatever it's called) off near the stem so the lower sections get enough light.
The wife fells we should leave them.
Please let me know your thoughts and practices on this. I will be flipping into flower after this weekend (if my clones all live) and don't want to stress the girls to much.
Attached are a few pictures. The last one has the leaf in question circled. (well it seems to still be unable to load photos)
The babies are a little taller than I wanted, but life does interfere with the fun sometimes.
Hope everyone has some burning issues to get to this weekend, I know I do :jointsmile:
Thanks in advance,
Buz

Buzkill Reviewed by Buzkill on 10-01-2010. Pruning, Grooming and Confusion Hi all, Just a quick question for ya today: I am nearly ready to go into flower and am unsure on an issue between the wife and I regarding the big fan leaves that grow directly from the stem itself. Should these be trimmed off or left or the stem? I feel like we should trim them (prune, groom, or whatever it's called) off near the stem so the lower sections get enough light. The wife fells we should leave them. Please let me know your thoughts and practices on this. I will be flipping Rating: 5

[dkm287]

Hey I'm not too sure about where to trim any of the plant either

maybe someone will post some pics for us?? :thumbsup:

[BudLuv420]

I trimmed 1/8 to 1/4 inch away, but dont trim to much at once, there a chance you'll send them into shock. I did a couple snips per girl & waited a couple of days if it needed to be trim some more. No pics but thats what i did.

[drudown11]

Fan leaves should never be removed except when.....


1. its more than 50% damaged from pests, overfertalization, or nutrient lockout. Dead leaves just suck energy from the rest of the plant.(aside from being a eyesore they also can harbor different pests and diseases.)

2..It is covering a budsite and CANNOT be tucked away or moved. Your growing bud correct? not leaves. If its covering a budsite it wont recieve direct sunlight and it wont be anything worth your whilte in the end. Pruning the big leaf covering it allows it to grow into an impressesive top cola due to the increased light. Trimming the leaf will allow more sunlight to penetrate the lower areas of the plant, thus increasing yield and aiding air flow.



If there is any way for me to just move the leaf out of the way, ill do that instead.

[therealOG]

What I do is not take any leaves off unless i pull on them and they come off.

Now just before I flower 5 days before I will pull clones off bottom of plant and I do trim "to the stem" 1/4 way up plant and my plants are usually 30inch tall when I force into flower" "and 1/4 the way up each branch coming off the main stem 1/2 way up" This will force plant to grow up and will force all the plants energy into the bud sites "will yeild a lot more"

But again I DO NOT take off any BIG FANS that are on top of plant

Hope this helps???

Pic below is a Martian Mean Green at 1 week of flower

[headshake]

Dead leaves just suck energy from the rest of the plant.(aside from being a eyesore they also can harbor different pests and diseases.)

dead leaves don't suck energy away from the plant. immobile nutrients stay put and mobile nutrients actually move from damaged leaves to areas where they can be used.

i do agree that they can harbor pests and disease though.


buzkill, what type of lighting are you using?

it's probably better to loli-pop your ladies, or get rid of the undergrowth. even with a 1000W HPS you are only gonna get 2 1/2-3 foot of canopy penetration. not to mention light is governed by the inverse square rule.

so the intensity of light from a source is inversely proportional to the square of the distance from the source.

what that is saying is that an object twice as far away is only receiving 1/4 of the light energy.

it's kinda a waste to try to keep the really low stuff. so when you loli-pop them the plants don't waste energy on the small scaggly stuff.


-shake