Pruning Fan Leaves In Early Flower

Then there's that pesky part about the flowers having very little chlorophyll in them.

So begs the question, what does the flower need more sun for?

The fan leaves are where the bud sites get their energy from. That points to the term I posted up there ^^^^ Translocation.


"Plants use a process called photosynthesis to make food. During photosynthesis, plants trap light energy with their leaves. Plants use the energy of the sun to change water and carbon dioxide into a sugar called glucose. Glucose is used by plants for energy and to make other substances like cellulose and starch. Cellulose is used in building cell walls. Starch is stored in seeds and other plant parts as a food source."



Then there's this:

"Translocation is the movement of materials from leaves to other tissues throughout the plant. Plants produce carbohydrates (sugars) in their leaves by photosynthesis, but non-photosynthetic parts of the plant also require carbohydrates and other organic and non-organic materials."

And this:

"Flowers are for reproduction, not photosynthesis"

I'm not making this stuff up.

you need more experience .. buds that dont get direct light are smaller and fluffier .. buds in the light are big
and really hard ...

u like small fluffy buds? its gradual as you go down the plant .. ive got lots of buds in the light :)





 
Then there's that pesky part about the flowers having very little chlorophyll in them.

So begs the question, what does the flower need more sun for?

The fan leaves are where the bud sites get their energy from. That points to the term I posted up there ^^^^ Translocation.


"Plants use a process called photosynthesis to make food. During photosynthesis, plants trap light energy with their leaves. Plants use the energy of the sun to change water and carbon dioxide into a sugar called glucose. Glucose is used by plants for energy and to make other substances like cellulose and starch. Cellulose is used in building cell walls. Starch is stored in seeds and other plant parts as a food source."



Then there's this:

"Translocation is the movement of materials from leaves to other tissues throughout the plant. Plants produce carbohydrates (sugars) in their leaves by photosynthesis, but non-photosynthetic parts of the plant also require carbohydrates and other organic and non-organic materials."

And this:

"Flowers are for reproduction, not photosynthesis"

I'm not making this stuff up.
clear a path so the light hits your buds .. they will be bigger fatter denser .. trim off them fan leaves Bob !!





 
OK I gave you the science. Enjoy....

I've been growing organically for 50+ years and studying horticulture and soil science for a very long time as well. So yah I need more experience.

Fan leaves are for plant growth and flower building. That's there job.

Did you need some more science? Because I have more.... ever hear of Plant Growth Regulators?? I'm sure you have.

They occur naturally in plants.

How does the plant know where the light it coming from and how does the plant know when you just flipped to 12/12 she begins making flowers??

Keep removing fan leaves. Not only are you delaying harvest and then you are also stressing your plants in flower which we all know is a bad thing.

Then there's the question:

Where does the flower get energy from to build reproductive organs??
 
Leaves are like...totally old school. Obsolete. Down with leaves I say. I hate how I cut them off and they keep growing back. Super annoying! :( Leaves Why don’t they just leave?

I might try building a wall, just to keep them away from the buds.

Buds are good and make me stoned. Leaves... meh. Useless. Cow food. Things for losers to write poetry about, elves to dance around under. Stupid, in other words.....

Lets make plants great again!
 
I woodn't trim off any fan leaves unless blocking air movement at btm of plant. Do that early to mid VEG.

Fan leaves make energy for flower production. Flowers dont have much chlorophyll so dont need much light to function. Fan leaves also give the flowers growth hormones so the flowers can bulk up. Flowers also give back energy to flowers when they go thru senescence.

Try not doing that next grow on one plant and see if she's overall bigger and healthier that her sister that has been trimmed back.

Finished product looks good - you are developing fox tails - that happens from biotic stress. Removing fan leaves is a form of biotic stress as is light intensity and heat among others.

just want to show you what you can get with good pruning of the fan leaves and good lots of everything else god willing ..














 
Some trimming is a necessary need -- need of light , need of circulation, and need of space.. I'm not talking about defoliation of a plant.. And here's a clue -- buds are in fact hundreds if not thousands of modified leaves , if it is green it has chlorophyll and where there's chlorophyll there's photosynthesis.

But having said that, the fan leaves ARE the food source of the maturing plant and discretion is needed when removing. Too many and you stunt the plant with stress and diminishment of food sources.. Bottom branches and the sort that are mainly in shade need removal because they are not going to produce any useful bud and removal forces the all the good on up to the upper branches and buds.

Kind of like lollipopping but not that extreme - a happy medium ! -- I incorporate snipping, bending, and tying down branches. I also snip the tips of some main buds ( I know it sounds crazy) to bulk up the lower bud. It works and grows clubs of buds.. Tried on just one main bud once and you'll be hooked. j

Here's a look at my girls a week ago - soon to be judiciously trimmed.. This'll give me time to gain more budding branches with bud sites.. I snip anything at the 5th node - it gives a compact bush with plenty of bud sites and branches.

Whatever belief you follow good luck with your grows -

MotaMan

IMG_0363.JPEG
 
Some trimming is a necessary need -- need of light , need of circulation, and need of space.. I'm not talking about defoliation of a plant.. And here's a clue -- buds are in fact hundreds if not thousands of modified leaves , if it is green it has chlorophyll and where there's chlorophyll there's photosynthesis.

<cut the rest>
Modified stem and leaf is what I consider it. Almost like node after node stacked on top of each other with one small leaf and a piece of stem that this a 100th of an inch long in between each one.

Once the flowering hormones start flowing the plant sends the other specialized hormones to the center tips. It is a part of plant growth behavior called Apical Dominance. This is what causes the budding tips to swell up. It is not the plant sending all available nutrients, hormones and sugars to the tips just because the leaves are gone.

Link to the Apical Dominance article from a science and research based web site....
https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpls.2017.01874/full

 
Some trimming is a necessary need -- need of light , need of circulation, and need of space.. I'm not talking about defoliation of a plant.. And here's a clue -- buds are in fact hundreds if not thousands of modified leaves , if it is green it has chlorophyll and where there's chlorophyll there's photosynthesis.

But having said that, the fan leaves ARE the food source of the maturing plant and discretion is needed when removing. Too many and you stunt the plant with stress and diminishment of food sources.. Bottom branches and the sort that are mainly in shade need removal because they are not going to produce any useful bud and removal forces the all the good on up to the upper branches and buds.

Kind of like lollipopping but not that extreme - a happy medium ! -- I incorporate snipping, bending, and tying down branches. I also snip the tips of some main buds ( I know it sounds crazy) to bulk up the lower bud. It works and grows clubs of buds.. Tried on just one main bud once and you'll be hooked. j

Here's a look at my girls a week ago - soon to be judiciously trimmed.. This'll give me time to gain more budding branches with bud sites.. I snip anything at the 5th node - it gives a compact bush with plenty of bud sites and branches.

Whatever belief you follow good luck with your grows -

MotaMan

IMG_0363.JPEG
lets see some more pics hope your trimming off the lower fan leav3es.. and a few higher up
 
This grow is the first time I've done much fan leaf pruning. Previously I've trained, tucked and tried to leave them on for the reasons stated by others in this thread. This is my first time doing a manifold and some heavy pruning is involved with that. Also been struggling a little with humidity so removed more to improve airflow and attempt to bring the RH down a bit. She's good so far but I'll have to try and judge at the end whether I think the pruning has helped or hindered the yield.
I've probably removed another dozen fan leaves since these pics were taken.
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Those are pretty plants - but try with just one and top one of those off by an inch and then watch the bottom budlets plump up.. I helps on height - ( I only have 7' vertical) but also in my experience gives alot more bud... Try just one..

You can even remove some more of those fan leaves. Looks like a pruning may allow better circulation - wouldn't want mold at this stage.

MotaMan
 
Those are pretty plants - but try with just one and top one of those off by an inch and then watch the bottom budlets plump up.. I helps on height - ( I only have 7' vertical) but also in my experience gives alot more bud... Try just one..

You can even remove some more of those fan leaves. Looks like a pruning may allow better circulation - wouldn't want mold at this stage.

MotaMan
It's just the 1 plant. Is that technique called back building or something? Where you just snip the tip of the cola. Read about it before but didn't think you cut as much as an inch away.

Yeah mold is a concern right now. I'd hate to lose this beauty to that. May take a few more fans off. Got plenty of air blowing around her at least.
 
I have no idea what the technique is called - but I swear by it - the cut heals and a ball develops on top and the bottom budlets just take off and plump up. Plus like I said it maintains height and fills out the girth of the girl..

I like the way you just have the several main budding stalks -- I just can't bring myself to trim my girls to that point - afraid of fucking em up and ruining my harvest. Here's my girls - I snip and bend and veg longer than most to get the most fill of my 6 x 6 x 7 room.

The ugly sister in the corner was my beautiful Do Si Dos until she caught a bad cal / mag def -.. Even though I continue treatment with supplement , there is improvement then necrosis sets in , over and over.. so she sits in the corner until the Mango Kush next to her pushes her out..

I have never seen in any forum a testament to a successful recovery from a cal / mag def and its subsequent treatment regiment.

Good luck with the grow and may she smoke smooth

Motaman

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Couple questions for the community at large as I am contemplating some more pruning. Quick background, these are Jack47 photo's grown in FFOF and are on Day 14F.

As you can see, the canopy is looking pretty well and I've already stripped most of the lower nodes (not that you can see that in the pic) off a couple days ago. In looking at the canopy, there are some really large fan leaves blocking some of the slightly lower bud sites. I have been tucking them but they quickly come right back up.

Questions / Concerns:

  • Should I consider additional defoliation given I did a pretty healthy defoliation a couple days ago or wait?
  • How many fan leaves should I consider removing?
  • If I remove some, should always leave a fan leave that's connected to each bud site? Probably a stupid question, but thought I read somewhere about how the fan leaves give priority to the node with which it's associated with, hence if I removed all on that node it may suffer...if that makes sense...
  • Is there anything else I should know/consider that I may not be thinking about?

I swear this thing just keeps exploding every time I defoliate it. I keep telling myself to "leave it alone" but I just can't help myself in trying to optimize :)

As always, appreciate the communities help!
Instead of getting on here the other day, I had a real quick question.....so I just did a search on it.....the video that I watched....you wouldn't believe how many times they trimmed it! So.....since I just got through with the nutes and have started flushing; I went in and trimmed again...apparently, after flushing starts- the buds really swell....I don't know; but trying before my next grow so I'LL KNOW!
 
Lotta bro in this thread.

De-foil.... smh its not science.

IF it is - show me the science.

I can show you lots science behind what the functions of fan leaves are. They are there for a good reason or the plant wouldn't grow them.

How do you know those plants aren't going to be even bigger and better if you just left the plant to grow naturally???

Flowers are not leaves they are not some form of a leaf. Flowers are a plants reproductive system. Saying they are modified leaves is like saying your arm is a modified penis. :nerd-with-glasses:
 
Plus the proof is in the pudding Bill , try with 2 different plants -- defoliate one and leave the other -- the defoliated will respond with more foliage...

MotaMan
 
maybe bobrown and motaman420 as there so close to finish can show the results of both ways/methods.
I for one would like to see more , kownledge in power and im always willing to learn.:cool:
 
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