Thinning out the foliage towards the end of flowering stage?

[Filthy Biker]

I know that the cutting out of leaves is generally a no-no, however I have a small closet grow where the foliage is so dense that light to the lower bud sites is severely restricted. I am within 10 days or so of finishing, trichs are developing nicely, colas are immense. Is it OK to thin the girls out at this point or will the final bud development be hampered too much to warrant it?

 

[Stilletto]

As always this subject is open to debate. I am 50/50 in it myself.
On the downside you may shock the plant in it's final stage. If you are flushing then the plant is pulling it's reserves from the very leaves you plan to trim.
I also have a issue with removing leaves that are doing thier job so that you can get light to other leaves, seems counterproductive.
I do some trimming in last weeks but normally only trim off a few leaves every couple days as they turn yellow.
I am a supporter however of triming off all fan leaves the day you harvest... will really improve final taste.

My 2 cents.

Jonny

 

[Hogdady]

10 days won't do jack for the popcorn below, imho...

 

[jaspertodd]

I plucked alot of my fan leaves and all threw out the whole veg/flower stage and my girls seem to be fine.This is also my 1st grow ever so i cant realy say much on the subject.Future grwos thow iam gonna do 1 plant without plucking and fan leaves and 1 plant plucking them all and see the out come.I kept all my scraps for making hash thow so thats a plus i think anyways.Kept them in a box with those little bags that keep things fresh and mix them up and air them out once a week or so,to not get moldy.

 

[Heks]

I've read differing opinions and data on this matter, if your lower nugs are as dark and developed as the top colas there's really no point in trimming now, but if they're still not ready below, you could try chopping less than half her mass worth of top colas off and then let the lowers ripen for a few extra days. It's doubtful they'll add much more yield, but they'll be a bit more uniform with smoke quality and taste.

It seems if you trim fan leaves she'll just put energy back into making new ones, maybe next time try trimming off branches you don't think will produce much early so she can focus on the larger ones instead.

 

[jammie]

hmmm- i grow 12 wk+/- sativas, and by the 10 day flush most of my fans have yellowed and fallen off naturally.

 

[blacklips]

I thin out the fan leaves 1week or so befor flush.. this was a 4x4 hydro table of bubba kush it got really dense with large fan leaves, so I chopped them off on week 61/2ish when the buds were developed.. it allowed light to hit the fluffy light green growth that was covered befor.. this 4x4 table with 1k of hps yielded 28 oz of high grade Kush.. I DONT think taking the fan leaves twards the end of bloom hurt my yield at all..

 

[blacklips]

I only meant to post the top pic...

 

[IrishGrower]

thanks everyone

 

[jojo677]

As others mentioned it's a highly debated issue, and the choice is up to you. As you are within 10 days and likely flushing (not mentioned), it probably won't do much for you. The other thing it could do, depending on your air flow and humidity, is decrease your chances of mold. This may not be an issue for you at all, and the picture doesn't show it all, but it's just an observation!