Trimming fan leafs for the last couple weeks of flower

[flatlander77]

Controversial yes. Most things I've read and seen say your leaves will yellow near the end. I've also read that fan leaves don't do much for your buds, that it's the sugar leaves that help the buds. Tomorrow I think ( or next day ) is the end of its 8th week in flower. Should I do anything for her, like trim the fan leaves?
( she's already been getting straight water for a couple weeks now )


Sent from my iPhone using 420 Magazine Mobile App

 

[LEDBud]

Totally up to you it works both ways with a few things to consider

With a bushy plant the added light may well cause the lower buds to grow larger the same is not true for a tall skinny plant removing its few leaves may do more harm then good depending on if Buds are hidden by leaves or not.

Like you say the plants don't really use the leaves as much in late flower and they don't , they begin to draw nutrients from the leaves to finish flowering. Eventually the leaves drop off dead.

When this happens the buds are going to be well flushed, if the leaves are green the buds will have excess nutrients that will effect the taste and quality.
You can use the leaves as a nutrient level gauge when they are green the plants need to be flushed longer.

So since your waiting for them to turn yellow In theory removing leaves by hand at the end would speed up the flush by removing the reserve.

its about the flavor

Last few grows I harvested with green leaves and the flavor suffered compared to when harvest came after the leaves fell off.

It taste *much* better if you can wait until the leaves turn yellow and fall off.

 

[flatlander77]

it's not a very photogenic plant right now but it's half way in between tall and skinny, and bushy. I stripped the bottom couple feet on week 1-3 of flower. Anything I didn't think would link up, I cut off. ( I shoulda kept pruning cuz tons of spots grew after that. Lots of lighter sized buds but by the time I really paid attention to them they were fluffing up so left em alone ( just for me so they can be small buds, big buds, I really don't care so long as tastes good and takes the edge off )
Which I cut a small bud from the undergrowth that wasn't getting a lot of light, hung it for 24hours ish then nuked in 5 times in 7 second intervals. Taste wasn't retarded bad, little minty with an earthy citrus sorta thing goin on. Racey as a mutha*****. Heart pounding, thoughts racing. It was great! I hate having a smoke then losing all ambition.
Anyways... soooo... wouldn't hurt anything by touching her up a bit Day by day? I obviously won't trim her down all in one day and when she started growing taller she sprouted tri leaves so that's probably all she needs hey? I was having some heat issues for 2 days ( -20 to +15 in less than 48 hours ) so my venting had a struggle so kicked in some more fans but my plant hates hates hates wind. Not as bad now that it's been in flower but in veg it would only tolerate minor shuffling or the leaves would tear or turn colour. But it had a fan basically straight on her for a few days some most the fan leaves feel a lil dry to the touch, not quite crispy and closest to the fan are turning slightly. Wow k this is long enough. Thank you for your help, I'm a total newbie here, learning as I go. Excited for my monstercrops to get into flower.


Sent from my iPhone using 420 Magazine Mobile App

 

[LEDBud]

I would take off some select leaves that are in the way the most of some lower buds maybe 15 or 20 leaves and leave as many as possible to help her finish.

She looks to have 3 to 4 weeks left it still has to grow then swell up its calyxes which are the buds empty seed pods , they make up the bulk of the bud.

Wait for it and you will be rewarded

 

[flatlander77]

I think they are nearing the end of growing and it's started doing something new I noticed today which I'm hoping is the swell. Kinda sorta like little star shaped deals with pistils growing out. The pistils on the very top are starting to turn colour to which has gotta be a good thing. This make sense haha? I figured it would probably take the full 3 months for flower. 2 down n 1 to go think I'll get a 1/4 or more off each those buds? They are all about the same size except 4 are way bigger ( not the tops ) 1.5 times longer and twice as thick. You can kinda see em in the back.


Sent from my iPhone using 420 Magazine Mobile App

 

[LEDBud]

When its all said and done / ripe I think each branch will give you about a 1/4 oz or more in say 4 weeks.

For a real close estimate at harvest you can weigh the wet bud subtract 80% for moisture and get the dried weight.

 

[flatlander77]

Sweet answers that'll put me on or over my target for success. I joked around a bit with my gf in November that i shouldn't be optimistic and should plan for it to be ready for 4:20. Seems I'm on track ish for that by the time it cures n what not. Oh well. Not doin it for the smoke ( just added bonus) I'm enjoying myself. Hard to do these days.


Sent from my iPhone using 420 Magazine Mobile App

 

[flatlander77]

There's not really any reason I need to take off any leaves though. They aren't really hurting anything. Perspiring as she should, no signs of high humidity. Should be quite low but she fills the room so I suck air out with a 24" fan. Seems dry and our ambient air is usually pretty dry. Sealed container so no moisture there ( a haven for gnats though, they don't seem to bother the plant though. They just stay in the roots ) when I water and the overflow kicks water out there's a few dead ones every time. There has been a crazy lady bug infestation the last couple years ( don't hurt anything, ) so I'm going to maybe introduce a bunch of them for my monstercrop. They have em too. Contaminated soil but neem oil didn't work but like I said they don't hurt anything so far.


Sent from my iPhone using 420 Magazine Mobile App

 

[LEDBud]

I had gnats last time what you can do to help reduce them is let the soil in the top of the pots dry out as much as possible rather then keeping it moist.
The gnats lay their eggs in the top of the soil where they hatch then they eat roots later to transform and grow wings to fly off and mate then head back to the soil to lay eggs.

Ive seen pregnant ones buzzing around .. they get huge bellies haha

If they get out of hand you could try removing a few inches of soil off the top and replace it with sand and water as normal , its abrasive on the gnats shells.

 

[flatlander77]

Any advice on removing them from the roots/reservoir? They love the fill tube as well but I've been keeping it plugged so it's wearing em down. They like anti freeze too so kicken the escaping ones down. There's very little exposed dirt, just what's very closest to the trunk. Oh well not to worried but if they get crazy I'll try the sand


Sent from my iPhone using 420 Magazine Mobile App

 

[LEDBud]

I just realized your in dwc for those plants at nutrient change i would dump all the nutrients threw the pebbles hard and fast to blast any eggs and larvae out of the hydroton pebbles then dump the nutes out.

Maybe even use straight water with a low ph to finish the wash out , if the pebbles ph is left at 4 for four hours or so the bugs will not like it.

If you can make their home unhappy they will die or fuk off ..

Thats all the ideas I have for dealing with the pesty little fuckers

edit , I noticed the basket cover on the tote , good idea really

 

[flatlander77]

Earthbox. The top 2/3 is dirt and bottom 1/3 is a water reservoir with a perforated container in the centre of reservoir full of dirt for a wick.


Sent from my iPhone using 420 Magazine Mobile App

 

[LEDBud]

Interesting set up man , a hybrid system neat.

 

[flatlander77]

Ya I haven't been able to find anyone else using it but it's been very lucrative. Never gotta worry about over or under watering. I've got some re vegged clones that will be the guinea pigs for a smaller version.

1 litre containers.


Sent from my iPhone using 420 Magazine Mobile App

 

[flatlander77]

This is guinea pig #1. It's struggling though. I tried to FIM it twice but it wouldn't take. Just stunted it. It's sisters are much much much much bigger but they are in dirt ( a mixture of a bunch of stuff but easiest to say dirt )

it's a lil off track with the extra stress but in theory ( with a healthier plant from the start ) will be able to grow much much bigger without worrying about the roots getting tangled up or watering everyday or every other day.


Sent from my iPhone using 420 Magazine Mobile App

 

[Niklaus420]

When its all said and done / ripe I think each branch will give you about a 1/4 oz or more in say 4 weeks.

For a real close estimate at harvest you can weigh the wet bud subtract 80% for moisture and get the dried weight.

LED just a quick off topic question.

If you can calculate that your dry yield will be 20% of the total wet yield? Can you then use that to determine when your buds are cured enough, and ready to smoke?

Or does it depend on how the individual would like the bud to taste? I'm a new grower about to have my first ever outdoor harvest and just have started an indoor grow. So any tips would help.

Peace

Sent from my SM-A300FU using 420 Magazine Mobile App

 

[LEDBud]

Ive been weighing the wet bud before drying for years and it *always* falls in between 18% and 20% without fail.

18% if you like your Bud a little dry moist for flavor dry enough for storage or 20% if you prefer it moist for a slower cure.

19% could very well be the sweet spot , its very close to perfect at that point.

Try it out next harvest its quite accurate

 

[Mikeytv]

LED just a quick off topic question.

If you can calculate that your dry yield will be 20% of the total wet yield? Can you then use that to determine when your buds are cured enough, and ready to smoke?

Or does it depend on how the individual would like the bud to taste? I'm a new grower about to have my first ever outdoor harvest and just have started an indoor grow. So any tips would help.

Peace

Sent from my SM-A300FU using 420 Magazine Mobile App

Novice grower- on my 3rd.
Offering my thoughts-
The 20% rule is pretty darn accurate regarding final yield. I average 20-25%. I have always dried and cured but my first dried and cured for a fraction of time compared to my last. And I have used my last from one week in cure to going on 10 weeks. I have found the longer the cure the better. But even that makes a difference- where you dry and cure, how you do both... so much to think about- or, just experiment and dry for as long as you think- then wait a day- then cure for as long as you can before you start tasting your harvest. But I like to keep my stuff "aging". I use those little humidity packs in my jars just to make sure it doesn't dry out.


Sent from mikeytv

 

[Niklaus420]

Ive being weighing the wet bud before drying for years and it *always* falls in between 18% and 20% without fail.

18% if you like your Bud nice and dry for storage or 20% if you prefer it moist for a slower cure.

19% could very well be the sweet spot , its very close to perfect at that point.

Try it out next harvest its quite accurate

Awesome. Great feed back! Thanks will definitely try it. What is your take on bulking buds? (Trimming the tips of a flowering plant) kinda like topping a whole plant.

Sent from my SM-A300FU using 420 Magazine Mobile App

 

[LEDBud]

For bulking i would make sure the light is close enough and use a PK supplement of some type. This grow I used GH 0-10-10 liquid Kool Bloom to start off flowering and switched to Remos 0- 6-14 Astroflower midway thru bud to grow them large and sticky.

For trimming buds I think there is not much to be gained although topping branches before buds grow could give you double buds everywhere.
What did you have in mind Nik ?