My question is this. I have had a few grows. 1 decent one and a few poor ones. my best one so far, I cleaned the plants right before flower and then never touched them again as far as cutting anything off. I managed 1lb per 1000w light. I know that it is possible to do better. I would like to get quality flowers on the lower bud sites. however if I dont remove some of the fan leaves this will not happen. Is it possible to take some of the larger fan leaves of that are blocking light from lower sites, without screwing up the overall yield? or should I just remove any arms that will not get good light? the girls are in the 11th day of flower right now, if that helps.
Fan leaves? remove or not
- Thread starter Ramon66
- Start date
purrrrple
Well-Known Member
I've answered this question a few times this week on various threads.
Without knowing what type of system you are running, plant numbers, light size, strain etc. it is tough to give a desicive answer.
I can tell you a few things though. Try to leave as many leaves as possible. Try bending them or manipulating them out of the way if possible. Also you can cut SOME of the leaf off, leaving about 60% in tact so the leaf can still function. You need these leaves for a number of reasons. They store nutrients, and create sugars. They are essential for the plant to photosynthesize.
I am also going to be starting a new thread on plant numbers and canopy management, so be sure to check for that.
One thing that many people overlook, and is very important to consider is YOUR PLANT AND ITS STRUCTURE AND GROWTH PATTERN. A short stout indica and a tall lengthy sativa will need different amounts of space both vertically and width wise to grow.
When growing in a SOG (or even single plants for that matter), it is important to consider your plant structure. This is important because (like your said), improper canopy management leads to shaded budsites. Shaded budsites are a shame because 1. It was a waste of time growing these sites, all to have them shaded or cut off. 2. because the plant wastes energy focusing on these shaded sites, instead of on the larger top nugs. 3. because you have to do intense pruning which sometimes leads to stress or diminished yields or quality.
For all these reasons it is important to find the best method for growing your plant. Sativas can be packed together with the pots touching and the light can still penetrate through because of the open, lanky structure of the plant.
An Indica on the other hand (which if i had to guess, would be what your growing) can sometimes be more tricky. I grew really short stout indicas with huge fan leaves. The leaves basically shaded almost the entire plant and left me with the same problem as you. I would have 4' plants with the bottom 2 feet cut off. Seems stupid to waste all that time just to cut it off right?
Sooo... what did i do? For large plant setups i would top early and LST the plant into a little bonzai tree. The most successful method though was quadrupling my plant numbers and going from 3 gallon pots to 6'' squares. I would flower much smaller 9''-11'' plants and get MUCH better results. Each plant would yield SLIGHTLY less than the 4' plants, but i got all primo large colas that were much higher quality than all those little popcorn "bagfiller" buds i used to get off the bottoms of my 4'ers. I found that my plants could use there energy on those fewer brances, and although my plants were much smaller, my bags were filled with MUCH bigger HIGHER QUALITY buds.
Sometimes i get a little long winded and go crazy, but i hope this helps you a little bit.
Oh, and to answer your question. I would first try manipulating the leaves out of the way. Then secondly, cut in half the leaves that are still blocking you up. And finally cut off any budsites that still are not getting good light.
Good luck, and good growing
bobonthewater202
Active Member
i concu!!i grow mostly indica that are short i only cut off the water leaves when the go deficicient towards the end of flowering then ill cut them off if there really yellow or spotty when i cut the tops off them i reajust the light on the lower half thats still growing. it works well because then u can (if u go room) move more plants back in to flower and since there shorter it works great.
skunkman98536
Well-Known Member
shud i cut my arm off?
racerboy71
bud bootlegger
only if your legs aren't getting enough sun.. lmao...
reggaerican
Well-Known Member
thats a mouth full but i agree the leaves should only b cut off when when flowerig the fan leaves r what collects all thos magical rays of sunshine that helps nurish your plants. " dont do it " another good point that was made was cutting the top when finished and giving the lower branches another couple weeks. peaceI've answered this question a few times this week on various threads.
Without knowing what type of system you are running, plant numbers, light size, strain etc. it is tough to give a desicive answer.
I can tell you a few things though. Try to leave as many leaves as possible. Try bending them or manipulating them out of the way if possible. Also you can cut SOME of the leaf off, leaving about 60% in tact so the leaf can still function. You need these leaves for a number of reasons. They store nutrients, and create sugars. They are essential for the plant to photosynthesize.
I am also going to be starting a new thread on plant numbers and canopy management, so be sure to check for that.
One thing that many people overlook, and is very important to consider is YOUR PLANT AND ITS STRUCTURE AND GROWTH PATTERN. A short stout indica and a tall lengthy sativa will need different amounts of space both vertically and width wise to grow.
When growing in a SOG (or even single plants for that matter), it is important to consider your plant structure. This is important because (like your said), improper canopy management leads to shaded budsites. Shaded budsites are a shame because 1. It was a waste of time growing these sites, all to have them shaded or cut off. 2. because the plant wastes energy focusing on these shaded sites, instead of on the larger top nugs. 3. because you have to do intense pruning which sometimes leads to stress or diminished yields or quality.
For all these reasons it is important to find the best method for growing your plant. Sativas can be packed together with the pots touching and the light can still penetrate through because of the open, lanky structure of the plant.
An Indica on the other hand (which if i had to guess, would be what your growing) can sometimes be more tricky. I grew really short stout indicas with huge fan leaves. The leaves basically shaded almost the entire plant and left me with the same problem as you. I would have 4' plants with the bottom 2 feet cut off. Seems stupid to waste all that time just to cut it off right?
Sooo... what did i do? For large plant setups i would top early and LST the plant into a little bonzai tree. The most successful method though was quadrupling my plant numbers and going from 3 gallon pots to 6'' squares. I would flower much smaller 9''-11'' plants and get MUCH better results. Each plant would yield SLIGHTLY less than the 4' plants, but i got all primo large colas that were much higher quality than all those little popcorn "bagfiller" buds i used to get off the bottoms of my 4'ers. I found that my plants could use there energy on those fewer brances, and although my plants were much smaller, my bags were filled with MUCH bigger HIGHER QUALITY buds.
Sometimes i get a little long winded and go crazy, but i hope this helps you a little bit.
Oh, and to answer your question. I would first try manipulating the leaves out of the way. Then secondly, cut in half the leaves that are still blocking you up. And finally cut off any budsites that still are not getting good light.
Good luck, and good growing
reggaerican
Well-Known Member
i have been playing around with the single cola style for a couple rounds now and my yeild per sq.mtr has literally doubled my tallest plant went from 2.5' to 18" im stoked at the results!!! and its just a little more work involved in this method well worth it all big buds nothing smaller than 1.5g and less than half the trim time. AMEN to that brother