Anything in Italic is from an article I read,
about an article in High Times, about a book;
the book is about getting '3' _ yes, 3 per light...
cost of book = 500$ (lol,lol,lol)
What do people think about the method of -Fan Leaf Removal- to increase yield?
One of the keys to reaching that 3-pound benchmark, Haupt says, is the “schwazze.
Haupt picked up the term from his mentor: It denotes the practice of removing every single fan leaf on day one of flowering. Then the plant is schwazzed again in the third week of flowering.
“You’re looking for optimum light penetration through the canopy,” Haupt says. “Not only that, you’re refocusing the plant’s energy toward the top to generate new growth. When you schwazze your plants, you’re removing a lot of their ability to uptake sugar. The fan leaves are sugar factories and feed the flower. When they’re removed, you now have to feed the plant all that sugar and the micro/macro nutrients.”
How do people support the plant supplementally after removing the sugars made available by fan leaves? Without spending a life savings on crazy expensive nutrient lines???
The article about the book says things like this:
"...he says, that he perfected his technique, which he describes as a “nine-spoke wheel.”
“Those nine spokes,” he explains, “are temperature, humidity, CO2, room dynamics, genetics, food, water, manicuring and pruning, and, of course, TLC. All of these play into your yield. Once you understand how they need to be applied, ... from seed all the way to the finished flower. But if you remove any of these spokes, the wheel won’t roll as smoothly.”
I say... Ok. Ok.
all of that is going to make a difference either way.
You need everything above to be perfect for even '1' a light.
Lets get to the point!
The guy in the article warns about nutrient and sugar depravation:
When you schwazze your plants, you’re removing a lot of their ability to uptake sugar. The fan leaves are sugar factories and feed the flower. When they’re removed, you now have to feed the plant all that sugar and the micro/macro nutrients.”
I want to believe the hype because this is not the first time I have heard of this idea.
You need to know what your doing...
I am worried about the sugar loss from large fan leaves.
Because of things like this from other source's I am very hesitant:
To maximize your yield, you need to help a plant focus on bud production. Upper canopy leaves get the most light, meaning they will have the best photosynthesis.
Older fan leaves produce lots of sugars, given the right light, more so than new, smaller leaves at the top. Giving them more light by removing young leaves that block their light source can be better than removing them. However, leaves at the top of the plant will naturally have more chloroplasts, giving them greater efficiency. The best practice is a solid upper canopy and removal of most, if not all lower leaves.
Because sugar is produced in the leaves, this is where it is most highly concentrated. Sugars move to where they are being absorbed the most, like electricity.
This means that older leaves, which create more sugars than they require, spread the excess towards other areas of the plant. New leaves take in sugars from older leaves since they need more than they can make at first. Buds use more sugar than any other part of a plant.
So my concern: If I take away the old fan leaves, I take away sugars stores from the plant. Those excess sugar stores are 'sugar distribution sites" for the newly forming flowers. If I rip them off, and "back branch"; I am both shocking the plant by light, shocking it by cutting back lower growth, and tkaing away the sugar stores and ability to distribute excess sugars. Maybe
The I was reading up on the internet and found this. The below is about the ability for a plant to 'uptake' sugars as glucose.
Okay, so a little biochemistry lesson: Plants do not uptake complex sugars. Even sucrose (contained in white granulated table sugar) is not something a plant will have an easy time processing. To put my point in layman's terms, "you've got to boil your sugar for 5 minutes to break down the sucrose into glucose, the simplest form of carbohydrate if you want your plant to be able to assimilate it". I am not saying molasses will not help "your nugs bulk up". The truth is actually quite the opposite. However, the prime function of molasses is to stimulate the propagation of beneficial microbials in the soil. Molasses will notably increase plant nutrient uptake, but if you want to benefit from a carbohydrate growth boost, boil your sugars in clean filtered water for 5 minutes. I use brown sugar because of the molasses contained in brown sugar, but that's largely because I don't use molasses. I use sugar solutions during weeks 4-8 on a 10 week cycle. Anywhere from 1.5 and 3 Tbsp/gallon is what I've noticed people using, but I use 1.5 Tbsp/Gallon. *NOTE Do NOT, I repeat, DO NOT water your plants with boiling water. Not to say you would, just sayin'.
Just wondering what other people out here think of all this...
Thanks
