Leafy Bud - How much leaf should I leave on?

here's one of my Blue God plants that seemed mature at 58 days of flower. Cut her down, dried it to a slightly crispy point before jarring it. The buds looked thick on the plant when it was green but they really shriveled up after drying. I don't want to cut too much leaf off because the leaves are coated with triches. I used a 600 watt HPS and grew in soil with nutes. The other plants have beafier buds but not so much sugar on the leaf. this one seemed to put most of its sugar on the leaf bud the buds were small, resulting in a very, VERY fluffy bud. opinions?

leaf no matter how much crystal is on it tastes like shit. cut it all off and make hash/kief whatever with it.
the whole purpose is to smoke bud.

Bonzo said:

leaf no matter how much crystal is on it tastes like shit. cut it all off and make hash/kief whatever with it.
the whole purpose is to smoke bud.

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Agreed. It is also a million times easier to trim the buds while they are still wet.

K..thanks for the replies...looks like this plant is going to the butter.

what are the dead yellow leaves for ?

tidy that shit up!

skunkd0c said:

what are the dead yellow leaves for ?

tidy that shit up!

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I read somewhere to leave the yellow ones till they almost fall off, as the plant is drawing nutes from it's fan leafs during the flush. Was I wrong?

Plants will discard leaves as they see fit, no need to trim them off. You are not trying to get light to the buds, you are trying to get light to the leaves which turn the light into energy to produce more/bigger buds.

rocpilefsj said:

Plants will discard leaves as they see fit, no need to trim them off. You are not trying to get light to the buds, you are trying to get light to the leaves which turn the light into energy to produce more/bigger buds.

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Please explain further because to my knowledge if you take a tiny bud that has been under leaf cover and expose it more to the light it will start getting bigger than the others that were not exposed to light. You are correct about the fans dying and falling off, there is no need to cut them off. The only reasons I would ever trim a fan leave during flower is disease or somekind of fungas, also if the leaves are blocking light from bud sights and most of the time I tuck the leave instead of cutting it.

I would love to test that out. Put a semi translucent bag or fabric over the top bud and only allow the fan leaves out. It would need a little light so it doesn't return to veg as a plant kept in darkness for weeks will turn into a scary and sickly looking reveg.

My plants always show me that the parts that get no light don't grow, even when they are high enough for proper auxins. I think a side to side defoliation comparison would be fun.



Anyway, the only time you might consider leaving leaves on when your drying is if your in an extremely dry climate and your too afraid/can't add a humidifier to your drying area. The leaves will help slow the dry by giving the plant a little more water and time to get rid of what it can. But making the bud look pretty after that is tough.

To me, the plant looks a little early cut.

IgrowUgrow said:

Please explain further because to my knowledge if you take a tiny bud that has been under leaf cover and expose it more to the light it will start getting bigger than the others that were not exposed to light. You are correct about the fans dying and falling off, there is no need to cut them off. The only reasons I would ever trim a fan leave during flower is disease or somekind of fungas, also if the leaves are blocking light from bud sights and most of the time I tuck the leave instead of cutting it.

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It is not because you are getting more light to the buds, but because you are getting light to the leaves that were once covered. I tuck my leaves just like you said as well. Nothing is worse than seeing a beautiful plant with all the fan leaves cut off...

Dude those pics are nothing you atleast have some bud under there. What i have is all leaf no bud that i can see and im kinda pissed off because it cost 35 bucks when u got other stuff thats the same price but it actually has some buds.

Basicly i payed for leaf on a stick with crystals u get high but its all leaf dont seem to know why alot of ppl can seem to grow actuall bud.

When ive done some growing ive gotten a couple of colas and hairs orange hairs each time.


You have to prune your plant you cant just stick it in the ground and comeback 6 months later and magicly expect it to be healthy and full of huge buds. You can learn alot from someone who grows roses even.

Its not rocket science its botany.