Should I trim up my Fan Leaves??

A lot of odd advice in this thread. Fan leaves are used to gather as much sunlight (this is more true with outdoor plants) as possible and to store chloraphyll and other nutrients, and that being said if you're indoors you most certainly should trim your fan leaves. Indoor light is not nearly as abundant as what the sun does for plants, so you have to accommodate this by tending to your plants needs. If you have enough light for ALL your plants no matter how bushy they get, then good for you, but I know a majority of indoor growers aren't working with an abundance of light.
Trimming bottom fan leaves provides your plants node regions with light and your other leaves are still gathering all the light being produced. Do not trim all, and especially do not trim fan leaves high on your plant, but if it's getting TOO bushy and it's stopping too much light from getting all over your plant then have at it; trimming is an important part of any garden. Why is the idea that trimming fan leaves means less light received a real piece of advice here?

also leaves or lower growth that don't get light is just wasted energy. trim those off and the plant will redirect its energy where needed most. at the tops

I think the best thing you can do is take advice from all of these posts and experiment with your own plants.

I've certainly found that by removing certain fan leaves (particularly the huge bottom ones) then the light hitting the bottom of the plant encourages more growth at the bottom of the plant. With strategic planning you can tie certain nodes away from the main stem to encourage them to use all the light/space, thus helping to grow as many decent bud sites as possible.

As most people have mentioned though, cutting should be a last resort and if you can tie something out of the way instead then that's preferable.

With the photo you showed us, personally i would grab the top of the main stem and tie that thing right down to the side of the pot. Then tie the nodes down around the pot so they all get decent light.

Good luck.

Doomah said:

I think the best thing you can do is take advice from all of these posts and experiment with your own plants.

I've certainly found that by removing certain fan leaves (particularly the huge bottom ones) then the light hitting the bottom of the plant encourages more growth at the bottom of the plant. With strategic planning you can tie certain nodes away from the main stem to encourage them to use all the light/space, thus helping to grow as many decent bud sites as possible.

As most people have mentioned though, cutting should be a last resort and if you can tie something out of the way instead then that's preferable.


With the photo you showed us, personally i would grab the top of the main stem and tie that thing right down to the side of the pot. Then tie the nodes down around the pot so they all get decent light.

Good luck.

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I like your advice about experimenting cause there are so many variation and styles so its whichever way work for that individual and their situation. not all trimming is bad as some people might assume. i won't get into the whole debate but what i do that work for me is to trim accordingly (timing with the grow stage) and LST them. so i do i little of both. I have tried many and this approach seem to best work for me.

I would definitely agree with the experimentation, even though I go with LST rather then trimming that is my personal preference...most people on here get their opinions from experimenting, so go ahead and have at it, and some pics of the process would be a bonus