How much damage can a set of fan leaves sustain and still "work" for the plant?

Hey Folks!

This is kind of a sad post. Had some ph lockout issues combined with wicked heat stress, and it burned the top layer of fan leaves on one of my two plants. The other plant, which did not have lockout issues, sustained the heat stress just fine.

I would show pics of the damaged plant, but I've switched them to 12/12 because they're more than 20 inches high and would soon outgrow the tent, and they're zipped up for the night.

However, most of those top sets of fan leaves are a total mess. Some are 98% brown and crisped, with just the veins still green. Can they still serve a purpose? If not, I'd like to take them off to get some light to lower branches that need to step up now.

And then I have the ones that are 90% damaged, 80% damaged, 70%, 60%, 50%, 40%, etc.

My feeling if they're 10% damaged is don't touch them. 30% damaged, just trim off the damaged part if it's localized to one section of the leaf. But what about 60%? 80%?

At what point can the leaf no longer function as it needs to and should just be taken off to make more room for growing leaves?

Also, I'm guessing I should just cut them where the leaves meet their stem, not down by the stalk, so that there's still opportunity for a bud to develop by the stalk.

I've changed my venting system and am doing a 24 hour florakleen flush, then starting again. The girls (and I do believe they're girls) are just 4 weeks old, but are already 20 and 22 inches high and mega busy. They completely fill the 2x3 footprint of the tent. Calyxs were just starting to show before this disaster. And after two days on 12/12 I might be seeing hairs but I need a few more days to be sure.

So I think she'll make it. Middle leaves and lower leaves are normal. Just want to know what to do with the top leaves that may not be useful anymore.

Thanks!
KG

I would cut the worst ones atleast, maybe with 60-70% damage or more (of course pics would help a lot). Try to press the worst ones downwards gently with your finger, they should just fall off cleanly from the stem. And like you said, I'd also keep the ones with minor damage.

Thanks! New growth from yesterday to today is fresh and green. If she continues to grow, these damaged leaves will end up around the middle of the plant, so it probably won't be a big deal. I will see if they end up blocking light or not. I meant to take pics today but didn't. My bad! I'll give it a day or two and then I think the really damaged ones will just fall off with light touching, like you suggest. Thanks again!

I usually let my leaves stay on until the plant kills them off ( that is unless I'm topping or dimming etc). Give em a lil tug, if they come off the plant is done with em

JohnBaked said:

I usually let my leaves stay on until the plant kills them off ( that is unless I'm topping or dimming etc). Give em a lil tug, if they come off the plant is done with em

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Thanks for your input! It's one of those areas where I want to "help" the plant, but maybe leaving it alone is the best help there is.

I'd been wondering the same thing! Thanks for asking. I think the 60-70% damage rule sounds good. I'm going to adopt it myself.