trimming fan leaves for tops

Mr.Oasis

Mr.Oasis

Active Member
Im currently about 10 weeks into my first grow, just the good ol bag seed surprise for the first go roun'....ive done extensive reading all along my way thus far and this is my first post. I am wondering what the affects would be of thinning a few of the older fan leaves, some of them are beginning to hang to the ground and i feel the undergrowth would prosper without the shade from these leaves. I understand this is where energy is stored but for a plant that i hope never exceeds 4', would it not be better in the end if all my growth branches were mature themselves, bigger buds on those growths i mean.

Ill leave more details if people reply
bare minimum though my plants have apprx 8 nodes, 14" tall, appear healthy, no real concerns in that department, just the thinning it out, i plan to begin flower when they reach about 2'

-a preemptive thanks to anyone who helps the noob out :joint:
 
I

Illegal Smile

Guest
Don't ever trim fan leaves. If they dies, let them fall off. The plant grew them there for a reason. She knows better than you do!
 
Green Cross

Green Cross

Well-Known Member
Mr.Oasis said:
Im currently about 10 weeks into my first grow, just the good ol bag seed surprise for the first go roun'....ive done extensive reading all along my way thus far and this is my first post. I am wondering what the affects would be of thinning a few of the older fan leaves, some of them are beginning to hang to the ground and i feel the undergrowth would prosper without the shade from these leaves. I understand this is where energy is stored but for a plant that i hope never exceeds 4', would it not be better in the end if all my growth branches were mature themselves, bigger buds on those growths i mean.

Ill leave more details if people reply
bare minimum though my plants have apprx 8 nodes, 14" tall, appear healthy, no real concerns in that department, just the thinning it out, i plan to begin flower when they reach about 2'

-a preemptive thanks to anyone who helps the noob out :joint:
Click to expand...
I try to leave the lower fan leaves until they start turning yellow, or looking ragged. The upper fan leaves are the big energy producers
 
nellyatcha

nellyatcha

Well-Known Member
Mr.Oasis said:
Im currently about 10 weeks into my first grow, just the good ol bag seed surprise for the first go roun'....ive done extensive reading all along my way thus far and this is my first post. I am wondering what the affects would be of thinning a few of the older fan leaves, some of them are beginning to hang to the ground and i feel the undergrowth would prosper without the shade from these leaves. I understand this is where energy is stored but for a plant that i hope never exceeds 4', would it not be better in the end if all my growth branches were mature themselves, bigger buds on those growths i mean.

Ill leave more details if people reply
bare minimum though my plants have apprx 8 nodes, 14" tall, appear healthy, no real concerns in that department, just the thinning it out, i plan to begin flower when they reach about 2'

-a preemptive thanks to anyone who helps the noob out :joint:
Click to expand...
if leaves are hanging down to the ground and you been in veg for 10 weeks you need to flower it because it might be a low indica plant so flower it and expect it to double or tripple i flowered mine at 20 inches and its over 5 feet now so it stretches alot bro . and dont bother with the leaves if you want it to grow 10 more inches and your plant is growing slow bro , people veg for 4 weeks and their plants are about a little over 1 foot tall, so try and feed it some nutes bro . hope it helps, but let it do its thing and dont cut those
 
mikeybee

mikeybee

Active Member
ya i'd agree... I've trimmed a few of my fan leaves which were gettin in the way, thinking nothing of it. That is until i read you should just move them aside, or "tangle" them with another branch. I've been flowering for 2 weeks, and cant tell what the sex is still, and i think my trimming the fan leaves had something to do with that
 
Mr.Oasis

Mr.Oasis

Active Member
thanks for all the quick feedback guys, no more trimming will be done, will induce flowering within the week...also, granted this is my first grow, but i have 1 that is absolutely sativa dominant, with the very long finger like leaves, looks nothing like the other 4, is this common for "bagseed" and i dont mean good bud i found a single seed in
 
mikeybee

mikeybee

Active Member
ya, id say it's common for bagseed...

Pappa always said life was like a bag o bagseed.... you never know what your gonna get
 
Mr.Oasis

Mr.Oasis

Active Member
1 other quickie along the same lines....when "tangling" or moving leaves out of the way, does anyone else seem to notice the leaves becoming yellow/damaged at the point where it contacts another surface, be it the leaf, the dirt, or the container itself...i have good air circulation, a steady "breeze" and i feel it beats the leaves to death when they constantly bump into another surface
 
Mr.Oasis

Mr.Oasis

Active Member
not the greatest pic as ive only recently discovered how to get my phone pics onto here without linking to my pc...

but if you look at the bottom (middle back plant) you can see where the growth's are and there are no fan leaves except at the top

it definitely promoted the growth of the brances however im pretty positive it severely stunted the overall growth of the plant as i have another that i started about 3 weeks after the others just to see if i could "learn from my mistakes" without waiting until grow #2, and she has nearly caught up with the others in height as she is the only one i left entirely alone

front and center is ms. au natural, now about 3 times that height in only about 2 weeks

2nd pic is up to date of ms. natty (yes she looks like a he but it cant hurt to hope and wish at this point)
 

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Green Cross

Green Cross

Well-Known Member
I'd say the long lower branches (leaves) are already making up for the lost fan leaves, but I would start pruning those off at some point, because the plant is putting a lot of energy into those lower branches, instead of the top growth. Also those branches will not be able to support themselves later on.

I typically trim lower branches while trying to leave the large fan leaves; it's called lollipopping. Others may disagree
 
Mr.Oasis

Mr.Oasis

Active Member
so my head was in the right place i was just working backwards.....keep the fan leaves and trim the new growths? or the bottom-est atleast

Ill probably be looking to flower in the next 2 weeks, and i have read a little about lollipopping to avoid the underdevloped "popcorn" buds and whatnot

Also, from what ive read it sounds like u want to clone 3-5 nodes up, but since ill be clipping those growths possibly later tonite...would it be worth an attempt to take those clippings and see if i could get them cloned successfully?, then after maybe a week back under the cfl's throw them back in the tent and let them make an attempt at flowering from their small stature? (just for some extra, i mean why not, its all for me anyway)
 
Mr.Oasis

Mr.Oasis

Active Member
A more up to date picture of my children, appox- a month after having clipped about the first 3 sets of fan leaves, as you can see the growth of the lower branches exploded, id hate to think i wasted all the plants energy just to toss it aside, worth a cloning effort?
 
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