Who removes fan leaves?
- Thread starter jr215
- Start date
Civil.Dis0bedience
Active Member
Uhm..im not an expert from what ive read the fan leaves are the solar panels of the plant. They take in light and turn it into and store food for your buds. I also remember Jorge saying in one his grow vids to LEAVE THE LEAVES!..hope this helps..leave your fan leaves on there than show your friends your much bigger harvest.
Dinosaur Bone
Active Member
IF you want to have fewer "solar panels" soaking up light, and giving less energy to the plant..... then go for it. Some say to thin a few of them out IF they are shading out a bottom bud.... not that the bud needs light, but the leaves sticking out of the buds {"trim leaves"} presumably the energy they create goes right into the bud next to it.
How much do the bottom buds have going for them anyway??? They don't have apical dominance, or much auxin to speak of.... they finally show up and start developing 3-4 weeks after your apical dominant top buds/colas are well along.
Say your have a large pack of dogs, do you give all your dogs less food [big dogs like St. Bernards, Irish Wolfhounds, Great danes..] so that a couple of teacup chihuahua's get just a little more??
IF the plant decides that it doesnt need that leaf anymore.... thats when I remove it. KISS
How much do the bottom buds have going for them anyway??? They don't have apical dominance, or much auxin to speak of.... they finally show up and start developing 3-4 weeks after your apical dominant top buds/colas are well along.
Say your have a large pack of dogs, do you give all your dogs less food [big dogs like St. Bernards, Irish Wolfhounds, Great danes..] so that a couple of teacup chihuahua's get just a little more??
IF the plant decides that it doesnt need that leaf anymore.... thats when I remove it. KISS
303
Well-Known Member
Strange analogy, you lost me bubbles.
I wouldn't take fan leaves unless they're yellowing or dying, like lower parts of your plants in flowering. Rarely in veg tho. I think if your focusing on top growth lollipoping is debatable whether its beneficial or not which isn't just fan leaves you remove....
Dinosaur Bone
Active Member
It makes sense to some people.
So much so, that they go defoliating the plant. Removing the energy producers, [which makes less energy available to the whole plant], to somehow get more energy to a tiny bottom bud.
Taking off half your leaves makes as much sense as switching out your bulb for one that's a lower wattage.
How come nobody recommends cutting back the wattage, and amount of available light to make bottom buds bigger??? Its the same thing.
valley grower
Active Member
I agree on leaving them. shade leaves or water leaves whatever u want to call them store nutes for your plants. the only ones i remove r the ones that turn yellow after time. also when u r flushing your plants will take any leftover nutes from those healthy shade leaves still.
Brick Top
New Member
Leaves are not only 'solar collectors," they are also 'factories' where essential carbohydrates are produced that are then both used for current needs and stored for future use.
Brokenneck
Well-Known Member
I love the debate. 
In my situation I am wondering...
I have a small growing space, If when my plants are shorter and younger if I should trim a leaf now and then would it help get light to the lower bud sites that are developing.
I do not want to get too tall, and I would like to count on the lower branches for some kind of yield.
Like a lot of farmers I see the fan leaves as solar panels to collect energy.
If I trim a large light obstructing leaf (that should be replaced in 7-10 days)
would the lower bud sites or branches receive a benefit from the extra light, OR would the loss of that Solar Panel hinder growth overall?
I am not asking about Pruning, Trimming or anything on a scale so great.
Asking about 1 Leaf, each side.
What's your take?
In my situation I am wondering...
I have a small growing space, If when my plants are shorter and younger if I should trim a leaf now and then would it help get light to the lower bud sites that are developing.
I do not want to get too tall, and I would like to count on the lower branches for some kind of yield.
Like a lot of farmers I see the fan leaves as solar panels to collect energy.
If I trim a large light obstructing leaf (that should be replaced in 7-10 days)
would the lower bud sites or branches receive a benefit from the extra light, OR would the loss of that Solar Panel hinder growth overall?
I am not asking about Pruning, Trimming or anything on a scale so great.
Asking about 1 Leaf, each side.
What's your take?
stoneyluv
Well-Known Member
I did a side by side... one I left alone, two I removed about half and one a striped pretty good...... The one I left alone yielded much more(all the same strain). DON'T do it man.... leave em on there.... lights on the buds don't make em grow, lights on the leaves do...
jr215
Member
Thank you all. That settles it. I will not remove leafs from my plants. I have one hybrid that has hardly any leaves on it and looks like I robbed it, but that's how it grew. I have others that look like a rain forest. My 600 watt light has a brabd new bulb so I'm sure it's pumping out enough lumens to light up the buds.
there is a way to have your cake and eat it too...
if you need light toward the lower plant.. BEND the upper branched out of the way.. you can (pinch the branch *use one a little smaller then a pencil and up_* then move it and then brace it with wire or whatever.. I saw this youtube vid and it worked great.. I was pretty nervous at first since it is my 1st plant and only bent one branch a week to not stress the plant... but I am sure someone will say it's not going too..
if you need light toward the lower plant.. BEND the upper branched out of the way.. you can (pinch the branch *use one a little smaller then a pencil and up_* then move it and then brace it with wire or whatever.. I saw this youtube vid and it worked great.. I was pretty nervous at first since it is my 1st plant and only bent one branch a week to not stress the plant... but I am sure someone will say it's not going too..
DST
Well-Known Member
I am not aware of supercroping stressing out plants, but then gioua said pinch the branch, not the fan leaf. I bend my plants, I snap em (within reason, lol), I train them, and they say, "thanks Dad, look I am growing fat breasts now so I can get rid of my training bra." I have never had them say, "Wow, look at the fat nutsac I have grown after you trained me". But that's just in my experience. And I have done this several weeks into flowering with no ill effects.
I agree, do not remove fan leaves, done it before after chatting with someone on RIU, and so absolutely no benefit. Yes, I am the guy that would jump off the bridge if you did as well, lol.
I agree, do not remove fan leaves, done it before after chatting with someone on RIU, and so absolutely no benefit. Yes, I am the guy that would jump off the bridge if you did as well, lol.
Brimi
Well-Known Member
A very cool experiment could be to shade the buds so only the leaves would get the light. If the plant was in a cardboard box and the leaves were trained/tugged outside. If buds still grew nice and big we would know, that the fan leaves indeed provide all necessary energy. (i'm convinced that removing fan leaves is an old myth, so don't do this experiment for me). I would only remove a solarpanel if it was broken or causing air to not flow free. I'm pretty sure this is what all true "gardeners" would do.
The fan leaves are really the "factories" of the plant. This is where the energy is collected and removing it just don't make any sense - just like removing a solar panel from the rough will not give you extra energy because the sun now hits the rough directly.
The fan leaves are really the "factories" of the plant. This is where the energy is collected and removing it just don't make any sense - just like removing a solar panel from the rough will not give you extra energy because the sun now hits the rough directly.
I dont know about shading the buds... Technically I see the point... I would not cover it 100% but perhaps using a darker pair of panty hose over the bud would allow some light and the normal ammt of air.. worth a try for one-2 buds I guess...
I had been planing on cutting some of the fan leaves out till I read this thread.. I have built 100% darkness bariiers with chicken wire and mylar it worked great and using older water bottles cut in half I put them over smaller clones..at night only seems to help them a bit..
Hupomone
Active Member
If there was no reason for them to be there then they wouldn't be there. Training your growth is one thing. Removing all your fan leaves is just ridiculous. If someone were to do enough research and have concrete evidence that removal of the leaves has a major beneficial affect to the plant I would be the first one to take on new technology, but as of right now I don't see anyone coming out with that information so I stick to the tried and true: K.I.S.S.