Should I leave these leaves until they die completely or should I remove
them. Thank you
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Why not flower them out? You have grown them this big….
Oh, I must read more carefully, you meant defoliate. Not toss out the plants. I never used to defoliate, but I have become more of a fan of pinching the bigger fan leaves. Mainly as pest prevention and to avoid moisture traps. Extra leaves trap the humidity and can cause small pockets of microclimates for powdery mildew to jump on. It is always present in the air. Especially if you have had it before in your grow. I don’t bother too much until early flower unless it was a particularly leafy variety. Some of the Sativa leaning phenos are leafy messes. Especially the real thin blades leaf types.
If the extra leafs are touching the walls, each other’s soil line, holding leaf hands, etc. They act like a bug ladder or life boat. I definitely have become a little more heavy handed with the defoliating. I believe the consensus is to hold off to 30 percent at one session.
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I would let the plant pull everything they can out of them they feed from the leaves
I am pickin up what you be laying down. Gracious & Thank you Sir
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@Rusty From this angle it looks awful thick in there… I would take out a bunch of those big fan leaves blocking light to the lower and interior and also it will allow air flow. Yes it looks so good when it is full like that but as @Noddykitty said those big leaves can cause moisture buildup. Not to cross @Daddy1971 about they need them he is right …more so when young but as they age they don’t need as many. If I remember right you are doing DWC and if so you girls will have no problem with the hair cut…remember no more than 30% pruning at a time from each plant and just the big fan’s… leave the smaller ones…
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@Rusty ok I just noticed in your picture you have plants with nice buds and some with no flower indication…and I see a black leaf in the back ground that I would be concerned about what caused that…am I seeing this correctly???
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Yes I do have different age plants. That plant was born Aug. 17 , in week 6? of bloom. There is a really nice cola or two hidden . I just got thru at the barber shop. What ya think?
I try not to trim on them once they start budding. The Sept. 17 born are all but budding. Week 3 maybe
@Rusty I am looking at the trunks, those look nice and these plants should give you good results. Looks so much better wait a day and if they don’t complain take a few more of those bigger fans off they take more from the plant than they give her
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@Rusty I used to have that same opinion to not trim hardly anything once flower started. I based that on years of growing in dirt where the plant would step back after a trim. But I have found that in DWC I can trim right up to harvest day
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That is a good little piece of knowledge I needed.
Oh I just went through this. I’m new farmer, third crop. Last crop I was nipping fan leaves for most any reason, and wondered if I’d wasted nutrition the plant could’ve recovered.
This crop I’m trying to settle a few issues. One issue is the fan leaves. Well I’m now of the opinion that a well fed and lighted plant will produce laves it sure doesn’t need indoors in a supplement fed environment.
What it does need desperately is a temperature and moisture gradient between the air and the ground. It has no pump, so it’s critical. Too many shade leaves especially indoors, will swamp or suffocate the plant. Lose some larf and fans, point a small clip fan right at their former spot down low, and watch the water evaporate off the soil top. Do that, it’s like kicking it’s pumping ability up a notch, and it feeds itself and is happy.
Funny story. After I’d relieved fan leaf congestion and restored air flow and evap, in only hours, the long, skinny leaves ringing colas were raised in what looks like arms outstretched to the light. They tell me that’s a happy plant. It’s also stayed green longer, and not fully ripened as fast. I believe it’s all a matter of balance, and identifying and fixing the right things.
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Me myself i leave all my big leaf’s all the way til i flip then i start getting rid of the ones that block the lights and i also give little feeding before pulling leafs
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