What causes a Maijuana Bud to grow?

Forming buds is all about reproduction via pistals, caylx's etc... Fan leaves and small sugar leaves are all part of the process. Yes, light is a major factor but so is the rest of the growing plant. If your concerened about light reaching your buds (like so many ppl are), just tuck or tie the fans out of the way. No need to get rid of them as your plant uses them.

yea i agree fan leaves are very important to plant ....good idea about tyin em out of the way

a good rule of thumb is dont remove a leaf unless it is more than 50 percent damaged

Don't ever remove fan leaves before harvest for several reasons.

1. The fan leaves convert and store more energy for the plant than any other leaf. The more energy the plant generates the healthier the buds that is just millions of years of genetics at work.

2. Even if the fan leaves are yellowing in late bloom I do not remove them until they are almost ready to fall off. The yellowing in the fan leaves at late harvest is the plants metabolism at work. She is transferring all stored energy in the fan leaf to bud production. It is the easiest source of energy she has late in life. Once again millions of years of genetics can't be wrong or we wouldn't have weeds to grow now.


From the Growers Bible (Jorge Cervantes)
Leave leaves alone! Removal of healthy leave hacks up a healthy plant. Removing large or shade leaves DOES NOT make plants more productive. This practice DOES NOT supply more light to smaller leaves and growing tips. Plants need all their leaves to produce the maximum amount of chlorophyll and food. Removing leaves slows chlorophyll production, stresses the plant, and stunts its growth. Stress is a growth inhibitor. Remove only dead leaves or leaves that are more than 50 perfect damages.

Are there any REAL scientific experiments out there that says you're not suppose to remove fan leaves? Everytime somebody asks this question, there's always a mixed bag of results.

I ask because when I was growing my mother plant, the bottom fan leaf broke off but the fan leaf on the opposite side was ok. As the days passed, the node where the fan leaf broke off was growing way faster and bigger than the side with the fan leaf still attached. If what people say about not cutting fan leaves off is true, then the node on the side of my mother plant where the fan leaf broke off shouldn't have grown bigger than the side with the fan leaf still attached.

Also, I have a friend who has a non-marijuana plant in his patio that was totally dying. He asked the gardener at his work what to do and the gardener told my friend to trim the bottom leaves off when the top leaves start to shade them. My friend started to do so and the plant is looking healthy as ever.

"Fan leaves produce sugar that is used in bud production. Cutting away the fan leaves may cause bud growth to stunt, resulting in a smaller harvest. The only time to remove fan leaves is when a plant is either dying, badly burnt or the fan leaf is covering a large bud mass. Light is probably the most important factor in bud development and if the fan leaf is preventing light from reaching a bud you will want to remove or tie it back. Refer to the ScrOG section in Chapter 8 for information on clipping fan leaves."

Link

Fan leaves are like the solar panels of the plant. They are photosynthesis sugar factories. Don't remove healthy fan leaves from any plant ever!

im a very big fan of fan leaves

I just let mother nature do it's thing. Most of my fan leaves usually fall off on their own before harvest anyways so I would just let it be unless it's dead anyways.