Fan leaves

What happens if you cut the fan leaves off your plant say in the 4th-5th week of flowing?I did so that more light can get to the middle of the plant,but now I think I did more harm then good. Its a red deisel,Honey b<and sweet tooth all fems. Started them 10-29-10 from seeds and flowered about 12-13-10, and clipped the bigger leaves off the plants. will it hurt my girls?

Taking off the fan leave normally slows growth for a few days or so then the plant starts to benefit from the extra light penetration. I wouldnt worry too much. Normally i would take off the leaves a good few at a time but not all at the same time.

This give the plant a little less shock. Remember that less leaves also mean initially slightly less watering as the plant does not resperate the water as quick (as there is not as much surface area). It will so be back up to full speed though as they have a tendancy to be quite good little fighters.

If you have photos, I may be able to advise a little further.

This is only my views, loads of people will probably advise you differently.

yeah its one of them to each his own. everyone is going to have a diferent opinion. i wouldnt personaly cut off any of my fan leaves unless they are damaged. i rotate my plants usially once a week and when i put them back into my flowering tent i move my lower buds around the leaves to let them get light. kind of traning them in place. you will notice to the leaves have a mind of thier own and the plant knows where it needs light. ive had leaves turn almost upside down to get light reflecting of my tent walls.

im with no cutting, nature put them there for a reason......

I grew one and removed the leaves and one without removing them and i must admit there was slightly more on the one with the leaves althought the bud was a little smaller, there was more sites.

Does anybody else shave their balls, look in the mirror and suddenly become a bit more impressed with themselves?

Try it. You'll see what I mean.

Nullis, you're killing me, man. Awesome. I've had way better luck leaving the leaves alone, but a little pruning for airflow is fine. I tried defoliating a couple plants recently, definitely slowed em way down and hurt my numbers. The info I've seen on it says that deleafing is really only effective in very tight spaces with a shitload of light and screen training. I have seen folks who claim doing it during the last week, when the plant isn't really growing but just ripening, will give your bottom buds a chance to firm up. Somebody really oughtta do some real experimentation on this and settle the question already.

The 4th and 5th week of flowering is a TERRIBLE time to prune. Your plant is no longer producing leaves in high quantity like it was during vegetative growth. If you've been pampering your plants the entire grow the stress reaction could force it to herm. Defoliation is best applied between the 2nd week of veg and the 1st week of flowering. There is some evidence that pulling off the dead fan leaves during the last week of flowering has a beneficial effect but this is in contention.

You need all the leaves you can get during that period of growth man. The window to prune is gone by.