# Should I cut the fan leaves a few weeks before I harvest?



## brainwashed (Aug 15, 2011)

I heard someone say they cut all the fan leaves a few weeks before harvest to let the lower buds get some light! Should I trim them up or not?


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## 6ixty 9ine (Aug 15, 2011)

No that's ridiculous, why take away solar panels?


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## Harrekin (Aug 15, 2011)

At harvest just grab the fan leaves as close to the plant stem as possible and just sorta "click" it downwards...you can strip a plant of it fans in a couple of mins and won't be depriving the plant of it's solar panels/"nute sinks" before you need to.


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## toker! (Aug 15, 2011)

watch godbodystyle on youtube he cuts the fan leaves off and new sprouts for buds come up were the leaves were, i was going to cut them off on my last grow and was advised not to my next grow im going to try it


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## ru4r34l (Aug 15, 2011)

toker! said:


> watch godbodystyle on youtube he cuts the fan leaves off and new sprouts for buds come up were the leaves were, i was going to cut them off on my last grow and was advised not to my next grow im going to try it


You will most likely only reduce your harvest by doing this, a few weeks before harvest is usually when you stop feeding nutrients and the plant will pull any required nutrients from those fan leaves. If you remove the fan leaves and feed nutrients right up to harvest may help but will also increase your curing time.

regards,


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## brainwashed (Aug 15, 2011)

Cool I will watch it


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## wbd (Aug 15, 2011)

toker! said:


> watch godbodystyle on youtube he cuts the fan leaves off and new sprouts for buds come up were the leaves were, i was going to cut them off on my last grow and was advised not to my next grow im going to try it


Sorry but I saw that dude's setup and video collection and he's just a ghetto grower who thinks there is a trick to everything, I'm not taking advice like that from a guy who CFL grows 1 plant at a time in his closet. But if you find a new technique that works and can demonstrate some consistency behind it, you be sure and let us know.


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## col. forbin (Aug 15, 2011)

ru4r34l said:


> You will most likely only reduce your harvest by doing this, a few weeks before harvest is usually when you stop feeding nutrients and the plant will pull any required nutrients from those fan leaves. If you remove the fan leaves and feed nutrients right up to harvest may help but will also increase your curing time.
> 
> regards,


I aggree, I would leave all the fan leaves you can. If they drop then fine. I removed too many fan leaves and my plant took longer to finish. Not sure yet about a cure time being effected. I will update when I get an idea on that. My stem was hollow and noodlelike.


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## brainwashed (Aug 15, 2011)

Cool thanks guys. I will just leave it alone. I am gonna have to trim them way better next time.


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## brainwashed (Aug 15, 2011)

Ya that guy was definitely ghetto!


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## kizzzzurt (Aug 16, 2011)

A lot will actually die off by the time that your plant is done flowering. They are supposed to be pruned away. Not ALL of your fan leaves though, this is how your plants get majority of their energy.


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## Harrekin (Aug 16, 2011)

kizzzzurt said:


> A lot will actually die off by the time that your plant is done flowering. They are supposed to be pruned away. Not ALL of your fan leaves though, this is how your plants get majority of their energy.


 Inaccurate statement, a healthy plant wont drop ANY fans and will probably still have green cotyledons (original seed leaves) till the end. If you're using the wrong nutes/they're not getting enough light your plant may drop leaves, but if it recieves everything it needs in the right amount it shouldnt drop any.

Bet you follow feeding schedules to the letter and dont suppliment your plants with any extra N in flowering either, do you? 

*Plants dropping/yellowing leaves being normal is a forum bullshit myth * thats just read once by someone not knowing any better and then spewing it onto others who believe it and then perpetuate the cycle.

Hope this helps


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## toker! (Aug 17, 2011)

wbd said:


> Sorry but I saw that dude's setup and video collection and he's just a ghetto grower who thinks there is a trick to everything, I'm not taking advice like that from a guy who CFL grows 1 plant at a time in his closet. But if you find a new technique that works and can demonstrate some consistency behind it, you be sure and let us know.


im sure yous know a lot more than me i have got one successful grow under my belt im goin to do 2 plants cut some fan leaves off one and leave the other one and see what happens


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## Harrekin (Aug 18, 2011)

toker! said:


> im sure yous know a lot more than me i have got one successful grow under my belt im goin to do 2 plants cut some fan leaves off one and leave the other one and see what happens


All you'll be doing is wasting the yield on one plant...


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## zem (Aug 18, 2011)

i keep feeding my plants up until harvest and after curing, my weed is the best tasting! i only lower the nitrogen levels in later flowering and i don't starve my plants for a whole week when it's actually still putting on weight! i agree that a healthy plant would not drop all its leaves in late flowering. to increase yield, you need the most solkar panbels you can have


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## two2brains (Aug 18, 2011)

When you flush in the last week your letting your plant use up all the stored nutrients. All the fan leaves will turn yellowish by the end of the week as it using them up.

If you want the lower buds to get light then harvest the top cola(s) and let the bottom half go another week or two.


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## dannyboy602 (Aug 18, 2011)

Plants at the end of their grow can look pretty tired. And I've had plants that still looked pretty green. Sometimes too much of something i add in the beginning comes back and haunts me near the end. But its all practice and practice makes perfect.


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## caligreenzzz (Aug 18, 2011)

Harrekin said:


> Inaccurate statement, a healthy plant wont drop ANY fans and will probably still have green cotyledons (original seed leaves) till the end. If you're using the wrong nutes/they're not getting enough light your plant may drop leaves, but if it recieves everything it needs in the right amount it shouldnt drop any.


i learn shit everyday, thanks....got a couple plants @ 9 weeks into flowering, and weird thing is the 1 plant i put in MG is the one with the no yellowing at all....other plants are in FF...could the yellowing also be part of the strain??


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## dirtysnowball (Aug 18, 2011)

its because miracle grow has slow release nutes, your plant is staying healthy because nutes are still being released. just think though, your doing the same thing as all the so called "organic" growers, they cant flush their nutes out just like you. but somehow their weed taste "natural" hahahaha, guess what nitrogen is nitrogen. the N20 from miracle grow is in fact the same atom as the N20 from fox farm! crazy right?! you should just say your bud is organic cuz it will have a more "natural taste", like how it is in the wild.


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## sparky1 (Aug 19, 2011)

i come to the table here as a fool among the wise, but ive NEVER had a plant... *any* plant that didnt have some leaves turn yellow and fall off. you name it... ive grown it. im new to growing cannabis, but my growing experience is life- long with everything else. banana leaves yellow and die off. pepper leaves yellow and die off. papaya leaves yellow and die off. tomato leaves yellow and die off. pole beans leaves yellow and die off. mint leaves yellow and die off. rose leaves yellow and die off. etc... etc...etc. to me i dont see it as a sign of any problems. its just a natural life process of any plant... its going to lose a leaf here and there, and when they get lime green i personally snip them. BUT THATS JUST ME. 
ALL THE BEST GUYS


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## brainwashed (Aug 20, 2011)

That sounds about right Sparky!


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## Harrekin (Aug 20, 2011)

A plant will only drop a leaf if it:
1. needs its stored nutrients because the roots are not taking in more than its using or
2. its not getting enough light, the plant knows its performing inefficiently (due to low CO2 intake) and the plant drops it.

These are pretty much the two criteria for a plant yellowing or dropping a leaf...anything else is grower error.


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## brainwashed (Aug 20, 2011)

Ya but they always drop leaves it is still natural and normal! You could go ask any of the big pot farmers in The Green Triangle they will tell you it is perfectly normal.


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## brainwashed (Aug 20, 2011)

That is where the season Fall comes from


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## brainwashed (Aug 20, 2011)

But you are right


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## wbd (Aug 20, 2011)

Harrekin said:


> A plant will only drop a leaf if it:
> 1. needs its stored nutrients because the roots are not taking in more than its using or
> 2. its not getting enough light, the plant knows its performing inefficiently (due to low CO2 intake) and the plant drops it.
> 
> These are pretty much the two criteria for a plant yellowing or dropping a leaf...anything else is grower error.


So you should be able to locate plenty of pics of plants in week 8 flower with no yellowing at all, yes yes? And some nice green cots?

I would like to be first to see those pics.


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## sparky1 (Aug 20, 2011)

like i said harrekin... i a simple fool hobby grower... lost in a sea of wise men. do it your way if it works for you, its all good!!!
i do it my way... we can meet in the middle as friends, there is alot of grey area to play with. 
my last point is this... the way i see it cannabis is an annual and its only job is to procreate in 1 season then die off completely... anything ive taken out of the woods looked pretty punky by the end of the season... but i think it died happy because it had lived a good, long, FULL life... and it was just its time to go.
do you want to live forever... if you do... you probably havent lived enough life to see and appreciate the cyclic nature of it all
DONT FIGHT CITY HALL... IF IT WORKS FOR YOU WHY CHANGE IT


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## 420God (Aug 20, 2011)

Harrekin said:


> A plant will only drop a leaf if it:
> 1. needs its stored nutrients because the roots are not taking in more than its using or
> 2. its not getting enough light, the plant knows its performing inefficiently (due to low CO2 intake) and the plant drops it.
> 
> These are pretty much the two criteria for a plant yellowing or dropping a leaf...anything else is grower error.


 Dude, you're wrong.


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## 420God (Aug 20, 2011)

Plants leaves yellow and die off as they're not needed by the plant.

Selectively trimming some leaves at certain times can help the yield.

Knowing when and which leaves is something that needs to be learned through experience.


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## sparky1 (Aug 20, 2011)

420... i wish i had your space... l love the tree... but even more so the veggie patch. its good to have a veggie garden.. good for the soul and the stewpot


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## brainwashed (Aug 20, 2011)

Nice plant I wanna do some outdoor grows!


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## Harrekin (Aug 22, 2011)

Im pretty sure the lack of green leaves at the end of flower that 95% of growers have is because:

1. most people dont feed their plants properly (only using bloom foods without supplimenting additional N during flower)
2. most people flush cos they read they were supposed to (even tho its bullshit).

Im telling you a healthy plant will not drop leaves at any stage in its life unless there is a limiting factor causing it to.

The Fall/Autumn analogy doesnt work, leaves fall off perennials to conserve water during the winter (we dont have winter indoors), annuals just die off after reproducing...

Guess it is alot harder to change myths that people have wrongly engrained in their brains...

Theres alot of more experienced growers here that will agree with me, but believe what you want, Ill just continue keeping my plants green, healthy and happy throughout the full duration of their lives


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## canefan (Aug 22, 2011)

Herrikin is spot on!!!! If people would listen more to growers which actually grew plants, not just a small MJ plant grow in a closet. There are many on this site which have tried over and over again explaining biology and botany with little effect. 
Here is a pic of one of my crosses which is about 7 days from harvest.
 

 Granted this may not be the biggest or best plant in the world but she was only 6 inches tall when I set her out to flower. There is no reason in the world if the plant is fed correctly to lose leaves during the grow or for the plant to turn yellow during flower. I think I might have lost 2 or 3 fan leaves during the grow so far which was due to a bug problem.
Feed your plant properly throughout the grow, study up on plant biology and botany and last but not least do not listen to commercials from MJ nute industry all they want is your money.
Sorry for the rant, but this topic goes on endlessly with little being resolved.


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## 420God (Aug 22, 2011)

Harrekin said:


> Im pretty sure the lack of green leaves at the end of flower that 95% of growers have is because:
> 
> 1. most people dont feed their plants properly (only using bloom foods without supplimenting additional N during flower)
> 2. most people flush cos they read they were supposed to (even tho its bullshit).
> ...


 Again, you're wrong. Oh so very wrong.


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## probo24 (Aug 22, 2011)

While I can see some yellowing, and have had some leaves drop, I continue to feed
these two plants. In six days the top buds will be harvested and the bottoms will 
grow and be fed for two more weeks.
Only through trial and error of multiple harvests of this strain did I come to realize
nutrients are best kept in the soil where the roots can use them, not flushed out of it.


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## Harrekin (Aug 22, 2011)

420God said:


> Again, you're wrong. Oh so very wrong.


 Perhaps I'm picking up on it wrong,but what do those pictures have to do with cannabis/this discussion in general? And what does purposeful defoliation have to do with yellowing leaves in flower?


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## 209whitebread (Aug 22, 2011)

Harrekin said:


> Inaccurate statement, a healthy plant wont drop ANY fans and will probably still have green cotyledons (original seed leaves) till the end. If you're using the wrong nutes/they're not getting enough light your plant may drop leaves, but if it recieves everything it needs in the right amount it shouldnt drop any.
> 
> Bet you follow feeding schedules to the letter and dont suppliment your plants with any extra N in flowering either, do you?
> 
> ...


 hay bro i like what you said, i have one question for you, what about the lower leafs if they are touchin the soil or siting on the pot would it hurt to either cut off or pull off?? thanks


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## Harrekin (Aug 22, 2011)

The plant can determine itself if a leaf is performing efficiently and doesn't need anyone's help to do so. 

It knows a leaf is performing inefficiently because with lowered photosynthesis (from lack of light,etc) the plant can detect a lowered level of CO2 intake in that leaf and it will drop it.

But if you reread my original post,I said a healthy plant receiving all it needs will not drop/yellow any leaves,however in the scenario above there's a number of limiting factors that the grower should be able to mitigate. 

If not,then it's grower error...simple as!

If your leaves are discolouring/getting mildew or mold from sitting on wet soil they SHOULD be removed,as this could cause systemic damage to the plant,not just a slight loss in yield.


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## Harrekin (Aug 22, 2011)

Btw,seems 420God should stfu giving bad advice considering this time last year he posted this: https://www.rollitup.org/introduce-yourself/355944-new-member-first-time-grower.html


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## 209whitebread (Aug 22, 2011)

thats why i wanted to just cut a couple leaves from the bottom ones that wer touching soil to prevent any kind of mold or anything else, i posted a few pics , check them out under indoor growing n feel free to drop any comments you have, thanks for the help


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## 420God (Aug 23, 2011)

Harrekin said:


> Btw,seems 420God should stfu giving bad advice considering this time last year he posted this: https://www.rollitup.org/introduce-yourself/355944-new-member-first-time-grower.html


 First grow of marijuana, I've been a farmer for years.

Here's some more of my marijuana grows since you want to dig up old threads.


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## Harrekin (Sep 8, 2011)

420God said:


> First grow of marijuana, I've been a farmer for years.
> 
> Here's some more of my marijuana grows since you want to dig up old threads.


No offense dude...but ANY idiot can veg large plants outdoors (especially if it's in the ground)...wait till it starts flowering heavily then show us some pics?

And the small foxtailed indoor buds don't prove anything either. 

I posted the facts a few pages back,stop misleading new growers telling them that their plants should yellow and drop leaves in flower...if YOU cant keep them green then that's YOUR problem...but it doesn't make it normal.


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## rocpilefsj (Sep 8, 2011)

420God said:


> First grow of marijuana, I've been a farmer for years.
> 
> Here's some more of my marijuana grows since you want to dig up old threads.


That much yellowing is not normal... After many years of trying different things I am now able to keep my girls green right up until I chop, I can count on one hand how many leafs I pull off throughout an entire grow cycle. Pulling off leaves at any point is counter productive.


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## shizz (Sep 8, 2011)

420God said:


> Again, you're wrong. Oh so very wrong.


 i havre to agree with you. my outdoor crop of the same strain drops leavesall the time cause i cant care for them like the ones n side and the ones inside never drop leaves.


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## LDA (Oct 14, 2015)

I'm a new member to this forum I know this is an old subject. I had a friend ask me the same question. Since I have a lot of experience with plants I will explain why the yellowing. 1) lack of light 2)lack of water 3) heat cold or hot Temps can cause chlorosis. Hence fall is when leaves will drop due to cold Temps and the plant preparing for winters. 4) lack of nutrients. 5) pests. So why do we see lots of yellowing leaves before harvest. Well most people use a flush tech. Which is caused by 1,2,3,4. I have tasted plants that are not flushed and plants that are. IMO plants that are flushed good tend to have a smoother taste. Also the burn is good and ash turns white. If not flushed you can get some snapping and crackling of the smoke. Also it is harsh. Since there is still salts and heavy nutes in the plant. I know this is crazy but a like to add Epsom salts 4 weeks before harvest. Then on the second week do a complete flush. The Epsom salt (magnesium sulfate) helps the plant absorb more nuts out of the ground and helps boost the plant before a true flush. Just some info. Peace


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## nicefellow (Oct 13, 2018)

brainwashed said:


> I heard someone say they cut all the fan leaves a few weeks before harvest to let the lower buds get some light! Should I trim them up or not?


Trim em all off 96 hours before harvest, then give em 24 hours dark less bud but many more triches so great for hash


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## thomasvscott (Sep 14, 2019)

I have been growing outdoors in Oregon for years... my plants are green and lush at all times. Good soil mix and chicken shit. No fertilizer, no schedules, nothing but plant and wait. As far as cutting fans? 4 weeks into an 8 week flower cycle I cut them all off. Buds and sugar leaves and that's it. My yield per plant is over 500 grams. There is zero science to growing weed....its a weed!! My crop is potent, smooth and tasty.


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## Hawaiifire420 (Sep 24, 2019)

When I first moved to Hawaii my friend would always rip TONS of leaves off plant as it was starting flower. I would argue with him no reason to do that , can only hurt the plant by removing them. 

Well now I also remove some leaves everyday of flower when I check plants. I do not go overboard like he did but I do remove fan leaves. I shoot for the ones that seem to be blocking light from my buds

All in all I have seen 0 difference in plants healthy/ happiness. However nor can I say it has increased yield at all. 

It def allows more light to the inner and lower parts of plant tho.


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## Powertech (Sep 24, 2019)

toker! said:


> watch godbodystyle on youtube he cuts the fan leaves off and new sprouts for buds come up were the leaves were, i was going to cut them off on my last grow and was advised not to my next grow im going to try it


If new sprouts are starting then you are taking energy away, would like to know who this is so I can be sure to never follow their advice. New bud sites a few weeks before harvest won’t be worth anything


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