Pruning - When do you take all the leaves off?

Ol'Skool said:

Look at it this mate, a Grower leaves the leafs on and a CULTIVATOR cuts them off very periodically, all of them!
Cultivating is very rewarding but also very time consuming.

Personally i cut mine every day or two. This is the difference between average yields and excellent yields.

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You're correct. Cutting off the leaves prematurely guarantees average yields, while leaving them on provides excellent yields. Get with the program.

When do I take leaves off??? Never. I let the plant decide which ones it doesn't need. Keeps things simple.

Agreed, well said.

reggaerican said:

i think pruning fan leaves durring flower is about the worst thing you can do to a plant.. some people do it so light will reach the lower buds, well i say if your concerned your not getting enough light to the lower branches cut off the whole darn branch!! the tops will get bigger if you do and way less trimming later..

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correct, let nature take its course, even if they are crinkled, let them fall off. Those leaves help yield and feed the buds.... happy growing bud..

Dinosaur Bone said:

When do I take leaves off??? Never. I let the plant decide which ones it doesn't need. Keeps things simple.

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the plant with the fan leaves taken off looks pathetic. Tiny ass buds. Does this question even need to be asked?

you want to keep yellowing drooping leaves because those act like a liver, take absorb in toxins and excess nutrients so your nugs dont get burnt from ferts. Let them stay until they are "dead"

Common Sense huh?!?! Common sense could just as easily tell me that the plant is wasting its energy and nutrients to maintain the dying leaf rather than generating a lil extra energy w/ the lil bit of green its got left (if it has any). Green= active chlorophyll = energy. Yellow= dead chlorophyll=no energy=blocking light for green leaves below. Or is my common sense-orator broken again?!

Total Head said:

what's the point of letting more light through when you have removed the main solar panels that receive the light? it's like paralyzing a man and gifting him roller skates, or some more fitting analogy.

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LOL

the plant with the fan leaves taken off looks pathetic. Tiny ass buds. Does this question even need to be asked?

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Apparently so.

With every new crop of newbies comes this same old tired issue. If they understood botany as opposed to gravitating to "popular opinion" of cannabis forums, this subject would never arise. Having said that, see the infamous Lollipopping thread (aka do a Search).

Cut me off and call me "Shorty",
UB

Seems as though we visit this subject all too often here. There is so much misinformation floating around along with many many ways that people do things. First of all why would you pull, trim or cut something that you just spent months to make bushy? I don't know if I can make the correct analogy but here goes: You take a clone, do you cut all the leaves off of it? No you'd kill the cutting. The cutting needs these leaves in order to have the energy to grow roots. Well, it is not the exact same process to make buds but it is close to being the same. If you take the leaves off how do you have the energy to make buds. The roots transport nutes to the buds but derive their energy from the leaves along with nutes from the leaves as they are being used up (hence yellowing fan leaves during flower).
Taking this one step further, when you harvest your girls do you think they are dead at once? NO they are still alive during the drying process, dying slowly over time as they dry and have no more energy to support themselves. During this time the buds use the stored energy in the stem and leaves to continually produce resins in the hope that they will fulfill their purpose of reproducing seeds.
During the drying and curing is when you have a chance to make the final impact on your labors. This is the time where the final chemical reactions occur which add the final potency to your bud, also to the smoothness of your smoke.
This is the reason whenever possible I harvest the entire plant, hang it whole complete with leaves until dry. I trim them once dried and place in jars to cure as whole braches or with as much branch as I have space in jars for. I believe that if you have tried this method which has been used for literally thousands of years you won't go back to other methods or techniques.
Happy Growing

lol I did a search and found posts/pictures of FDD doing the lollipop method.

canefan said:

when you harvest your girls do you think they are dead at once? NO they are still alive during the drying process, dying slowly over time as they dry and have no more energy to support themselves. During this time the buds use the stored energy in the stem and leaves to continually produce resins in the hope that they will fulfill their purpose of reproducing seeds.
Happy Growing

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Actually this isn't correct. Once you chop, the plant's done. Your buds aren't going to continue developing off of the stored nutes in the leaf. The change in color you're seeing is the chlorophyl breaking down.

I normally trim off the bottom 1/3 about a week or 2 into flower because everything down there isn't going to develop to my liking and will take of a few select fan leaves from the rest of the plant but won't go as far as lollipopping or excessive and continues trimming

the question is if the leaf photosynthesizes more efficiently than the flower why would you remove the leaf to get more light to the bud? check out this article:ttp://feelingsandflowers.com/262/photosynthesis-and-how-it-works/

anomolies said:

lol I did a search and found posts/pictures of FDD doing the lollipop method.

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What is your point..?

jewgrow said:

What is your point..?

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it's just funny cus his plants are huge. wonder if he still does it, that was 2 years ago.

Oh boy...here we go again.....

Ol'Skool said:

Look at it this mate, a Grower leaves the leafs on and a CULTIVATOR cuts them off very periodically, all of them!
Cultivating is very rewarding but also very time consuming.

Personally i cut mine every day or two. This is the difference between average yields and excellent yields.

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i thought a cultivator was a farm tool used to break up the soil before planting?

I defoliate all through my grow. Each time a budding tip is 1"+, i pull the fan leaf. In my tests i noticed no difference in bud size with fan or without. I do, however notice a HUGE increase in light down into the plant, and thus much better/thicker buds. On top of this, with defoliation, i actually end up pulling MORE leaves overall than before, so the plant is actually MORE vigorous. Also, i am able to use 1/2 strength nutes, saving lots of $$ with no fan leaves to suck them up.

my tests indicate that fan leaves help get the budding joints started, and provide a buffer for nutes. Otherwise they are just shading out the buds. Isn't getting light to the buds what it is all about?

Thus my tests go against conventional wisdom, and i'll happily continue to defoliate all the way through my grows. I highly recommend that you DONT do it, i mean what will you do with all those extra buds????

Interesting anyone to back that up!

i'll back him up
Word of mouth is much better than proven 'science'

Total Head said:

it\'s a matter of debate. i personally think it\'s extremely counterprouctive. what\'s the point of letting more light through when you have removed the main solar panels that receive the light? it\'s like paralyzing a man and gifting him roller skates, or some more fitting analogy. i\'m stoned. you get my point.

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All the leaves absorb sunlight. Put one outside and watch how the leaves stick straight up like \"AHHHHHH YEEESSSSSS!\" I love it, they\'re so pretty