Trimming fan leaves

Tone5500

Tone5500

Well-Known Member
I'm in dwc it's in almost week 3 of flowering including transitioning , I'm having a problem with affected fan leaves on the bottom to mid canopy and I'm wanting to trim all affected leaves off and Try to see if the problem is gone or what , would this be ok it's quite a few fan leaves .
 
Doing a test myself after reading many, did I say many lol, differing opinions on the subject! I defoliated one of 6 Kosher plants at different stages of veg and then again at the end of the stretch in flower, this was about 3.5 weeks into flower. The bud structure on the plant is larger compared to the other plants of same size that were untouched. There is not a huge difference and there is still 25-30 days to go. This is by no means a definitive test as it is the first I have done. What it does prove, at least to me lol, is it did not harm the plant. I will be doing it again under the same situation with a few of the more robust plants and note the results. It did not seem to slow or retard grow. The other possible contributing factor was the use of kinetin as a foiler app.
 
Just wanted to add that I removed all but the smallest of fan leaves. Also wanted to add before I get dumped on lol, that this is not by any means a pro defoliating post, just what I am experiencing with this particular strain and run. Also I'm a complete newb who had to find out for myself lol.
 
1st off what problem is affecting your lower fan leaves ? im guessing mold or powdery mildew am i correct in that assumption ? If so plucking fan leaves will not stop the spread of mold or powdery mildew , if it is mold or PM then you want to lower the humidity in the room , wipe any heavy mold or PM from the leaves using a mildewcide such as Bonide Liquid Copper , after wiping off the heavy mold or PM spray the entire plant with the Bonide , then lower humidity to 40% & use a sulfur burner or an ozone generator to keep airborn spores in check ,get some air moving thru the interior of the grow as well , the medium your growing in might be too wet as well , if the top of the grow medium never dries out you can expect mold & PM .

Plucking healthy GREEN fan leafs from a plant is counter productive 100% of the time & thats not just my opinion , it's botany 101 , fan leafs are vital to bud production , the only way bud production would increase after defoliating healthy fan leaves is if the plants were extremely overcrowded , or are not being supplied light with sufficient penetration to reach all areas of the plant with enough useable lumens to create photosynthesis within the leaf .

If your problem is mold & pm removing the lower leaves will not stop it from spreading to where it covers the bud , Blight & Bud Rott are what happens next by allowing the interior of the grow to see high humidity levels .
 
Im with panhead re not the way to cure an issue. As for defoliating my suggestion would be like anything that you are curious about and that is try it for yourself. There are as we see on many threads people who think its just the worst thing you could do to your plants and many others who think its a great tool (if done properly) to increase yields.
 
waterdawg said:
Doing a test myself after reading many, did I say many lol, differing opinions on the subject! I defoliated one of 6 Kosher plants at different stages of veg and then again at the end of the stretch in flower, this was about 3.5 weeks into flower. The bud structure on the plant is larger compared to the other plants of same size that were untouched. There is not a huge difference and there is still 25-30 days to go. This is by no means a definitive test as it is the first I have done. What it does prove, at least to me lol, is it did not harm the plant. I will be doing it again under the same situation with a few of the more robust plants and note the results. It did not seem to slow or retard grow. The other possible contributing factor was the use of kinetin as a foiler app.
Click to expand...

Good for you Waterdawg, at least you've given it a try! You will now be able to speak from a position of experience, rather than quoting what you've heard or read in a book as most people do!
 
Tone5500 said:
I'm in dwc it's in almost week 3 of flowering including transitioning , I'm having a problem with affected fan leaves on the bottom to mid canopy and I'm wanting to trim all affected leaves off and Try to see if the problem is gone or what , would this be ok it's quite a few fan leaves .
Click to expand...

As you haven't defoliated in veg I would go very slowly to start with, take a few leaves here and there. A full defoliation could stress your plants now as they are flowering.
 
policy here:

When lower fans are about 50% "spent"-------remove. Remember that lower leaves are older than upper ones and receive way less light. Looks prettier too.

A~~
 
i have read so many things on this issue and everyone stands strong by their opinion. persoanlly i trim throughout the entire process removing fan leaves that r blocking light from lower buds. i also get rid of all the junk at the bottom of the plant to ensure the nutes r going to the buds that r gonna become something other then larf...since i started this i have had noticable yield increases as well as almost no larf at all.
 
HempletonState said:
i have read so many things on this issue and everyone stands strong by their opinion. persoanlly i trim throughout the entire process removing fan leaves that r blocking light from lower buds. i also get rid of all the junk at the bottom of the plant to ensure the nutes r going to the buds that r gonna become something other then larf...since i started this i have had noticable yield increases as well as almost no larf at all.
Click to expand...

I admit to removing a few upper fans blocking buds----especially on a leafy plant like critical kush.

A~~
 
panhead said:
1st off what problem is affecting your lower fan leaves ? im guessing mold or powdery mildew am i correct in that assumption ? If so plucking fan leaves will not stop the spread of mold or powdery mildew , if it is mold or PM then you want to lower the humidity in the room , wipe any heavy mold or PM from the leaves using a mildewcide such as Bonide Liquid Copper , after wiping off the heavy mold or PM spray the entire plant with the Bonide , then lower humidity to 40% & use a sulfur burner or an ozone generator to keep airborn spores in check ,get some air moving thru the interior of the grow as well , the medium your growing in might be too wet as well , if the top of the grow medium never dries out you can expect mold & PM .

Plucking healthy GREEN fan leafs from a plant is counter productive 100% of the time & thats not just my opinion , it's botany 101 , fan leafs are vital to bud production , the only way bud production would increase after defoliating healthy fan leaves is if the plants were extremely overcrowded , or are not being supplied light with sufficient penetration to reach all areas of the plant with enough useable lumens to create photosynthesis within the leaf .

If your problem is mold & pm removing the lower leaves will not stop it from spreading to where it covers the bud , Blight & Bud Rott are what happens next by allowing the interior of the grow to see high humidity levels .
Click to expand...
Yea I don't think it's powdery mildew or mold my humidity raley goes above 32%, and the leaves I'm talking about are affected , it's just the plant is so big it is hard to tell if its spreading or not , so I wanted to clip the majority of the infected leaves off so I can get a better idea of this problem, I don't want to cut healty leaves just the infected , but after some other post in a anthor thread the damage is most simalar to thrips , I have learned a big lesson in this grow just because the plant appears to be healty and growing great dont overlook a small noticeable issue and except it to go away because now the plant is so big getting rid of the problem is 100x harder
 
neo12345 said:
Good for you Waterdawg, at least you've given it a try! You will now be able to speak from a position of experience, rather than quoting what you've heard or read in a book as most people do!
Click to expand...
Well this is by no means a definitive test lol. All I can say is there was slightly better bud growth on the raped plant. Keep in mind there's still a ways to go yet. But yes I had to find out for my self lol. Some could say, "you dont know you'll get a shock unless you touch the wire", lol. What was definitive is the plant did not die nor did it stop growing. Thanks for the support though, greatly appreciated!
 
Tone5500 said:
Yea I don't think it's powdery mildew or mold my humidity raley goes above 32%, and the leaves I'm talking about are affected , it's just the plant is so big it is hard to tell if its spreading or not , so I wanted to clip the majority of the infected leaves off so I can get a better idea of this problem, I don't want to cut healty leaves just the infected , but after some other post in a anthor thread the damage is most simalar to thrips , I have learned a big lesson in this grow just because the plant appears to be healty and growing great dont overlook a small noticeable issue and except it to go away because now the plant is so big getting rid of the problem is 100x harder
Click to expand...

Your so right about getting to issues early! Took me 2 years to figure out my blotchy leaves were a mag def issues. This last run has been a struggle to say the least. Not sure if removing the dead and die leaves would hurt at this point. I will remove the dead ones if i can get to them. Again I'm a newb so this may not be a good thing, but the plants look nicer lol.
 
waterdawg said:
Well this is by no means a definitive test lol. All I can say is there was slightly better bud growth on the raped plant. Keep in mind there's still a ways to go yet. But yes I had to find out for my self lol. Some could say, "you dont know you'll get a shock unless you touch the wire", lol. What was definitive is the plant did not die nor did it stop growing. Thanks for the support though, greatly appreciated!
Click to expand...
I would have done two plants for a few variables that may have affected the one, but I say, if something works for you, ignore the rules
 
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