What method do you use to tie down or tuck away fan leaves?

I've been using twisty ties to band mine together but I'm not too happy with the results. I'm considering using hemp cord to lash the stem of the fan leafs to the stalk so that the blades will be underneath my plant. I've stretched my plant out so she grows horizontal rather than vertical.

I was just curious if there was a better way to tuck the fan leaves out of the way and what everyone else does.

here's my plant and how I have them banded together.

Why tie down the leaves? Won't that keep them from getting as much sun? I understand tieing down branches, but I've never seen anyone tie down leaves.

lol I don't know. I was reading how some people take the fan leaves off to allow for more sun to get inside the plant but i don't like taking leaves off of my plant so I tied them down. I have read some others tuck away their leaves when they are doing some LST. I don't know if you consider what I've been doing as LST or Main-line or somewhere in between but that's how i came to tie mine down. I can tell you each and every time I stretch her out and tie down her leaves she looks positively stripped but by the next day she starts to recover and she ends up fulling in and I have to tie those down. lol it's a process. an enjoyable process.

No need to tuck away fan leaves.
The more light the fan leaves get, the faster your plant will grow/bulk up.

The only thing I do is put a big fan leave behind a branch to give the branch more direct sunlight but the leaf still gets plenty of sunlight

You obviously don't understand the purpose of LST or the auxin hormones that you're trying to manipulate.

You don't tie down fan leaves... why? because...

You tie down, wire down, tape down, train down branches so that the new shoots, within the nodes, can grow and compete for vertical dominance. It's all about manipulating the auxins.

Tieing up fan leaves is just dumb.

EZmooover said:

You obviously don't understand the purpose of LST or the auxin hormones that you're trying to manipulate.

You don't tie down fan leaves... why? because...

You tie down, wire down, tape down, train down branches so that the new shoots, within the nodes, can grow and compete for vertical dominance. It's all about manipulating the auxins.

Tieing up fan leaves is just dumb.

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I hardly see "because" as a reason not to tie down the leaves...why not offer an explanation as to why, In your opinion, that it is not wise to tie down leaves? Much better than telling Krspies that it's "stupid"!

He has good intentions, and I can understand why he thinks tying the fan leaves back will get more growth to those shoots (and it will if you only simply tuck it behind a branch or something) because sometimes I have an issue with a massive fan leaf completely covering and shading shoots.

To me it looks like he has tied down both leaves and shoots on the plant but he has tied them down to the point where those leaves aren't going to get any of the light and energy they need to perform photosynthesis and make the plant grow as fast as it should.

Quit calling him "stupid" and instead, give him the advice he is seeking.. IMO his plant looks really good with a shit ton of bud sites, only thing I would say is next time let those leaves get the light they need and you will have much better results Krspies

ok for the record I am NOT a HE I am a she. If you read even my signature you can tell I'm not a dude and no I am NOT stupid. I obviously don't know what I'm doing and I admit it. I don't care that I'm not some farming guru. If you had bothered to read my profile you would have read that I openly admit to being a city girl with absolutely no knowledge of growing anything.I'm just enjoying the experience so get your panties out of that wad and get your dick out of your ass and act like you have some common courtesy. If you think what I'm doing is not good for my plants then just let me know because that's why I'm posting here..to learn. if you are an asshole to me I will be an ass hole to you. I'm simply here to learn folks...go take another hit. I think you need some calming effects.

now as to the reason I tied down my leaves - I read somewhere and i don't remember where because I have read sooooo much that tucking them out of the way or tying them down allows for more sunlight to get to the center. Maybe I misunderstood, its easy to do when posts get to be 80+ pages and people argue the point from all sides. All I was trying to do was to give her more light and airflow and not take any leaves off.

ok I took my hit...we're all good lol. So I'm gonna go release my leaves. my poor plant. lol it's like having your first child, they're the guinea pig and you no know nothing and so they have to suffer while you learn. my plant probably hates me haha I'll go release her. thanks for the positive input because I really really want to learn. this is my first grow OF ANYTHING seriously I kill artificial plants so I'm excited that i've actually got a plant that's alive. I don't want to kill my plants but if that's part of the process then so be it. I'll cry and pack a bowl.

I did a little searching on google about tieing down leaves to satisfy my own curiosity. It looks like its a method mostly used by indoor guys growing under small lights in small places. There a leaf could block a lot of light. Probably not needed outdoors where the light is plentiful.

Your plant looks very healthy by the way. Good luck with your grow.

You want the fan leaves to get as much sun as possible. The more sun they get, they more nutes they can metabolize. And the more nutes they can metabolize, te bigger and faster they will grow. You just want to tie the branches in a manner that all the fan leaves & new nodes etc, get as much light as possible. By tying down, you are just moving the stuff thats blocking light from the undersides of the plant, and more evenly distributing available sunlight.

hey there! Sure, you can tie or move the leaves to get more light to the buds and the inside of the plant so, no worries! BTW your plant looks great!

To much love OP. Just let them be.

I do remove any leafs that touch the ground when the plant is wet.

I am firm on leaving the fan leafs. anybody can do this test. Take a flashlight out at night. Hold 5 leafs together on top of each other. The light will travel right thru them. Then shine the light up the stem of your plant. each leaf will light up like a light bulb. What I am trying to say is sun light can travel right thru MJ leafs very easy. It may look like shade inside your plant but much more is going on.

I ran into some thick kush bushes that I had to thin out though. But for the most part I let them leafs be. One also has to consider airflow for like high Powdery mildew and moldy grow areas as far as thinning inside and bottom of plants.

Do the flashlight test and you will see what I am talking about.

More leaves = more yield

Balzac89 said:

More leaves = more yield

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Not always LMao check out that defoliation thread u guys closed down. I still wish it was open for further discussion but some people cant keep it classy sometimes haha.

Krspies said:

ok for the record I am NOT a HE I am a she. If you read even my signature you can tell I'm not a dude and no I am NOT stupid. I obviously don't know what I'm doing and I admit it. I don't care that I'm not some farming guru. If you had bothered to read my profile you would have read that I openly admit to being a city girl with absolutely no knowledge of growing anything.I'm just enjoying the experience so get your panties out of that wad and get your dick out of your ass and act like you have some common courtesy. If you think what I'm doing is not good for my plants then just let me know because that's why I'm posting here..to learn. if you are an asshole to me I will be an ass hole to you. I'm simply here to learn folks...go take another hit. I think you need some calming effects.

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get em girl!!! lol

Easy folks, we dont wont this forum to turn into grasscity

sandjsdad said:

hey there! Sure, you can tie or move the leaves to get more light to the buds and the inside of the plant so, no worries!

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More light to the buds??? Really??? Why???

Flowers/buds generate a very insignificant amount of photosynthesis. Those leaves that you want to tie up do most all of the solar energy conversion into plant energy conversion.

Why is it so important to tie down the leaves so that the buds get all the light???

What is the chloroplast ratio between buds and leaves???

What do the flowers do with all of that light that you're robbing from the leaves???