New Grower 3 weeks to go and no light getting to the inner buds

[namvet25]

This defoliating controversy as gone on forever.There are growers who say not to trim any foliage at all and some say remove foliage that is hiding some buds.I have done it both ways and found that removing fan leaves on the lower half of the plant that are fully shaded by the canopy did not hurt the plant.I only do this after veg cycle is over and she is in full flower mode.By removing these shaded leaves more plant energy will go into bud development instead of feeding leaves that can't collect light therefore have little or no value in plant development.This is only my thoughts on the subject and what you do or think might be totally different and only by testing this on a grow yourself will be the only way you will no what works and what doesn't.

 

[Tetra9]

I haven't cut any on purpose yet, but I accidentally damaged two HUGE fan leaves on one plant, to the point I just ended up cutting them off at the main stem on a 45` angle. You'd never know, the plant was not affected in the least. Personally I think if it's an established plant (end of veg-beginning of flower) and your cut's clean and on an angle, it isn't a problem. Tucking and LST seem really efficient so far - but that doesn't cut it when you have fan leaves the size of dinner plates

 

[growbiewon]

If you only have one plant I would never advise New teks. If you have enough plants to try it out, you will be surprised at the results.

That's how I learned about it. I had a small Jesus OG that was a few weeks behind the other plants and was going to throw it out cause it fell over a couple times and was just kinda abused.... well instead of tossing it I tried my buddies tel, trimmed all fan leaves but one or two bud leaves, left the nodes alone to grow buds.

Well at harvest this plant yielded as much as the other larger plants that were in veg for longer. It grew more fan leaves and at harvest you couldn't tell I did any trimming.

I'll put up pix of said plant but I need to get the images off old phone first.

 

[growbiewon]

The buds from said plant are my avatars.... I actually gave pix of said plant in my album it's hard to tell the difference between it and the other Jesus OG that had a whole lot longer veg...

 

[growbiewon]

This defoliating controversy as gone on forever.There are growers who say not to trim any foliage at all and some say remove foliage that is hiding some buds.I have done it both ways and found that removing fan leaves on the lower half of the plant that are fully shaded by the canopy did not hurt the plant.I only do this after veg cycle is over and she is in full flower mode.By removing these shaded leaves more plant energy will go into bud development instead of feeding leaves that can't collect light therefore have little or no value in plant development.This is only my thoughts on the subject and what you do or think might be totally different and only by testing this on a grow yourself will be the only way you will no what works and what doesn't.

Agreed. Adding that it never hurts to try, there will always be more plants.

Edit.
I don't get too attached to plants and will cull the herd if and when ever necessary. Only the best for me, as I don't feel like nursing a plant to get a result that is less than its full potential.

Once you cull the herd enough, your stable will be strong and pretty much run like clockwork as long as you keep your part up by keeping the area clean and free of pests.

Any sign of Weak plants or plants with any kind of ongoing issues before flowering get to visit further process pile, be it FOR edibles or hash or compost. Depending on issues the strain may get discontinued.

 

[A John In Nj]

I trimmed my massive midget's fan leaves every time I saw one dying (I suffered a lock-out) and my leaves were dying at a faster rate than normal.

I kept trimming away as the leaves turned brown and I came out with 3oz off a plant who stayed under 2ft tall.

Could of been the strain or could've been the trimming but I just wanted to share that. I'm not saying take em all out but a couple that are shaded a day wont hurt your yield ( from my experience).

Im going to do a side by side comparison in my next grow.

 

[chixdiggrowing]

light does not feed the bud, leaves do
and to those who claim better or equal yields after defoliating, it has been scientifically proven the buds are leafier due to the plant replacing the plucked leaves, even the people posting in this thread saying its ok to pluck said themselves "the plant grows more" its just a shame they do not realise how many more are grown inside the bud and in place of bud material

lower buds do not grow small because of lack of light, it is the natural growth of plants, you can surround the lowers with vertical lighting in turn flooding the lower parts of the plant with more unblocked light then even the top is getting and your lower buds are STILL going to be smaller then the uppers

only 15% of the light that hits a leaf is blocked, allowing 85% of the light to go through, and of the light that is blocked, it is visual spectrum to humans NOT plants, so to us we do not see light under a leaf because the visual light is blocked, but that spectrum is not used by plants anyway, the plants see light under those leaves

after 50 years of outdoor and 30+ of indoor growing i can safely say of the many many strains i have grown, the heaviest yielding one was and is so leafy with huge fans that you do not see 60+ % of the plant during flowering, but boy oh boy do you ever see buds come harvest time

99 times out of 100 when someone plucks leaves from a plant they also give special or extra attention to said plant, even if and when they do not even realise it, any benefit seen is not credited to the removal of leaves, or i should say should not be credited to the removal of leaves

over the years i have tested this theory many many times, every time i prove it is bad to remove leaves, but after some time passes and someone brings it up, i think to myself "maybe ill do it differently with a different outcome this time" but the outcome never changes, not without other things factoring in, like extra attention etc etc,,,

if you had a super fast sports car would you try to make it faster by removing 2 of its spark plugs ?

anyway, i just realised this is still my first post, ive been coming to the site for a long time and got tired of not seeing pics, so i finally made an account

 

[blue]

Very consise first post chix!

Welcome to AFN!



I'd get used to the "great defoliation debate" if i were you It seems to crop up every other week!
Leaf "tucking" seems to be a good compromise for the determined hehe

Hey - why not pop up a hello over at introductions for a nice warm welcome from our members!!

Happy growing!
All the best

Blue

 

[stepside]

I'm with you on taking leaves. I always feel like I'm violating my poor plant.

 

[growbiewon]

Science is about experiments and when you grow inside you're practicing the science of botany. What works in one environment may not in the next. Finding the right rhythm in our environments is die by trial and error.

I'm always evolving the way I grow as I believe that way is the only way to grow Weed.

I'm not ever going to stop learning how to grow better, I'm addicted to it.

I've heard a lot of people say they've been growing for x amount of years and they know best.... well I know that some of those people have been growing mediocre/poorly for x amount of years...

Results speak for themselves, they are heard a lot more clearly than words.

I have always welcomed change or new ideas because with out them we not need a site as this.

If it's one thing that I've learned its that Nothing is concrete when it comes to this hobby.