New Grower To Cut Or Not To Cut

[Californacation71]

To cut or not to cut fan leafs away to create more light for the bud sites?
Please do NOT skip this without giving me your advice as to weather to cut or Not BUT also very important is the when?????? Or even MULTIPLE times???

Thanx Already!

 

[blue]

Hi Cali

It's one of those mixed opinions things. You'll get a lot of different views.

My feelings are that Auto's shouldn't be messed with too much, especially if you're an inexperienced grower (not saying you are).
I say this because they are on a death timer from day one, so if they are using energy to repair, then they are not using that energy to put the growth where it is more important.

I'll happily chop away at photo periods in veg as they don't have the same ticking life and death march.

You're better off just tucking the leafs behind the bud sites.

All the best
Blue ^_^

 

[Pizpot]

I'm not fully sure, but at a guess I'd probably agree with blue. On my loft grows I was happy to trim bits here and there but that was only because I had control of the veg cycle. The most I do is take off any bits that look dead/dying on my autos right now. But I'm new to autos so I may be wide of the mark.

 

[low_and_slow]

DocBud is a grower/editor for 420 magazine...Tavosvo from this forum grows using his High Brix kit. Bottom line, the dude is as scientific about growing weed as I've ever seen, and his opinion is to let the plant grow naturally and unmolested UNLESS the strain specifically responds well to topping or having multiple flowering sites. He ran 2 plants under IDENTICAL conditions using the same exact nutes, but he defoliated one like you see in pictures online and let the other just grow. He said he ended up with more and larger buds on the defoliated plant, but the brix readings in the leaves and tissues were lower by a LOT. Brix is a measure of plant health because it gauges sugar (energy) storage in the leaves...his conclusion and the reason he does what he does, is that defoliating may swell bud sites, but overall decreases plant health and reduces potency from your finished product. If you HAVE to defoliate for some reason, I guess go ahead, but I personally believe "the more the merrier" when it comes to leaves, they're the energy source for the plant to create the drug we're all after!

 

[Californacation71]

Thanx for taking time to respond .This is my first grow on my loggia (enclosed balcony).
Since my girls aren't getting the same amount of light as the ones grown under lights or even outside is why i worried about them not getting ENOUGH light in the right places!
I also had NOT read that the plant will use the leaves for energy towards the end.
I'm still left with some very nice looking girls for a first timer!
I'm looking forward to implementing all Ive learned next season.

 

[GoAuto6]

To cut or not to cut fan leafs away to create more light for the bud sites?
Please do NOT skip this without giving me your advice as to weather to cut or Not BUT also very important is the when?????? Or even MULTIPLE times???

Thanx Already!

My personal opinion is No, No and No........ let them ride those fan leaves are a big part of photo synthesis and in the end of the plants life they use whats left in the leaf to finish out...

 

[low_and_slow]

Yup, solar panels that power plant life!