# To trim or not to trim?  That is the question!



## WhiteWidower (Oct 14, 2008)

To trim or not to trim?  ~~ I was writing this when the following happened to me which I wrote in the following thread:
http://www.marijuanapassion.com/forum/showthread.php?p=337045

I have never succeeded in bringing a grow to harvest while not touching the plant.  I have always topped and trimmed, usually topping in 2nd-3rd week after seeing first five-point leaf maturing nicely with next set of leaves just starting.  Then I usually wait a few more weeks until I see the bushy bush start coming in nicely, and then usually trim the original fan leaves to smoke out of impatience.  Usually I end up chopping up the plant slowly and never reaching harvest with mature buds.  I sample the plant until I cut it down to nothing.

Is there any opinions and insight out there about if reasonable trimming is good or bad for the plants?


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## Hick (Oct 14, 2008)

removing fan leaves, or any "green" vegetative growth, is reducing the plants ability to "photosynthesize". 
PHOTOSYTHESIS {<--click) is the primary process/source of energy for any plant.


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## WhiteWidower (Oct 14, 2008)

Hick said:
			
		

> removing fan leaves, or any "green" vegetative growth, is reducing the plants ability to "photosynthesize".
> PHOTOSYTHESIS {<--click) is the primary process/source of energy for any plant.


 
But I have always noticed that when I cut the fan leaves, the other node-growth branches grow much more and fuller.  Has anyone noticed this also?


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## WhiteWidower (Oct 14, 2008)

Yes, I have noticed and do the same thing:  trim those fan leaves that block the light from the lower branches so that the plant is more of a skeleton of stem + branches so that the whole plant gets much light.

Thanks for your opinion.  Considering what just happened to me today, I need to trim and smoke a bit.


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## tom thumb (Oct 14, 2008)

I can't keep my hands off my plant's either, during veg I'm constantly clipping leaves off here and there usually to make the plant more symetrical, I also top  the plant's savagely I've usually grown outside so the bushier the better, but this is my first indoor grow and i"m experimenting and so far less bushy buds faster, but my plants grow well without some of the leaves, once into bud I leave them alone unless a big leaf is right over a bud and I can't keep it from being in the way, but I knew about photosynthisis and made sure I never took enough leaves off to prevent the plant from growing. But people here told me to leave them alone and when I do what they say in regards to growing all seems good, I've learned a whole crap load on this site, more then I expected


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## Hick (Oct 14, 2008)

...:confused2:...


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## Mutt (Oct 14, 2008)

Hick said:
			
		

> ...:confused2:...


only time i think fans should be trimmed is in a Scrog. anything below the screen doesn't get light so thus isn't needed. but I have to disagree about trimming fans. those fan leaves are important. big buds is not the only factor. stress does make it less potent. Too me...yeild is not top on my list. Aroma, taste, and potency take precedence. I can grow em small and huge. but the best bud i had was an untouched (no training) plant with organic medium. left to grow and show off what that strain is capable of. Some strains even auto-top. with no help from people.
Also to truly see how a pheno works it should be left to grow as natural as possible. this tells a grower many many things. My little bonzai grow. The supercopped one yeilded better but the untopped one was better smoke.


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## massproducer (Oct 14, 2008)

Not to mention that all light is absorbed by fan leaves, as bud leaves are very inefficient at processing light for photosynthesis because they will be covered in trichs, which divert light for there use, not letting much light actually reach the interior of the leaf.

Cutting fan leaves will not increase your yield, it will actually decrease it because the plant will be loosing its stores of energy and will not be able to generate any new energy because it doesn't have any solar panels left to absorb the light.

If you had set your house up to work entirely off of solar power, then you wouldn't remove the solar panels, to say let light come into the window.  With no panels then you have no way to generate electricity.

HMAN, you said that you have read both sides of this and you are confused but please provide me with ANY information saying it is alright or beneficial to cut fan leaves????  Any experienced grower will never tell anyone to cut off their fan leaves.  

A better idea is to train your plants inorder to open up the canopy, either screen your garden or tie your plants but never remove any fan leaves, even the dying leaves should be left to fall off on their own.


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## Tater (Oct 15, 2008)

Wow I read the original post and am baffled.  How can you call your self a grower when you purposefully kill your plant before maturity and enjoy smoking leaves?


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## The Hemp Goddess (Oct 15, 2008)

Tater said:
			
		

> Wow I read the original post and am baffled.  How can you call your self a grower when you purposefully kill your plant before maturity and enjoy smoking leaves?



                                        :rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl:


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## omnigr33n (Oct 30, 2008)

What about the little tiny leaves and bud sites at the very bottom of the plant?  I mean I would leave the fan leaves first and foremost even if they were yellow, but what about the other little greenery?  I've had these before and they don't really produce much.  Though tempting I probably wouldn't because that green is collecting light and producing energy.  However, what if you just wanted to keep a clean, neat grow?  Maybe it would increase overall airflow because of excessive bushiness?  I don't know.  What do you guys think?


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## Trent45 (Oct 30, 2008)

Keep your paws off your plants. You're just going to do them more harm then good. Snipping and trimming and pretty much fondling the plant can lead to a lot of problems especially if you have dirty hands, mold, mildew, bacteria is noooo good. 

They can grow in nature or outdoor grows without being touched, so why put your plant through that much stress to try and let the smallest buds on the bottom grow.


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## Mutt (Oct 30, 2008)

thread starter was banned. so don't see a need to leave this open. good replies everyone.


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