How important are fan leaves to flower production?

[growsomebuds]

I've been removing fan leaves from my plant, here and there, during the month it's been flowering. I've been doing this to maintain good light penetration. The pics you see is after 15 days since switching to 12/12 lighting. Are fan leaves critical to good flower production? Is it best to leave most of them alone during flower?

[NAKEDGARDENER]

I only remove leaves which are damaged and or old, I tend to think the plant has those leaves for a good reason, taking some off now and then to allow for airflow, as far as I am aware they are the energy devices, I used to think that super defoliation was a technique that was good, I now think it’s hokum

[D.A.A.S.69]

growsomebuds, touchy subject, you haven't hurt anything by removing a few leaves.
When flowering ,they quit growing fan leaves, so removing those old fan leaves is a good thing if you ask me,
There is to much proof , defoliating doesn't hurt a thing.

[NAKEDGARDENER]

Wasn’t meaning it hurt the plant, it just fe veggies, but yeh removing fan leaves isn’t gonna hurt it, I know, and I defoliate often if they need it, just saying I see now evidence that super defoliation does anything but slow the plant down.

[D.A.A.S.69]

NAKEDGARDENER, check out Green75 autoflower grows , he hates leaves, and removes almost all leaves, on autos.
He is also the best grower around too.

[NAKEDGARDENER]

I have no doubt mate, and me being a noob in the modern day field of indoor growing I try to listen and learn, but for now I will keep focused on keeping it simple, just like me.

[Weed Pharma]

You can remove around 25% at a time without issue.
When I remove fans, I try and leave a skirt of leaves close to the bottom, as they are your first indicator when things go bad (usually).
Once in flower, I stop removing healthy fan leaves, around week #5.

[growsomebuds]

Interesting, Pharma, for I'm a few days away from completing 5 weeks of flowering or starting 12/12. Thx

[NAKEDGARDENER]

Cropped and scrog, then released from scrog Bout week and a half later.

[Qwertywill]

growsomebuds Your next grow, you could always do a comparison! Do 3 plants under the same conditions, one having extreame defoilation, second 50% and third being none...

Always worth a shot. You can find what works best for your setup!

[NAKEDGARDENER]

Qwertywill Great channel there Will, hope you get many more subscribers from here.. looking forward to your next review.

[Qwertywill]

Thank you sir!

[Mr.furley]

I have grown the same genetics three times in three different ways and the end result was still the same.

1.) 1 plant from seed
no topping, light defoliation, trained into a spire= 1.5oz
2) 2 plants cloned from #1.
Manifolded to 8 to 16 colas, Heavy defoliation throughout the whole grow ( had 12 fan leafs left at harvest if that) plant 1=1.5oz. Plant 2 = 2.25oz
3) seed from plant # 1.
Topped two times, heavy LST, moderately defoliation till week 4 of flower only tucking after that for air and light. =1.75oz

My conclusion after this was defoliation did not hurt or help my yield in any major way. what it did help was control my environment for optimal grow conditions.

Transpiration is the movement of water from Roots to the pores called stomata on the leaf, and leads to evaporation which can drive up your humidity, so the less Leaf surface the less evaporation which can help with humidity. defoliation aids in reducing the risk of things like white powdery mold, Bud rot, and bugs while improving air flow and light penetration, but also gives you less leaf for photosynthesis ( this is where it becomes controversial).
I have come to the understanding to give each Leaf I keep its own space just like the colas, that it does not matter if you remove or tuck your Leafs, you just want to continue to control your growth for your personal environment and the plants needs.
Your plant looks good and if it were mine I'd ask myself do I need to control any of these things?

Happy growing.

[growsomebuds]

These pics are of the plant above, 3 weeks later. I removed some more fan leaves.

[D.A.A.S.69]

They quit growing fan leaves when flowering, You ain't hurt nothing, imo.

[growsomebuds]

But, don't those fan leaves aide in flower production?

[Qwertywill]

That's the debate. Photosynthesis requires some leaves to create food for the plant, however there are still leaves on the plant even with the fan leaves gone.
Leaf removal is always a hot topic on GWE

The plant will suck up nutes that are stored in the fan leaves as it starts to die off, but if your providing the proper nutrients, you should be fine as they are still accessible to the roots.