Fan leaf usage

[Greenlivin]

Every time I defoliate, I cringe as I throw away the fruits of my plants labor. What do you do with your trimmed leaves? Any semi easy practices to make them useful?

[kingfish]

Mine go in the composter.

[GreenState]

Mine go in the woodstove.

[Gingerbeard]

Blanche them and eat them like greens.

[9fingerleafs]

i grow outdoors so i dont really remove leaves unless theyre dying

[Tersky]

I personally just toss them but have seen and heard of people drying and flattening the larger fan leaves to make "blunt papers". Dont know exactly how this is done or if it is even worth it but might be worth a try. Just make sure you have not used any pesticides or dont have any leaf pest issues if you try it. Also have heard of people making teas but not sure what this does either.

[9fingerleafs]

i guess you could use a single finger from a big fan leaf

[Gingerbeard]

I've pressed fan leaves and they always come out crispy. I press mine in the Bible because it's the only book I have and it was just sitting in my sock drawer, in the box it was given to me, not doing anything. I can see processed leaves to make paper. A little more difficult to see dried leaves being used as wrappers.

[DW2]

Howdy Greenlivin, I save the trimmed leaves, let them cure a while , and then bake and grind them into capsules. Works well for me and it give me an idea of how well the plants are progressing.

[DW2]

Yes, from what I can tell, the CBD must develop early because I can feel the effects of it. On my current grow, six weeks into the grow cycle, one strain (from my own bag seed) shows a very promising future and the other one is o.k. I do not do a lot of trimming, only when needed to let the light get to the bud sites, or if they get damaged fro getting too close to the lights or getting in the way of my fat fingers! LOL!!
I guess that mainly I am cheap! and do not like to waste anything! By the way, the caps are a much easier way to ingest the not-completely-cured leaf than smoking it!

[Greenlivin]

DW2 do you bake them to help clean them, or is there another purpose for this step?

[Rwise]

baking,, decarboxylating changes THCA into THC

[Gingerbeard]

DW2 You use fan leaves for extracts/edibles? I was serious about blanching the leaves and eating them as a green with a meal. A quick google and I saw a simple tea can give relaxing benefits. I've always thought fans were remains. Daggum learn something new every day or continue to be ignorant.

[Gingerbeard]

Hmm... folks know I'm stoned, not senile.
But really. I've never heard fan leaves, non trichomed fan leaves, being good for anything.
Harvest is only 6-8 weeks away. I wonder if I'll remember this.

[alltatup]

DW2 Gingerbeard Here's the post: Ginger, the leaves were so strong I didn't do it again, it was like I was tripping it was so strong. https://forum.growweedeasy.com/forum...periment/page2

[Gingerbeard]

(Wo)man… that just goes against what my Uncle Mark always said. He said, 'Get rid of the fan leaves and the stems or you're a dumbass'. He always was direct.
I've sub'd that site. Thanks atu.

[dphipps1020]

I feed the fan leaves to my dogs, helps keep them away from my plants. And they love it, always watching me from outside the tent. I'll have to get a picture one of these days.

[Cali]

Ha damn I put mine in alcohol and then rub it on if I have pain. Also you can drop it into your pots and let the worms go to town on them basically recycling the nutes. Forget the bottle chems. Now I want to go and try the capsules idea but my worms gotta eat lol.

[alltatup]

Above, in my comment, I attached a link to the Leaf-Eating Experiment I tried a while back. In a nutshell, I got high af after eating gently simmered leaves with a little olive oil. The leaves were from early flowering--they were full of the aromas that start coming out in the veg phase. I did this in early 2018--almost 2 years ago. Took some to friends who also got high af.

It was too strong of a high for me, so I stopped saving the leaves. I conclude that edible forms of Cannabis are just a little too strong for me.

If terpenes are developing in Cannabis leaves during vegetation, then it seems logical to me to conclude that psychoactive chemicals are present. This plant never ceases to amaze me...

[Rwise]

My Sister puts them in her salad, I have used them for many things, compost, brownies, and so on,,, even smoked them when there was nothing better,,,,

[alltatup]

cough, hack, cough!!!

[SoOrbudgal]

If they are suger leaf ok but big green fan leaf gives me headache to smoke them. I compost them

[Farmall]

Wow, smoking them could destroy my throat... in defoliation, I could almost feel the freshness for using them in salad or juicing and I am going to give it my full attention, next time😉

[OlderNOTwiser]

I have two gorilla girls in training and a high CBD auto. I don't need to do much trimming on the CBD. The abused little gorilla plants get some selective trimming for light. I set all the trim aside while I'm working but when I'm putting everything back in the tent or whatever they seem to end up getting gobbled down raw. They have a peppery aftertaste. I'm glad to see this thread because I know I'm getting a mild buzz about 45 minutes later. Gonna have to check that link!

[alltatup]

OlderNOTwiser Cook em with a little fat/oil and you'll get high af.

[Gingerbeard]

Alright, then. Next week is the third week flowering trimming. I've kept them pretty well defoliated so there may not be a whole bunch. We'll see.
I can't see eating the leaves whole and raw. There's too much of a texture.

[OlderNOTwiser]

I was reading the older thread about "new spinach" in our breakfast routines. Really looking forward to giving that a try.

[Farmall]

alltatup and I had discussed juicing the leaves so I did a bit of reading on this topic and found a book by Jeff Ditchfield and Mel Thomas called The Medical Cannabis Guidebook. In it he touches upon several methods of making medicinal edibles and in one section covers juicing fan leaves. Generally the recipe is adding fresh ORGANIC fans that are washed and blended with lemons,apples, ginger, carrot or orange juice and ice cubes.

honestly that taste is bright and fresh. Most cannabis greens alone are semi bitter but the added juices temper the flavor and make it much more palatable. There are also a few rules for leaf selection...they should be between 75-85 days or for at this level that posses about 70 different cannabinoids with CBD being right up in the last but after further growth and development nearer to 95 days, the leave will rapidity develop more THCa.eliciting a more pronounced psychoactive affect as energies are creating for the flower

the drink. Has beneficial outcome for you body by won’t get you too high and it’s tasty as well, I did try one of my concentrates yesterday and had to sleep for two hours in The middle of the day.had a little stuck to my finger and licked it off.....never again

[alltatup]

That's exactly what I do when I get too much tincture--or the day I ate too many leaves: I don't know how I drove home from work, but I made it, flopped down on the bed, pulled of shoes and went into a deep, deep sleep.