The Importance of Fan Leaves in Hemp Plants

Fan leaves are the large, primary leaves on the cannabis plant.

All of the leaves of the cannabis plant are necessary for the process of photosynthesis to occur. Photosynthesis results in the production of sugars and other plant nutrients. Since the fan leaves are the largest leaves, they are essential to this process.

Fan leaves also have pores known as stomata, which allow the plant to breathe. Plants breath in carbon dioxide and breathe out oxygen. Fan leaves are absolutely essential to the growth and development of the plant.

Are big fan leaves a good sign?

The health of your entire hemp plant is reflected in the condition of your fan leaves. Big, green, healthy fan leaves are a sign of a robust, healthy plant. As long as these leaves are healthy, it is normally advisable to leave them in place at trimming time, especially during the veg state of growth.

Should I trim yellow fan leaves?

When your fan leaves begin to turn yellow, the viability of the leaf is diminishing. The yellow coloration signifies that the chlorophyll levels have dropped, which means there will be less sugar production. Since sugar production is one of the primary functions of the big fan leaves, a yellowing leaf should probably be removed.

When fan leaves turn purple during flowering, it is likely due to a phosphorous deficiency.

Can I cut all the fan leaves off?

During the earlier stages of plant growth, the fan leaves should only be removed if they yellow or dry out. However, once the plant begins to flower, you can trim off some of the fan leaves. However, don’t remove more than half of the fan leaves, because they are still needed by the plant.

When do I remove fan leaves?

Prior to flowering, you may want to remove up to one half of the fan leaves to encourage bud production. When choosing fan leaves to prune, trim the ones that are beginning to yellow first. Then, trim ones near the bottom that are older. If you still want to trim off more, choose leaves near the top that are shading leaves and flowers below.

Do you need fan leaves during flowering?

Right before you begin to harvest buds, you can remove most or all of your fan leaves. However, always allow two days for the plant to recover before harvesting buds.

You may want to prune fan leaves just prior to flushing, because the reduction in nutrients will tend to yellow some of these leaves anyway. Choose older leaves to trim off.

Train your plants to produce more with pruning.

There are many forms of trimming that are utilized in hemp plant cultivation. Popular trimming techniques include:

Topping – When you remove a growing point by pruning directly above the first node, this is called topping. Topping refers to trimming the plant’s highest growing point, but it also refers to trimming any growing point.

Fimming – Fimming will help you increase yield. Fimming is accomplished by holding the small leaves of a growing point between your thumb and fingertip, and then cutting through the leaves, leaving only about 25% to 30% of the growing point intact.

Lollipop – The term lollipop is derived from the shape of your plant after you apply lollipop trimming techniques. It will look somewhat like a lollipop, with all of the growth focused at the top of the plant, with only bare stalks at the bottom.

Strategic trimming can be used to:

1.    control the height of the plant

2.    control the breadth of the plant

3.    remove dead or diseased leaves

4.    remove dead or diseased stems

5.    introduce light to all areas of the plant

6.    encourage the growth of the plant’s structure; leaves and stems

7.    encourage the growth of the plant’s flowers

8.    increase the size of the plant’s flowers

9.    increase the number of flowers produced by the plant

10. direct the growth of the plant in a particular area or direction

Is there any benefit to total defoliation?

Some professional growers like to completely strip off fan leaves midway, or near the end of the flowering cycle. They do this in order to:

·      Expose more of the plant to light

·      Increase bud yield

·      Decrease lighting requirement

Total defoliation is risky and should only be done by experienced growers.