I was wondering. As I move further into flowering phase can I cut the older larger fan leaves off or should I leave it alone completely until I harvest?
I slowly take them off so the plant can get more light to the flowers. I may pop a couple here and there. I don’t do to much as I am a firm believer that if its good enough for Mother Nature, its good enough for me.
My current Indica called Purps #1.
I only fed her for one week and left her alone. This is the 2nd crop rotation and the FFOF still a little hot.
If you look closely you can see where I popped some fan leaves by whats left of the stem.
I’m out of likes, been looking at too many nice grows like yours. 
You don’t have to worry about hurting it. I personally do most of mine right before flowering. That’s when I remove any “sucker branches” and some lower leaves. After that I don’t do a lot, just one here or there if they’re shading bud sites or too congested.
I pull old fan leaves off in late flowering when they are yellowed and easily pull off the plant with minimal effort.
For the most part I don’t remove big fan leaves unless they are blocking lower bud sites that I want to get more light To.
Pretty much leave it alone. Those are like solar panels. If you get a damaged one, or an old one, go ahead, otherwise leave the healthy ones alone.
Your plant looks to have Good light penetration and air circulation. My 1st choice is to tuck a few leafs, An eventually take a few if needed. You can post a picture of overall plant For a better look.
What you have pictured no. Depends on the stage of the plant and your growing skills in reality. When plant is producing leaves and your feeding properly you can take as many as you want. Once leaves stop being produced selective pruning is best. In my experience plants with less leaves take longer to amber
Nice manifold work there.
Hey there @Bluntsmoke, Didn’t known about that… More leaves, amber quicker…that’s worth exploring. I always want to know WHY, like cause and effect. I hope you are correct. I need a reason to put the pruning shears down. The only thing that made sense to me so far is recovery time with autos. But the solar panels down under where these leaves get little or no light seem to be a drain on the plant. So I always leave as many of the higher ones that don’t block buds…No?
That’s where the buds suck nutes from the last days. Drains them dry.
Not sure but, that seems counterintuitive. Like, if the leaves are there with available nutes, then the ripening would take longer since the buds have the leaves to draw from.
Where naturally would buds get their nutes from? Leaves. Taking away their source of nutes doesn’t make them finish faster.
Very nice , for now I’d let the plants ride.
Happy birthday ! @Bluntsmoke
You should be doing the opposite.
Sometimes thinking I do too much. I prune my tomatoes often. I tend to get rid of anything that won’t get light or blocks buds with weed. Usually pruning lower fans shaded buds down under, and let some of the top most bud fans go till just before harvest. It’s easier to let an outdoor plant go. Indoors in a 20”x36” tent you have to control them better I think. So lots of training and pruning.
You have a beautiful canopy there with how they are id honestly leave here alone and let her do her thing i rarely defoliate unless its at the time of flower flip and typically 20 days after flip i just defoliated today actually im a firm believer in defoliation especially if theres alot of leaf mass on the plant i personally like to really open up my plant to allow light to all bud sites here is a before and after pic everything i removed today you wont even know i took it within a couple weeks it will grow back quick
Manifold? The trellis netting? That took me like an hour and a half to set up and get dialed in.
Yep. Looks good.
