is it better to remove fan leaves to allow more light to get to lower branches or should they just be left alone?

leave them alone, unless they're dying.

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remove some of the lower ones, but leave some so the plant can breath, im a novice but if you look at my posts my babys (first grow) are doing great

by leaving them on what are the benifits?
does the taste end up being better?

leaves help plant growth,yeh you can remove fan leaves,the ones that get the most light should stay,the others can go,ive removed some fan leaves from my plany coz the were very bushy and many bud sites wernt getting light so now my plants have only 4 fan leaves on um at the top,and plenty smaller leaves lower down,so now all the many budsites are getting light and there thriving!definatly dont remove all fan leaves.

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by leaving them on, you don't stress the plant from having one of it's limbs cut off. and consider that the large fan leaves are most likely producing the most chlorophyll for the plants already..snipping them off to let little leaves get big is a waste of time.

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Here, throw this record on, pack a bowl, take a hit.
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from what ive heard the fan leaves are the "power plant" lol of the plant. thats where most of the photosynthesis takes place. yes if you lower shoots recieve more light they will grow bigger, it depends on what you want your plant to do. do you want it to be mostly a single cola(SOG-sea of green), or do you want one plant to take up alot of space(ScOG-screen of green). only remove ugly lower fan leaves that arent receiving much light or if more than 50% of a leaf is damaged than remove it.

if you want your lower shoots to spread out more and bush out then you can tie them down at an angle and they will become their own cola if they recieve enough light. anyways dont take my word, im just a "ungreen" noob, that hasnt done any growing but i have read a little bit. maybe someone will concur or tell me im an idiot, lol, idk. hey cheers m8 and good luck. God bless everyone

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i dont think that it should make your plant taste any different. but think is the key word. that has to do with what you use for ferts and whatnot. just remove any healthy fan leaves, bend your young shoots so they recieve more light if you want them to grow big. Just my 2 pennies! God bless everyone!

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"theres different stains for different brains". i just made that up. any good? God bless