Need some education... please help

I have a few vegging right now they are about 5 weeks along maybe 2' but extreemly bushy. My last one was the first and it also was very bushy, but turned out good. It looks different from those i see on here meaning it has alot of nodes and the branches extend out alot further taking up more space. I am using 4-- 4' flourecent lights with a mixture of natural sun, and cool whites. During flowering i will switch to a warm white again i think. My last one i snapped off at the base of the stem mostly all my single fan leaves which someone told me were shade leaves and are not needed they just steal nutes from the buds, they also were blocking light to all my buds forming on my inner branches. Then some one told me that was bad. What do those single big fan leaves do and what should i do this time to make me more sucessful.

A bushy plant is everyone's goal is to have bushy plants. Leave all leaves on the plant. There is no debate on that one. What ya want to do down the grow is trim off entire branches that are not getting light and grow slow.

Yeah I thought bushy was good because at every branch there buds grew but now im running out of room. These are growing faster and doing better than my first one. But what do those big fans do because the buds dont grow off them just above them on seperate branches. I wish i could post pics but im out of town.

Ya dnt have to worry about buds yet you are not flowering yet. Ya should trimm off the little branches that are on the main branches. The fan leaves are like solar panels.

I know i was told do do this after the buds start to grow so like maybe 3-4 weeks in flowering mode.

Not during flowering. It will stunt its growth. Thats for sure. Trimm the little shit stuff as soon as it grows but keep the fan leaves on it.

thanks for the advice

Your welcome. Have a safe trip.

Think of the fan leaves as solar panels for the plant. They have the largest surface area therefore would be the ideal place for the plant to utiize light being bombarded to it. Eventhough on gross inspection they may cover lower foliage, it does not totally blanket it out. Light does pass through just not at 100% to the lower branches. Some people get away by taking off those leaves introducing shock to the plant and nothing happens in others it could cause stunt in growth, hermaphroditism, or seeding out. That is a choice for you to make if you want to take that chance by removing those leaves. I myself do not remove leaves not unless they are 50% affected either by nutrient burn, light damage, bug attack, or if chlorosis that occurs in the leaves I know cannot be reversed.

So if they are big solar panels than they create more food nutes and stuff to the buds. Because i was told both ways and people that told me to snap them off said that they steel nutes away. I understand what you are saying about the stress i read up about that but ive cut a few of the individual leaves on the big fans to let alittle light by and nothing happened.

If your gonna trim off lower branches whilst in veg you may as well clone them if they have a couple of nodes...

Wait for 2-3 weeks from taking them before you flower them though!