1st off what problem is affecting your lower fan leaves ? im guessing mold or powdery mildew am i correct in that assumption ? If so plucking fan leaves will not stop the spread of mold or powdery mildew , if it is mold or PM then you want to lower the humidity in the room , wipe any heavy mold or PM from the leaves using a mildewcide such as Bonide Liquid Copper , after wiping off the heavy mold or PM spray the entire plant with the Bonide , then lower humidity to 40% & use a sulfur burner or an ozone generator to keep airborn spores in check ,get some air moving thru the interior of the grow as well , the medium your growing in might be too wet as well , if the top of the grow medium never dries out you can expect mold & PM .
Plucking healthy GREEN fan leafs from a plant is counter productive 100% of the time & thats not just my opinion , it's botany 101 , fan leafs are vital to bud production , the only way bud production would increase after defoliating healthy fan leaves is if the plants were extremely overcrowded , or are not being supplied light with sufficient penetration to reach all areas of the plant with enough useable lumens to create photosynthesis within the leaf .
If your problem is mold & pm removing the lower leaves will not stop it from spreading to where it covers the bud , Blight & Bud Rott are what happens next by allowing the interior of the grow to see high humidity levels .