To Trim, Or Not To Trim...?

[villagebudman]

I have four really solid laddies that I topped in the middle of veg and have a really nice SOG. I am in the final flowering stages and am flushing and have a tremendous amount of leaves that are light blockers at a minimum. I did the fold back thing, but there are also a tremendous amount of colas and bud sites so you end up covering another. I read dont..but do, but dont ever...arrrrghhh. I also have a friend who swears that you cut away in the final stages of bloom. Once a few weeks in to bloom then a final one in the last few weeks. I know this is strain dependent, but there is a lot of leaf production in this strain. What does everyone think? This is my 5th successful grow, so I am not exactly new.

[JackdaWack]

Well the leaves feed the bud site so i would say absolutely do what ever u can to not cut them. Plus u'll stunt the plants if u cut them. Its best to do any cutting or trimming in the veg stage, and just tie stuff down in flower. If u cut them u loose stored food, but gain light and stunt the plant a bit, and vice verse if u dont. If u topped and have a SOG, u should be ok anyway, the bud sites have a tendency to push through the canopy doing a sog, or scrog. I dunno what ur friend is telling u or what reasoning he has behind it, but u should never cut off ur fan leaves. People lst, do sog, or scrog, to help with getting more light to bud sites, but they never cut leaves off.