Quote Originally Posted by canniwhatsis
+1!!

Cutting a green leaf hurts the plant as green leaves are still generating food and energy for the plant.

I leave all the fans on until they get really yellow, and for the most part they fall off if I give them the slightest downward pressure near the stalk.

Once the plant has started to yellow a leaf it's not costing energy, just circulation. There's lots of nutes tied up in the leaf, so the plant is pulling the nutes out of the leaf before discarding it. I read a post just after I joined discussing pruning all the big fans when you start flushing for this exact reason.
I will never cut green leaves again. I learned this the hard way with an outdoor crop that I tried to keep thin looking by prunning a lot. Needless to say, that was not smart at all and I will never do it again.

The way I see it. Prunning green leaves is like pulling a hangnail that bleeds and hurts for next few days. Prunning the yellow dieing leaves is like "cutting" a hangnail instead of pulling it, less damage this way IMO. I always cut atleast 1/2in up the stem of the leaf I am cutting too. I have noticed that the healing process is much faster when a leaf is cut instead of pulled down and snapped off the main stalk it grows from. Some works better for others though:thumbsup:.....I honestly try not to trim at all but if the leaves are dead, then they're dead and need to go. No need to have the plant working on repairing something that cannot be repaired.

I have never tried to remove all the fan leaves during the flush but it does sound like a good idea and makes sense. The plant is dieing anyways....Why not force the rest of the goodies that are still in the plant directly to the flowers? I think I may try that out:thumbsup: