what do you mean by pull the leaves off?

what you do is start in a small pot or even better a 16oz keg cup then after a few weeks transplant to a 5 1/2 inch square pot then let the roots fill that pot then transplant to a 1 gal. or so pot then next to a 3gal you can finish in a 3 but if you have the room 1 more transplant to a 5gal would increase yeild.

you should vegg for no less than 4weeks(6 or more is better) on 18/6 or 24/0 lighting schedule. then when the plants show sex(preflowers) remove all males. i always wait till the plants have alternating nodes before switching to 12/12. depending on the strain it can take anywhere from 45 to as much as 120days to finish.