Concerning the removal of fan leaves; here is an experiment to try. On one plant choose a node somewhere along the main stem and remove one of the fan leaves from one side. Leave the other intact. Notice when the plant is finished how much bigger the bud is with the leaf than the one without.

I did this once and was amazed at the difference in size. The bud with the intact fan leaf was over twice the size.
Perp is completely correct...

LATERAL BRANCHES GROW IN DIRECT CORRELATION TO FAN LEAVES! BY REMOVING A FAN LEAF, YOU CAN PRETTY MUCH DISABLE THE GROWTH OF THE EXISTING LATERAL BRANCH...

...man ive been waitin for someone to bring this up..