I’ve been doing a little expirement with a couple hash plants. One I’ve been trimming the fan leaves off, the other I’m just letting grow. I’m thinking the trimmed one looks happier…
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I have recently begun to prune away the bottom growth as well, and I agree.
They look happier with the new growth close to the lights and they struggle to get light to penetrate down to the under growth. Better air movement near the soil. I take them just near the bottom of the plant and leave all of the upper growth in tact after topping.
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There is lot of differing views on this…
Just for the reference:
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Interesting read, thanks 
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I never remove any fan leaves from my plants (other than those upon the two or three lowest branches which I remove from all of my container plants in order to provide easier access for feeding/watering.)
I tried defoliating my plants around 35 years ago based upon instructions provided with a Hydrofarm hydroponic grow kit I purchased and used in 1982 or '83.
Well, I went back to soil-less containers around 1985 or so, and have never attempted any removal of fan leaves since then.
Other than the fan leaves on the lowest branches of my plants, I only remove those which are yellowing and dying and can no longer provide energy to the yummy flowers.
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Both plants look good! Removing fan leaves is just like any other pruning, if done correctly will benefit the plant. Any time you prune it runs the risk of shocking your plants. Imo, as long as the branch you are removing the fan leaf from has enough vegetative growth to support itself it should benefit from the pruning. Removing a fan leaf before a branch can support itself can stop growth in its tracks.
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I would remove the top on the right plant to Have beautifull even conopy
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So far you have only looked at the aesthetics of the plant. How it looks.
I will be interested for you to post any difference in yield.
My view is that leaves are the solar powered factories that turn feed into sugars for the plant to use to build yield.
I keep Bonsia trees, they are very small and would not produce any weight of apples, or other fruit.
But they are very well trimmed and look gorgeous…
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And I also think that it depends on genetic it self. I am curent running two strains. Purple Orange CBD and OG kush CBD from Dinafem. I decided to trim leafes regulary this round. Every week almost all fan leafes and final trim on day 24 of flower. The purple Orange is doing absolutly great and has a lot of buds and massive tops which I Have never seen before 
and only in day 42.
But the OG kush got abosultly stressed out I think and it didnt produce almost any flowers until day 35. They were still on day 20 with bud size. otherwise they were absolutly the same conditions. And the OG kush is much more worse than the purple Orange.
What do you guys think? Do you think that some strains hate to trim fan leaves and other need it to support bigger buds?
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I would say the strain and how it responds would greatly affect the results from fan leaf trimming.
Robert Connell Clarke has some words to say on the subject of leaf trimming…
Leafing is one of the most misunderstood techniques
of drug Cannabis cultivation. In the mind of the cultivator,
several reasons exist for removing leaves. Many feel that
large shade leaves draw energy from the flowering plant,
and therefore the flowering clusters will be smaller. It is
felt that by removing the leaves, surplus energy will be
available, and large floral clusters will be formed. Also,
some feel that inhibitors of flowering, synthesized in the
leaves during the long noninductive days of summer, may
be stored in the older leaves that were formed during the
noninductive photoperiod. Possibly, if these inhibitor-laden
leaves are removed, the plant will proceed to flower, and
maturation will be accelerated. Large leaves shade the inner
portions of the plant, and small atrophied floral clusters
may begin to develop if they receive more light.
In actuality, few if any of the theories behind leafing
give any indication of validity. Indeed, leafing possibly
serves to defeat its original purpose. Large leaves have a
definite function in the growth and development of Can-
nabis. Large leaves serve as photosynthetic factories for the
production of sugars and other necessary growth sub-
stances. They also create shade, but at the same time they
are collecting valuable solar energy and producing foods
that will be used during the floral development of the
plant. Premature removal of leaves may cause stunting,
because the potential for photosynthesis is reduced. As
these leaves age and lose their ability to carry on photo-
synthesis they turn chloro tie (yellow) and fall to the
ground. In humid areas care is taken to remove the yellow
or brown leaves, because they might invite attack by fun-
gus. During chlorosis the plant breaks down substances,
such as chlorophylls, and translocates the molecular com-
ponents to a new growing part of the plant, such as the
flowers. Most Cannabis plants begin to lose their larger
leaves when they enter the flowering stage, and this trend
continues until senescence. It is more efficient for the plant
to reuse the energy and various molecular components of
existing chlorophyll than to synthesize new chlorophyll at
the time of flowering. During flowering this energy is
needed to form floral clusters and ripen seeds.
Removing large amounts of leaves may interfere with
the metabolic balance of the plant. If this metabolic change
occurs too late in the season it could interfere with floral
development and delay maturation. If any floral inhibitors
are removed, the intended effect of accelerating flowering
will probably be counteracted by metabolic upset in the
plant. Removal of shade leaves does facilitate more light
reaching the center of the plant, but if there is not enough
food energy produced in the leaves, the small internal
floral clusters will probably not grow any larger. Leaf re-
moval may also cause sex reversal resulting from a meta-
bolic change.
This has always been my view on removing healthy leaves.
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I thought about trimming the top but decided against it.
I’m sure different genetics would respond differently to being trimmed. These seem to respond well. The trimmed plant has grown a lot bushier while the untrimmed plant seems to be putting it’s energy flowering.
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I’m not keen on trimming healthy leaves but on occasion things get well overgrown and i have to. A few at a time though 
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I tend to trim here and there throughout the entire flower phase… No particular reason, It just feels right to me. I like opening up the bud sites to more light, so if I find a fan leaf in the way, off with it’s head.
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are your 2 plants from seed or were they clones from same mother? i do regular deleafing during first few weeks of flower then only whats covering bud sites after (which is still lots) every few days
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They’re both from seed. They’re super hash plant autos from pyramid seeds.
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My missis grew that last year, didn’t yield that much, bout one and a half oz but it was easy to grow and produced potent stinky bud 
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This is my third round with the hash plants. The yield isn’t great but i like the bud.
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Just discovered the untrimmed plant is a hermie 
disappointing… 5 weeks into flowering and it’s looking beautiful. Should i chop it or let it go?