Time to Trim?

So I've noticed, read, and have been told that I should trim shade leaves and other useless leaves when I hit a certain time in flowering... when is that? Some people disagree and say the plant should have leaves on the whole time, others say once you pass a certain time in flowering, they are useless anyways. What's the verdict people? The way I've been doing it:

My plant is almost 3 weeks into flower, and I've been cutting off the little shag bud sites, as well as leaves that are blocked out of getting any light from the canopy I made from LSTing. Should I stop hacking down leaves for now?

yes, they hold moisture ur plant needs.

Fan leaves are primarily solar panels for developing barnches/buds. They absorb nutrients/energy from light and spawn growth directly where they are located. If your branch is huge it no longer requires those fan leaves it needed when 1st developing....same with the buds. Once your buds achieve a point where they have a decent amount of green leaf content in the flower itself you should be safe to eliminate that fan leave connected to it. While they do hold some moisture it is not needed or used until the plant gets to a point where things are drying up....then the plant will exhaust any moisture it can steal from leaves 1st then steal from stock and branches last while naturally saving the buds at all costs. Dont let your plants get too dry and you will be all set. Another thing those big fan leaves do use some of the nutes and water so when they are gone those extra nutes and h20 will automatically go to the bud/branch. In my opinion the gained light/nutes is a much better advantage to the under growth and the attached growth - then the small benefit you will get from that extra solar panel for a top lying branch or one that already has full and direct light. You should see lower buds start to gain some weight once they can see the new light you create for them. This is a long debated subject that goes both ways I am on the camp that believes in clipping those things but there are many that go the other way so trial and error and observation can help you make the decision that you need to make....good luck!

The fan leaves produce sugars that make your bud taste better, also too much cutting during flowering stunts growth

Dont touch any growing leaves, i agree with greenice they are the solar panels that draw energy into plant to produce the heads, their large surface area sucks in the sun so removing them and you have no surface area to suck in energy. Remove dead leaves that may be laying on a bud as this will cause mould.

Well I meant for only the fan leaves that aren't getting light? I have it in a tiny grow box and I physically cannot get light to the bottom as I LST'ed the hell out of her, and she made a huge canopy. But there was some great advice on here. I think I'll try trimming this time, and not with my next grow with a clone of the current one going. This way I have a control, so I can definatley see which works better.

Do not trim any green leaves. Period !