It's not what you do to your plants, please experiment all you want. Just do it in a controlled setting and use a proper scientific method, the minimum would be 3 subject and 3 control plants run at least 3 times. It is telling others, specifically Newbs, that this is a good or proper botanical practice that causes most of the experienced growers on this forum to pounce. Also what you are describing is pruning which many of you interchange freely with defoliating. This fundamental disconnect is why it is difficult and frustrating for those of us that are often referred to dismissively as "booksmart" to have rational discussions. Carefully worded and often citation or illustration included responses based on experience and science are often dismissed with "I feel" or "I've seen it done" or "it's obvious" followed by some internet hype.
I agree: linguistic incompatibility is a problem i often cite, in numerous areas, not just here.
At some point, i realized that those vehemently opposing "defoliation" were arguing against a definition i wasn't using (which is probably the definition they were given by those promoting it).
If we define "defoliation" as "removing most of the fan leaves to increase yield," i can't agree with it. Leaves are clearly necessary. I want as many leaves receiving as much useful light as possible.
But if we define "defoliation" literally, as "de-foliate" or "the removal of any number of leaves," then that definition doesn't necessarily mean "strip the plant."
Too many different (often conflicting) definitions for the same words... contributes to unnecessary disagreements, stifles communication, inevitably produces arbitrary conflict.
Kinda like how people throw around the word "theoretically," when really "hypothetically" or even "speculatively" would be more appropriate. When people say "it's just theories," i cringe. Theory is "the best idea we can come up with, based on the best available info." Hypothesis is "educated guess." Speculation is even less strict.
I have quite a few leaves which aren't getting much useful light, but i didn't remove them because they seem healthy enough and they're not obstructing anything, or contributing to any discernible problems. If i see a problematic situation, i'd rather "reduce potential yield" by a small amount, instead of compromise the whole crop. That factors into my "cut off what isn't helping" approach. Sure, a leaf might be minimally photosynthesizing... but if it's also crammed up against other things, trapping moisture and encouraging mold and/or pests, that's no good, and isn't worth the minimal benefit of keeping it for stored resources. Stored resources become irrelevant if the whole plant gets compromised. Then the whole thing is waste, not just a few leaves.
Pruning and canopy management: yes.
Stripping the plant: No.
If i have a huge fan leaf hogging all the good light, i'd rather remove it and allow all that good light to reach multiple other leaves. Seems like you'd have a better overall photosynthetic efficiency that way (more leaves harnessing energy should be better than less leaves harnessing energy, right? So if you can cut 2 to help 10, that seems like a good thing...)