I had some questions if anyone can help...
A lot of the lower (smaller) leaves are going yellow now that flowering is well on its way. I have picked the ones that look near dead off, should I pick off the ones that are heading the same way to say time and energy.
Also what about the huge fan leaves? I have heard that taking these off towards the end of the flowering period can help. It would certainly let in more light to the lower buds...................................................................................................
The smaller leaves towards the bottom of the plant turning yellow is perfectly normal at this stage for your plants... it happened to my GDP too... it starts at the bottom and moves progressively up the plant. Any leaf that has at least 30% green should be left on the plant, as it is still producing energy to help the plant grow and develop, so I wouldn't pick them until when you grab the leaf stem where it meets the main stem and they just fall off when you gently pull a little bit (otherwise they will naturally fall off and if they get mixed up with your buds they could cause problems down the road).
Ok, so you should flush for about two weeks before harvesting by just watering with pure water... right around when I start doing that is when I start removing sun leaves starting at the bottom of the plant, and moving slowly up the plant... so basically when its harvest time, there aren't a whole lot of large sun/fan leaves left on the plant... but of course you want to be a bit more picky as you go up the plant to take only certain leaves that block pathways for light to get to lower leaves, and make sure that you don't take too many at once, and make sure you don't strip them all off over time or the plant won't have any way to make enough energy to support itself and it will die... so if you start at the bottom and just remove a few a day (5-20 depending on plant size, strain, and growth pattern), you shouldn't have taken too many by the time you harvest...
I hope that was easy enough to read...