Its hard to say, When I take them off I basically thin out the fan leaves, I dont take them all off, but if you take 20 off that monster you will see all these new budsites, and if you listen you can hear them say thank you. I just kinda take off some, stand back and look at the plant, then pull maybe 10 more and stand back and look . I usually pull after day 21 but wk 4 isnt a bad thing either. there is a whole world of other fan leaves behind all those monster "shade" leaves that are ready and willing to absorb light. I know about 25 people will chime in after this post to tell you not too but I think its a sin not too