I know people believe what they want. I actually test out my facts before I state them.
Twenty five years growing bud and I can tell you that removing fans gives bigger yields but I am most likely in the minority there too.
Like my sig says....
Cheap and easy way to get rid of mites...
70% rubbing alcohol. pour it in a spray bottle and spray your plants every few days for 9 days. make sure it's 70% and not 90% alcohol.
Nice little nugs but wasted valuable space growing this low yielder. Somone should breed some yields into her. She gets sick frosty for sure. The purple really come out with cool temps.
Anyway you can run 24 dark and 12 light while you are away?
your plants should be fine on that schedule while you are gone and they should be ok as far as watering goes cuz they aren't in light so much.
I use cal mag entire grows. I don't use botanicare tho. they use Iron EDTA in it. That **** is bad to smoke. Iron EDTA has formaldehyde and sodium cyanide and more in it. Yum Yum
I used to veg in hydro and flower in soil all the time.
Hydro gives you faster crops. I can do 3 hydro crops in the same time as 2 soil crops.
As far as flavors... 25 years of growing has taught me how to get amazing flavors in both soil and hydro.
It is ok to remove fan leaves anytime you want.
Next grow you may want to remove all the big fans off one plant during flower.
You can then do a side by side to see which plant yields more.