keep the leaves on, lollipop the shoots that is way down, them you know won't receive any light at all or so little they just tap energy from the plant and rewards you with Flimsy Bud`s, make the plant concentrate on the top Bud`s, them who get enough light, the leaves have stored food the plant can use and it also use em to "breath" with and store water so IMO its a shame to cut em of, keep em until they fall off and remove em from the grow medium so you don't attract mold aso