I leave the lower leaves on mine...I like them bushy...I believe that if you take the lower leaves off, more growth concentration will go the upper leaves and the buds, but I leave mine on.

knotz

I'm like Knotz and don't strip the lower foliage. Some are bushy and others just grow in a tree form where the lower stem(s) are naturally bare. These send out very little growth at the nodes and what does grow doesn't develop. I have a NOID peach that's about 9' tall and has bare stems on the lower 8' and I've never removed a leaf. Many people train their plants to a single bare lower stem but it takes a lot of maintenance because they'll keep putting out new foliage. If you want the tree form I'd remove the growth that's below the first Y and keep removing it.

I only strip the yellow leaves off, the plant needs all of its leaves to make food for blooms.