Hey all, & @Mikeygbaby1234
It was suggested I do some defoliation here. I have read a bit but still lacking confidence I know where to start. I am sure it is well past due, honestly this is my first plant and I was enjoying watching it grow and dealt with some other issues and this slipped my mind. Any suggestions are appreciated. I took some side shots for review.
thanks!
I would remove all growth below the red line I marked, then spread your side branches out and tie or pin them to the side of your pot. Bend your main over above 1/2 way up to creat an even canopy top and it’ll open her up more for air circulation and light penetration. You’ll get a better picture of her structure to see where to defoliate/prune as well 
are you going to grow this one natural with no topping?
The idea is to expose the growth sites to direct light, if you can avoid cutting, avoid it, otherwise cut off the big sun leaves covering them. Only ever cut 30% or less off at a time. The light triggers pheromones that tell the plant “grow here”. As for branches, she will tell you which it likes and which it doesnt. The ones she likes grow big and fast, the other stays puny by comparison. You want to “help” the plant by being the rabbit or the deer. Remove the sucker branches once it gets bigger to keep the lolly pops, and only cut sun leaves to help it grow.
After a few grows you will laugh when you think back and realize how liberal you are with cutting them. At first they were so precious to me i cut 0 branches, it was a mess lol.
Yup any leaves i know arent going to get much light and the big ones in the way are the ones id priortize.
natural with no topping? sorry not sure if you mean topping as in trimming the top? i am unsure what that is so i don’t know lol. thanks for the help!
Natural will be straight up no topping"removing main stem top at a desired point to create 2 tops". Or no fimming…pinching top growth to creat 3-4 tops. I grow most auto straight. If that is a photo can do whatever you like. If a photo i would clean her out and remove little useless branches inside. Just me. If auto i usually only remove fans for airflow and not many. I let those stretch into flower then create more airflow.
feminized strawberry kush, forgot to mention if it matters seed started on 6/15 so just about 6 weeks into it.
Yep , clean up around the bottom bottom of plant closest to the top of the bucket. Better access watering an feeding. Those leafs are not collecting much light.
YAY a photo. Do whatever you like within reason. Keep her healthy and sky is the limit. I have repotted from 10gal to 20 gal many times and had monster girls.
Just some advice. A 5gallon cloth pot beats those plastic hands down. Watering…testing runoff…root health etc. Now is a good time. If you feel cant get out of the plastic consider what that bucket is worth to you. If nothing can just cut that bucket 4 or 5 times and peel it off. Or is it a specialized pot?
sorry its hydro
No worries then. She will get big.
I just did the bottom. 30% I assume based on what is in the pile. This look right? - cutting only. 2nd to last pic - that large leaf, should I cut? I read somewhere to try and keep the larger stemmed leafs. I took out a few, just was not sure on this one.
Well done Growmie, if you can spread the sides out with tie downs or hand manipulate them to open her up a bit it’ll help with light penetration and air circulation. Looking good
cool thanks. i will work on that later when i wake up 
thanks again!
My method is to lollipop them (remove all branches about 12" up from dirt)
Then once a week I’ll remove all fan leafs that have a stem that is 3" long or longer. Within reason…
Especially fan leafs that cover lower buds.
The other rule is to not remove more than 30% of the leafs at a time, and give it a week to recove.
On my outdoor plants I defoliate aggresively because mold and bud rot are an issue in my North East location…
Good luck, your plant looks great!
question on one more leaf before i leave it alone for a week. I noticed this one up in the middle. kind of had to dig it out but it seems to be covering a lot here. it has a really thick stem. should i leave it or cut?
thanks
You can prune that leaf
Super healthy Growmie, might be time for some LST and a little pruning
