To thin/get rid of lower bud sites..?

so im use to tent growing with height restriction so I’ve always used a screen and trimmed the bottoms… this round i have no height restriction so I’ve let them get big… real big! just started flowering and they are 8’ tall. I’ve been topping them and pruning fan leaves only and only the ones by the stalk. obviously with them being 8’ the bottom branches that didn’t get to the canopy are pretty much in the dark. i heard when growing trees I should not prune any bud sites but its killing me to leave little bud sites that won’t produce much. Should i be pruning main stem fan leaves only or is any fan leaf fair game? what about the small bud sites, at the bottom? i don’t want to reduce my yield but i also don’t want a bunch of popcorn buds taking energy away from the main buds… what are my options?

Since you just started flowering I wouldn’t necessarily do a heavy defol until after the flower stretch, or around week 3 or 4 of flower. All the branches that don’t make it to the top or are shaded should be removed. That way your plant puts all its energy into your main colas. Otherwise you will have lots of airy buds like you said. Once they are in week 4/5 of flower I take every leaf that has a stem visible, all the way from top to bottom.

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cool, thanks… so leave the fans leaves while they are stretching so they can produce more energy then once the buds are established, remove fan leaves so all of the energy goes to fattening the buds and resin production…is that about right?

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