I created a Monster: Apple Strudel / Strawberry Gorilla in Living Soil

Doesn't look congested to me from these pics as far as any need to defoliate. As far as pruning off lower buds -- if familiar with your lights and typical depth of good buds, that's you guide. plant genetics play a role too - some can have 24" deep canopy of great buds under indoor lights. So, how much growth do you have left? Don't prune off too much. it's more art than science. Where the larf starts can be different on any plant and due to various factors in each garden. back to defoliation -- only remove leaves for a specific reason. Don't defoliate just to defoliate or some as part of some habitual behaviour. The products of photosynthesis are as mobile as water is in the phloem. Light hitting a lower bud is not what prevents larf, unless you are going extreme with side and under lightnig, then you can have an effect akin to the sun with good buds everywhere, but a few extra rays penetrating because you removed a bud with some indoor lights above? That's not doing anything and if it reduces photosynthesis potential of the plant, it only hurts yield. Removing leaves also reduces transpiration, which is how the plant gets 99% of its carbon.

everything looks great, you had to raise smaller plant, but at least you supercropped bigger, now canopy is nice. i see no burn marks, all healthy, so keep up same. during last two weeks blast them with almost max , but that could increase temps and could cause foxtailing, so do at the end and keep an eye on temps, for now i would leave everything as it is. have great flowering ! maybe in future if you have such small space , it would be wise to take exaust with carbon outside of tent, light would have better position.

So, this plants are still stretching. So, I wouldn't supercrop just yet. Once most of the stretching is done. You can then approach supercrop. So, its just a think of making a T shape, and tieing down nodes to that.. thsts 1 way of many Mine would be this. Remove some of the larger fan leaves. This will slow node growth down. VERY FEW NOW. Just a enough to slow the stretch down. For now also, you can get some LST clip. You bend the stem in them and they sit is like a C or half an S and this will allow you to lower the height. If you dont half what you can do. Is make some that comes up like to T shapes at put them to the side and pull the nodes down slightly just so they bow. Then after the stretch is over. HST them. (U can DM me for more help after your plant has finished stretch. Also. That net. Is pointless as a scrog net. But will even do so you can tie some string to it. Make 0 nots around your nodes, pick points where fan leafs, shoots come out so it can hold it down. Or, if you aren't stealth growing. You can simply just take it out. Leave until stops stretching. Then HST.