1st living soil run

i see a bunch of small-ish, young leaves. Don't defoliate in future. Selectively prune leaves for which you have a very good reason to remove. For example, avoiding consistent condensation caused from physical touching is a good reason. Do not whimsially remove large portions of leaves, because bro-science says it improves results while never providing 1 mL of supporting evidence. Leave perform numerous necessary and important roles beyond absorbing light. They store nutrients, which gives you room for error. They transpire and take in CO2, which is a limiting factor of growth. The cost of removing a bunch of leaves is nearly impossible to overcome. Light absorption and CO2 intake are the two most important variables. There's no net-positive when you hinder these 2 things, typically. Small immature leaves are not as effective as mature leaves. Older leaves do lose effectiveness, but by that time they are well-shielded and still store nutrients and still transpire (co2 intake). Keep leaves. Leaves are your friend. The burden of proof is on the 'technique' to show it adds some measurable value compared to simply growing the plant without stripping it of leaves... removing a shit ton of leaves has never been proven to do anything positive that i have ever seen - not that i am aware of 100% of all research, but fairly confident about this. The plant will shed leaves if it has too many relative to variables -- a healthier plant can support more leaves, all other factors the same, obviously. This is definitely a case where the plant "knows" better than our limited humans senses can resolve.