4 * Sticky Beast auto, LED (first grow)

It’s official, the 3 girls are flowering! Week 5 was a solid week; they made quite a jump and grew several centimeters every day. From 32 cm last week to 52 cm today. Also, after watering Anna with plain pH’ed water with a few liters run off on day 29, she finally fully recovered from the N excess. Not only is new growth no longer clawing, but also a bunch of affected leaves fully recovered. She grew the most this week, as she was a little smaller compared to the other 2, but she’s about the same size now. On day 30, the other 2 girls were watered with plain pH’ed water too with 20% run off. LST was a daily task, especially with Ceylin; I have not succeeded to break her apical dominance. Her mainstem seems to be a little Houdini, breaking out of her chains every time. Her mainstem is therefor a bit higher compared to the rest of the canopy and her side stems are thinner compared to those of the other 2 girls. Her canopy is looking somewhat chaotic. However, Ceylin is a day or two ahead of the other girls with producing flowers. With Benthe, apical dominance was already broken with LST, but after accidently topping her last week, she has an almost perfect canopy; all her side stems look strong and all the bud sides are on the same level. The topping didn’t stun her growth and even seems to have been beneficial. Anna is somewhere in between, her mainstem has a nice S-shape and her side stems are developing nicely. The girls also started to drink more. On day 34 the soil was already dry and the pots were light. I watered them again with plain pH’ed water until 20% drain, but after that I gave them all 2 liters of a very light feeding mix: 25% of recommended quantity on bottle and even reduced the N a bit more by giving less Gro. I was worried their needs for Phosphorus is now increasing, because they are flowering and the soil (Canna Terre Professional) was lightly fertilized with a 24-12-24 ratio according to the label on the bag, which is more suited for vegetative growth. They seem to be handling it fine, 24 hours later, no new signs of excesses are showing. I will be feeding 25% of recommended dose once or twice a week, unless deficiencies manifest themselves. The run off water was at pH 5.8, while the water that goes in is at pH 7. Because of their grow, I had to raise the lights every other day, but I also increased power to around 265 watts. I’ll guestimate (using the information of Mars Hydro and some common sense) they are now receiving around 650 PPFD. I will slowly increase to around 900 PPFD mid to late flower. Last, I defoliated quite a bit this week and even lollipopped a bit of flimsy growth at the lower parts. Nothing extreme and spread out over multiple days. I removed some of the big lower fanleaves (but also left a few) and removed a fanleaf here or there at the top. I tried tucking away leaves as much as I could to free up budsides, but if that wasn’t possible, I removed it. Still, the top of the canopy is thick and casting a shadow to the lower sides of the plants. Therefor, I wonder if I should defoliate more and if so, when and what leaves should I remove? Should I remove everything below say 1/3th of the plant? Should I also remove some of the bigger leaves at the top, creating more light penetration and airflow? Any advice would be more than welcome!