Lollipop

To do it in a way that helps, requires familiarity with the plant you are growing -- consistent genetics or clones etc.. depends on how much stretch the plant has as far as timing. you can do it later and try to do it 1 time.. .you can do multiple waves, too. I've been trying different things lately. I think i'm leaning toward a light cleanup early underneath only, then heavier pruning when the vegetative growth ceases (trunk, branches and leaves = vegetative growth and lats ~21 days into 12-12, longer/shorter depending on plant). The second wave will lollipop and remove "suckers" with greater precision... at that time you can see everything. Possible drawback - if it is more than 1/3rd of the plant cut off, you can potentially shock the plant. So, some exceptions along the way should be made if it's going to be a heavy pruning. Always react to plant and special conserations of that particular context. no hard and fast rules here. Leave more than you think the first go... see what is larf at harvest... do better next time. If you change your environment - lights or add co2 especially - Expect to re-learn this. Those factors will greatly impact depth of "good" nugs even more so that grow techniques within bounds of common sense usage. I left every single leaf of what i lollipopped, recently. The plant will suck them down and shed them as needed -- don't cut leaves off without a very, very good reason - airflow is important, but be reasonable. I did not wait for 2nd wave, and i have more axillary growth than i wanted due to the natural way plants react to pruning... sprus on axillary growth. Sometimes, this may be an intended outcome, but not this time. I see a canopy in that picture that seems rasonable organized... if you think anything is over-crowded, removed it. You'd know better in real life than me looking at the picture. I also think i see plenty of airflow underneath -- not too dense of foliage. So i don't htink yo'd have to remove much.. maybe somethign tha tdirectly overlaps and touches each other, causing water to build up between leaves -- good reason to remove one if you cannot otherwise bend or shape it somewhere else. Don't want standing water on leaves, you'll grow bad microbes in no time. i think your canopy looks awesome, and underneath looks great too. i think if yo stick to that sized plant ~4 colas each would be perfect for that sized area and that size of plant. figure about 6in by 6in per cola will preserve good airflow. only 4 vertical shoots on 1 plant will produce fairly large nugs in comparison to no topping/training - strain dependent. The resources aren't spread thin with 4.