Prune or Not to Prune?

maybe bend them but don't cut off your 2 largest solar panels powering growth. you need to think backward from the area you plan to fill. how big of a plant do you need? how many vertical shoots do you want in that space? figure 4-6" LxW per cola... larger colas need more space. So, work back from that is how i'd choose to top my plant. This will encourage lateral growth. i'm assuming this is a photperiod plant and not an autoflower. Don't top and autoflower, and still don't cut off those leaves. Anyway, lets say you want ~9-12 colas for a ~18"x18" space. I'd assess lower growth... if any is too weak or messed up, i'd ignore it... i want 2 pair of healthy axillary growth plus 2 new terminal nodes after topping. If those lower growths stretch a bit, that's okay... they need some distance and anything growing out of it while horizontal is likely trash or reduces airflow in a dangerous way. as they reach out further, i'd top each of those. This'll give 8 vertically growing shoots + 2 in the middle. If those grow too fast, i'd prun them back gut removed 2nd bud so that only 1 vertical shoot remains but even with rest of canopy. the shape you need to fill is important too... should be part of planning as far as # of colas per plant. square is best symmetrical... 2x2=4, 3x3=9 4x4=16 colas... otherwise you end up with an odd shape fitting into a square space. 1 cola per 4-6 inhces by 4-6 inches.. bigger plant generally means smaller colas due to spread out resources. can fit more per square inch in those contexts... 4 colas per plant? those things might get massive and bulky, give them space. So, figure out what you need at end and work backward from there... all the deductive reasoning needed is above.