Normally, I'd say you don't need to do defol that late, let each leaf be it's own mini power station. But in this case. Bro, she's crying for a haircut. Don't strip too much from 1 node. Make sure to leave some doesn't matter if there covering a bit. And if you can get away with leaf tucking, do so rather than defol if it gives the same results,(allowing light to reach calaxes and potential bud sites. Best of luck happy growing.