Defoliation. Yes or No?

microbial growth risks.. depends on region quite a bit for that. you'll find even with leaves that at a certain depth, nothing grows well. that foliage is often the first to be infected by something, which then can spread like wildfire. maybe some of the inward facing and well-shielded leaves would be a benefit? The plant will typically shed leaves that get very little light regradless. light hitting budsits does not improve buds... light hitting leaves near bud sites does. very little photosyntheisis happens outside of leaves, even though any green surface has a little going on it is not comparable in any meaninful scale. light -> photosynthesis - > ATP to power cellular growth. ATP is mobile in the plant, but it will be most used locally before trucked elsewhere in plant. you are right... it's silly to remove leaves. Some risks will make it useful though. overall yield will defintieyl go down with less photosynthesis occuring, but if it's just lost larfy trash at bottom, that's may not be important to you... that stuff is great for edibles and extractiosn but shit for smoking. losing that as primarily a smoker of flower is no loss to me. i'd rather reduce risk... or take some portion of what is lost and redicrect efforts elwehere on plant that produces decent bud -- i do not think it's 1:1 or even near that .. defintely a net loss but only of the shitties quality buds.