Defoliate autos, Yay or nay?

If you need more light on the lower bud sites then use defo , a defo doesn't necessarily means to strip down the plant but to remove strategically your leaves. As you are using a scrog net generally you try to build an even cannopy so you can either defoliate to bring light on the lowest buds sites OR you cut everything under the net when the stretch is over

Much will boil down to your style of growing and how you want to grow. Ultimately, you can only do one thing wrong with these plants and that is to kill them. Everything else is just varying degrees of success. So I am sure you can follow sensible advice both for and against defoliation with good outcomes. My own view follows current scientific thinking which is that it is a bad idea to defoliate, other than to fix humidity issues. The leaves essentially run the whole show and it really does not matter if your buds get any direct light as they develop and grow from the energy developed by the leaves and the nutrients taken from the soil/medium by the plant. It makes perfect sense although it does seem counter intuitive for a simple grower like me. This counter intuitive apporach works for me but there are a lot of variables and much will depend on your style of growing; the equipment you have; the climate you live in; the amount of time/money you can invest; etc. For your autos, the less stress the better, but they are not made of glass and they should be more than capable of dealing with a gentle defoliation if they are currently vigorous and healthy. To learn, we first have to fail.

I defoliate once a week or so. Depends on how many bud sites are not getting to the light.

Hey man, contrary to what a lot of people say on here, here is a interesting article on why defoliating is not beneficial to the plant: https://www.cocoforcannabis.com/community/photons_corner/to-defoliate-or-not-to-defoliate/ On my current grow, I have barely cut any leaves at all. I stumbled on upon this website a couple months ago, its legit!