Do i need to defoliation my girls? If yes, advices will be appreciated.

"To defoliate or not..." - article on cocoforcannabis.com. a google search will bring it to top url returned for sure, so no need to traverse the site looking for it. Long story short: have a good reason to remove a leaf. It does a lot more than photosynthesis. Avoiding congestion and condenstion are two good reasons - helps avoid mold and rot. Keep as many as you can, otherwise. It's faux science as far as where light hits the plant. ATP is highly mobile. The sugars from photosynthesis go into vascular tissue (phloem in this case) and that liquid is all throughout the plant similarly packed with sugar and minerals if its a happy plant and fed well in a consistent manner - the only context that matters. Apical dominance is why some buds develop better than others and very little else impacts that. just to make the point, i've been leaving large leaves covering specific bud sites for several grows now. It in no way hindered their development. those buds developed just as well as the buds at similar height (apical dominance) and similar amount of vascular tissue leading to them (not comparing secondary branching with primary etc.. same thickness of stem leading to the other buds being compared). How high on the plant is 95% of that equation and that is true outside when it is swimming in 2000PPFD from all angles top to bottom and from the sides, lol, unlike indoor context which shows that the light intensity isn't the cause x2. you still get better buds up top on an outdoor plant. it grows 'more' of the dense buds outside than indoors because it gets a lot more energy per day to power that excess growth, so you find 'better' nugs deeper into canopy even if shielded. Cutting off lower buds does not make for larger buds up top. you simply have less larf to deal with. even if an extra calyx or two does develop up above due to that, it will never be 1:1 with what you cut off. There are reasons to do it, but increading yield is absolutely not one of them. I try to lolipop at the point where solid nugs form (indoors) but i don't lie to myself and say i improved my yield or drasticalyl changed the quality of the buds up top by doing it. read the guides on cocoforcannabis. read dr photon's corner articles. This knowledge exists in there somewhere for a 2nd source. Avoid bro-science. get good information and cast out the bad.

Removing lower bud sites that do not see see direst light allows the plant to use energy that would have been used to maintain them to produce larger buds that get direct light. Kind of like a locomotive not having to pull as many cars as dead weight. Science but not rocket.

Hello Snakeking, There are only 2 reasons to defoliate. The first reason is when leaves block airflow. When they are stacked on eachother there will be moist in between. You need to prevent this because it can cause mold and other unwanted problems. The second and last reason is when a large leaf on top does block a huge amount of light for the leaves below. Next to that defoliation will only decrease yield. Happy Growing Buddy! 💚

Yes. The lower leaves use energy yet do not produce as much photosynthesis as the top canopy leaves. Secondly, removing leaves improves airflow and helps prevent pests and mold. Best of luck on your grow.

Personally, I NEVER defoliate. Tried it on bad advice 40 years ago and for the last 35 years have never done it again. All of the plants energy to grow and thrive is made by/in the leaves. Just remember............ Less leaves = less energy being made = less potential (flower) growth. Defoliation is not a required "technique" when growing cannabis, especially outdoors. Try to only ever remove yellow leaves. The older leaves also provide a source of ready made nutrition (sugars, carbs etc) that your plant will take advantage of during flowering. Removing leaves means the plant will not have access to these ready made nutrition and will then have to use energy to make new nutrition, meaning rather than 100% of the energy going into growing flowers, some energy is used for making new nutrition, meaning there is less energy going into growing flowers. Defoliating "just because everyone else does it" is the worst reason for doing so.