Defoliation in week 4 of flower?

If you're in Week 4 of flower then most of the stretch is done, I don't see any airflow restrictions or anything that would make defoliation beneficial. I like to defoliate 1-2 weeks before flip and the last time to defoliate (if needed) is during Week 3 of flower. The first 3 weeks of flower are a transition period where they are doing through a lot of vegetative growth still, defoliating during this time is less stressful on the plants. After Week 3, taking leaves here and there is OK but nothing heavy or it could be to much stress and cause issues.

bud sites are not made to absorb light. Some minimal amount of photosynthesis does take place but 1/100th or less of what takes place in the top layers of fan leaves. Bud sites don'tneed direct light. that's bro science. if you don't overcrowd canopy, light penetration happens on its own and is good enough. the products of photosynthesis freely and easily move about the vascular tissue. concentration gradients are part of the flow mechanism. Apical dominance dictates where resources are used most. cell differentiation... leaves are for absoring light, not sex organs.

Don't do it. in fact, leave more leaves next time. Bet you'll prefer the results.

I would not touch any.

I don't think its needed, like other said you have that grow nice and organized. keep up the air flow and it will be fine.

At this point and forward I would only remove a few of the fan leaves that shade out bud sites, legs look well shaven :)

Hello mate, i don't really think that these plant need defoliation, at least you could cut just few big leaves that cover a lot many buds. Anyway very nice work and great plants. Good luck and happy journey!!

You did a pretty aggressive skirting. Your canopy looks full but not congested. You should be fine for now. Maybe reevaluate when buds start swelling up.

Looks like you’ve already got the bottom cleaned up. I wouldn’t do anything else here unless you’re having humidity/ airflow issues.