Defolation leafs removing

3 fingers leaves are normal on the bottom , it's starts with 1 finger leaves then 3 fingers then 5 then 7 then 9 then 11 but your plant can stop at 5 of 7 , most of the time it's between 5 & 9 depending on the type of strain aka indica or sativa as sativa have more fingers on the leaves than indica ( generally but not all the times ) So the big 5 fingers leaves are not blocking light to lower budsites ? if so then I fell like it could be better to remove the stems that are under them because the lower stems are not really growing tall and the leaves have a great surface to help for photosynthesis. Don't forget , the smart way to defoliate is to remove only the leaves that are blocking ligt to others bud sites