Day 14 Flower: How Much to Defoliate & Should I Remove Inner Shoots?

you don't really need to split it into 2 sessions, i would suggest to do it on day 21 and you remove all fan leaves that are directly blocking a bud site from above, then when you've already removed some and light penetration is noticeably better, you can start lollipopping the lower shoots and leaves that are not receiving any light. If you want you can also look it up on YouTube, there are a lot of educational videos that could help you. And for removing smaller shoots, me personally, i wouldn't do it. In my view you are just removing potential sites where buds could form and hindering your yield potential. It could also cause a hormonal disturbance in the plant and maybe cause it to herm or stop growing for a couple of days due to shock if youre unlucky, that depends mainly on the genetics though. Hope this helps :)

When defoliating i remove all leaves except a couple on top of each stalk. Give it three or 4 days and u wont know u removed that much it just grows new leaves like crazy.

Id remove leaves and the smaller branches on the inner canopy. Basically whatever isn't reaching as high as you'd like in the canopy and whatever leaves are blocking these bud sites that you want to develop

I agree , canopy is dense. At this stage, defoliation must be done wisely. It requires experience, knowledge, and a good judgment.

Great answer from 0011

If you don't over-crowd, should never have to 'defoliate" -- this term means removing a ton of foliage without discretion. This canopy does not look over-crowded. well-spaced colas across canopy. Should not have to remove many, if any, leaves. Even under the scrog, i don't clear that out. I might remove some just above the pot so it doesn't trap excessive amounts of moisture, but that doesn't require 6-8" of clearance to accomplish that. While it is sometimes necessary, cutting stuff off the plant is wasting resources, time and effort. I keep tweaking my process to minimize wasted growth. Minimal pruning is the goal. Removing a leaf from a congested area is fine. avoiding condensation on leaves is a good reason to do such a thing. Otherwise, your goal should be to keep as many leaves as possible, not look for whimsical reasons to remove them. Leaves do more than just absorb light, so even shielded leaves are value-added. Removing shoots is a matter of familiarity... How deep do you expect your canopy to be? How deep do you typically see decent buds? Depending on expected growth rates, which will differ for every garden, you may want to remove more or less than the next person. Genetic variety impacts this too, so it's as much a guessing game as anything else. I'd rather have 1 lower branch of meh buds than cut off too much and reduce yield. i prune to 3 growth nodes at top of each cola at flip to flower... then 14-18 days into flower i'll go through and remove weak lower growth, if necessary. If i think it'll get congested or produce larfy buds, i'll remove it. Usually this only entails removing the lowest 1-2 branches due to the lollipop headed into flower. There's more than one way to skin this cat, i'm sure. Be consistent so you can tweak your process. Take some notes, adjust, try something new until it results in the plant you want. Even at 14 days of flower, you still have nearly 2 weeks of strong vegetative growth remaining, and more if it's a long flower phase plant. removing lowers doesn't increase yield... it may reduce effort trimming and give you a greater proportion of 'better' nug quality, but don't trick yourself into thinking it increases yield. If you make extracts, edibles or bubble hash etc, you may want some amount of larfy buds.

Beautyful even canopy! Would remove some inner leaves and Pop corn buds at day 21 approx. of the hight of the net. When you have access to light meter, I would remove anything without sufficient PPFD. Improving air flow prevent mould and the bud Development improves a lot after a few days after lollipopping.