Hi there ! If some lower bud sites and your smaller plants can't get enough light then I would do defoliation. You don't need to remove the whole leaf , if only few parts of it are obscuring the light then cut them instead of the whole leaf ! You are in the first week of stretch so if you don't really want to give a defoliation a try , you can also knit your leaves together to increase light penetration !! 😁👍