Defoliation is key, just don’t over do it. Take any large fan leaves off that are blocking light, take off any fan leaves blocking air flow. Take off the inward facing leaves. Timing is also important, don’t want to do much during stretch.

i would thin it out yes, the other thing you have to consider is good airflow especially later on when you have some large buds. I always take my lowest branch off because it always produces small buds. I would do a few leaves at a time so as not to stress the plant too much.

Thank you, i will take more off from the bottom. I'm always to scared to cut to much off but then they end up just being annoying little buds anyway.. so i will do this. Thank you

Some rules for defol.
Lower leafs first. They will not grow much lower than about 15 inches below canopy.
Lower sprouting bud sites should be culled. They will not progress as you need light energy and 15 inches down is about the most you will get.
Do not water then defol. Defolation can and will stall the plant and this sets up a slowdown that can leave to overwater. Ignore if hydro/coco.
You may want to supercrop your runaways.

Have you considered adding some side-lighting? I'm planning on adding the Spider Farmer Glow30 4-bar side lights to mine once it gets big enough. It's only $80 CDN (or about what I spend on coffees in 2 weeks) Only 32W between the 4 bars, so not much more in power draw costs, but adds quite a bit of light beneath the canopy for better light penetration. I'm sure there are other brands and examples, I'm just using this particular model as I have the GGS controller and running the SE4500 light currently.

https://spiderfarmer.ca/products/spider-farmer-glow30-full-spectrum-supplemental-led-light-bars/

Cheers,

BA.

KElizabeth said:

Hello – just seeing if anyone has any suggestions or tips for my situation.

I grow four plants in a small tent, and once they start to flower, they take up pretty much the whole thing. I stretch out the bottom branches and try to make the most of the space, but as you can see, not much light gets to the lower buds.

Should I trim all the leaves at the top so more light gets through?

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Without adding under canopy lights , how about lowering the fixture a foot or so.
I prefer to leaf all my solar panel on. Lol.
Enjoy

The most effective way is adding UCL.

KElizabeth said:

Hello – just seeing if anyone has any suggestions or tips for my situation.

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Healthy looking plants! Good job. Removing a few fan leaves that are shading buds below might help increase bud growth but your plants look like they will produce a good harvest on their own. You might consider using a different growing method for your next grow if your looking for better light distribution on your buds.
The 2 tried and true methods for effective light utilization and bud development for tent growers are Sea of green (SOG) and Screen of green (SCROG).
SOG is where you grow as many plants as possible in a space and flip early, like at 3 weeks of veg, without topping, so each plant puts up one big cola. SOG takes the least amount of time, has good light utilization and provides the big harvests but works better with cuttings (clones) as starting a lot of plants from seed could be expensive.
SCROG involves using a net 8 to 12 inches above the soil. During veg the growing tips of all branches are tucked into the net and trained so as to stay at the level of the net and spread out across the full area of the tent so there is a flat canopy, and then flip. This method gives a good harvest and good light utilization from a few plants but takes longer with the training.
Many people use a SCROG net to space out colas, keep them from touching, and help support them without actually SCROGing their grow, so not every pic or diary using a net is a SCROG.
Just something to think about. Happy growing!