Should I defoliate more of this?

[Gyow11]

This is three plants in a 4x4 on day 14 since I changed my lights to 12-12.

I stripped the legs before flip and have been plucking a little bit each day but it seems dense. Will I be rewarded if I pluck some of the lowers or just let er ride?

 

[JeffWix67]

I would spread those plants out and if they are not showing signs of deteriorating I would leave them...I've stripped plants and not stripped plants...not much difference if you can spread them out a bit

 

[GeorgeJ10]

You're right on time, go ahead and clean up the lower growth that’s not getting light. It'll help the tops fatten up. Just don’t overdo it all at once!

This is three plants in a 4x4 on day 14 since I changed my lights to 12-12.

I stripped the legs before flip and have been plucking a little bit each day but it seems dense. Will I be rewarded if I pluck some of the lowers or just let er ride?

 

[LoveGrowingIt]

just let er ride?

That gets my vote.

 

[Captspaulding]

That plant looks perfect to me
Just as a general rule of thumb, I only ever remove larger fan leaves that are pointed inward towards the center mass of the plant that are covering multiple and possible top sites, internodal leaf sets
That in a few weeks, when opened up to the light will stretch just like the rest of the already exposed top sites
I leave everything on the outside perimeter of the plants on aside from the lollipop that occurs earlier in veg, removing the bottom third of stocks and leaves
A light hand with defoliation is the way to roll taking too many leaves can lead to transpiration issues at night and on top of that in flower leaves drive bud growth
As well as the nutrition that the plant gets from the soil people who say otherwise are nuts.