So my girls just started their 5th week in flower. This is my first grow and I spend a lot of time watching them grow. Well maybe I should have been defoliating instead of just looking at them. My tent is crowed with 5 plants in a 2x4 ft area because I just couldn’t leave the last plant out she was to beautiful. They are in 7 gallon pots so I think their root system is ok. Maybe would have ended up with the same outcome with 4 plant as I will with 5. Now I feel I am paying for that as there’s a lot of leaves maybe in the way of light not to mention light green leaves pressed up the sides of the tent obviously needing more light but still healthy looking. They have little bud sites on them too as far up as they can reach but don’t know if they are worth keeping even if they have buds
. I do notice leaves dying off the underside of the plant which I remove from the tent during watering sessions but it seems as more fan leaves need to go I just don’t know if this is a bad time to remove them. I have removed some that block the buds directly under them but am afraid the plant needs them at this point to live. I have a beautiful canopy of nice buds and the sites travel down into the middle of the plant. I’m hoping to see them beef up a bit more in their next few weeks. So can I remove leaves safely at this point without effecting my bud growth?