I grew my first 3 plants in 1984 outside I got caught with wet weed I was drying by my mom before I actually smoke any at all I was just a kid.
A few years later me and a friend had a grow in his garage then when I moved out I grew organically for ten years Then was in a relationship with kids and didn't grow for years except one outside grow.
I just started up again with this crop a buddy had two left over clones outside he put them out in september he didn't want to kill them and they weren't going to produce much so I dug them up with a gallon of heavy garden soil.
I've always made my own soil mix this is 6o% coco 10% perlite 10% peat based soil 20% earth worm compost I added hair, eggshells, lime, coffee, blended fruit leftovers and sardines and let it cook it came out with excellent texture and they really took off after I put them in 18 gallon totes, they were in four gallon pots with a gallon of heavy garden soil on top it was a problem.
I bought a bag of alfalfa from a pet store and a bag of worm casings and fermented my own fertilizer I used the alfalfa mostly in veg the casings more in flower along with oats, coffee, milk and blended bone meal even sea salt and blended garlic along with molasses my leaves are all green losing only some buried in the canopy plants are 4 feet high 3 feet wide.
I know defoliation is a very valid pruning/training method I used to do it some when things got to thick now I have read tons on it and have done it heavily from veg and have seen the branching and density it creates.
I don't appreciate people coming into this defoliation thread and clogging it up with solar panel logic or just plan insults for pages on end without any real experience on this topic.
The leaves grow back from the branches making them take on a more dominant role then if you just let the top grow.
These plants had minimal branching until I striped the large leaves off
now after two defoliations you can see the branching and density of it from nothing previously.
... ain't like anything i have to say is going to change anything..