I have finally done a bit of reading about this and would have liked to do it to my plants only problem is I am almost 3 weeks into flowering...From what I've read its best to do it up until 2 weeks of flowering, is this because it will stress the plant if its later or are there other reasons??

my own opinion, leave it be.
i lollypop, or cut off the lower 10 branches of say a 21 inch plant, right Before i start flowering.

you want your plant to focus on producing bud, not nursing its wounds!

cool thanks, I didn't lollipop it, only problem is I now have a few little flowers that haven't made it out of the jungle into the light

twist ties and string can work magic

you can do it until the 3rd week

anything more than an 1inch is off