defoliation Question

am growing 4 god bud fems 7 bc hash plant fems in 5 gal pot sunshine 4 using peters pro 20 20 20 veg and blossom booster 10 30 20 for flower.lights two blackdog bdu 450 and two 300 wt penetrator Sol led lights All plant were topped at the 4 th node LST and defoliated about every 7-10 days in veg and did very well.put lights at 12-12 and after about two wks buds started to appear,now starting my 5 th wk of flower and the bud formation seems slow.All the plants have nice nugs at the top but under bud growth is slow,many sites on each plant all close to the same height crystals on the God bud but only on one hash plant(It seems to be the best hash plant ) and the other Hash plants seem to be a little behind.I would say general health of all plants is good,but i wonder if all the defoliation has slowed the flowering stage by a week or so ANY INPUT WOULD BE GOOD Ps ppm is at 1100 and everything ph at 6.5 and using Ro water good temps and vent

I never remove leaves, and my plants all do very well, lower sites rarely suffer from lack of light enough to warrant stressing a plant by chopping bits off it...