I took off a bunch of healthy green leaves on the bottom 1/8 of my plant a couple of weeks ago, makes watering easier and it does help with bugs too from what i hear. Going to do another heavy defoliation just to allow more airflow and light to bud sites on week 1 flower and then let my plant grow without any stress from me until harvest. Flower is just starting so in a few days i'll start clearing up the middle of my plant, hoping that ups my chances for a clean harvest without mold this fall.
I like to do 1-2 heavy defoliations during its life and not touch the leaves any other time even if they're pretty yellow. If it doesn't pull off it's not ready. I used to cut off my leaves when they started to turn yellow years ago and from experience i can see that i lost a good bit of yield by stressing my plant + taking off the solar panels for its bud growth and overall health.