No wonder you manually defoliate. You're just beating the plant to what is gonna be its final outcome - fan leaf necrosis. I'm not here to put you down, but those leaves do not look healthy. What foods are you using? Uhhhhh, let me guess. You've been using some "cannabis specific" snake oils like Advanced Shysters or Humboldt that is low in N and too damn high in K. Did I guess it right, get the prize?
This is what you should aim for - an abundance of medium to dark green, healthy fan leaves. Plants were a couple of weeks prior to harvest. This plant was crammed into my indoor garden with many others, and, guess what kiddies?
Notice the bottom SHADED buds, like 20" down from the top, are FAT and DENSE! It flies right into the face of your practices and supports the botanical fact that a shaded apple is sum mightee fine eatin'!
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And just for shits and grins, here's an outdoor sativa that was topped for 4 main colas. Those colas are a foot wide, at least. The one in the foreground about 18" wide due to the weight of the buds. And yes, the 4 colas were staked the best I could do.
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As an aside, I've been noting my observations for years - noobs (and some veteran gardeners) often embrace the (dysfunctional) romance they have with the minority of gardeners who defoliate. Why? Because they have not yet learned what makes a plant tick, mastered practices required to retain healthy leaves until harvest, so, they spin their shortcomings, sour grapes style, to protect their egos. Simple Psychology 405....
UB