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I did not grow these plants with the idea of defending whether or not to defoil, but guess what, the pictures do prove a solid point: DON'T FUCKING DEFOIL!
The plant on the left was grown the last 3 months of 2012, and both plants are the exact same strain. Not knowing that she would stretch as much as she would, after 4 weeks of flowering the plant on the left was over 5 feet tall. So, I had no choice but to hack the shit out of her. Below what you see, there are no fan leaves or bud sites; I cut them all off because of her stretch and I had over-crowded this grow with 3 plants.
The plant on the right is an entirely different story, which is growing as we speak (took this picture yesterday). Knowing what I was up against with the last stretch, I knew I had to find another way to grow this strain. That's when I discovered Uncle Bens topping technique, which would utilize my space and keep my plant at a height I could handle. I haven't cut 1 fan leaf off of this plant, and I have left everything in tact, with the exception of the top I did during veg.
The bud size and development isn't even close in comparison. This current plant will probably have a ten fold difference in yield than the last plant, and the size difference in the buds is beyond debate.
Both of these plants are at the exact same flowering stage.