Can I trim 3 weeks in to budding?

Hi folks. I've got a few grows under my belt but always loooking to do better.

I have a plant that I have lst & FIM'd. It's bushy as old hell but that's where my question come in. I put it under a 400 watt hps & now I have nice buds growing on the tops but the main stalk is now covered in leaves & bud sites. I assume these buds will be what people call popcorn bud?

Not bad, just small.

I've read that you can or should trim these off to let the energy goto the larger buds but I think your supposed to do that while vegging. I've been on 13/11 for 3 weeks now. LOTS of buds growing! First time under 400 watts & wow larger lights make a huge difference

Anyways, can I strip the leaves & buds off the stalk similar to a the SCOG method or do I just leave it now.

Any advise would be good

Thanks

You can trim off the larf, sucker branches, and fans and should be alright. The plant will recover and push energy to the remaining bud sites. Looks like you are going to have some nice buds there.

If your going to do it i'd hurry up and get it done. Ideally, any trimming should be done the first 2 weeks of flower. Seems like you'll be okay. Get chopping though, i'd leave as many leaves as possible. Concentrating the chop on lower branches. Plant looks really nice. Good job + rep

Trim big fan leaves leave all the budsites you have it is trained low the light will fatten it all up.

I was going to trim it but I got all nervous so I said fuck it & left her to her own accord. Started 2 more seeds so I will trim those ones but during the veg stage.
Thanks for the advise
I will post a few more pics shortly. Can't believe all the bud sites. Must be the 400 watt HPS. I was using 150 hps before. ALready looking sugary too

Leave shade leaves on during your veg