Chop this lanky lower branch or leave it alone? Day 40 12/12 Pics included

I have this 45 inch tall AK-48 at day 40 of 12/12 from my first grow of 5 plants. She's got a lot of flowering tops and many bud sites among her bushy foliage. However this means a lot less light from the 400w HPS lamp and LED panel for the lower branches as this plant was only minimally LST'd.

It's got a few extremely lanky branches at the bottom showing marginally decelerated bud development. It looks as if this one (below) in particular is the worst, showing signs of extreme stretching to find a spot in the sun.

I am wondering if it would be beneficial at this stage in the plant's life (as well as a couple of her bushier sisters) to chop one or two of these lanky under-developed branches and to cut the loss of the bud sites in favour of (perhaps) enhanced bud development at the colas and heavier bud sites at the top.

Comments? Suggestions? If you do reccomend I chop them to help grow up above, what do you suggest I do with these cut branches and the small popcorn buds on them?

Thank you in advance.

-monkeybones

i wouldn't chop try tying it to the main stem thats my idea

Getting rid of those big ol "yellow" leaves would allow a LOT more light get to the lower bud sites. The "thinning" of leaves during late flowering is even recomended by some seed banks. Good luck & good grow.......BB

I always do a trim when there's a few weeks left....get rid of those branches. You've got just enough time for the plant to use up some of that energy and those spindly branches are not going to really develop anyway.

I do pretty much no pruning before that though...

YO