Nice grow looks good.
You were saying that you thought the colas would be denser earlier on. The tops would have had more energy if you had pruned off all the bottoms of the plants early in 12/12. All those leaves below that aren't getting any light are just taking away from the energy of the colas. Plus you get better air flow below to prevent from various bacteria.
I don't doubt that there are some benefits to trimming. I wanted to see what these will do on there own. My grow room is a perfect environment and the only bacteria or disease would be from something I accidentally brought in. With 2x1000w the light penetration is far greater than one would think.
I know on this site and many others trimming that lower third is pretty popular...but when I'm at all my buddies houses who grow some 5ft Trainwreck hogs with identical set ups don't trim Jack and hit 3+ P's with 12 plants.
Because I grew them out completely I might be the only guy to do a real comparison of trimming vs trimming.
They are filling in fine now by the way.