Mainlining "arm-pits" buds bellow mains (after flip)

Hi!
This is my first grow, would like to have opinions of wheter should I remove grown tips right bellow main nodes, or leave them be (I removed them all many times when was training, but now that I finished training I'm not sure if the remaining ones should be kept there or not)

info: coco/perlite grow 60/40% , topped till 16 main nodes (easy to see on picture taken from above), I'm now in the first week of 12/12 flowering
should remove this last ones or is it worth to keep them? (red circles) will they "merge" on the main node or become popcorns? removing them will affect the final harvest?

Thanks for opinions!!

mgrower said:

Hi!
This is my first grow, would like to have opinions of wheter should I remove grown tips right bellow main nodes, or leave them be (I removed them all many times when was training, but now that I finished training I'm not sure if the remaining ones should be kept there or not)

info: coco/perlite grow 60/40% , topped till 16 main nodes (easy to see on picture taken from above), I'm now in the first week of 12/12 flowering
should remove this last ones or is it worth to keep them? (red circles) will they "merge" on the main node or become popcorns? removing them will affect the final harvest?

Thanks for opinions!!

Click to expand...

leave them , more future bud sites , defoliate the middle letting more light penetrate the middle shoots

I personally took them off but I'm in a small space with 6 plants you have the room to leave em if I w in your setup I'd leave them...

depends what you want to end up with. if you leave them you will probably, depending on the strain, end up with more yield overall.
the bud you get off that lower growth will be less dense and of poor quality compared to the top colas. you could defoliate the canopy a bit to try and get more light down to them but if it were me I would nip them all off and just focus on the tops.
the other thing is trim time, I grow in a SOG and completely defoliate all lower growth and take off all laterals leaving only the top cola and sometimes the next pair of laterals (but only if i can see they will not shade other colas), that way when I trim I am only trimming a top cola and sometimes two slightly smaller but not popcorn buds. you save so much time that way and only get top quality bud.