I'm always amazed at how the people who think they have it all figured out are the first ones to ignore the most commonly known fact when it comes to horticulture- leaves are where the Photosynthesis takes place, not the flowers. I'll go out on a limb here and suggest the growers not having luck with under-canopy bud production are the same folks assuming the leaves below the canopy are useless because they're not receiving the direct light at the same levels as the tops and proceed to clip them. It's proven light will penetrate even the thickest of canopy directly through the leaves to the lower growth. The two pics I attached show a sativa strain growing under CFL's in a small closet. I never took a single leaf from this plant, only trained it to stay low. As you can see, the smaller growth that started below the canopy migrated to the outsides to reach more light. The leaves reaching for the light are what's responsible for those lower bud sites flourishing. Had I removed leaves from the lower part of this plant during its veg period, those buds wouldn't exist and would have considerably lowered my yield on this plant. Now, please don't get all hateful and think I'm trying to prove anything here. All I've proven is for this particular plant, under these particular conditions, with the soil I used and the lights I chose, the plant responded with massive growth, no yellowing of under-growth. Sadly, this beautiful plant only made it to the sixth week of flowering before being frostbitten and killed. It almost made me puke watching it die.
Still doesn't change the fact that your a joke, and your "advanced" techniques are really just basic's that you find in any beginners guide to cannabis. Why would you only want 4 tops, when you can have as many as you like. those aren't "lower" buds in those pictures, that's lower side branching on a main cola. You are probably the most basic grower on RIU UB.
