cool mate, i think the term defoliation is too ambiguous
i would describe what you have done as more canopy management or pruning
something i do myself
folk into this defoliation thing remove leaves from tiny plants in veg that are not shaded
they think removing leaves causes a growth spurt of extra shoots/bud sites etc
many of these defoliators strip plants almost bare before flower
the opposite extreme is folk that have a canopy full of leaves with no colas poking through much of the lower nodes shaded
scared to remove a single leaf
i like to keep as many leaves as possible but still open things up a little a balance between the two extremes
peace mate
Whichever way you look at it it's still defoliation as leaves are being removed, but I do agree with you that the whole subject is not very clear. Unfortunately some very childish people on this forum won't allow it to be discussed and investigated.
I would say the plant on the left could be considered as light canopy management as leaves were only removed to allow light to covered growing tips, and as you can see the plant has reached approx 12-14 inches above the canopy and is very bushy and compact. This left me concerned about airflow in and around the plant.
The plant on the right however has grown to 20 - 22 inches above the canopy, and although it may not look like it on the pictures but the canopy is much better spaced out to allow more light and air in and around it.
If you go back to the beginning you'll see that both plants were about the same size growing at the same rate until I started defoliating, then the plant on the right really took off.
So I would agree with the people that say the plant puts on a growth spurt when defoliated, I have seen this doing it both ways by defoliating a large amount of leaves all in one go and a more continual defoliation.
I would guess and I'm only guessing that when a plant loses a certain percentage of leaves then there is a hormonal response triggered to grow, but this is not activated if the plant just loses a few leaves here and there. Surely it's a natural response to animal or insect attack, where a plant may lose a significant amount of foliage and need to regrow it? It makes sense to me. It could be a combination of things that are happening, but we'll never find out what or why until there can be a sensible discussion about it.
I think one of the biggest misunderstandings about defoliation is that people get obsessed with those pictures of plants just after defoliation where they have no leaves on, and they think that is what's trying to be achieved i.e growing a plant with no leaves. In fact it's just the opposite as you can see by my plants, there are still plenty of leaves for growing!
The plant on the right is at least 30% bigger than the plant on the left at the same age, and this was achieved with nothing more than defoliation. I could really see the difference in the speed that they were growing, the plant on the right was what made me put them into flower as it was in danger of taking over the whole tent.
It's an interesting subject but for another time and place.