I grow most plants from clones so I have got a good ideal how much they will grow
I live in the uk, so no grow is legal more or less they base it the number of plants, size of them and the amount of lights used (also if the grow is hydro or soil and the cost of the setup)
I have a budget setup, nutes and reuse half the soil and so I train the canopy to get the best yeild out my small plants
so for years I have been working on controlling the canopy shape and its working out really well
aiming to get every plant to grow 24" wide, 18" high and yield 4 oz's
that would give me the best yield for the lowest risk, (my average yield is 3 oz's per plant, 4 plants under a 600w hps)
and I need to be able to move the plants as I rent, moving plants this size is not easy, could no do it if they where any bigger
I have tried growing larger plants and all the weight tends to be on the top 18" of the plant ( using a single 600w hps horizontal above the canopy)
so removing a few fan leaves really helps me hit my target after topping and pulling the shoots down to fill the room
i live in the UK too, the 9 plant count thing is something i have looked into
i try to grow fewer plants that yield more , i am always looking for something that yields well and fast but also taste right
if it does not taste right, i will not keep it
with some of the skunk/ sativa dom strains i could easy yield 10-16 oz per plant in a 11-12 week time frame
i do not think it matters too much, since the law on possession has not changed
if i had 9 plants that weigh over 100 oz of dried bud that is as bad as having many more plants
that weigh the same, although they do break it down into categories
9 plants or under is seen as personal use, but anything over 1kg or whatever it is
is not seen a personal use
i know what your saying though some plants grow perfectly well with leaves missing
they produce fat colas allover the plant, i removed a fair amount of leaves from this plant below
and it produced big colas allover it , it was slightly shaded by branches from the plant next to it
if it had been an indica,/ wide leaf hybrid or kush plant i would of not removed any leaves, because of issues i have had trying this in the past
not saying all indica will respond badly, i have seen enough of them grow back distorted to not risk it anymore
i have used lower lighting in the past
if this lower lighting if only on 1 side it will create fatter nugs down below, especially if the plant is bottom heavy anyway
but when these lower buds grow bigger they block and shade the inner section and opposite lower side of the plant
so lower light is needed all around the plant to make it grow evenly big on all sides
this was two seed haze hybrids at around 6 weeks 12/12 they grew like a jungle so i did remove lots of growth including leaves
i like to find a balance between keeping as many leaves as possible but also avoiding shading
i also tend to remove thinner growth / stringy inner side branches etc
peace