that is my conclusion as well, in fact i prefer to grow and defoliate, because it works for my system. I do a longer veg than normal, a veg length that would "overfill the flower area, making the plants way to crowded" however I defoliate a lot actually so my area is filled with massive nuggets. This is opposed to another way of growing the veg plants to the point that they would properly fill out the flower area, but i found that the yield is much larger when begged longer and defoliated at the right time, opposed to leaving all the leaves on smaller plants that dont get crowded. I grow with trellis nets in a tent so it works for me, but in some cases it would probably be detrimental. Like many things in life it really depends.