"lollipoping" - Is the act of removing lower brances, sometimes all the way up to the top 2 nodes - many make clones from these removed branches. The idea is that all you get is popcorn buds down there so why waste plants energy - Botanist argue that removing foilage or any branches will reduce yield overall.
The truth of the matter is that it is a valid technique when applied to indoors - our plants do not produce good lower buds and removing them not only provides for clones in some cases but increases air flow, light penatration, and reduces crowding... you do indeed get slightly fatter top buds. If you do this...do it slowly over time before you flower ideally, remove the weak branches that will produce next to nothing at minimal...if its more then 4ft from the top and its a bottom branch you should remove it if you choose to use this technique...do not remove all of them at once but gradually remove one at a time and allow healing time.
In the end its your call because I have done zero lollipoping up to maximum lollipoping...the results arent really that much different in my experience...I tend to lean toward the idea that more foliage is more energy but I like to remove the lower branches (example: a small branch that is more then 4 or 5 ft from the light and will produce jack shit)..I make clones from these branches..with extreme lollipoping (only leaving top 2 nodes) you can often fit more plants in your flowering room, lollipoping is a strategy if you grow untrained or untopped plants in sog. If you top/FIM your plants it often becomes an unnecessary strategy to employ.
