ya i agree with the need to bend lower branches if you cram them together. on the plant that ive left all lower branches and defoliated, it had a lot more lower branching which seemed IMO to be something that may prevent the addition of more plants. the reason of defoliating is to allow the lower buds to fill in, instead of cutting them off, which makes cramming plants in cause the same shading as the fan leaves would be doing. may be possible to keep them lollipops but still defoliate and increase the number of plants instead. make a huge bud on a bunch of plants.