Opinions on these plants? Nearing the end of my first grow!

This is my first grow an so far I started with 3 white rhino seeds, and a random seed that turned out to be a sativa strain due to its height.
I used CFLs for the vegetative state, then switched to a 600watt HPS Light, complete with Hopd reflector, an a ballast.

The Sativa Strain Became way to big for my Stealth Hydro Bubbleponics Bucket, so I had to remove it, an replant it in a 5 gallon Drip Bucket.

So the 3 white Rhino Strains are in the stealth Hydro Bucket, an the random strain is in the 5 Gallon Bucket.

I flipped my lights roughy about a week ago.
My roots are clean, I had an issue where they got brown an I have a solution that fixed that.
I am using the Flora Series of liquid nutrients.



My question is they are getting bushy, and the one side is not getting enough light, I want to know should I trim the leaves? I heard that this was very controversial, but I want the biggest buds I can get.

So to simplify the question for expert growers, if these were your plants, what would you do to them?
With your experience an such?


Any Feedback at all is honestly greatly appreciated!!!
I am new, paranoid, an stressing lol, any tips, thoughts or suggestions??

personally i think that could be pruned alittle. lollipop the stems from the bottom , this will help with airflow below the canopy ( there are several videos online on how to do this) and also makes the plants focus on making the top colas bigger. in the past when i had grows going i used to lollipop at the end of week 1 of 12/12 and at the end of week 3 . also u might want to thin the canopy alittle to allow more light to the lower bud sites. i never pruned alot at one time more like just a few leaves here and there every couple of days not to stress them too much. a general rule of thumb for pruning is only to remover older growth i.e leaves that stalks have a redish tint to them. anyways these are my personal views and methods that i have used with success in the past. Youtube has some great videos on pruning and lollipopping , its worthwhile to go have a look. your doing a great job for your 1st grow and u will reap the rewards for that :P

I hope this helps

Hal

Thanks a lot Hal for the feedback, I am definitely ready to start pruning an lollipoping, I just had a question since I'm in the transition to bloom, it's okay to prune an lollipop right?
That want hurt it yet?
I haven't seen any buds yet I'm about a week an a half into transition that's okay right?

yeah its ok to lollipop and prune mate at week 1 of 12/12 and week 3. it shouldnt have any ill effects on your plants. if ur using the flora series u should increased the feed to a 3-2-1 ratio ( grow micro and bloom .... in that order up... to an ec of about 1.2 ). do this for the 1st 2 weeks then change onto your flowering feed which a 1-2-3 ratio ( grow micro bloom ... with an ec of 1.2 ) increase that ec every week from then on by 0.1 until the last week of flowering then just us PH balanced water for the final week. the hairs should start to show anytime between 14 and 21 days mate ... theres no need to panic. also always make sure ur ph is right ( i find 5.8 works best for me). one final note mate and this was a piece of advice i got from Soma back in 2009 at the cannabis cup in amsterdam ( i have a friend who is very good friends with him) but anyway he told me that when i thought my plants where ready to give them another week with the last 3 days in total darkness and i must say when i tried it it made a hell of a difference to the white widow i had been growing for years.

i hope i havnt waffled on too much mate ( kinda stoned at the minute :) ) its always a learning curve growing weed mate but keep it simple and give them what they want (i.e food and light) and u will always get top results .

i hope this helps

Hal