New to the forum with a question about transition to flowering stage

You’ll definitely like that Mars hydro light I have the ts1000 as a veg light in a 4x4 tent and it does pretty well.

As far as defoliation I did it twice during veg (start of week 2 and end of week 3). I plan on defoliating one more time about 2 weeks into bloom. My girls love being defoliated but all strains are different.

I only take the yellow leaves that are over 40% color changed and sometimes a few fan leaves that just get huge and block a lot of other growth. Pinch then remove,seals the wound and the plant will then use its energy toward the plant not to try and bring the leaf back to health.