My Nirvana WW at day 28

[tat1964]

Hey all, this is my first real grow and for the most part things have gone pretty well. I'm using FFOF/perlite under a 180W LED. I kept her in flower for about 5 weeks under a SCROG. After I noticed the string I used for the screen was fraying and leaving small thread in the pistils I removed it and started using plant ties and binder clips to keep the canopy level. My question is about how she is filling out and vertical growth. From the thousands of threads I read when researching this I was under the impression there would be some vertical growth with the buds growing above the vegetation. As you can see it really hasn't happened and now that I'm seeing lower bud development I'm concerned about mold since things are pretty dense inside the canopy. I have removed some leaf but very little since I was afraid of hurting it.
For those who are familiar, is it possible the separation could still be coming? I am trying to be patient but damn, it's tough.

 

[Plush1]

You've got to defoliate her quite a bit and make sure that there's some airflow down under.

 

[tat1964]

Thanks for the reply. I have seen a lot about defoliation in flower. Some say yes, some no.
I have been taking the leaves from the bottom of the canopy that were turning from lack of light. This far along I was concerned about stressing her. Now that I read my OP I feel I could have worded things a little differently. This being my first real grow (first one ended up male)
I have never seen a plant this far along so I have no idea what to expect as far as bud formation goes. I see tons of pictures and video of bud in different stages but none of that shows how they form