HELP! Where to (not) trim?

[FoxFire]

I could use some experienced advice. I'm not sure what NOT to trim. I've cut some fan leaves but I'm not visualizing where exactly the colas form and what part will be stretching upward soon so I'm hesitant to cut any more side branches.

These are White Widow Autoflowers about half way through week 5, 3 gallon coir, each has 10 to 13 fairly level tops. Pictured one is just starting to flower. Her sisters are a few days ahead showing some pistils.

In the pics I've marked a few that I'm leery of lopping off. Do those need to come off or will they ultimately be part of a bud?

Thanks in advance

 

[ChadWestport]

The plants have a pretty low profile, which should mean your light will penetrate all the way through the canopy. If you are going to flower now, I wouldn't cut any of the side branches in the image with the red lines. They are close to the canopy top, if they were more than 12" from the top, I'd suggest pruning them, as they would be further away during the upper stretch when flipping. BUT these are autoflwers, no flipping needed, still wouldn't cut them. I would stop where you are, taking too much vegetation can cause a delay in growth and when it comes to autoflwers, they are a sprint not a race.

 

[AFChicago]

If you chop where your red lines are you will be removing those nodes which will produce buds.
If that was my plant I wouldn't chop those stems off.

To your question of if they will become part of the bud it just depends on how tall they are when the plant flips to flower, how much they stretch in flower, and how thick the buds grow.
I attached a couple pictures. In the first one the buds will (hopefully pending any issue future issues) thicken to the point where it looks like one bud. Although ill probably separate it in trimming.
In the second photo you can see where the stems have branched off creating their own buds.Those could have been trimmed off, but are in the process of becoming quality buds.

And if you gets some small/light/airy bottom buds, use them for edibles!

 

[FoxFire]

AFChicago Thank you. The pics very are helpful. ChadWestport Thank you too. That makes sense now. I'll lay off the haircuts for now.