Hello!
New to growing here and am learning a lot. I’ve grown my 1st autoflower to week 5 and, in my opinion, is super healthy. I started LST training 1.5 weeks ago. Here’s a picture. My question is, as a 1st time grower with an autoflower at week 5 amd preflowering, should I consider doing some slight defoliating to expose the smaller, lower buds to light? Or should I just continue to rotate and move branches as needed? I’ve read many pros and cons. Thoughts based on my girl?
Thanks!
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I’ll tag @not2sureyet he is super with autos and I’m sure will lead u in the right direction but from me learning from them I’d say wait til week 6 that should be roughly day 42ish. Defols are a week before flip day 21 after flip day 42 after flip then if u choose like a week before chop u can defol all the big fan leaves to ripen the buds a touch and it makes trim days easier lol. To pluck a few here or there won’t hurt u one bit tho just don’t get crazy with it and do a lot to shock her. A full blown hair cut will shock someone where as a trim or light doing u may not even notice much. Lol. But back to defols day 21 and 42 ish is roughly when the plant goes into making more roots to support what’s up top so while making it’s roots should not harm the bud making and fattening process thats why those r rough times as ro not shock the plant t while making buds or fattening buds. Hope this makes sense if not Brian will clarify. Lol.
By the way hope all is well with u @not2sureyet been a while talking. Work keeps me busy except for a day here or there but it’s nice to not worry about bills they just keep getting more expensive it seems by the month tho. Lol. Hope all is well give me a ring over the weekend if u have free time. I had a cic plant from pr1 but somehow it croaked on me along with 3 other plants I don’t get what happened. pH was all good nutes were all the same between everything just the cherry ice cream and 3 others I don’t remember what they were went limp and died stayed nice green just limped over and died. Lol.
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One of the nice benefits of defoliation is opening up the canopy and alowing more air circulation this also lessons the posibilty of bud mold . Mold loves moisture.
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You are growing auto. Plz understand defoliating and training, are techniques you are to incorporate during vegetation. As that is a tiny tiny tiny tiny MF’ing window, you shouldn’t even worry about those with auto. If you are confident enough to try those techniques, ditch training wheels and go photo.
Autoflower is:
- Dirty genetics. It has had ruderalis (3rd species of cannabis with almost no thc) mixed in.
- It’s a hack. Shortcuts never go for glory, only the finish line.
- Growth regulated by maturity not light. Defoliating and training are stressful. Stress during veg stunts growth. Stress in flower makes hermaphrodites. Are you confident enough to know when she’s switched?
- No matter what you do, auto is ALWAYS weaker than photo.
You do you.
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This is a awesome way of describing an auto vs photo. This is exactly how it comes out here also. Autos are fun to grow beautiful to see but everything about them is weak compared to a photo type. They r still a blast to grow some even look super beautiful. But depressing I still grow them with photos tho as they r fun and there are a lot more flavors of auto than regs lol.
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I like to grow a couple to have a early harvest while growing photos. But they definitely don’t compare to photos, IMHO. Plant them and let them do their thing.
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I dont like them autos one bit. I grown them 5 times and out of those 5 times i got decent weed 2 x.
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I have once. It wasn’t my tent. I managed cuz they dr brown thumb. Owner requested. Did hanging baskets so they wouldnt rake floor space. The breeder hax an epileptic daughter, and had a regimental requirement. Thats an auto scenario I’m 
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i have crooked thumbs from working in truss plant, one glasses lense, and a lazy thumb disposition.
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95% of the time all the autos stuff I grow I give to my mom and aunt as they don’t like strong stuff. So autos work great for them it’s not too much but still enough for them they get ripped not para oid and shit. Lol. I just like to have something to look at while the photos veg also. Autos to me are horrible at return for extraction purposes also. Like 2 oz to get like maybe 10g return. Lol.
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Agreed autos are ok, especially from seed banks… I run them for quick fill of some jars especially during breeding or seed runs. I have way more photos in my collection than autos , lol. On occasion I run across a good one , I had a white widow and a gelato auto that grew to almost 4 foot and were frosty fire . think I may still have couple seeds of each … I’ve run some grower made crosses in autos that have been pretty good ( Dosi walker) but again few and far between, it’s more about just growing them like @Mark0427 said nice in between photo runs. Lol:+1:
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Generally I just let autos go, I do some light defoliating during flower through the center. For air flow. And only very Little at a time. Nothing aggressive to stress the plant. Few here and a few there over a a week or 2. Depending on the auto. Typical single cola stalk with single cola lowers , open in the center. I don’t touch .I had a Care Bears auto grew like this , only 25 inches tall. I Just let it grow. , I also grew a wedding glue that was 42 inch bush I did light defoliation, and a Dosi walker auto that was a monster bush (51-1/2 inches tall and 43” wide). that got lightly defoliated During flower for air flow
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