Topping autos?

Can I top my Auto? I’ve heard never top your auto s and I’ve heard others doing it…

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IMHO, there is no benefit in doing so. It won’t kill your plant or have disastrous consequences but it simply won’t result in a bigger yield, more likely in a smaller yield.

Autoflowers are more sensitive to stress, and topping is a high stress action which could potentially trigger your plant to start flowering even earlier than it already does. An earlier flower response = a shorter vegetative state = smaller plant and thus a smaller yield.
A plant needs to recover from topping, so even if the plant doesn’t start flowering instantly it doesn’t have enough time to recover well enough to benefit from it.
Topping really only is good with photos is my experience, you need that prolonged vegetative state to let the plant recover and pick up its vigour again.

Low Stress Training (LST) for autoflower all day! You can get some great results with LST if you start early by the way.

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I Topped 2 of my Auto’s, and they both went into flower. I did it accidentally. So i would agree with @MrMonkey420 they stress to easy.

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@MrMonkey420 response :100: :+1:

Stan from Mephisto Genetics changed my grow style for autos…during veg LITFA…just leaf tuck if anything, let the plant figure itself out. The week during transition (first sign of pistils and next week or so) decide if you need to do any LST to give side branching more room. In my small tent this is when I decide if any branches that are too unruly need supercropping. Light defol lowers and poor performing branches early flower. Defol as needed to improve airflow during flower. :v::green_heart::potted_plant:

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Absolutely! (insert caveat here: experienced growers only beyond this point)
If you want a bigger plant, timeline is much different, accelerated. So do your business at 5 nodes or so back to 3. Then top the remaining arms back to double those budsites in the 21-25days ish window…also fuck these clowns that say put em in the forever pot from get go. You can up-pot and if you are strategic…the roots will grow in a similar rate as the top side. In fact check out “coco for cannabis” he too has changed his tune.

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Just remember the “stress” on the auto plant - consider 1week to re-coup from any method used being that the flower times are “set” for autos. If any thing LST method with a little defoliation thru grow

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I see other advice and worked for a couple months with a Dutch Passion fundi and did my own research. Personally I would not top an auto due to its inferior genetics ( herming ) and also because of the slowed growth. Dont forget autos have a very limited flowering time, and slowing it down by 1 week could reduce your final yielf significantly.

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I will disagree on the autos being topped and or trained. I know a guy who tops fims and trains all plants and all he basically grows is autos and he can average close to a pound per plant. If u hit an auto at a good time while they r throwing down roots and not working on the top stuff is a big plus for training or topping autos at node 5 or 6 and top down to the 4th set train and all I average 5 to 9ish oz on autos and that’s with doing training or topping. If I leave them alone to grow on their own I average 3 to 7 so to me training atleast helps. Don’t get all crazy with it bending and breaking stems and all should be fine. I believe when stems r broke is what is the major downfall on training autos. @not2sureyet is a great auto grower and had some awesome tips on growing autos for anyone who might wanna chat his ear. He is pretty much an auto grower and learned me a lot on autos and how not to be scared to play with them

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I pinch :pinching_hand:t2: all branches no one is safe , auto regulars Female, truly it does miracles for stem growth but that is just my own experience again hope it helps grow well!

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what size pot does he use ? Also if one clones you will find that plant size is smaller when one clones - this is because of the auto time frame. a clone from a clone mother - that clone will be a smaller plant

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