Autoflowers and lst/defolation?

Project Ponics

Project Ponics

Well-Known Member
Alright so I know a lot of people do and do not top/lst/defoliate/etc. I LST and twice defoliated my first auto ever (fastberry from fastbuds) and it worked out fine, maybe a few days of growth stunt. I do not have interest in topping my autos. But I have 2x Bloody skunk autos, growing out their 8-9th nodes. I have not done ANY lst or hst to them, one is in soil and one is in coco. I was told to just plug and play, don't do any defoliation. Well the fan leaves are getting pretty damn big and covering up the nodes from light, should I just leave them?

They're in the first week of flowering, on day 34. Can upload pics if needed, but felt like it's not for the simple question I'm asking. Will they be fine just leaving the fan leaves? I'm doing a simple comparison of coco vs soil, see what the final yields are. So I don't want to stunt them too much.
 
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MATTYMATT726

MATTYMATT726

Well-Known Member
Project Ponics said:
Alright so I know a lot of people do and do not top/lst/defoliate/etc. I LST and twice defoliated my first auto ever (fastberry from fastbuds) and it worked out fine, maybe a few days of growth stunt. I do not have interest in topping my autos. But I have 2x Bloody skunk autos, growing out their 8-9th nodes. I have not done ANY lst or hst to them, one is in soil and one is in coco. I was told to just plug and play, don't do any defoliation. Well the fan leaves are getting pretty damn big and covering up the nodes from light, should I just leave them?

They're in the first week of flowering, on day 34. Can upload pics if needed, but felt like it's not for the simple question I'm asking. Will they be fine just leaving the fan leaves? I'm doing a simple comparison of coco vs soil, see what the final yields are. So I don't want to stunt them too much.
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I think once in flower shes not going to get a whole lot biggerr outside fist week stretch so its ok to take a few huge fans off if covering buds.
 
PURPLEB3RRYKUSH

PURPLEB3RRYKUSH

Well-Known Member
Project Ponics said:
Alright so I know a lot of people do and do not top/lst/defoliate/etc. I LST and twice defoliated my first auto ever (fastberry from fastbuds) and it worked out fine, maybe a few days of growth stunt. I do not have interest in topping my autos. But I have 2x Bloody skunk autos, growing out their 8-9th nodes. I have not done ANY lst or hst to them, one is in soil and one is in coco. I was told to just plug and play, don't do any defoliation. Well the fan leaves are getting pretty damn big and covering up the nodes from light, should I just leave them?

They're in the first week of flowering, on day 34. Can upload pics if needed, but felt like it's not for the simple question I'm asking. Will they be fine just leaving the fan leaves? I'm doing a simple comparison of coco vs soil, see what the final yields are. So I don't want to stunt them too much.
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tuck the big fan leafs under the newest growth/flower sites and ponytail if u have to for a big even bush
 
Thegermling

Thegermling

Well-Known Member
Project Ponics said:
Alright so I know a lot of people do and do not top/lst/defoliate/etc. I LST and twice defoliated my first auto ever (fastberry from fastbuds) and it worked out fine, maybe a few days of growth stunt. I do not have interest in topping my autos. But I have 2x Bloody skunk autos, growing out their 8-9th nodes. I have not done ANY lst or hst to them, one is in soil and one is in coco. I was told to just plug and play, don't do any defoliation. Well the fan leaves are getting pretty damn big and covering up the nodes from light, should I just leave them?

They're in the first week of flowering, on day 34. Can upload pics if needed, but felt like it's not for the simple question I'm asking. Will they be fine just leaving the fan leaves? I'm doing a simple comparison of coco vs soil, see what the final yields are. So I don't want to stunt them too much.
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For your first auto you should have left it alone. lst is fine. I suggest you grow more autos or tuck the fans under like purpleberry suggested until you understand autos more. Its okay to experiment too I guess that way you know whats up.
 
SNOLEPERD

SNOLEPERD

Active Member
I hst every plant I grow, when my seedlings pop I take the plastic off a bread tie and wire down my seedling and heavy stress train, this will give you a nice strong mainstem, I get this over with fast when my stem hardens, I give my auto a light prune around day 30, once I transition to bloom base and agent, pic is NL at day 56, 8 weeks, after I hst I lst, at all times that my lights are on I run a fan on plants not only to disperse heat but to lst, so you can hst, lst, and prune.
 

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Budzbuddha

Budzbuddha

Well-Known Member
This WHY you don’t screw with autos during its SHORT veg stage. All it needs is all the light you can throw at it initially...... during this stage it is looking to root as well as it can ... it may or may not branch that much , but when it’s internal clock is triggered to begin sexing it will switch gears and begin to set up flowers and STILL stretch for about 10 days or so.

LST is fine and no hard core handling is needed like , monster cropping or defol. It is impacting the auto if you stress it ... it is on a one way course to harvest and has no time to recover. By causing a DELAY in its life will impact the end yield ....... Some strains CAN be topped but not all will play along. Simple tuck of leaves will work fine.
 
SNOLEPERD

SNOLEPERD

Active Member
I'm sorry, I have to disagree, while your right once an auto is born it spends most of its time on it's root system first pic is bbk I defoliated, I wire down my seedlings, in my opinion it tricks your seedlings, I train with wind, when there born in a very windy environment they better lay there roots down, canabis rundellis has been known to have a tap root 20 ft, sec pic my nycd another plant that need extensive pruneing, after my main stem hardens I allwat have a fan on my plants not only to disperse heat but to lst, last NL at day 56, huge healthy and very aggressive takes pruneing fine, yes autoflower plants do have a limited life span but they don't die in a car crash at day 67, I have grown auto 115 days, I hst to get it over with and to get a big mainstem, I prune beacuse flower grows on branches and I want mine in th light, I have been growing autos for 8 years continually I did learn a few things.
 

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McStrats

McStrats

Well-Known Member
Plants need the leaves to photosynthesize and store energy. Buds don't photosynthesize and they don't store energy. I leave leaves on and I don't LST. I do trim out some peach fuzz around the bottom of the plant but fan leaves stay on until they no longer serve their main purpose. **That main purpose isn't served properly without those big fan leaves...mother nature knew what she was doing in other words.

So how do the lower bud sites get light if I don't defoliate? I harvest progressively. The main buds get chopped and she goes back under the lights for a week to 10 days so that the lower bud sites can catch up.

I pulled over a LB from 2 Alien V Triangle and 2 3BOG using this method. See the video link in my signature to see the plants.

More here:
 
SNOLEPERD

SNOLEPERD

Active Member
I prune my plants, I leave 4 sets of fans on bottom of plants, I Want my branches in the light so I prune my fans until my sets start going down, so I leave sets 1, 3, 5, 7, then prune till they go down, 9. 7, 5, 3, 1, that's my cola bud, I leave all fans on outside of plant, I'm in a very tight space, the loss of the fans may slow down it a bit but my branches are in the light, allso the branch leaves grow much bigger to make up for the loss of the fans, I hst to get it over with, you get a nice big main stem, once the stem hardens I take the wire off and keep a 14 inc box fan on 2 to blow them around lst, I had to wire my 2 main branches beacuse they are so heavy with flower my branches are going to snap, I have decent lights no blurple so in a tight spot I have more than enough light to make up the loss of a few fans, pic is NL at day 57, I did not defoliate but I did take off some fans, as you can see that plant toped at 42inc, you can see for yourself I have many leaves to make up for the loss of my fans, a good light a tight space no problems
 

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McStrats

McStrats

Well-Known Member
SNOLEPERD said:
I prune my plants, I leave 4 sets of fans on bottom of plants, I Want my branches in the light so I prune my fans
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Buds themselves don't photosynthesize, so light hitting the bud or branch isn't as important as light hitting the fan leaves so that the leaves then feed the bud.

Here are some autos at 8 weeks (they were transplanted at 1 week). I tried pruning on a previous similar grow and the yield was smaller then. Leave the fan leaves on and do a progressive harvest for a bigger yield. I pulled over one LB from these 4 plants in 9 weeks.
 
Project Ponics

Project Ponics

Well-Known Member
McStrats said:
Buds themselves don't photosynthesize, so light hitting the bud or branch isn't as important as light hitting the fan leaves so that the leaves then feed the bud.

Here are some autos at 8 weeks (they were transplanted at 1 week). I tried pruning on a previous similar grow and the yield was smaller then. Leave the fan leaves on and do a progressive harvest for a bigger yield. I pulled over one LB from these 4 plants in 9 weeks.
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Very nice Mephisto autos you have there. I still want to try some beans from them. When I oringally posted this it was for what I was doing to my Fastberry Auto plant. That’s been harvested, actually smoking it right now. I messed up and stressed the hell out of it which caused many problems for me. On top of having to harvest it early, it only got 18” tall and pulled about 25 grams so a few grams shy of an oz.

Now, I have two Bloody Skunk Autos going from Sweet Seeds. Both on day 52. Few weeks into flower and I learned from my last grow, I’m just going to plug and play and not mess with autos at all. As a new grower it’s not worth it right now until I grow more autos and learn. I intend to grow photos in general, I’ll grow an Auto here or there if it’s a strain I really want to try.

The plant on the left is coco and perlite in a 2 gallon pot. The plant on the right is Happy Frog soil in a 3 gallon pot. Both are 32-34” tall. The buds are straight dark purple, and the leaves are turning purple as well. In person it has almost a sparkly shiny purple look to on the leaves. I can tell these are going to be my best and most beautiful plants I’ve grown, as this is only my third grow lol.

352C83B1-9C62-4242-B6B4-EF5A883A54AB.jpeg 3E70BE3F-E5B0-42FC-A664-F7C215DD2C35.jpeg BA3FBE6F-F449-4CEE-8499-DAFC5B5687DC.jpeg

I also got a few seedlings on week 3 or so. One is a Black Sugar Fem, Two are Badazz Cookies OG. Both strains are by seedsman. And I also got a Girl Scout Cookies Auto from Fastbuds. Excited to try the GSC.

2160B8F9-2728-40CE-95D2-00FB16C98D16.jpeg
 
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McStrats

McStrats

Well-Known Member
Project Ponics said:
Very nice Mephisto autos you have there. I still want to try some beans from them. When I oringally posted this it was for what I was doing to my Fastberry Auto plant. That’s been harvested, actually smoking it right now. I messed up and stressed the hell out of it which caused many problems for me. On top of having to harvest it early, it only got 18” tall and pulled about 25 grams so a few grams shy of an oz.

Now, I have two Bloody Skunk Autos going from Sweet Seeds. Both on day 52. Few weeks into flower and I learned from my last grow, I’m just going to plug and play and not mess with autos at all. As a new grower it’s not worth it right now until I grow more autos and learn. I intend to grow photos in general, I’ll grow an Auto here or there if it’s a strain I really want to try.

The plant on the left is coco and perlite in a 2 gallon pot. The plant on the right is Happy Frog soil in a 3 gallon pot. Both are 32-34” tall. The buds are straight dark purple, and the leaves are turning purple as well. In person it has almost a sparkly shiny purple look to on the leaves. I can tell these are going to be my best and most beautiful plants I’ve grown, as this is only my third grow lol.

View attachment 4180359 View attachment 4180358 View attachment 4180360

I also got a few seedlings on week 3 or so. One is a Black Sugar Fem, Two are Badazz Cookies OG. Both strains are by seedsman. And I also got a Girl Scout Cookies Auto from Fastbuds. Excited to try the GSC.

View attachment 4180362
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The best advice I can give to new growers is to keep it simple and don't fuss over the plants too much. Leave them alone unless something looks off.
 
Project Ponics

Project Ponics

Well-Known Member
McStrats said:
The best advice I can give to new growers is to keep it simple and don't fuss over the plants too much. Leave them alone unless something looks off.
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Pretty much what I'm going to start doing, as a beginner I think less is better. But also have to experiment to find out, right?

As far as autos, I'm just going to plug and play. I will however be growing photos that I will be training in different ways, aka experimenting lol.

These Cookies OG and Black Sugar Fem strains I'm going to scrog, lst, defoliate and lollipop. Don't think topping will be necessary for 3 plants in a 4x2 tent when scrogging.
 
PURPLEB3RRYKUSH

PURPLEB3RRYKUSH

Well-Known Member
Budzbuddha said:
This WHY you don’t screw with autos during its SHORT veg stage. All it needs is all the light you can throw at it initially...... during this stage it is looking to root as well as it can ... it may or may not branch that much , but when it’s internal clock is triggered to begin sexing it will switch gears and begin to set up flowers and STILL stretch for about 10 days or so.

LST is fine and no hard core handling is needed like , monster cropping or defol. It is impacting the auto if you stress it ... it is on a one way course to harvest and has no time to recover. By causing a DELAY in its life will impact the end yield ....... Some strains CAN be topped but not all will play along. Simple tuck of leaves will work fine.
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100% Agree, leaf tuck and ponytailing is all i do on auto's and they turn into a big even bush everytime with about 25 even colas, never got less than 3 ounce a plant
 
Logan Burke

Logan Burke

Well-Known Member
Topping is not neccessary with auto's, nor is defoilating, although there are some auto strains that respond more favorably to topping than others. No matter the strain, defoilating isn't a good idea with auto's...it just isn't. It leaves you far less margin for error if, per say, you were to overfeed and burn leaves. If it has tons of leaves, then no real harm done, back off nutes and it still has plenty of leaves. If you defoilate it, and make that same mistake of overfertting, your plant is going to be left with far less leaves to produce energy and make bud mass. LST'ing is as far as I would go with auto's. I know how hard it can be to leave your plants alone and not adjust anything...as growers our instinct is to 'Maximize this, maximize that" etc etc to make it as efficient as possible. But sometimes we have to get back to the basics! Hope I could help out!
 
McStrats

McStrats

Well-Known Member
Logan Burke said:
Topping is not neccessary with auto's, nor is defoilating, although there are some auto strains that respond more favorably to topping than others. No matter the strain, defoilating isn't a good idea with auto's...it just isn't. It leaves you far less margin for error if, per say, you were to overfeed and burn leaves. If it has tons of leaves, then no real harm done, back off nutes and it still has plenty of leaves. If you defoilate it, and make that same mistake of overfertting, your plant is going to be left with far less leaves to produce energy and make bud mass. LST'ing is as far as I would go with auto's. I know how hard it can be to leave your plants alone and not adjust anything...as growers our instinct is to 'Maximize this, maximize that" etc etc to make it as efficient as possible. But sometimes we have to get back to the basics! Hope I could help out!
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Agree.
 
SNOLEPERD

SNOLEPERD

Active Member
Bull spit everyone says you can't prune an autoflower, or hst, if you do a small prune first, then another when you go to bloom, and yes it may hold up your plant a day or two, so what, autos don't die in a plane crash at day 61, I grew one for 110 days and it was great, you can most definitely prune but do it twice as stated don't prune 2 leaves a day. And hst gives you a big main stem, I do it to every plant, once stem hardens I lost. Yes autos have a limited life span but in most cases there good for 100 days, unless it's a dwarf or a small fast flower plant, for 8 years I wrote how long to grow every auto I ever grew my NL is 60 days old, my mean average is 72 days, I make things work or die trying and I think I still have a pulse.
 
McStrats

McStrats

Well-Known Member
SNOLEPERD said:
Bull spit everyone says you can't prune an autoflower, or hst, if you do a small prune first, then another when you go to bloom, and yes it may hold up your plant a day or two, so what, autos don't die in a plane crash at day 61, I grew one for 110 days and it was great, you can most definitely prune but do it twice as stated don't prune 2 leaves a day. And hst gives you a big main stem, I do it to every plant, once stem hardens I lost. Yes autos have a limited life span but in most cases there good for 100 days, unless it's a dwarf or a small fast flower plant, for 8 years I wrote how long to grow every auto I ever grew my NL is 60 days old, my mean average is 72 days, I make things work or die trying and I think I still have a pulse.
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I don't think anyone is saying you can't prune an auto...I think most of us are just saying it isn't necessary. I pulled over a LB from 4 autos and I just fed them and watered them. Your approach obviously works for you but I see new growers tinker around too much with their plants and they just end up with spindly plants and poor yields. When a new grower asks about pruning and defol I just tell them not to bother with it and keep it simple. It's probably the best advice for a newbie in the long run.
 
SNOLEPERD

SNOLEPERD

Active Member
Not me bro, I have been growing autos continuless for 8 years, plus another 30 growing photos, so I don't tinker, here is a pic of my small nl, I was feeding her big sister, plant is 60 days old, started to flower on day 21, toped off and was in full bloom at day 41, now if I can get 10 to 14 more days I'm in, I'm still in between both plants I'll get a couple zzzzs, me I'm happy, I try to help people and they just cant get it thru there heads that autoflower are not photoperid plants thus you grow them different, the think I'm a fairy tail grower but my girls speak for themselves, so take my advice or not, there your plants and I don't care.
 

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