First try 7-2-2021

If you want vertical growth do not prune, defoliate or top. Any of those training techniques are to create a bushier plant, it will slow down vertical growth. Now on another note, if your autoflower is growing very fast and you seen new leaves everyday then go ahead as it will recover very quickly. But you don't want to do any cutting to a slow growing autoflower. Check out my OG Diesel Kush autoflower diary for an example.

In my opinion, no, your plant needs every healthy green leaf she has, to make the energy she needs to grow her biggest and best flowers. Less leaves = less energy = less growth. It is that simple and basic plant biology 101. Defoliating during flowering is the absolute worst time to defoliate, but then again, I do not believe in defoliating ever, and especially not autos. Hope this helps, Organoman.

You’ve just basically just started flowering.. these buds will swell up most definitely. I read some of you’re last weeks journals and you aren’t even close to a harvest flush.. These will be putting on way more weight. There’s are essentially what I would called preflowering.. its just the beginning. Hard to put a set date on autos like this but you are probably 3 weeks into flowering with at least 5 weeks to go, maybe more like 6-7.. those small bud sites aren’t going to be massive buds when all is said and done but they should certainly grow several times over in size. Those clusters of pistils you have now will slowly begin to form into buds as the calyxes swell and grow around the stigmas/pistils week by week. Looking good so far and props on doing a hydroponic grow your first time!

If you’re a week and half away from harvest that’s a good tome to start flushing. Depends on the medium being used. Soil if you let the nutrients deplete then you don’t really need to fhush as it has consumed all the food. Hydroponic set ups require less time for a flush because obviously it’s easy to chase all the nutrients out of the water. I’m in a soilless mix of peat moss and coco and perlite. I started week seven of flower. It may have been a bit early but I’m ok with leeching it early and letting the plant consume her fan leaves. That’s how you know the flush is working. If I were you I would start the flush. I personal would rather start it a bit early to make sure she’s flushed rather than being late on it and having buds that taste like chemicals and pop like the 4th of July. Happy harvest friend.