Purple Kush Autoflower

because vege time is on a biological clock, and assuming we don't cause it to go off with stress or whatever, i'd expect any pruning reduces yield, but only what you cut off, since resources are not lost and will be redistributed elsewhere, but you still lose whatever was pruned off. that's a small portion of the biologically-limited vege time lost with an autoflower. so if you don't cut off much and it shapes the plant better for the light or the space it has to fit, it could easily be a net benefit. ... as long as it doesn't get stunted from an early pruning like that.. i think that'd be the main concern there. if some significant percent turn into runts due to that stress can make it an easy no-go decision. sever lst could probably do it too, for that matter. piss it off enough and it's triggering early and you get a tiny plant.

humm.... I want to say yes but its kinda hogwash in my thinking. Let me try and break it down. If you are topping at node 2 vs node 4 It could be theorized that the plant at the 4th node has more leaves below the pinched top vs the 2nd node topped plant. Given it has more leaves, the ability to recover is slightly faster as it can make more energy vs the 2nd node topped plant with less leaves, it also has the height advantage of 2 extra nodes when you top it at the 4th vs 2nd so it closer to the light increasing intensity but not by much. So if they grew the same and where like computers and predictable, the 4th node topping would be taller and be able to recover faster, In theory. Real world application, I have no fucking idea lol. I think your speculation on genetics really just throws a wrench in the cogs. Genetics also could trump this whole theory if all if the plants vigour even when topped at whatever node outperforms a plants that was not topped. and I bet that has happened many times. I still top at the 3rd to 5th node most times, never at 2nd. I know "this" is not a solution but it's how I think of it. Good Luck!

Not really, but the general consensus on it is that if you top earlier the plant might not have enough strength to recover. Good luck with the rest of your grow, it's looking amazin