I hear a lot about topping at the 3-5th node, but ...

Hey screedo I went back to your week 3 veg pics for question. Yes you can top them. Earlier the better more time for those shoots to grow up and become a main cola. As long as your plant is healthy it will bounce right back in a couple of days. I top at 4th node 4 way lst then scrog. I don't have any problems.

When you have strong growth topping will give you more buds in the end. But if your experiencing slower growth than the plants potential you won't get the full results you'd be expecting. At this point in your grow I would leave them as is learn from experience and try topping next time around. Best of luck!

I would not stress an auto plant with topping it takes time out of itäs flowering time and uses it to recover from that topping. Different thing with photoperiof strains when you can prolong your veg time. happy growing!

I wouldn't recommend topping an Auto flower because it could stunt the plant and due to an autos limited life cycle, it could limit your yields. Topping at the 4th-5th node is deigned to limit the height of the plant, while promoting the growth of the smaller side nodes. You could achieve the same results with just some good ol fashion LST (low stress training). Remeber, these plants are apical dominant, meaning they will throw most of their energy into the top buds, which is why most growers try to get an even canopy. I recommend limiting the stress she gets while in flower. Good luck and happy growing!! 💪

I think some autos are more than capable at handling a topping, especially ones with a slightly longer growth cycle. But I think if you could do a top when its still in veg phase vs flowering that it might go better and recover easier. If you can safely add a little lst without breaks you'll still be able to open up some more light and get some similar benefits to topping it. Good luck with the grow, nice purple already. ✌️

Hi @Screedo! When I'm growing autos, I always adapt my technique depending on the plant's speed and strength. Each strain has its way to grow and some do not like to be topped. I only allow myself to top or fim the most healthy/fast/beautiful strains, otherwise it's a loss of time leading to a loss of yield. Hope this makes sense, happy growing! 👊

Hey there, it's too late now, your plant stayed small because (logically) it had a slow growth rate , there are a number of ways to keep an auto in veg long enough for a good topping, but what i do suggest is reading up on the Vapor Pressure Deficit . VPD is what controls the rate of growth meaning good VPD, good growth, bad VPD bad growth. Changing this up will multiply your yield by 5-10 times compared to this run. Hope this helps growmie ! 🚀

At this point I'd recommend not doing so. I've done it and my plant is finishing week 7 of flower right now at 6-7" tall. It's super dank looking but it's not a showstopper by any means. Autos seem to be extremely dependant on higher wattage for the mid weeks of veg through to the mid weeks of flower. The more light the better. I e definitely noticed a difference adding an additional light to my veg cycles. I'd suggest letting her grow how you'd like to at this point. I cant imagine it'll be a big producer by any means... Could however be the small but deadly stuff. 💪🌱

Hi there. Autoflowers have a pre programmed life cycle. If you top a autoflower you are going to stress them and will stop growing for up to a week and is going to be much smaller and produce less. General rule is to never top an autoflower (you can check google for a beter explenation) Yours is to small to top anyway.. you can try low stress training that is much more suiteable for Autoflowers. You can check google on how to do it best. Good luck

They look like it might stunt them, you want them to have a good root structure before topping so they can handle the stress and at that size it doesnt look like they would have one so i would wait a little longer if i was going to top them. Id look on it at a plant by plant basis though if it was the right candidate for topping and with that being an auto and of smaller size i would probably look more into the LST technique. Happy growing mate 👌