Hey now, I hope everyone is having a great week and staying safe. It was a nice week for the Glueberry OG as she grew to her 7th node on day 26 and I just popped off number 7 gently so she will end up with 10 main chutes from 5 nodes as i also removed the bottom node which typically is larfy popcorn buds. If she had not reached node number 7 by day 28ish I would have just topped her above the 5th node as I have had great yields that way as well. Dutch Passion says she takes 11-12 weeks but autos usually start preflowering/flowering between days 28-35 depending on strain so I try to complete all toppings by day 28 or so with autos because if you top them after they start to flower they will suffer.
I have topped above the 3rd (for mainlines and mainifolds) as well as the 4th, 5th, and 6th with great results from each. As a general rule, the longer the autoflower is expected to take, the higher up I top her as she will have more time for more colas to develop. Some people think that topping stunts an autoflower, however as long as you allow her to grow a nice ball of roots and she is healthy, it only stunts mine for about 30-45 seconds.
Glueberry OG Auto is absolutely loving this Medic Grow light so far, and I am super impressed with how tight she is keeping the nodes. I am running on 60% power in the V1 or vegetative blue stage. I will start working the UV/IR Spectrum into the mix as soon as my 2 seedlings go into coco coir and can handle some more light. The Glueberry OG Auto is currently 6 inches tall and was topped above her 6th node, and since the first node doesn't start until 2.5 inches from the coco, that is a tight group! I will start LST tomorrow on the two top mains, as it has only been 48 hours since topping and they are growing fast. I see alot of growers tie down their entire plant to the ground for LST and that is ok but not beneficial imo. My goal is to keep her nodes tight, and then just LST the mains from the uppermost nodes, as to allow the lower nodes to catch up., while I typically clip the bottom most node as she typically only produces larfy popcorn buds. These are certainly usable for bubble hash/edibles/cannasugar etc. but they do drain some energy from your top shelf colas.
The goal of LST should be an even canopy as to minimize apical dominance. This will allow the plant to better utilize the existing light and limit wasted light that converts to heat. Tying a plant down restricts the airflow from the plant and impedes the growth of the lower mains. LST does not require pinning a plant down to the ground with staples, and although a cannabis plant will bounce back from this, it certainly will not reach its full potential.
As far as nutrients go, I feed veg nutrients until my auto is almost done stretching then I transition to full flower nutes over about a 6 day period. The only exception is if my plant is growing out of control and I am unable to slow it down through topping, LST, super-cropping, etc. At this point I would make the switch to flower nutes slightly sooner. So she will be feeding on silica, cal mag, and veg nutes for at least a few more weeks here and just some LST. Thanks everyone for stopping by and checking out my little grow, I hope everyone stays well, be safe and Blaze On! 💪💪💪
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