To top or not.

Let's hear it. To top an auto or not ? Pros and cons.ets hear em

I top everything, autos & photos, simply to control height.

I top , LST , supercrop and bonzai them.
No con so far.

When I grow photos I top. With autos, I don't. The reason is that topping requires recovery time. With photos, you have as much time as you need by extending veg. In other words...with autos, you're on the clock. I also find that stunting can happen with autos and it's almost 100% down to genetics, and not usually a function of skill level. When it works, the result is a nice-looking plant. I've tried it both ways and came to the conclusion that manipulating the light during early growth allows for an even canopy without the stress of topping. Even if I end up with a Christmas tree structure I still have 13 or 14 satellite buds that all combined has about the same yield as a topped auto...that didn't stunt.....but that stunting part is something you can't control, so why take the risk when there isn't much to be gained?

You don't need to touch an auto to end up with an even canopy.

I set the dimmer on the lowest setting when this plant was a seedling. I gradually increased the light as she grew. Doing this stopped her from being leggy. That is how to avoid ending up with a Christmas tree. The result was a plant that responded with an even canopy without doing any topping or training. She yielded close to 1/2 a LB of solid nugs. Mephisto Alien Vs Triangle F2.

Exploremore said:

Let's hear it. To top an auto or not ? Pros and cons.ets hear em

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Topping an auto is no different than topping a photo...top if you want or don't top if you like

Just wanted to let you guys know I'm stressing about this haha

A bit of both I've no hard fast rules about it, I'm usually aiming for lots of branching, if want to control the amount of branching I'd top it.

Top and not topped.

I get roughly the same thing with tying them down.

Yes. Transplant too.

I've topped them all except one or two that were stunted or runts. I will add that when you top matters. I've had some faster finishing plants that I waited too long to top, and it created strange branch formations that were not optimal for bud production. Indica leaning hybrids need to be topped earlier, slower to flower sativa dominant strains can go longer, in my experience.

I don't think "when" topping matters as much as people think.

I pinched the 2nd node off a seedling just to see what would happen; it grew just fine. I believe the trick is, the more leaves the plant has the quicker and easier it can recover from hi-stress like topping or pruning.

PopAndSonGrows said:

Yes. Transplant too.

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Transplanting Autos is just fine. I used to think the opposite. But I currently have 9 Autos vegging very nicely that were all started in some home made plugs and transplanted into 17L pots after a week or so.

when do you top them? how old?

It all depends on how the growth is going during veg. I had a really vigorous plant this run so I topped it at day 14 where it had 6 nodes so I topped it under node 6. For my other plants, they were a little slower so I left them. No hard and fast rules.