Autoflower topping

B

BigMike415

Member
I've got a gorilla cookies autoflower from fastbuds. I topped it at about 4 and 1/2 to 5 weeks old. I know that they're supposed to start auto flowering anywhere between 4 to 6 weeks. It's been 8 weeks now and no signs of any preflowers or anything. I know that some people say it's okay to top them, some people say it's not. This is strictly just an experiment and I know that topping an autoflower is a lot more stressful than topping a photo. The plant seems totally healthy and looks like it's recovered from the shock of it, but at 8 weeks I would have thought I would have started to see something by now. I also live in San Francisco California and right now it's cold, about 50° at night 65° in the day, and and I'm growing outdoors, along with the light being on a scale of 1 to 10 about a 5. I've also lightly lollipoped 3 times but made sure I spread it over a period of four or five days per lollipopping. 3 gallon pot. Attached is a photo with a cinder block for size reference. Any ideas as to why it might not be flowering? Is it simply just still recovering from the topping shock along with cold weather and not that much light?20221112_105730.jpg
 
calvin.m16

calvin.m16

Well-Known Member
I tried Autos and I always topped my plants about like what you did. Sometimes stressing autos will delay the flowering onset in my experience. This is hard to confirm though because every auto is a seedling so they're all going to usually grow differently. It's a good looking plant, I'd let it bloom and only clean up the bottoms or scraggly branches at this point.

The only upside of Autos is they will flip to flower even with 12+ hours of light. Unless you need that then just buy photoperiod seeds, you can get feminized or normal but keep in mind with normal you're going to have to watch for males.

Hopefully that helps.
 
speedwell68

speedwell68

Well-Known Member
BigMike415 said:
I've got a gorilla cookies autoflower from fastbuds. I topped it at about 4 and 1/2 to 5 weeks old. I know that they're supposed to start auto flowering anywhere between 4 to 6 weeks. It's been 8 weeks now and no signs of any preflowers or anything. I know that some people say it's okay to top them, some people say it's not. This is strictly just an experiment and I know that topping an autoflower is a lot more stressful than topping a photo. The plant seems totally healthy and looks like it's recovered from the shock of it, but at 8 weeks I would have thought I would have started to see something by now. I also live in San Francisco California and right now it's cold, about 50° at night 65° in the day, and and I'm growing outdoors, along with the light being on a scale of 1 to 10 about a 5. I've also lightly lollipoped 3 times but made sure I spread it over a period of four or five days per lollipopping. 3 gallon pot. Attached is a photo with a cinder block for size reference. Any ideas as to why it might not be flowering? Is it simply just still recovering from the topping shock along with cold weather and not that much light?View attachment 5225285
Click to expand...
In my experience you don't top Autos because of the loss of veg time. When you top a plant it will take a few days for it to "recover". With a photo-period plant that makes no difference as you govern when the flowering process begins. With an Auto, that is going to start to flower after 30-40 days, the recovery time is potentially 10% to 20% of it's total veg time lost.

Also, in my experience, if you stress an Auto it is more likely to trigger flowering than delay it.

It is my guess that what you have there is a photo period plant.
 
B

BigMike415

Member
speedwell68 said:
In my experience you don't top Autos because of the loss of veg time. When you top a plant it will take a few days for it to "recover". With a photo-period plant that makes no difference as you govern when the flowering process begins. With an Auto, that is going to start to flower after 30-40 days, the recovery time is potentially 10% to 20% of it's total veg time lost.

Also, in my experience, if you stress an Auto it is more likely to trigger flowering than delay it.

It is my guess that what you have there is a photo period plant.
Click to expand...
Thank you for your input. Much appreciated. But I'm pretty sure I don't have a photo period, being that it's from fast buds that strictly deals in autos
 
Wizzlebiz

Wizzlebiz

Well-Known Member
You fucked up by starting an auto when you did where we live.

1 San Francisco is incredibly foggy.

2 we have well under 12 hrs of sunlight per day now.

So when those flower you will end up with incredibly airy buds with a bunch of bud rot and PM.

Bad timing to start any plant in San Francisco

I don't know why they are not flowering.
 
B

BigMike415

Member
Wizzlebiz said:
You fucked up by starting an auto when you did where we live.

1 San Francisco is incredibly foggy.

2 we have well under 12 hrs of sunlight per day now.

So when those flower you will end up with incredibly airy buds with a bunch of bud rot and PM.

Bad timing to start any plant in San Francisco

I don't know why they are not flowering.
Click to expand...
i grew these here in the SF foggy weather, with no bud rot and pretty decent when it comes to compactness ....just sayin 20220921_145956.jpg20220921_175200.jpg20221017_150843.jpg
 
PopAndSonGrows

PopAndSonGrows

Well-Known Member
I've grown autos 12/12 from seed, i can say for absolute certainty less light does not = airy buds. You might have less overall weight than you'd otherwise get using 18/6 or more lighting, but IMO not enough to make a huge difference. That's the whole point of autos.

As far as why it's still vegging all this time, i think it's more related to the constant lower temps & nothing to do with light-hours other than for the warmth.
 
Wizzlebiz

Wizzlebiz

Well-Known Member
PopAndSonGrows said:
I've grown autos 12/12 from seed, i can say for absolute certainty less light does not = airy buds. You might have less overall weight than you'd otherwise get using 18/6 or more lighting, but IMO not enough to make a huge difference. That's the whole point of autos.

As far as why it's still vegging all this time, i think it's more related to the constant lower temps & nothing to do with light-hours other than for the warmth.
Click to expand...
I have found differently about the low light factor and airy buds but I'm sure there are strains where it doesn't matter.
 
fatboyOGOF

fatboyOGOF

Well-Known Member
MATTYMATT726 said:
View attachment 5225559View attachment 5225560
Yup, DEFINITELY DON'T top or defoliate your autos :rolleyes:
Click to expand...
i got banned from autoflowers.net (i was goofing on schwazzing fanboys) but they have some info on autos that i found compelling and that go against the tide. they mention topping and high stress doesn't mess with them anymore than they mess with regular seeds. i'm going to top all 6 of this current batch just for the hell of it. i'm new to autos and to LEDs.

i know many people are very delicate with their roots when they up pot. i used to veg clones in our favorite party cups for 70ish days. i'd pop them out, no soil left, just roots and pull the roots apart, just rip the hell out of them if they were tightly packed. they would explode with growth soon after.
 
PopAndSonGrows

PopAndSonGrows

Well-Known Member
I've started every auto I've ever grown (about 6 total) in solo cups & transplanted to 3gal, topped most but not all, grew a couple 12/12 from seed and my smallest yield of any of them was still over 2oz., highest was a hair over 5oz. And FWIW the 12/12 from seed was not the smallest. I personally believe that it's a watering issue that may cause certain ppl to get those 2-gram plants; I grew all mine in coco and fertigated daily to runoff, so "watering issue" was not an issue for me. Oh and there's always the chance of shit genetics, too
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top