to trim or not to trim that is the question

‍1st time grower here and i’m kinda stuck on if i should trim while going into flower or if i should even do it at all….if i do how much when where etc etc etc but if i don’t am i hindering the plant from doing its thing…im one of those analytical types so i tend to overthink things a lot…i see both sides but in the pic you’ll see what i mean and ill try to provide as much info as i can about it…

LSD Autoflower Day 35 and Growing inside a Vivosun SGS425(24X48X60) and i’m using a Aero VSA200SE @ about 50%…i have 5 gallon fabric pots and they all have the bottom third of the pots filled with FF Ocean Forrest and the other 2/3 is Happy Frog and perlite….i water with tap water that’s been ph downd to bout 6.7 and Dr Earths Fertilizer 4-4-4 and has been good to me all throughout veg(1/4 cup throughout top of soil then water every other week give or take a few days)The humidity hovers around 55-65% and i’m running em on an 18/6 light schedule…i currently don’t have a separate fan because the light i have has an inline fan in it so that’s a plus and works great…also have the Aero zesh filter taking in air and i’m wondering if i can still use LST but i kinda lowkey wanna remove all the big fan leaves(at least 8 of em that keep calling me to take em down lol) but then again im not sure if i should wait.I topped once already and that’s about it…i have 3 plants but the one in question is on the right…the one on the left(Cheese) is about 2 weeks older but is lucky to even be this big because from the jump it struggled like bad…i call it my frankenstein because i had to work out my kinks until i got it right so that fact it got this big is wild to me but im learning…the one in the middle(bruce banner) is just a few weeks old and should be a lil bigger too but im just havin fun learning…



vvvThis was the Cheese plant before it recovered about 16-19 days prior give or take a few days…vvv

Autoflowers don't tend to have the time frame to recover from high stress training or heavy trimming. To my knowledge, you are much better off doing low stress training methods and only trimming off dead leaves or nearer the end of veg phase, just lightly, if you need to.

@CuzzoRo

It depends on how fast/healthy and how long they take before flowering.

I usually top at the fourth node and pull down the branches to grow horizontally. Helps the lower nodes catch up to the top ones.

And lollipop roughly at first week of sign of pistils, ie., remove all side branches/bud sites on the bottom third of the plant.

BTW> the quadline looks Great !

Cheers

Nice job, looking great! Youll get the hang of what to do and when as you go on. Ive grown a few pounds and still figuring it out. One big mistake I made is underestimating need for a few nice small fans or one big fan for air circulation to avoid powdery mildew and botritys.

Everyone will grow it a bit different and no two plants are the same. Like for example you can pluck a few of those huge fan leafs just like a hair cut to open up air flow most importantly but also allow light to penetrate.

Just many ways to get to the same end goal, a harvest that makes you happy. If yield is a priority it will come with time but prevention of issues is something I should of stuck with. Oh well Im crawling back up from the rubble lol. More space=more yield. Its not good to over crowed.

EmeraldGreenGal said:

Autoflowers don't tend to have the time frame to recover from high stress training or heavy trimming. To my knowledge, you are much better off doing low stress training methods and only trimming off dead leaves or nearer the end of veg phase, just lightly, if you need to.

Click to expand...

preciate the info….that’s exactly what ima do with the lil one…

chuckeye said:

@CuzzoRo

It depends on how fast/healthy and how long they take before flowering.

I usually top at the fourth node and pull down the branches to grow horizontally. Helps the lower nodes catch up to the top ones.

And lollipop roughly at first week of sign of pistils, ie., remove all side branches/bud sites on the bottom third of the plant.

BTW> the quadline looks Great !

Cheers

Click to expand...

that’s funny cuzz thats exactly when i topped it too…i kinda wish i had waited until the fifth…that LSD surprised me with how quickly it got that high…but im very happy with where it came from…

Thanks

medidedicated said:

Nice job, looking great! Youll get the hang of what to do and when as you go on. Ive grown a few pounds and still figuring it out. One big mistake I made is underestimating need for a few nice small fans or one big fan for air circulation to avoid powdery mildew and botritys.

Everyone will grow it a bit different and no two plants are the same. Like for example you can pluck a few of those huge fan leafs just like a hair cut to open up air flow most importantly but also allow light to penetrate.

Just many ways to get to the same end goal, a harvest that makes you happy. If yield is a priority it will come with time but prevention of issues is something I should of stuck with. Oh well Im crawling back up from the rubble lol. More space=more yield. Its not good to over crowed.

Click to expand...

medidedicated said:

Nice job, looking great! Youll get the hang of what to do and when as you go on. Ive grown a few pounds and still figuring it out. One big mistake I made is underestimating need for a few nice small fans or one big fan for air circulation to avoid powdery mildew and botritys.

Everyone will grow it a bit different and no two plants are the same. Like for example you can pluck a few of those huge fan leafs just like a hair cut to open up air flow most importantly but also allow light to penetrate.

Just many ways to get to the same end goal, a harvest that makes you happy. If yield is a priority it will come with time but prevention of issues is something I should of stuck with. Oh well Im crawling back up from the rubble lol. More space=more yield. Its not good to over crowed.

Click to expand...

thanks…that’s exactly what i did too and hopefully they will continue to exceed my expectations

im not a big BDSM fan, so i don't tie my plants down
no, i hear good things about LST'ING autos though and tieing branches down. i only prune if height is a problem.
but i gave up on autos except outside growing.
when you have a few good mother plants that are photos, you allways have clones of good weed to fill your space up with. but autos fill a gap in the market