Autoflower experts attention! Question on LST

[Hopalong]

Good evening/morning or what ever time of the day you might have!

I have a question for you autoflower specialists out there: At what stage would it be best to bend the plant for the first time? Do you wait for a certain node or for the plant to reach a certain height etc.?

When is it too early or late in your opinion?

I’m asking because there are so many differing opinions, half for and half against.

Now I have 95% decided to LST my 4 autos in my 3x3, to get a more even canopy and maybe even a bigger harvest. I’m just a little worried of stunting them and actually decrease it.

I’m new on the forum, so I haven’t read all the journals yet or know who’s who here so I would greatly appreciate any input.

My baby girls are 16 days old and growing nicely. You will find the project from my profile I suppose.

[Hopalong]

I forgot to say what I was supposed to say first… I wanted to let everyone know how priviledged I feel to have found this community. I want thank all of you for this general positive vibe I’m getting here. Well done people!

[Truetopath]

When I grew my auto I bent her stem over when the 5th node showed up. Happy growing! Glad you’re here!

[Mmanson1981]

I normally top around day 16 and then start training around 21

[Borderryan22]

I stopped topping autos, I always time it just a wee bit too late. But just make sure you don’t keep going back and cutting or bending too much. They gotta recover.

[Highgrow]

I utilize a leaf plucking technique @DoneDeal tought me to allow better light penetration and allowing lower growth to catch up. Once i get 2 or 3 nodes i pluck the every other set of new leafs. If these loaded right first pic is most recent of her in flower and the others are of when she was young. Should be able to see were i took the new leafs. Important to take the leafs and NOT the nodes. I also use garden staples as needed to keep things as even as possible.

This is where he was guiding me step by step.

Wondering if i am doing this right

Good morning y’all hope everyone is feeling their best . [HOW I TOP MY PLANTS GRAND MASTER LEVEL TECH | TOPPING PLANTS] I came across this video two weeks after I’ve been doing it. LoL I was naive enough to think I was the first one to do it That’s the exact reason I do it budro That and I do pull the young leaves at the top but not the new ones. Hopefully this helps explain it a lil…

[Hopalong]

Thank you all for the input. Last night I bent the girls except the Tropicana Cookies which is the shortest of the four.

8 hours later they have already turned the leaves torwards the light.

I did some small adjustments on the stakes and decided to clip off the top leaves covering the lower nodes.

I hope this was not a mistake, maybe I should’ve done it yesterday at the same time I bent them. The girls look so healthy I think they will tolerate the extra stress…

[Hopalong]

The stalks were quite hard already, I twisted the back and forth for a while to soften them, and they eventually bent over…

Now I will give them some peace to let them recover.

[Hopalong]

Oh no, I was supposed to post these in my journal… well I guess I have to somehow copy these posts there too…

[Mmanson1981]

You can ask @Myfriendis410 or another mod if they can combine it

[OGIncognito]

I top all my autos, as soon as the 5th node has a little growth I cut above the 4th, leave the 3rd and remove all growth below. Autos need a great start with all the variables dialed in as most autos will start the flowering transition around 30-42 days above ground

[Mmanson1981]

Haha my autos start flowering at day 23-25

[SolomanGrundy]

I usually start as soon as I have the second node, before it turns woody.

[Hopalong]

@SolomanGrundy Thanks for your reply!!

That’s an interesting looking style of bending, looks great!

New member here from Scandinavia, sharing the love with 4 strains from FastBuds

That’s the grow if you want to see how it’s going. I tried to make it like a diary so I can track back on what I’ve in case things go good or they go bad. I also try to add fotos on every update.

Here is how they look today:

[SausageMahoney]

My first go at it. Wish I’d been more symmetrical but that trunk looks like The Hulks knuckle.

[Hopalong]

@SausageMahoney lol yes they tend to thicken up when you bend them. I’ve had some crazy trunks almost as thick as my wrist on some lst’d autoflowers, outdoors. Even these indoor ones seem to be having the same tendencies…

[SolomanGrundy]

I then start laying down the xmas tree with each fan leaf and top leafs. After they start growing i strip off the lower 3rd of each node, loolipop.

Sorry came in late ran out of time limit the other day and remembered the draft.
MERRY CHRISTMAS

[Hopalong]

Looks great, and merry Christmas to you too!

[SolomanGrundy]

Afagan autoflower.