If you are growing outside, it is hard to beat the shape and appearance of a huge plant in its natural form. Inside is to totally different animal. On one of my first grows I had a White Widow auto go wild on me. She stretched like crazy and was a foot taller than her sisters. I was running out of height in the tent besides. It gets ugly what you have to resort to. I grabbed the center of the stalk and tied it to the tent’s corner pole pulling it off center as much as I could. I then lashed some heavy wire to the stem that I had bent. Over the next couple of days I bent the wire some more and secured it to what ever I could. On another occasion I slid a tomato cage over the plant and used the cage to bend and secure the plant.
I have become a strong proponent of plant training. It does not matter if it is an auto or photo.
This is a Jack Herer auto. She had an unusually long veg period and I took advantage of it. I simply kept tying (staples) her down and spreading her out by going around the perimeter of the pot. I did not top her although she would have benefited from it (more of an experiment on my part0
9/11 day 51 (starts flowering within a few days)
9/17 day 57 starting to stretch and first signs of flowers
Lastly, 11/27 day 128 and a week before harvesting her. The inside dimensions of the scrog is 22x22
The photo is from 3/8 and on day 36 of 12/12 lights. It took a little over a week for them to transition into flower so actual flower days is closer to 28+_
I started growing with autos. Same thought process as you. After 4 or 5 auto grows switched to photos. Photos are much more rewarding, at least for me. There are plenty of growers that love their autos and do amazing things with them. I still grow single autos (jack herer is an example) but I grow photos in the tent. The picture I first sent is of six clones. Another benefit of photos. If you get a really nice plant you can extent its life by cloning it.
This is a link to my current project. A little preview:
Speaking of clones, after the jack herer I used that space to do a sea of green with twelve NL & AK47 clones. It was fun and different Sea of Green Acres AK47 & NL Clones
If you have questions, just reach out. I will help if I can or tag someone I think that can. I have not been at it that long myself but I enjoy the hell out of it.