Auto flower plant assessment please.

HowardC · Feb 18, 2026

This is my first auto grow and I'm growing in a DIY grow box. This a Bruce Bahner auto FWIW. I'm using recycled soil and GH three part of which I've only fed this plant twice so far. The prior watering have been plain pH water. The first photo is on the 9th and the second one is from yesterday. Does this look like what I want to see? Is the growth rate typical for an 8 day period?
I have topped the plant after the 4th set of leaves were set. I need to keep the plant low due to restricted height of the grow box and training has been dosed out over a week or so. I still have to keep training the branches so any advice on training an auto for low growth is appreciated. The auto branches are much more brittle than photo plants which really took some getting accustomed to.
Judging by the second photo is there an opinion on how long before flowering starts?
Any general help and assessment is appreciated.
Thanks

carlosescobar · Feb 18, 2026

you dont really want your leaves on the soil like that , when they transpire they could get wet and rot. how far have you got the light from the plant ? looks like its over 24 ''..
Im no expert with autos but i dont think they like stress , like topping and bending, you might trigger it to go into bud .
apart from that , its looking good , good healthy colour

HowardC · Feb 18, 2026

carlosescobar said:
you dont really want your leaves on the soil like that , when they transpire they could get wet and rot. how far have you got the light from the plant ? looks like its over 24 ''..
Im no expert with autos but i dont think they like stress , like topping and bending, you might trigger it to go into bud .
apart from that , its looking good , good healthy colour

Thanks. I'll get the leaves off the soil today. I feel like I stressed this plant enough and I'm done training for the most part. I'd like to try to pin the higher branches closer to the soil but I'm afraid I'm too close to flowering??

JIMKSI64 · Feb 18, 2026

You have done well with your training. The autos I had I topped after 7th sprouted.
When I see any signs of flower I stop pulling and let them climb. I train for long runs and minimal small buds.
Wait for the stretch to decided if you are happy with growth. Mine 3x during stretch with 12 inch bud runs. You are well set up for this.

These mostly went 17 inches from pot. By going with minimal colas my organic grow keeps up better than a lot of vegetation growing.

HowardC · Feb 20, 2026

Being I already had a photo here I decided to add more as the plant progresses.
I put a grid over the plant so I can easily spread the branches out. It looks like flowering is about to kick off.

HowardC · Feb 22, 2026

Just an update here.

cpurola · Feb 22, 2026

What's in the jar?

TerpBeans · Feb 22, 2026

Fully kicking into flower mode

HowardC · Feb 23, 2026

cpurola said:
What's in the jar?

It's just got water in it. I use it to increase the humidity a bit. I'm trying to keep it around 50% but it's futile. Stays around 45.

dangles · Feb 23, 2026

i enjoy your DIY training net

Redneckx · Feb 23, 2026

HowardC said:
Just an update here.
View attachment 2605865

Hey there
Gotta say that and don't be bothered pls, just here to help.
You were stressing your lady a little too early, which initiated flower faster.
Just take a couple of lower leaves not that much. On the first pics she gets a little too dark, shiny or glossy dark green leaves indicates nitrogen tox, but now it looks a little better, lush Green is the desired colour, but could vary from genetics.
Don't put sth. Like the glasses with water or sth. near the soil, could attract pest and hot spot for mould. Better would be a humidifier, they don't cost much and are easy to use.
Try to make clean and steril setup as possible.
For further auto runs, let them grow and do nothing just pushing the light and nutes a little. Start lst when she's in her stretch phase and start defoil after she's done stretching.
(Advanced method) try to top her early like around fourth node, only when looking super healthy but it goes with a higher potential of initiating flower.
Just my 2 cents.

Have fun growing and try out a little to get the best out of your plants.

Cfin · Feb 24, 2026

HowardC said:
Thanks. I'll get the leaves off the soil today. I feel like I stressed this plant enough and I'm done training for the most part. I'd like to try to pin the higher branches closer to the soil but I'm afraid I'm too close to flowering??

Cfin · Feb 24, 2026

Auto flower is a cross of cannabis ruderalis witch doesn't require short days to flower. Age or any kind of stress will set the flowers. Auto seeds are inconsistent some plants will be weaker with wider internodes. Growers suggest only keeping the better plants because the weak plants won't produce as much finished product. It's marketed as easy to grow!

HowardC · Mar 4, 2026

HowardC said:
Just an update here.
View attachment 2605865

A week and a half later.
These autoflower plants are nuts!
Judging by the progress can anyone estimate how long before buds show up and start stacking? Will the flowers be similar in size to an indoor photo plant?

Thanks

gmonster714 · Mar 4, 2026

This girl is what about two weeks + in flower? So plant must be around 6wks old?

These start to flower at around 25-30day

Plants looks real good.

HowardC · Mar 5, 2026

gmonster714 said:
This girl is what about two weeks + in flower? So plant must be around 6wks old?

These start to flower at around 25-30day

Plants looks real good.

I wish I knew how old it was because I forgot when I started it but yes, two weeks ago it started just showing sign of flowering. That's one of the concerns I have. I'm hoping this plant doesn't give me a lot of really small flowers. I've removed maybe 4-5 bud sites that weren't going to get good light.
Thanks

grayoldnproud · Mar 5, 2026

carlosescobar said:
i dont think they like stress , like topping and bending, you might trigger it to go into bud .

I've bent and twisted the heck out of em, grew and harvested the same plant twice and strained the shit out of her before on her third growth, which she started, I killed her. Strain may matter but for the most part they are sensitive to very early stress, after that they are just a plant and can take a beating and keep on ticking. https://www.thcfarmer.com/threads/t...frankenauto.174302/?post=3396767#post-3396767

gmonster714 · Mar 5, 2026

HowardC said:
I wish I knew how old it was because I forgot when I started it but yes, two weeks ago it started just showing sign of flowering. That's one of the concerns I have. I'm hoping this plant doesn't give me a lot of really small flowers. I've removed maybe 4-5 bud sites that weren't going to get good light.
Thanks

Im not a huge fan of the automatic side of life.

At this stage buds do appear small. The buds are just getting started. They dont really swell until mid to late flower.

If I grow an auto its for variety and definitely not yeild. I squeeze out 4-5oz from a auto im happy.

grayoldnproud · Mar 5, 2026

gmonster714 said:
If I grow an auto its for variety and definitely not yeild. I squeeze out 4-5oz from a auto im happy.

I like them for exactly that reason. Keeps the doldrums away.

gmonster714 · Mar 5, 2026

grayoldnproud said:
I've bent and twisted the heck out of em, grew and harvested the same plant twice and strained the shit out of her before on her third growth, which she started, I killed her. Strain may matter but for the most part they are sensitive to very early stress, after that they are just a plant and can take a beating and keep on ticking. https://www.thcfarmer.com/threads/t...frankenauto.174302/?post=3396767#post-3396767

I am big on training plants. Automatics just dont seem to have enough veg time to get the full benefit of training.

Auto flower plant assessment please.

Auto flower plant assessment please.

HowardC

carlosescobar

HowardC

JIMKSI64

HowardC

HowardC

cpurola

TerpBeans

HowardC

dangles

Redneckx

Cfin

Cfin

HowardC

gmonster714

HowardC

grayoldnproud

gmonster714

grayoldnproud

gmonster714

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