And when it comes to mainlining and topping man with Auto’s in particular, you should always stop early
Because depending on the strain Auto can switch to flower relatively fast, you can see pre-flower pistils as early as three weeks after seedling stage is over. and the reason that’s an issue is because it’s a very stressful time in a plants life when it’s changing from vegetative to flower so if you were mainlining a plant or your topping it and it’s switching over to flower at the same time and it hasn’t had a chance to fully heal then there’s a greater chance of sexual anomalies popping out during flower, meaning hermaphroditic tendency is spurred along by compounded problems at swtch so eliminating these variables from the jump is best I try to allow for at least 10 days for healing going into flower
So generally speaking with Auto you’re on a shorten timeframe immediately. The moment that they sprout the clock is ticking with them, which doesn’t leave you an awful lot of room to get very handy in the LST topping and mainlining methodologies in order to get the most out of your grow area and your plants
With photo periods, you have all day long to right a wrong before you get into flower because you’re the master of your kingdom and you dictate when that happens with that ability its allowing you to triage your issues far in advance of flipping to flower. These are some of the benefits of leaving Auto’s alone.
But if you’re on a time crunch, Auto’s have their place
I just don’t think that intermediate or novice growers should really mess with them until they have an eye for nutrient, deficiencies or toxicities or climate related issues i.e. Lighting issues that look like nutrient, deficiencies, and vice versa knowing the difference there is key. It’s always better to be able to have a plant that you can correct and have all the time in the world to be able to do it so you can learn these things and see them coming from a mile away. Then once you have all that sorted out and you’re fundamentally a sound grower that’s when you should start fucking with Auto if you’re going to it all
