Newty said:

The 2nd time I topped Autos, I thought it was 21 days from sprout so I topped them 1 week late. Was still plenty of time to train and everything before they started budding but 7 more days would of been nice lol.
If you don't feel comfortable topping it, then don't.
Always next time!

The split picture below is before and after topping, just to show you what needs cut.

The other 3 pictures are the same plant, you mentioned yours was stunted so I wanted to show you an Auto of mine that was stunted and what it ended up growing into.
All the Autos I've grown so far have shown some resilience from stress, they can definitely handle more then people let on IMO.
Auto was on Week 1 flower in first picture, 2nd and 3rd picture was 3 weeks later!
Don't get discouraged if something goes wrong, keep taking care of them the best you can because you never know what could happen!

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Coconutz said:

I don't understand the logic of removing leafs that's what the plant uses for growth, like a plant literally cannot grow without leafs, without the obvious catching light they store starch for use through the night, they transpire water in turn pulling in more nutrients, they absorb c02 an essential building block for buds.
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Buds grow because of leafs.

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Mdubs218 said:

View attachment 2334837i have this one going too couple weeks younger might try topping her.

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Mdubs218 said:

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Coconutz said:

Something I've observed with foliage or lack of is that it has an effect on root growth.

Every now and then I grow on a few plants to clone them.
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While they're growing new roots spill out the bottom of the pots.
View attachment 2334590After I clone and trim them those roots wilt away with same feeding care etc, it's only my speculation but it appears root mass is related to plant mass?

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Kingsway1 said:

Someone told me YEARS ago that for everything you see above the ground on a plant or tree there MUST be at least the same if not MORE growth underground to support what is on top. Think about it for a minute and you can easily see that is the case. My DWC Hydro buckets are just a ball of root mass come harvest time.

So if you clip what is above the ground, the plant no longer needs that in roots so they die back until the plant grows back, and when it does, you should see the same thing.

Good luck!

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