Questions regarding auto flowering plants

Three questions about auto flowering plants.


1) Should you top the plant or keep it as a single cola? Which way would give you more yield?


2) If you have a choice of keeping the plant under a CFL light with a 20/4 light cycle or putting the plant under a 250 HPS, with 12/12 light cycle, which scenario would produce a higher yield?


3) If putting plant under 250 HPS with 12/12 light cycle, when should you do so? When the plant begins to flower, or sooner?


Thanks to all.

I dislike the dinky things.. Full hours until done.

there is no point of growing a auto flower indoors the only real benifit is growing when you grow them out doors

Keep it under hps and stay with 24/0 or 18/6 but do not change to 12/12 autos are exactly that, they auto flowering without changing the light cycle. They give a small yield but you can maximize by giving the right nutes,lighting etc.

suppose you have two rooms, one is set up with CFL's with a 20/4 cycle and the other is 250 HPS set to 12/12, is it still best to keep them with the longer light cycle? And what about topping the plant to increase yield? No has addressed that question yet.

Yes they need 24/0 or 18/6 or 19/5 but no 12/12 there like cycle is not long enough. I would top the second set of leafs , there's the water leafs and first see that the sprout then reg leafs then cut. Keep them under the hps, you can top whenever tho. Hope this is helpful

#1
Some autos I've grown respond well to topping and some do not. I've had phenotypes that do not top well (stunted growth and less yield) and some phenos of the same strain, that do very well topped (higher yields, more veg, better shape, better buds). You just have to try it and see how your strain and pheno like it. As you grow more of the same strain, you will be able to recognize which phenos or strains can be topped and which ones shouldn't. No matter what, you should do low stress training. This will increase your yields with or without topping. Be careful with pruning, autos don't have the veg time to recover if you over pruned; best not to prune them at all IMO. At least that is what I've seen with my autos.

#2
Keep them under CFL's for 20/4. That will worked better than 12/12 for autos. I've grown good bud under CFL's, although MH (and switch to HPS when flowering starts) will make bigger, denser, more potent buds. If you have the time you could move the plants back and forth from CFL's to HPS so the plants get 12hr each day on HPS and 8hrs each day on CFL's. That's what I would do at least.

#3
Refer to #2

In regards to nuts: I use veg (not much) nuts and switch to flower when they have some good early bud formation. Truthfully, if you have good soil, you may not need any nuts at all; let the plants tell you what they need, if anything.

puma is best single answer you got cover ing all aspects

most autos just lose time in growth by toping
autos can do all that all other plants can do
top clone all but all seems to be a waste of time for autos

give water first two weeks
then food 1/4 strenth to start then work yo way up to 1/2 strenth
i give veg food till buds are set in then i switch to flower
flower in 21 days
i stop food at end of wk 7 and switch to molasses till end
end determined by trichs not calender
most finish 8 to 10 wks

never - never 12/12 they luv light more the better
18/6 or 20/4 straight through

they hate transplant -maybe one gentle one


gluck

i've topped them, tried different light schedules etc...and gotten different results each time. This is a very resilient plant that responds to all types of manipulation. My best advise would be to just experiment...one of the first things you can do is make seeds...buy some colloidal silver from a health food store or at Whole Foods or something...it's usually by the homeopathic medicine under throat spray...and make yourself some female seeds and play around with them...no matter what the results you'll end up with some smoke...eventually you'll find what method works best for you and stick with it...most important have fun. I like autoflowers but prefer photos more...in any case it's up to YOU to decide what works for you.