Continuing the discussion from About the Beginner category:
Ok guys I have had about a 50/50 reaction to the question. To top or not top auto flowers? To trim and train or not to trim and train. What is you all’s, thats right “you all” i am a souther hillbilly, opinion….Thanks in advance.
each of us have our own opinions…some are DO NOT TOUCH AUTO’s as they have such a short life cycle and there is NOT enough time to overcome issues that stress causes
The other side is…what the hell, just do it …worse that can happen is a smaller return on an already small return. Other side of this is that CERTAIN strains are more susceptible to stress while others respond WELL to training (LST/FIM/TOP)
Personally, I do train MOST my auto…except for a few who are know to be stunted easily from stress
Certain strains are more tolerant than others as is each grow as you never know what genus the seed will produce…remember,they all came from photo plants at one time and that DNA is still inherent in the seed. Genetics changes from seed to seed…
First time ive tried them and i had a 50% germination rate 
. Then it seemed like about a wee with very little growth. Now fir the last 2 weeks they are growing at a fast rate, the are still very short, very bushy, and look healthy, but look like they are about to go into flower 
. I don’t think ill plant any more. Haha im an old dog with old tricks. I guess i’m really just short on grey matter.
You mean only half your seeds sprouted? If so, that is just poor seeds and nothing to do with TRAINING plants.
Wee growth…yes, many auto’s will stunt and give tiny little plants (from stress at an early age) and go to flower with a couple / few weeks. I have had auto’s flower in as little as 2 weeks. When I do an auto run, I usually plant 12-20 of them…then selectively move the evidently healthy plants to larger containers and the others to 1 gal cloth containers…
The LIKE in auto is DIVERSITY and quick turnaround. I really like the many different strains I can grow at 1 time to have a more diverse stash and try different strains. I grow photo from “TIME TESTED” strains, my favs, and stick the auto’s in there to bloom in between veg / flower without having to wait 4-6 months for a harvest. Can’t do that with photo unless you flip at early stages and then you reduce the harvest anyway so might as well grow an auto…I like 6 weeks veg, 7-10 weeks flower.
You can push auto flower if you know how. Check out @Kronic to see how he passed 200 days on an auto. Using TRANSPLANT methods along with nutrient control, I Pushed GSC auto over 4 months…1gal to 3 to 5 to even 7 gal containers. Transplanting interrupts hormones due to the EXTRA ROOT SPACE the roots find and changes natural time settings that ruderalis normally go through.
Thanks, very logical answer, and yes i had come to conclusion about the bad seeds, im getting next round from Homegrown. They seem to be authentic.
Thanks again.