I have a pineapple auto and here is my concern. It seems to be taking forever to flower. Just keeps getting thicker. Now I’ve noticed some of the lower areas are starting to curl up due to no light. My medium is living soil at the bottom mixed with FFOF 1/3 up. Finished of the container with FFOF mixed FF bushmaster. I’ve been tucking the fans leaves to give light the center of the plant. Trimming off the fan leaves would really help but I’ve always been told never to defoliate autos due the their short life. Any thoughts on this. Here are some pics of the plant. You can see some of the lower branches are starting to look pretty rough. Also can figure out why it’s taking soooo long to start flowering.
I defoliate all the way through the grow. You’ll get to a point where you won’t need to take anymore leaves because she’s growing buds and no longer growing fan leaves. Looks like yours are in preflower and will start fatting the buds soon. Also looks like a bit of nutrient burn on the leaf tips. Looks like you’re about 5-7 weeks into grow, don’t worry her buds will start getting bigger. With autos the same strain will grow and flower at different times. Be patient and let her do her thing. All in all she looks healthy.
4 Likes
I had the same questions and concerns with my auto that grew large and really bushy, then I stumbled upon the “Grow FAQ” in the beginner category, and reading through the threads there answered a lot of my questions.
As far as defoliation, this was enlightening to me, read this, there are all the answers about it for you-
4 Likes
You are spot on. Week 7. Started a AK47 and 2 Banana Kush autos a week or so later and they are about 3 weeks into flower with buds galore. I guess evey seed is a bit different. Last pineapple and zkittlez I did turned out beautifully. I guess Im like a worried parent with this Pineapple after tasting the last.
3 Likes
We’re all worried parents with our plants. It gets easier after about a year of growing 
3 Likes
I defoliated up to the 4th week of flower on my autos.
1 Like
I grow autos all the time and I have seen no bad results from it. I will cut off some large fan leaves to help get light into the canopy. Then 2 weeks into flower, I go nuts and clear out as much as I can. But that’s just what I do. There’s a lot of others that can help with that. But my point is, you’re not likely to kill 'em by clearing some out.
2 Likes
You’ll be fine chopping some of that back. I think every grower has to do this. Auto or not. I recommend you start at the bottom of the plant, chop what won’t ever get light. (it’s just wasted energy) Do a good amount of chopping on your first run. Give it a few days, and chop again if there’s no signs of stress. Seems like every time I chop, a week later, it’s just about filled in again.
Again, I’d remove most of the bottom branches beneath the main canopy. We want her to focus energy on those top buds 
3 Likes