The Flav. Planted the sees 1-29. Around 2 weeks ago I realized that daylight was getting around 13hrs here and thought "Hmm…I’ll cut her and throw her back into veg and increase my harvest this fall. Good idea. The buds were still premature but I figured they’d still be better than the scrap I can afford to buy. So I chopped her hard but left more than I normally would, hoping to help her back with some leaves to work with.
2 days after that I was reading here and WTF!..I’m not supposed to cut an auto flower?!?
Perhaps I could cut her back to this little sprout?
I did the same thing last year with a plant that I affectionately called Red due to the red pot she was in.
After about a month she still didn’t seem to be recovering, so I was gonna trash her. My son liked what was already harvested so much (had to agree with him) that he asked me for it as his own. He had faith she would come back. Reluctant, I agreed, knowing I would still be the one caring for this little runt.
**she was amazing! **
Because of Red I’m considering taking the time on her.
I had cut her when she reached her 6th set just like her sister (exhibit A )and proceeded with LST using the pinch method since I really don’t like tying my girls.
Luckily, I read about the autos when I did! I was about to say to hell with that little bit of bud and force her back to veg as well! WHEW ! I’m gonna let her finish out and then see if I can force her back later.
By the way…I know she has purple in her genes because her sister’s buds were beautifully colored with it. I ask because I’ve also recently read about the coloration being a sign of deficiencies. I never knew that before. Plenty of information here. Just sucks when you find out that everything you already know is really nothing!
As far as your question on timing, I don’t think that you can ever force an auto flower back into Veg. The ruderalis genes are pre programmed to grow for a short time, flower quickly and then die. The chances of beating this genetic time clock are pretty slim. The result is often odd looking plants that are tiny and all buds but that’s what some auto flowers like Low Ryder crosses look like.
