When should I start LST my White Widow Autos?

They started showing signs of flowering today. Should I wait until the shoots start getting big or can I start LST now?

They will be 4 weeks old tomorrow, do they look ok?

Looking fine, yes you can bend it over now. Better to do now before you get a buch of flowers IMHO.

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I thought it might be time to, but I wasn’t for sure. I will go and tie them down first thing tomorrow. Thank you!, I really appreciate it!(Any pointers on bending them down?)

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I use pipe cleaners and tie to sticks or tie to the pots here’s a few different ones. You can do them pretty small I try to do them while they are still flexible, the older they get the harder it is to bend them.

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Agree with everything @Oldtimer69 said. Only thing I would add, you plant looks a bit young yet and not sure how large the roots are. I’d tie down the main stalk first to hold it in place, so when you bend it, it wont pop out of the ground. Hopefully you.can see it in these.

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I went and got some fuzzy sticks and some safety pins this morning. After I run a few errands today I’m going to go and tie them down this afternoon . Thank you for the help ,it is really appreciated. I’ll keep you updated.

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I’m going to pin the safety pins to the sides of the grow bag and tie the plants to them.

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Yeah, I can see them good. I didn’t think about that. I’m sure glad you mentioned it to me. I’m going this afternoon and tie them down. I sure appreciate you helping me out. Thank you! I’ll keep you updated.

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I bought a roll of the bread bag tie. Comes with a handy reel with built in cutter. https://www.amazon.com/All-Purpose-feet-Twist-Ties-Multifunctional/dp/B07W6VD3XD/ref=sr_1_8?dchild=1&keywords=bread+bag+tie&qid=1594227076&sr=8-8
I punch a little hole in the grow bag and tie down. Sometimes I’ll take a coat hanger, cut it, bend a loop, and stick it in the ground.
I’d start doing it now. Just be gentle with her!

Is a out door grow? If so, not a lot of reason to LST unless you just want to.

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Yeah it’s outdoor. This is my first year growing Auto flowers and don’t know much about them or LST. I got the impression if the auto flowers would produce more with LST by letting more direct sun light to the lower branches…, In your opinion which way would produce more weight? That’s what I’m after, But aren’t we all. Thank you @beardless

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Yeah, I know what your talking about. I’ve seen it before . I really didn’t think about it. Thank you.

Truthfully I think it is totally dependent on the plants structure / strain. If it is open like the 3 jack herers I have outside I don’t see the benefit. However, if it is more compact and would benefit from getting spread out then that is the way I would go.
See what I mean about the jacks

Plus I like the natural look.
I think one argument that is made to not LST outdoor plants is the sun’s movement mitigates the benefit as compared to a tent’s fixed light. Don’t know how valid the argument is.

Until recent I never new autos existed. My wife ended up buying me some gorila glue autos. Decided to do some learning. The problem with autos from what I read, some say top, some say LST, some say fim, some say due to short life span don’t touch them. For someone new to autos it gets confusing. Being a see for myself kinda guy, I put 16 outside. Topped a couple, top and LST 1, just LST one, fimmed a couple and let a couple go natural. We gonna find out if anything works better then others. Do agree completely with genetics and plant structure making a difference whether to even bother at all though.

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Sounds like a blast. What the hell, lets see what happens. I had intentions of filling up that 4x8 frame with autos. I wanted to 5 jacks and 5 WWA and just jet them go. Well 2 jacks didn’t make it past seedlings and I never got the WW out of the fridge.

I’m no expert but I only LST like @Bow4Buck said… Short life not really time to recover. Every little shock slows down production at least with the ones I’ve tried it all on. There is a few on here that make crazy stuff happen with autos but most of us can’t get 9oz off one auto. I also will agree that genetics play a HUGE roll in getting big yields off autos. They’re just fast turn around in a small space. Plus side is Can keep a variety of bud on hand​:+1::+1:

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I never knew about Autos until this spring. After reading about them I had to try them out. But thinking back on it, about 15 years ago I had a blueberry that took 78 days from sprout to harvest. It about had to be a auto, but it got about 6 ft tall and it look like a Christmas tree…, shoots 6 inches from the ground to the top. Covered with bud, well I gotta little over 8 ounces of of her.

What’s the average do you get off a auto… Also I don’t mean to swamp you with questions. Where my autos start to show a few hairs but hasn’t formed any shoots besides the main one. Do they stand a chance to get a lot bigger . Or will they just grow very little now?

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@Bow4Buck As a new grower, I did lots of reading before starting my grow with autos. Like being back in school! I was very confused by all the discrepancies with what to do and not to do with autos. All have valid reasons for pro and cons. Best to try yourself. Which is what I am very curious about. Will be very interesting. Will you start a grow journal so that we can follow the developments?

I found this very useful:

@Tinman hope you don’t mind me sharing your post. I am a visual person and it was great to see the differences.

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