By Steven Voser

A guide to training and topping autoflowering cannabis.


From topping and super cropping to LST and ScrOG, there’s no shortage of training techniques to help you improve the size and quality of your buds. Unfortunately, while you may have plenty of experience using these techniques on regular photoperiod strains, applying them to autoflowering cannabis varieties is a whole different ball game.

In this article, we’ll take an in-depth look at training techniques like topping, fimming, LST, and SOG/ScrOG, and explore how autoflowering strains might respond to the stress caused by these methods and others.

What’s the Point of Topping and Training Cannabis?

Topping and training cannabis plants is all about improving your yields and having more control over how your plants grow. Left to grow as they please, cannabis plants end up looking a lot like Christmas trees, with a wider bottom and a slim central cola. And while they might look great, especially around the festive season, letting your plants grow like this is far from optimal, particularly indoors under a finite source of light.

Training allows you to manipulate the way your plants grow and build an even canopy that makes better use of the light emitted from your lamp. If you simply left your plants to grow as nature intended, their main colas would soak up most of the light in your grow room, leaving you with small, airy flowers down on each plant’s lower bud sites.

Topping, on the other hand, allows your plants to develop multiple colas (clusters of flowers that grow along the main stem and branches), and can greatly improve the number of buds harvested from each plant.

Topping and Training Autoflowering Cannabis

Should You Top and Train Autoflowering Cannabis Strains?

Whether to train and top autoflowering cannabis strains is a highly debated topic among cannabis growers; some swear by it, while others argue it’s a recipe for a disaster. To better understand why, you need to have a basic understanding of the genetic traits of autoflowering cannabis strains.

Unlike photoperiod strains, autoflowers feature genetics from Cannabis ruderalis, a unique variety of cannabis that flowers automatically once mature (unlike indica and sativa varieties, which flower in response to light cycle changes). And, while the autoflowering gene of Cannabis ruderalis obviously has a variety of advantages, it also has some drawbacks.

Topping and training cause your plants some degree of stress, ranging from a minimal amount to a much more significant amount. When growing photoperiod strains, you’re able to compensate for this stress by prolonging a plant’s veg cycle, giving it time to fully recover before flipping it over to bloom. With autoflowering strains, you don’t have the luxury of extending a plant’s veg phase, and this is exactly why some growers stay away from techniques like training, topping, defoliation, or pruning. Some auto strains simply might not be able to recover fully from the stress of these techniques, and may therefore produce lighter, lower-quality harvests.

Pros of Topping and Training Autoflowers

  • Potential for multiple colas and larger yields
  • More controlled growth
  • Wider, flatter canopy (great for growers working in small spaces)

Cons of Topping and Training Autoflowers

  • Poor training or late topping can stress plants and reduce the quality and size of their yields
  • Inexperienced growers are likely to make mistakes when training or topping

Curious which training methods autos can handle? Download our Pro Growing Guide for tailored LST, super-cropping, and defoliation protocols, learn how to maximize yields without over-stressing your autoflowers.

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When Should You Avoid Topping/Training Autos?

We generally only suggest training or topping autos if you’ve got a fair bit of growing experience. If this is your first time growing weed (or autos, for that matter), focus on watering and feeding your plants properly and getting to know the strains you’re working with.

Topping and Training Autoflowering Cannabis

When to Try Training or Topping Autos?

Once you’ve got at least 1–2 auto harvests under your belt, feel free to branch out and experiment with topping and training. Just remember to only try these techniques on young, healthy autos. Plants that have been over/underwatered, are suffering from nutrient problems or pest infestations, or simply aren’t growing as vigorously as others won’t have the strength to properly recover from the stress of training/topping.

When training/topping autos, it’s also super important to start early. To avoid stressing your plants as they flower, we recommend you start training or topping them as soon as they’ve developed 3–4 nodes. Most autos start flowering in as little as 3–4 weeks after germinating, and stressing your plants close to this time may stunt their growth or ability to bloom, resulting in disappointing yields.

Finally, when experimenting with training techniques on autos, it’s always best to start with lower-stress techniques first. LST, ScrOG, SOG, and other techniques that involve bending your plants’ stems (rather than cutting or breaking them) are a lot easier on them than topping or fimming (both of which are high-stress techniques).

Different Training Techniques for Autoflowering Cannabis

We’ve discussed topping and training autos in broad strokes, but now it’s time to dig a little deeper. Let’s get into the details on specific training methods to see which ones are most (and least) viable.

LST (Low-Stress Training)

LST is, as the name suggests, a training technique that inflicts a low degree of stress on your plants. It involves gently bending the main stem of your plant and tying it down using wire, string, or pipe cleaners. Over time, this technique teaches your plants to grow outwards rather than upwards, and allows for better light exposure to all bud sites.

LST is easily one of the best training techniques for autos. It can be performed on very young plants and helps open up the canopy, which ultimately produces bigger, better flowers.

Video id: 569373769

SOG (Sea of Green) and ScrOG (Screen of Green)

SOG and ScrOG are two techniques designed to help you create a flat, even canopy. SOG involves growing multiple small plants (usually of the same strain) close together in small pots, while ScrOG involves using a more advanced form of LST to teach only a few plants to grow laterally on a mesh screen.

SOG is very well-suited for autoflowers, as these plants naturally grow to smaller heights than photoperiod plants; simply germinate your seeds (try to use seeds of the same strain for best results) and keep your plants within 1–2ft² from one another to create a thick, even canopy.

ScrOG can also be done with autos, but it’s a little more hands-on and requires at least a basic understanding of LST. Once you’ve installed a screen roughly 20cm from the tops of your pots, space your plants roughly 30cm apart from each other. As they grow, direct their branches and stems to create a flat, even canopy above the screen that maximises the potential of your grow light. Remember to use string or soft wire to tie the plants down and keep them secured under the screen.

Topping and Training Autoflowering Cannabis
SOG
Topping and Training Autoflowering Cannabis
SCROG

Topping

Topping involves cutting off a plant’s top shoot, which will cause it to grow two main branches that will eventually become two main colas. While taking a pair of scissors straight to a plant’s main stem can be intimidating for rookie growers, topping can be super effective at increasing yields.

However, it’s important to remember that topping is a high-stress technique. If you’re going to use it on an autoflowering strain, you’ll want to do so very early, and only if you’re positive your plant is super healthy. In general, we recommend staying away from topping when growing autoflowering plants.

Topping and Training Autoflowering Cannabis

FIM (Fuck, I Missed)

FIM is a slight variation on topping. Rather than removing a plant’s tip entirely, fimming involves only partial removal. The goal here is the same as with topping; you’re trying to encourage your plant to develop multiple colas. The benefit to fimming, however, is that it’s slightly less stressful than topping, as it doesn’t damage the plant’s main stem. Not only that, but fimming encourages the production of four main colas, while topping promotes two.

Topping and Training Autoflowering Cannabis

Super Cropping

Super cropping is a very popular technique. It involves twisting the stems and branches of a plant to damage its inner herd while leaving the outer herd intact. The stress from the technique often promotes vigorous growth, and, when combined with LST, also helps expose more of a plant’s bud sites to the light, encouraging bigger, heavier buds.

Super cropping autoflowering cannabis plants can be risky, but it has been done: Hold a section of your plant’s stem and twist it gently between your fingers until you hear a snap. Be careful and remember that you only want to damage the stem’s inner herd while keeping its outer herd intact. For best results, only super crop an auto plant’s main stem and 2–3 of its main branches.

Topping and Training Autoflowering Cannabis

How to Top Autoflowering Cannabis Plants

  1. Select the plants you want to top. Remember to only top healthy, young plants (with just 3–4 nodes) that you’re confident will overcome the stress of this procedure.
  2. Using clean scissors or a razor blade, remove the tip of your plant’s stem (just underneath its last node).
  3. Monitor your plant’s recovery. Ideally, topped plants should recover within 3–7 days and show no signs of stunted growth.

How to Train Autoflowering Cannabis Plants

  1. Select the plants you want to train. Again, only train young plants with 3–4 nodes that look exceptionally healthy.
  2. With plenty of care, bend your plant’s main stem until it’s roughly 90 degrees from the floor.
  3. Tie the stem down using appropriate garden string/wire. You may want to make holes in the side of your plant’s pot to secure the string.
  4. As your plant continues to grow, regularly tie down parts of the main stem or branches that are growing above the rest of the plant.

Remember, the goal of LST is to manipulate your plant’s growth and create a lower, flatter canopy that allows more light to penetrate all parts of the plant.

Note: When growing photoperiod strains, growers often opt to top their plants first, then use LST to bring down the plant’s new offshoots. Unless you’re a very experienced grower who’s performed this technique on autos before, we don’t recommend combining these two techniques—they inflict far too much stress.

Topping and Training Autos: Practice Makes Perfect

As with any aspect of growing cannabis, practice makes perfect. When training or topping your autoflowers, remember to start slowly and stick to low-stress techniques first. As you gain more experience and intuition about your plants, their health, and how they respond to the stress of these techniques, you can gradually build up to experimenting with more advanced techniques. Just always remember to only train or top your autos while they're young and super healthy.

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Privacy Policy - Royal Queen Seeds

To ensure a safe online environment and guarantee adequate data protection, we strictly comply with all legal requirements. In this privacy statement, we provide information about how and for what purpose data is collected, safety measures, storage periods and contact details.


COMPANY NAME: SNORKEL SPAIN, SL (hereinafter ROYAL QUEEN SEEDS)

C/ Vilar d'Abdelà, 5 (nave 1) CP: 08170 de Montornès del Vallès

+34 937 379 846

support@royalqueenseeds.com


The present Privacy Policy sets out the terms on which we will treat personal data at ROYAL QUEEN SEEDS; this includes any personal data collected through our website https://www.royalqueenseeds.com/ as well as any other data we process in the course of our business activities.

ROYAL QUEEN SEEDS collects the following personal data for the purposes listed below:

SECTION 1 – PERSONAL INFORMATION WE COLLECT

1.1 Account purchases

Account purchases can only be made if you are in possession of a personal account. When you create an account or purchase something from our shop, as part of the buying and selling process we collect the following personal information that you provide to us:

This information is required for delivery. In addition, when you browse our shop, we automatically receive the Internet Protocol (IP) address of your computer. Based on this information, we can optimise your online experience and at the same time protect our online environment.

Purpose of data collection

We collect and store account-related data for the following purposes:

(a) to carry out obligations arising from any contracts between you and us, and to provide you with information, products and services that you may request from us;

(b) to set up, manage and communicate with you about your account and your orders;

(c) to conduct market research and analysis;

(d) to confirm your age and identity, and to detect and prevent fraud.

1.2 Newsletters

With your explicit permission, we may send you newsletters about our shop, new products and other updates. We send newsletters based on your explicit consent. In the event that you purchase a product, and in accordance with current regulations, we may send you commercial communications in accordance with the legitimate interest of our company, always about products or services similar to those you have purchased or contracted. In any case, you may exercise your right of opposition through the channels announced in this Privacy Policy. The following information is collected in relation to the newsletter:

We do not need to know the sex of the person in order to send the newsletter (data minimisation: by law we must ask for data that is strictly necessary to provide the service, and in this case knowing the sex is not necessary to send the newsletter).

Purpose of data collection

The data collected is used to:

(a) personalise our emails, including your name and gender;

(b) provide gender-specific content.

You can withdraw your consent at any time by using the link provided in the newsletter or the contact information provided in section 2.

1.3 Customer service and contact form

In order to provide appropriate support, our customer service employees have access to information related to the account. Consequently, their support will be highly effective and friendly. The data provided in our contact form is used by our CRM provider, SuperOffice. We will only use your details to respond to your message.

SECTION 2 – LEGITIMATE INTEREST

If you have purchased any of our products, please note that we may process your personal data for promotional purposes, based on Royal Queen Seeds' legitimate interest only to offer you products or services from our company and about products or services similar to those you have purchased. You may exercise your right to opt out of future messages by the means set out in this Privacy Policy or through any notification you receive.

2.1 How do you withdraw consent?

If you change your mind, you can withdraw your consent for us to contact you for the purpose of collecting, using, or disclosing your data at any time by reaching out to us at: support@royalqueenseeds.com.

SECTION 3 – DISCLOSURE

We may disclose your personal information if we are required to do so by law or if you breach our Terms of Service.

SECTION 4 – HOW LONG DO WE KEEP YOUR DATA?

At Royal Queen Seeds, we will not retain your data for longer than is necessary for the purposes described in this Policy. Different retention periods apply for different types of data; however, the longest period we will normally hold any personal data is 10 years.

4.1 Account information

Data relating to the account remains relevant for as long as the consumer is in possession of an account. Therefore, the data remains documented for as long as the account exists. When our customers delete an account, the associated data will be deleted within a reasonable period of time. Requests regarding the inspection or correction of stored personal data or the deletion of an account can be sent to support@royalqueenseeds.com.

4.2 Newsletters

In the event that you give us your consent to inform you about our products or services, we will keep your data until you express your wish not to receive any further communications from us. However, we regularly (every month) carry out a relevance check. Registered customers (and their personal information) will be deleted whenever customers do not reply to our request. In addition, our newsletter mailing has an opt-out feature. Consumers can withdraw their consent by using this opt-out feature.

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Cookies are small information files that notify your computer of previous interactions with our website. These cookies are stored on your hard drive, not on our website. Essentially, when you use our website, your computer displays its cookies to us, informing our site that you have visited before. This allows our website to function more quickly and remember aspects related to your previous visits (such as your username), making your experience more convenient. At Royal Queen Seeds, we use two types of cookies: functional and analytical.

5.1 Functional Cookies

Functional cookies are used to enhance your online experience. Among other things, these cookies track what is added to your shopping cart. The use of these cookies does not require prior authorization.

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Analytical cookies are used for research and market analysis. The data collected with these analytical cookies is anonymous, making it unusable for third parties. The use of these cookies does not require prior authorization.

SECTION 5 – THIRD-PARTY SERVICES

Third-party services are required to conduct transactions and provide our services. In general, the third-party providers we use will only collect, use and disclose your information to the extent necessary to enable them to perform the services they provide to us.

However, certain third-party service providers, such as payment gateways and other payment transaction processors, have their own privacy policies regarding the information we must provide to them for your transactions.

We encourage you to read the privacy policies of these providers so that you can understand how these providers will handle your personal information.

In particular, certain suppliers may be located or have facilities located in a different jurisdiction than yours or ours. Therefore, if you choose to proceed with a transaction involving the services of a third party, your information may be subject to the laws of the jurisdiction in which that service provider or its facilities are located.

Once you leave our website or are redirected to a third-party website or application, you are no longer governed by this Privacy Policy or the Terms of Service of our website.

Web analytics service (anonymous data)

On this website we have integrated an element of a web analytics service (with anonymisation functionality). Web analytics can be defined as the gathering, processing and analysis of data about the behaviour of visitors to websites. An analytics service collects, among other things, data about which website a person came from (the so-called referrer), which sub-pages they visited or how often and for how long they visited a sub-page. Web analytics is mainly used for website optimisation and for a cost–benefit analysis of internet advertising.

Courier service

To complete deliveries we use a courier service. This courier service carries out the delivery between our company and the consumer's home. To complete these logistics, the company requires access to the consumer's name and address information.

Mailing service

Royal Queen Seeds uses a third-party mail service provider to send its newsletter. This provider has access to limited account information related to opt-in consent (e.g. email address).

Marketing services

Royal Queen Seeds has the support of a company that specialises in marketing and communication activities. Their access to personal information is very limited and mostly anonymous.

Payment services

At Royal Queen Seeds we use external payment services to handle our transactions (e.g. credit card payments).

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To protect your personal information, we take reasonable precautions and follow industry standard best practices to ensure that it is not inappropriately lost, misused, accessed, disclosed, altered or destroyed.

If you provide us with your credit card information, the information is encrypted using secure socket layer technology (SSL) and stored using AES-256 encryption. Although no method of transmission over the internet or electronic storage is 100% secure, we follow all PCI-DSS requirements and implement additional industry standards that are commonly accepted. Information related to the account is protected with a hashing method. This method transforms the information into a generated hash. As a result, confidential information is protected and invisible, even to us. In addition, our databases are exceptionally protected against unauthorised access. For example, access to the database is only possible and permitted via approved IP addresses (e.g. from Royal Queen Seeds headquarters). Other attempts and addresses are rejected at all times.

Furthermore, data is anonymised as much as possible, so it cannot be directly linked to a specific consumer. With this data, however, we may be able to carry out market research and analysis. In addition, the third parties concerned (e.g. mailing service) are examined prior to our collaboration, comply with the GDPR from the EU and receive a processing agreement. Within Royal Queen Seeds, employees are assigned different access permissions. Specific permission provides access only to information that is strictly required to perform a task. Digital security measures are subject to change and must meet high requirements to ensure the safety of online customers. That is why, at Royal Queen Seeds, we appoint a security officer. Regular verification and improvement of security measures (where necessary) are part of the role.

SECTION 7 – CHANGES TO THIS PRIVACY POLICY

We reserve the right to modify this Privacy Policy at any time, so please check back regularly. Changes and clarifications will be effective immediately upon being published on the Website. If we make substantial changes to this policy, we will notify you here that it has been updated so you will know what information we collect, how we use it and under what circumstances, if any, we use and/or disclose it.

SECTION 8 – YOU HAVE THE RIGHT TO: