Thanks for the detailed response!
This is indeed my first auto grow, and first time growing indoors with this setup, my third attempt at growing all together.
Oh boy I have so much more to learn. Even after a good year of research, autos are a completely different ballpark.
Fimming (from what I've read) is similar to tipping/topping, only you take 60-80% of the top node off instead of the whole thing in an attempt to get 4 nodes to sprout. I learnt it from over at the GrassCity community.
As for having the light too close, you could be right there - as I was lead to believe you must keep flouros within 1-3 inches of the plants at all times. I have since learnt this is a bit of a myth.
Would it be a good idea to either replace my bulbs with reputable named ones, or invest in another light all together?
I have some Think Different seeds lying around, but I don't want to waste them until I have my rig optimised, and growing plan thorougly mapped out.
I'll start my flush today, and cut at the end of the week I reckon.
okie dokie, yes 1-3 inches is way to close for the lights, think of it this way, the plants need light so they grow to it, if they are getting more than enough light they wont stretch towards it, for autos you want them to stretch in the first 20-30 days, once they start to flower them move them closer to the light or the light closer, but 1-3 inches is to close and will cause heat stress and that's yet another cause of stunting, you want them about 5 inches away during flowering/budding and probably atleast 12 inches for veg, ive had sprouts praying(a very good indication they are loving the light they are getting) with my leds being 3 feet above and some cfls(I have 3x50w and 5x20w) no closer than a foot most further than that andmy grow area is 2 feet x 4 feet with the height of 4 feet
as far as topping autos goes, that tends to be a big no-no, I have seen autos topped successfully from experienced growers, but avoid doing it until you get your mojo cranking on the autos, once you find your groove and a great method to growing autos then experiment with topping.
autos are very hard yet very easy, they are hard to get a grasp of and takes trial and error but once you figure out what your doing it becomes very easy
I wouldn't be so quick to rule out your light based on it being chinese, it is 200w more than enough for 1 plant and more than enough for a few depending on your grow space, though more smaller watt bulbs can be more effective than a single larger watt, basicly lighting comes down to size of grow space and growers personal choices
so in summery keep your lights much, much further away during veg then move them closer during flower.
don't top, trim, lollipop, transplant or anything else until you start growing autos of the health and size you desire, once perfected then experiment, keep it simple then add or subtract, don't start complicated as there are to many variables and much harder to figure out what went wrong, and chances are if your a newbie the more complicated it is the more that will go wrong
I don't want to disrespect other growing/cannabis forums but when it comes to autos, look here first, seek advice here first, as autoflower net is a community of auto growers, auto breeders and is very knowlageable on autos, it is a mistake to treat autos like photoperiods, autos have there own unique strengths and flaws
and from my own experience I have found many other forums just don't understand autos and their needs, they can be quite critical and negative towards them as they are naïve to the differences.
hold your head high, for a first autogrow a foot high and 5grams is great
my first grow was 2 plants and they only grew to 3-4 inches and 3 grams between them, my next grow was a wave of grows, first few in the 2nd grow doubled the size of my first grow but were still incredibly stunted (my medium was not airy enough and I was putting a cfl right on the seedlings) I switched to pure coco and for the first 2 weeks kept them as far from the lights as possible, this gave me good early stretch before flower then as they began to flower then got a huge growth spurt and now im getting the size I want.
I stunted my first 6 plants until my first truly successful and now its a breeze, though I have stunted 2 since with a stupid stoned at the time mistake, it is very important not to hope for oz's when your a newbie, the most you can get out of your first couple of grows is experience and knowelage and that's all you should be aiming for and view the final product as a bonus and a sample of things to come
I have only grown 1 photoperiod plant, I used the methods that I apply to my autos, I also used a small pot 4 inches across and 4 inches in height,yet I have grown a monster over a meter high and will pull multiple oz's off her but its just 2damn big and takes way to long as she is about 2-3 months from finish, I get rental inspections roughly every 4 months, by the time she finishes I would have finished 3waves of autos and could probably squeeze in a 4th
I would love to be able to have a set up where I can grow autos and photoperiods as I think both have pros and cons and the ability to grow both would work well with fast autos of great product several times a year and large yielding great quality photos a couple of times a year
