What I've learned so far is you have to be on top of them everyday with tlc and the right amount of nutrients at least until after the stretch. Once you get into flower nice it's basically cruise control and they do their own thing. Last time I fucked with them too much during flower and not enough during veg and I ended up with tiny plants with average to below average yields. This time I had it dialed in pretty much until my back starting giving me problems a couple weeks ago.Ah, I gotcha. I have to admit that I don't think my tinkerer growing style works for autos one bit. Must be a good plant to have survived me and halfway thrived. Will hold off judgment on ever buying auto seeds until I've tried the finished product.