No good answer! So to show I’m even further out of the loop, are these latest pics photos?it could be another person but heck who knows :smoking:i have said in the past that when iv grown autos i didnt like to mess with them too much no topping especially if your a newbie and very little defoliation nothing compared to what i do with my photo periods i really like to leaf tuck as much as possible this is like you say to give them the least amount of stress possible
when it comes to training and topping iv never topped a auto before but theres more than enough evidence around here to show it can work wonders yes you are going to stress the plant out but if done at the right time on a healthy plant recovery is minimal needs to be done in the 15-25 day mark
what i hate seeing people do is bending over the main top and pulling out the branches on a tiny 8-12 inch plant they never seem to do much i know the one i did it was a very small plant plant this in my opinion its not a good method unless your very experienced
to sum up for auto flowers yes top them if you want strain depending of course and minimal defoliation just the bottoms and whatever blocks light coming through as little as possible
for photo periods you can basically do what you want
hope that answers your question can be dangerous asking me something in the morning after a wake n bake you will get a essay of nonsense
I defoliate because I love it, I dunno something wrong with my brain but I love clipping fan leaves. Been working hard to curve the addiction though and showing signs of progress
I don’t top Autos but I’ll trim some leaves. I have two photos in my big tent right now I topped. lollipopped them under my nets. Photos are fun, but autos are fast lol
proper grower 
wee plants look great.. just about to reach for the sky.
in gonna put a 'neck break line' around inside of my tent for this current grow.. like physically draw it on.. any branch that strays over the line gets a broken neck no questions no excuses lol not good for your buds being so close to the LEDs for so long I've learned!
