I've been growing an auto named Chem Bubbly, that is the weirdest plant I believe I have ever seen. Some of the leaves looked deformed, so I took them off. Some fan leaves were bigger than a man's large hand about 3 weeks into veg. They looked weird, so I took them because it was doing nothing compared to the other plant, Shaolin Master. The weird leaves had an odd feel to them, more like a wild bush/tree fuzzy, and pokey (I would say sticky but to me that means resinous). As soon as I took those leaves off the plant started to show pistils and in a couple of weeks started to flower.
It's still a smaller plant than the Shaolin Master, a totally different color, texture, everything, but they are two different strains after all. I never expect the same thing, even from the same strains.
I don't train my plants, unless they start to get too tall then I will tie them down some. Other than that, they are free range and I let them do their thing.
My first yield was pitiful, one plant gave me 1/4 oz of okay smoke, it was Northern Lights auto/fem. The other plant, can't remember what it was, did nothing at all except grew and grew and grew. No flowers no nothing.
Since them I have added to my arsenal of lights, larger pots, super soil and had several good yields, but I plant two different auto strains each time, and only plant two plants per grow. My best were two mystery seeds that I wish I knew what they were. As Tony the Tiger would say, they were GREEAAAT!!!
When you can afford, buy what you need. Good soil, lights, fans, and with each grow you'll see a larger and larger yield, at least that's how it's been for me.
Lots of luck.