What happens when you stress a plant?

[The123321]

I have 2 autoflower plants on day 60 that I did a very heavy defoliation on a little over a week ago and the plant looks like it has stopped growing. I know that many people do not defoliate autos but the 2 plants were very bushy and I wanted to improve the air flow in the plants as I did not want mold problems on there. The next grow I plan to defoliate only a few leaves at a time and wait a few days between each time I do it. They are only like 1 - 1.5 feet tall at 60 days though I did very heavy lst on there. The plants have also had deficiencies on there.

Does the stress on the plants make them take longer until it is ready to harvest or does it still take around the same amount of time and just yield less on there?

 

[Stunger]

I have only grown one auto, which I LST'd. The LST I feel slowed it down a couple of weeks, altho I can't say whether it slowed it down thereby stunting it's growth, or slowed it as in keeping it longer in veg, as a growing friend sprouted one of the same seeds (Gorilla Glue Auto) on the same day and he didn't train his which seemed to grow out 2 weeks ahead of mine, altho mine yielded about 25% more than his. So that's my 2 cents and only auto experience.

 

[Ultra420]

Got pics?