Accurate Information About Autoflowering Plants

[Ned Kelly]

You know what's funny... I am just finishing up my very 1st auto flowering grow and made all kinds of errors, one of which was flipping them to 12/12 after they showed sex around day #20 or sooner as I had no idea what light schedule to use.. shortly after I met Seraphim here and found out the errors of my ways, switched them to 18/6 which I"ve used now for the past month.. no stunting here, and I think that is more genetics then anything else.. this is AK47 x Sour60 at day #52 and I couldn't be happier.. learning about Auto Flowering Strains and now breeding with them a bit, I've found my calling.. love it..

yea i was just working on the sprinter theory . its never made sense to me to change auto's lights as there auto. Was just thinking they may benefit from a little more rest . somewhere between 14/10 and 18/10 . cause there not marathon runners they need there rest . i will play with this next summer .

 

[Quagmire]

Nothing wrong with testing bro.. I put mine thru the wringer for sure with all the diff schedules of light I put them thru.. was even wondering if they 7stretched so much because of the 12/12.. I wound up finishing them on 17/7. I too don't care for pushing them with a 24/0, the thinking has to be longer and more light would make for bigger plants.. but, I think if a plant was designed to have a dark cycle then it's an important part of the plants developmental life span... so my next Auto grow will go as such..
Week 1 = 24/0 to gete plants started..
Week 2 - 8 = 17/7 until they are ready...
And I"m sure as I get to understand each strain things will get adjusted a wee bit.. got some NYCD & Lemon Diesel to try soon... dropped 1 N with this small batch of Bogglegum F3's....

 

[Seraphim19]

Hey Seraphim I do have a question about the seeds I'm currently harvesting off my Bubblegun.... As I'm collecting them off the 3 diff phenos, should I keep the seeds separated from one another? Or will each seeded plant go ahead and show all 3 different pheno types from their different seeds so no reason to keep them apart and labeled 1, 2 + 3.. Right now they are in baggies with a few grains of rice in each.. how long before they can be planted?? Thanks again M8te

You should keep the seeds separated and labelled as you are doing. Breeding with autos is much harder than breeding with photos. Because you cant clone an auto you never know how the bud will turn out until it is done.

My method for breeding with them is to seed a minimum of 3 plants then after collecting I dry the remaining bud and test for potency, taste, etc... Once I have identified the mother plant I like best I take that set of seeds forward to the next generation and discard the rest.

You may see all three phenos in the seeds but by selective breeding you are raising the probability that you will get the selected pheno. Its like when a dog breeder wants a big dog and he breeds with the biggest dogs of a breed he is slowly increasing their size but due to the genetic makeup of the dog you will always have the possibility of getting one at normal size, but the more times they are bred the less likely you are to get a normal sized dog.

 

[Seraphim19]

A quick note on the light cycle for autos.
These plants are naturally occurring in the far northern and southern hemisphere(like Alaska, Norway and Russia), albeit in pure ruderalis form, it is speculated that they developed their auto gene as that far north during the summer the days range from 18 to 24hrs long giving the plants no real night time to speak of. (google midnight sun for more info)

Having said that all the current autos available have been bred with photoperiod plants to increase size and potency, so the autos you will grow will benefit from a dark period.

I did the same experimentation as to the preferred lightcycle for my plants and I decided that 18/6 - 20/4 worked best for me, but seeing is believing so I encourage you to experiment and share your results with us all

Edit- another thing I forgot to mention was when I first started with autos my goal was to have a perpetual grow so I never ran out. By having one tent on 20/4 constantly gave me this ability.
As most auto take around 10 weeks from breaking ground to harvest I chose a tent that could hold 10 plants. I started with 1 plant and each week I add another 1. After the initial 10 weeks I have to put one plant in and harvest one every week. All this with no need for a separate veg space or having to alter light cycles. This is one of autos biggest appeals to me.
Its nice to never have an empty jar

 

[JLecter]

Hello everybody. I have just stumbled upon this thread by chance and am delighted by all the info you guys are sharing.
Thank you.
I am a complete noob and am growing a dinafem auto white widow. Just one to get me started and I started to tie it down due to it getting too big. I was just wondering if anyone could give me opinions on my plant and what they think about it and what or if I should do anything? I don't balance the ph of the water, I don't have a kit to do this, I just boil the water first.. Today I have started to give it bloom nuits, 4ml per litre of water but I think it still had a bit of burn from before but I had flushed it good. It has 20/4 light cycle in only 2 g pot.
Thank you all for your time and look forward to your inputs.
Peace.

 

[Seraphim19]

Hello everybody. I have just stumbled upon this thread by chance and am delighted by all the info you guys are sharing.
Thank you.
I am a complete noob and am growing a dinafem auto white widow. Just one to get me started and I started to tie it down due to it getting too big. I was just wondering if anyone could give me opinions on my plant and what they think about it and what or if I should do anything? I don't balance the ph of the water, I don't have a kit to do this, I just boil the water first.. Today I have started to give it bloom nuits, 4ml per litre of water but I think it still had a bit of burn from before but I had flushed it good. It has 20/4 light cycle in only 2 g pot.
Thank you all for your time and look forward to your inputs.
Peace.

welcome to the party mate
there are a few things that I would advise you to do. The first one being get a ph kit! you can get a ph pen(for testing the water) for around 10-15 dollars from ebay. it is not the best on the market but it is a lot better than guessing. the second bit of kit you will need is ph down, also available for a similar price on ebay, the third thing is a ph soil tester available for 5 dollars on ebay. these bits of equipment are invaluable when it comes to growing. You will be able to regulate the ph going in and identify ph problems that cause nutrient lockouts that can ruin your yield.
additional tips for your water are
1. let all the water you are going to use sit in the open for 24hrs before you use it this lets the chlorine and fluoride evaporate you can alternatively boil the water as you are doing but this becomes impractical if you are watering more than about 3 plants
2. get a fish tank bubbler with a diffusing stone and bubble your feeding water for 12-24 hrs before use. This will dissolve oxygen into the water and help with growth as the roots need oxygen to remain healthy.

The other thing I noticed is that the plant has stretched a lot. you want to keep your lights as close as possible to stop this from happening in your future grows. If you have the lateral space I would suggest that you continue training until you have the plant evened out at one level. this will help you to maximise your yield.

On a positive note your plants new growth looks healthy so this is a good sign. I wish you luck with the rest of the grow and believe me you will enjoy the end result. This strain from dinafem has a hard hitting couchlock buzz that I enjoyed.

 

[MalayGrower]

Hey Malay... I personally don't like using any manures.. the mix your going with soil/coco peat/perlite should be fine.. do you know if the soil your using has any slow release foods in it? Your mix may be just fine, maybe use a little seaweed extract early on and with autos after flowering starts you really need to watch for Cal/Mag deficiencies and this is where the crushed Eggshells come in.. rinse them really good, dry out and crush/grind into a powder.. 2 egg shells per...liter I believe.. if not I'll chime back in. Right now I'd not worry to much if the pellets you put in are deep.. as you water they'll start to break down a bit before roots ever get to them.. for now, just water and watch for any issues..

Thanks Quagmire
I was thinking the same. That water and microbs in my soil mix would eventually break down the chicken manure, turning them to food that wont burn once the roots find them.

Feeling more confident now for my future grow after reading all the advice given. Thanks again.

 

[Quagmire]

I am loving this combination of nutrients and soil by Aurora.. Roots Organics rocks.. my first auto grow almost under my belt and I can't be happier Seraphim..

 

[Ned Kelly]

real nice . what strain is she .

 

[Quagmire]

real nice . what strain is she .

Thanks Ausauto.. when I got the beans they had no name, just description of AK47 x Sour60. I call her Bubblegun and have a thread here somewhere on her and da sisters.. looks like the 3, using a 400w light and a few mistakes will bring in around 5-6 oz in 60 days.. since only 2 people are being medicated from it, might just be a perfect strain..for us anyway.. next test, potency.. lol

 

[str8smokn]

Congrats @Quagmire looks like you killed it.hopefullt the taste is as good as she looks.im gonna get the master pack of Aurora and try it also..

 

[Ned Kelly]

all kudos bro best auto ive seen .

 

[Quagmire]

Thanks guys... got totally lucky on this one. Seeds were a gift after mentioning to a few friends I wanted to try AF genetics for my small setup.. I only got the one male to choose from to save the strain so I can keep playing with it and I actually had a person ragging on me for not being more picky and "just using any old male to make seeds because it was the only male that popped up" I'm like, well if you were given 6 seeds of what sounded like a badass mix of genetics, why not pollinate just enough to save the strain for yourself.. he said I was destroying the strain, blah blah blah.. gee, can ya tell he pissed me off.. LMAO. As long as I'm happy and honest with anyone I share the seeds with, who cares right? not like I'm a breeder in any way.. what you guys think? would you do the same to save this for yourselves?

 

[Ned Kelly]

I'm with you :)

 

[Keegscole]

Hey guys i was looking for some help on a closet grow. I have a 250 watt cfl and my space is 3ft x 3ft x 6ft and i was looking to grow possibly 3 plants.

my questions are as follows.

is my bulb enough to support 3 or 4 plants?

What is the best light cycle to use?

When should i start using nutrients?

and how much will 3 or 4 plants produce if done well? the seeds are said to produce 600-800g/meter squared.

please help!

 

[Ned Kelly]

personally I think the lighting is a little under done for 3-4 probably run 2 . 18\6 is a safe bet for light cycle . I use nutes 2-3 times . once at 3 weeks once at 6 weeks then maybe a little 2-3 weeks out from finish . expect between 15 grams to an ounce anymore is a bonus until you work out the best strains for u and your set up (of course this is a ball of string question ) .plus read this entire thread its all there.

 

[Keegscole]

personally I think the lighting is a little under done for 3-4 probably run 2 . 18\6 is a safe bet for light cycle . I use nutes 2-3 times . once at 3 weeks once at 6 weeks then maybe a little 2-3 weeks out from finish . expect between 15 grams to an ounce anymore is a bonus until you work out the best strains for u and your set up (of course this is a ball of string question ) .plus read this entire thread its all there.

what if i doubled the wattage, im looking to get a lot more than an ounce

 

[Ned Kelly]

ok Auto's arn't big producers on the whole maybe you should look at regular strains if you want big weights . id probbaly look at 400w ms/hps as the most budget friendly lighting for that size . Old mate quagmire has what i believe to be the biggest producing auto strain ive seen . but out of the 12 strains ive grown . 2 oz dry is a really good yield .

 

[Keegscole]

ok so do you think the 400 watt and the 250 watt will be enough for four plants?

 

[Ned Kelly]

yes 4 auto's