Seraphim19 said:

ok guys I am back with the first installment of this thread and seeing as you want the best out of yours Tnelz I will start with a quick explanation of the lifecycle of auto flowering plants and then move on to the best growing methods.

LIFECYCLE OF AN AUTO

A common question I see is when to switch autos from veg to bloom. Many people are under the impression that as soon as they see the first flowers it's time to switch. Perhaps a little explanation of the life cycle of autos will help to clarify this.

Weeks 1 - 3. Once you've started your seeds and they break the surface of the soil, they are in their seedling stage. The first set of leaves to appear will usually single fingered, followed by a second set that may still be single fingered or perhaps 3 fingered. Once that second set appears growth will start to accelerate as the new leaves provide more photosynthesis. This process will continue, more new leaves, faster growth. Depending on the type of soil in use, mild vegetative nutes can be introduced at week 2. By week 3 most plants will start to show their sex. Males will start to produce pollen sacks and females will display pistils.

Weeks 4 - 6. The plants are now entering a pre flowering stage. During this time the plants should exhibit explosive growth, often as much as a new set of nodes and 1" vertical growth a day. This is the time when they will gain most of their vertical height. Many people make the mistake of switching from vegetative to flowering nutrients at this point, assuming that since they see flowers it must be the proper time. This is incorrect. If the switch to flowering nutes is made at this time the vertical growth will stop and the plant will put it's energy into producing buds. If you need to keep your plants small, or want them to finish earlier, they by all means switch nutes at this point. But if you want to get the most out of your plants continue feeding vegetative nutes until you see the vertical growth slow and stop. Depending on the strain that will usually be sometime during week 5 or 6.

Weeks 7 - 9. By now vertical growth has stopped and the switch to flowering nutrients has been made. The buds will start to fill out and put on weight, becoming hard and tight. Pistols will start to change from white to brown, orange, red, etc. By now the plants will also have developed a strong smell. Toward the end of this phase the large primary and smaller secondary fan leaves will begin to turn yellow. This is an indication that the plant is moving toward the end of it's life.

Weeks 10 - 11. At this time flowering nutes should be discontinued and only plain pHed water fed to flush the remaining nutrients from the soil and improve the taste. Yellowing of the fan leaves will continue as the plant draws the stored energy from them. Eventually they will die and fall off. By the time that the smaller leaves that come from out of the buds will also start to turn yellow. Then it's time to harvest.

I know that many of you are thinking that the seed bank said the plants will finish in 8-9 weeks, so why are you saying they take 10-11? The claims made by the seed banks are somewhat deceptive. If you switch to flowering nutes at week 3 or 4 the plants can finish in the times the seed banks say but they will remain small and not reach their full potential yield. Years of growing by myself and others has shown that autos do best if you follow this time line.

Of course, there will always be variations depending on the strain, the environment, nutrients, etc. This information is meant to only serve as a general guideline.

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Quagmire said:

Hey there Vzla... Be careful feeding them anything for the 1st 2wks.. Auto's are a totally different beast of a plant and hitting them with strong nutrients like a regular photo period plant may cause stunting early on.. start off with 1/4 of what is recommended at by the vendor.. work your way up slowly to 1/2 and by the end of grow to 3/4. With Auto's, sometimes less is more.. watch the leaf tips for any burn, if you see any stop feeding for a week.. take good notes to see what works well for you in your outdoor climate.. and remember, Auto's will show sex in about 14-21 days and start flowering no matter the light cycle.. so you could get 2-3 grows in this summer.
watch them for Calcium and Magnesium deficiencies.. should be able to find natural home remedies on both... like eggshells for Calcium... be sure to rinse them clean, remove the skin off inner shell and just grind them up and sprinkle on soil top before watering... I wish you the best and anymore questions this post them here.. I'm not the best grower but have 12yrs experience and on my 3rd Auto Flowering grow and have learned quite a bit already... the fun is in the search my friend.. grow on..

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str8smokn said:

How deep are the black pots, you should pull them out of small black pot and put directly in bigger pots. They will not get good side roots out of smaller pots,just str8 down and then try to spread out. These plants need all the help you can give .put them directly in bigger pots and you will not need to water daily.
I just leave a circulating fan on at all times, do not run an exhaust fan,yet.
STR8

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VzlaDabber said:

Hey ,

Thanks for the advice . The small pots bottoms where cutter out. That'ts something I found on my investigation it accounts for a better root system . Don't know if it works yet, testing it out. My exhaust fan helps with cooling the lamp do you really think I sholb be turning it off?
I will be putting a regular fan inside as you advice, that helps them develop a stronger stem..right?

Night.

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str8smokn said:

The first pics look fine,the last one you can just let ride and see what happens.if no improvement in 2-3days then it probably won't snap back.
What seeds are you running?
STR8

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VzlaDabber said:

running 1 critical ++, 1 auto-mistery,1 auto-one. they're from a place called www.seedslandia.com.es, in Spain, the only three autos they carry. I will be hopefully getting some nice seeds from Herbies on wednesday, i plan on having at least 12 honeys in the tent at once so i can make my extracts and have some decent bud

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str8smokn said:

Yes common,what's humidity in tent with lights on? Do you have a humidifier going? If no humidifier is on ,then I would leave exhaust going,not a problem now but when flowering it could be a problem.
STR8

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str8smokn said:

Yes common,what's humidity in tent with lights on? Do you have a humidifier going? If no humidifier is on ,then I would leave exhaust going,not a problem now but when flowering it could be a problem.
STR8

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