Does anybody top or lolipop their auto flowers?

[Habosabin]

Autos are great for my balconies, for example!
I always have a couple going in a balcony next to my living room, they only get about three hours of direct sunlight each day, so they can't be picky and auto's are great for that reason.
I just leave them there, feed them occasionally, let them do their thing, and get a few extra crops a year (considering I also have a 4x4 tent going inside with regular plants, I'll probably never have to buy weed again).

I agree. They have their place for sure.

 

[Toscano]

can you tell an Auto from a photoperiod when you smoke it? I'm sure some Autos jare better than others, I assume the goal is to get the results ,(quick flowering, very early harvest) with the lowest % of Ruderalis in it. I would imagine it's hard to tell if it's 2%.......maybe easy to tell if it's 12%?

But can you tell when you smoke them......if you didn't know a plant was an Auto, you just smoked it, it could be an Auto or a Regular photoperiod. Could you tell the difference?

I believe I have been smoking auto strains for the past 10 years without knowing it...

I first noticed (about 8 to 10 years) ago that the weed I was purchasing was different. I don't know, maybe a lack in potency that I attributed to me getting old or something.

Now I have a theory.

In my country it's legal to carry and consume any kind of drug up to certain amounts (and I mean every kind, cops can't arrest me if I have my pockets lined with coke and heroin and crack, for example). We're probably the only country doing it like that.

Though it's legal to carry and consume any kind of drug, it's strictly forbidden to grow it.

Given that autos aren't picky about light schemes, given they can be grown pretty much anywhere, even mixing different strains under the same roof, if I were a grower doing it covertly, why the hell would I even bother growing anything but autos?

So that's my theory... yes, there is a difference, which to me looks like a decrease in potency, and the best you can hope for is a lower amount of ruderalis in your strain. But it's difficult to have a strain below 10% ruderalis working as an auto. Every auto strain I've seen oscillates between 10 to 30% ruderalis.

 

[Habosabin]

This posts reminds me you could do a perpetual flower with one tent with autos.

 

[Goodshit97]

This posts reminds me you could do a perpetual flower with one tent with autos.

Doing something similar. I have so many autos left from when i first started growing thinking theyd be awesome for a new grower. Lol my mistake. But im gonna burn them up by running 2 in my veg tent at all times. When they get 2 weeks from harvest, ill pop 2 more.

 

[josefrahl]

I top my autos. Pull 5 -7oz a plant with crappy LEDs, very limited space, and little 2gal rez. Tough to LST as I have nothing to tie down to, but the times I've done just LST I have had smaller yields. I think it's all about timing. Just have to top, tuck, and have all the side branches at canopy height before stretch starts. Too early, and they don't have the strength to deal with the stress and end up stunted. Too late and you interupt the stretch causing stunting.

 

[..HIGHLYxLYFETD..]

This posts reminds me you could do a perpetual flower with one tent with autos.

Hell yeah... that's what I'm tryin to do, while one harvest(my first) is drying in dry tent, my other is flowering, and have seeds ready to pop so they'll flower as I'm harvesting the other one... and so on. I think I'm gonna switch to photos tho, just cuz you can do so much more with them,... can't clone autos or anything. That'd be sick if u could tho.

 

[..HIGHLYxLYFETD..]

Yes i agree completely. This was the Zkittlez i grew that was 11.5 ounces. The colas were MASSIVE.

What where you using for nutes, soil, etc.? Organic?

 

[Goodshit97]

What where you using for nutes, soil, etc.? Organic?

If i recall correctly, that plant was grown in a mix i put together. I ran it for a while. 1.5 cu ft bag of ocean forest, a 2 cu ft bag of happy frog, and 8 gallon of perlite. I stopped using it because i got tired of the happy frog. It was always full of huge chunks of bark, big twigs and rocks, and with the amount of perlite i would add, it would dry out in 18-24 hours during peak flower.

Ive since switched everything, i now use roots organic 707 and gaia green dry amendments.

 

[..HIGHLYxLYFETD..]

So I'm curious if anyone tops their auto flowers, or lollipops them, and if yes, when? And compared to not topping do you notice any difference in

If i recall correctly, that plant was grown in a mix i put together. I ran it for a while. 1.5 cu ft bag of ocean forest, a 2 cu ft bag of happy frog, and 8 gallon of perlite. I stopped using it because i got tired of the happy frog. It was always full of huge chunks of bark, big twigs and rocks, and with the amount of perlite i would add, it would dry out in 18-24 hours during peak flower.

Ive since switched everything, i now use roots organic 707 and gaia green dry amendments.

Than you, good info. Yeah I've been looking at roots organic products. Actually almost bought the veg and bloom.

 

[Goodshit97]

Than you, good info. Yeah I've been looking at roots organic products. Actually almost bought the veg and bloom.

I dont use the roots line of nutrients, just their soil and went with gaia green amendments because ive heard so many great things about them.

Think im gonna switch up again after this run to promix bx, worm castings, perlite and gaia green like the method @Shaded_One put together here on the farm for everyone.

 

[Harpua88]

I believe I have been smoking auto strains for the past 10 years without knowing it...

I first noticed (about 8 to 10 years) ago that the weed I was purchasing was different. I don't know, maybe a lack in potency that I attributed to me getting old or something.

Now I have a theory.

In my country it's legal to carry and consume any kind of drug up to certain amounts (and I mean every kind, cops can't arrest me if I have my pockets lined with coke and heroin and crack, for example). We're probably the only country doing it like that.

Though it's legal to carry and consume any kind of drug, it's strictly forbidden to grow it.

Given that autos aren't picky about light schemes, given they can be grown pretty much anywhere, even mixing different strains under the same roof, if I were a grower doing it covertly, why the hell would I even bother growing anything but autos?

So that's my theory... yes, there is a difference, which to me looks like a decrease in potency, and the best you can hope for is a lower amount of ruderalis in your strain. But it's difficult to have a strain below 10% ruderalis working as an auto. Every auto strain I've seen oscillates between 10 to 30% ruderalis.

........Uraguay...?

You don't have to say what country but it pains me to hear you say this. I don't know if you're really getting "auto weed" lately, let alone nothing but autos, but that's disheartening. I would think there would be other ways to tell, ruderalis isn't only low in potency, it probably dampens smell, taste, resin amounts........how much? That might depend on the skill of the breeder. A crappy auto would be a higher % of ruderalis, a good one would be very close to the non-auto version......so close it would be very difficult to tell. It would be interesting to be able to do a side-by-side comparison.......the auto version vs. the non-auto....ruderalis probably adds a certain hemp-iness to weed.

Why would you or anyone not want to grow autos? And only grow regular/photoperiod strains? Well, your particular country's legal scenario aside, and that's really weird, are you saying that growing weed is a greater violation than posessing meth? With intent to sell?

The reason though would be clear. Autos suck. They are polluting the gene pool and lowering the overall quality of weed just so people can grow a little easier? Poor them.......keep in mind, I'm mostly venting here......I don't hate people for wanting to grow autos, or feminized, that's another thing I don't like......you can't pull out some males? You need to smoke a quarter ounce or more a day or something? Or it's grower/sellers who only care to make money from it. For this, I gotta deal with weed tainted by ruderalis, or artifical "females" that might lead to hermaphrodites in my closet? Or maybe other unknown future problems with breeding?

Another downside of feminized versions is that seed sellers can hold on to their genetics. No males for you! You want ANOTHER 3 seeds? Sorry, order 3 more, over and over again........3 seeds? Really??

That's almost as ballsy as selling 8 seeds for $400.......8? Or 11? Oh aren't you special, with your elite cultivar boutique, packaged in glass with an ancient sea scroll and a mix tape.....

1 good famale can produce what, 2000 seeds? 5000? Do the math, I'm in the wrong business....then the "sold out" or "unavailable" message....oh, you couldn't pollinate TWO females?

So provided one can tell the difference.......I could argue it both ways. If today's high test strains are 30% THC, and the auto versions are "only" 23%........is that really "weaker than the old days"? Ok, well, if so, then there will be a premium for non-autos. You want the 30%, tastiest, best genetics? They're worth 20% more........don't want to pay it? Smoke autos.