I wonder how much of what I've bought/consumed over the past few years have ruderalis in it. My preference would be 0. I think it comes down to the breeder and their ability (and desire to work on it) to end up with the lowest % of ruderalis but still get the autoflower aspect. Plus, the rest of the genetics have to be good, so I think the right breeder matters. My guess is that most companies don't produce good ones. I still wonder how much ruderalis is going to end up "infecting" the overall gene pool......
Once you have good Auto seeds the best place for them is probably outdoors at higher latitudes, areas with short growing seasons. Indoors, growing them right might mean giving them the most "natural" light cycles. 20/4 or more might be too much, and treating them like photos might not be best. I would probably give them a decreasing light schedule that more mimicked a short growing season. I'm only growing a few indoors because they were freebies and I'm curious, but they're getting minimal space and I'll be quick to let them go if they can't cut it. I'm more interested in trying a few outdoors because I'm in a northern region with a shorter growing season, provided the seasons don't keep getting longer and warmer. :(. I was shocked that I was able to harvest closer to Nov 1st this past summer. It was an unusually warm and extended fall. But we can easily get below freezing in late September.......if we get those kinds of years, Autos might work well.
I also don't think we know enough about the the whole feminized thing. A good breeder probably matters a lot with these too. But I have no idea if breeding with them could lead to problems, mostly around hermaphrodites......if I end up growing ruderalis hermaphrodites I'm not gonna be happy.... ;)