Issues with Auto's not flowering?

Is it common for an autoflower strain not to flower on it's own? I was under the impression AF's go into flowering approx 3-4 weeks in. Well I am on week 8 with an Auto Northern Lights, and as far as my newbie-ass can tell there are no signs of flowering yet, and the thing is getting pretty large. Is something wrong here? Considering switching to 12/12 even though I understand that should not be neccesary…kind of at a loss here.

Any advice would be appreciated. I'm 100% sure that this is supposed to be a feminized AF Northern Lights, but perhaps there was a mix-up from the distributor? Little frustrated but staying patient in hopes that this has not been a waste of an effort.

Unfortunately this is not uncommon with autos. If you're running out of room i definitely would switch to 12/12 now and start flowering. I had that happen with some auto ak-47 and it out grew my cab

Thanks man. So if I switch now, that should encourage it to flower? Def going to start the 12/12 tonight.

And sorry to hear about the one that outgrew your cab, thats precisely what I'm worried about :/

Great info.. but a question to tack onto this subject.

Will an autoflower revert back to veg if.. when it shows sign of flower.. you flip it from 12/12 back to 18/6 or 20/4? I really hate the idea of having my soon to germ autoflowers ...flowering fully in 12/12.

What breeder did your auto nls come from? A good breeder should have the tendency to photo flower bred out of an auto strain. Sounds like just sloppy genetics on the breeders part if you have a whole batch doing the same thing. Oh well at least maybe you will see better yield from the longer veg cycle.

I got them from single seed center.com, mostly because I've read alot of good things on here. I'm tempted to call them but its definitely international, maybe it wouldnt hurt to drop them an email. If they are as reputable as I have been led to believe, I think they might try and compensate me. And just for an update, I switched to 12/12 last night so we'll see what happens from here

let me share my experience. I received a sugar mango ryder as a freebie so I threw it in with the last ones.
The fox farms was to much for the seedling and it was really struggling. Couldnt even get a new set of leaves. So i transplanted it with nothing but the taproot showing; into a plainer mix. After this growth began as number.
Around day 45-50 we finally saw preflowers;;but also what looked like male preflowers. So she went outside and is currently still flowering. Little tiny bunches of pistols just starting to form.

I dont know if yours went through any stress or if its common but my auto ryder isnt very cooperative. Good luck man!

Shamus when you buy seeds you are always in a at risk situation. Theres no guarantees on seeds. They may or may not germ, sometimes they go male or herm. Experienced growers tend to stay away from autos cause you can't count on them and they can get real twitchy. I've done autos twice and they are way too much trouble for the yield. You do better with a feminized seed or a clone.

Thanks for sharing and the feedback guys. This is my 2nd attempt ever with the same seed strain and I've had the same problem twice, so I certainly see what you (Dr. Mengle) mean. Have a couple non-auto freebie seeds in my fridge that I'm def utilizing after this!!

I got them from single seed center.com, mostly because I've read alot of good things on here. I'm tempted to call them but its definitely international, maybe it wouldnt hurt to drop them an email. If they are as reputable as I have been led to believe, I think they might try and compensate me. And just for an update, I switched to 12/12 last night so we'll see what happens from here

The seed center isnt the breeder, they are just a reseller, or middle man.

I had some nirvana autos fail to germ, its making me worried now that the ones that did germ wont flower. Come day 70 they are getting chopped regardless.

I have some from two other breeders that germed 100% though.

Have any of the people who had to force autos been able to go back to 20/4 lighting without revegging the troubled plants?

Edited by joker865, 10 May 2012 - 04:35 PM.

I have done auto Northern lights which didn't flower until 12/12.

It's not uncommon.

The seed center isnt the breeder, they are just a reseller, or middle man.

I had some nirvana autos fail to germ, its making me worried now that the ones that did germ wont flower. Come day 70 they are getting chopped regardless.

I have some from two other breeders that germed 100% though.

Have any of the people who had to force autos been able to go back to 20/4 lighting without revegging the troubled plants?

I'm only regurgitating information that I've read, I have no personal experience so take what I say with a grain of salt, but going 20/4 all the way through the grow will not effect the flowering process, so I can't imagine that doing 12/12 and then going to 20/4 at a later date will not cause the plant to revert to veg. How it'll effect yield or stress is completely beyond me, hopefully a grower with personal experience can shed some light on that for us.

Hey how did it go for you Shhamus? I have been doing a Norhtern Lights autoflower (supposedly) for the past 2 and a half months. I too had some trouble and ended up switching to 12/12 a few weeks ago. I did notice some pistils and more and more have been popping up all over, but still no signs of actual flowering. I sure hope I didn't come all this way to have it be a dud (a good learning experience nonetheless!). Link is posted if you want to follow....http://forum.grassci...autoflower.html

This is happening to me too. Growing auto nl and auto mazar and the mazar is doing a hell of a lot better that the nl when it comes to flowering. Been two months.

Every time i see a thread on autos not auto flowering they are always northern lights auto. This strain gives other auto's such a bad rep and from what I've read here an there it's down to breeder error with there genetics.. I don't think this is a common issue with a lot of autos as most are very stable these days and usually show sex by the end of week 3...

Hey how did it go for you Shhamus? I have been doing a Norhtern Lights autoflower (supposedly) for the past 2 and a half months. I too had some trouble and ended up switching to 12/12 a few weeks ago. I did notice some pistils and more and more have been popping up all over, but still no signs of actual flowering. I sure hope I didn't come all this way to have it be a dud (a good learning experience nonetheless!). Link is posted if you want to follow....http://forum.grassci...autoflower.html

Whats up chron penguin? After I switched to 12/12 it finally went into flower but it took some time until I was able to see definitive evidence. If it's been 3 weeks already, give it at least another week or two and you should see some more progress. I ended up flowering mine for a little over 7 weeks total after the switch to 12/12, and honestly it probably needed a couple more weeks but I was forced to chop as she got too big and I had another seedling ready to go. Actually just harvested last week.

Definitely a good learning experience though! I just started another one, my last auto NL from the same shipment as the other problematic one. This time I'm going to take the initiative and switch to 12/12 wayyyyy earlier after this last experience in hopes that I can start flowering almost immediately and make better use of my time and space, we'll see what happens.

Every time i see a thread on autos not auto flowering they are always northern lights auto. This strain gives other auto's such a bad rep and from what I've read here an there it's down to breeder error with there genetics.. I don't think this is a common issue with a lot of autos as most are very stable these days and usually show sex by the end of week 3...

Thanks for the insight

let me know how it goes

Edited by uneek386, 03 July 2012 - 09:42 PM.