First autoflower grow. Just testing the waters really. I've got two plants (GHS - Auto Big Bang) growing in a little box under a 150w LED (actual draw - 100w) and hanging vertically between them I have a 125w CFL. The lights are on all the time, they're nearly 5 weeks old and have been showing hairs for about a week and a half (although there are also some strange balls lower down on the plant that looked like male pre-flowers at first... until a few of them grew out into new little leafy growth... I'm still watching them though, cos I've seen similar growth to this before in hermies/bagseeds... these are seedbank fem'd seeds though and I don't think I've stressed them enough to force them to produce balls.. aaanyway) I also have a flower tent with 2 standard photoperiod plants (Nirvana - Pure Power Plant) at about 4 weeks of flower under a 600w HPS My question is which would be better for the autos? Lights on all the time with the LED and CFL or lights on 12/12 under the 600w HPS? If I did move the autos to the flower tent the PPP are far bigger and sit in the middle of a 2'x5' tent under the HPS so the autos will have to go either side and get less of the HPS light. I would probably add the 100w LED on one side of the HPS and a 90w UFO one on the other side for extra coverage to boost the light on the autos. So yeah... Less light all the time or far more light half the time? Is it a stupid question? EDIT: I'm obviously going to have to watch them for a while to see if these balls to turn out to be male flowers. If they are though, wont any seeds that come from self-pollination be feminised? And what if it pollinated some of my PPP buds in the flower tent? Besides being a fucking disaster, what would the seeds from that be like? Regular PPP x Feminised forced-hermie Auto Big Bang?
From what I have read, keep it in the 24/0 tent. I have grown autos before and ran them under 20/4 as people seemed to say they still needed some dark. Either way, I vote for their own tent as 12 hours isn't optimal for autos.
I ended up reposting this thread elsewhere and after a short discussion I decided to move the autos into the flower tent. They're looking very happy there. It's a way better environment for them, they've got more room each and even though they're only getting light half the time, they've gone from getting 100w of LED and 125w of CFL split between them to having 100w LED each and plenty of spill from the 600w HPS. Like you say, some dark is good but the box they were in before is not light-tight, so there's no way of doing dark periods in it. Here's the discussion if you want to check it out: http://forum.grasscity.com/indoor-medical-marijuana-growing/1297981-autoflowers-247-led-1212-hps.html#entry19882098 These 2 plants were just to to make use of the extra space in my grow and to try out autos for the first time. I have a whole load of different seeds ready for my next couple of grows and the next time I do autos I'm going to do ALL autos (although a few different strains) so my tent will be on 20/4 then and no problems.
Awesome, glad they are doing well! The light-tight issue in the old box could have been a hindrance as well. Autos are pretty easy aren't they? Seemingly lower yield and potency, but that's from my more limited growing experience with them.
From my very limited experience with autos so far, I would say yes they are pretty easy! I think I'll always prefer normal photoperiod plants, but these are a great way to quickly grow a few different strains for a varied selection of smoke. I also think they have made the plant a lot more accessible to beginners which is very good news! Also the fact they will flower whatever means that you can just grow them on window sills and still get a little bit of smoke. Not everyone wants to go big. They're perfect for conservatories as long as they don't get too hot and most of them will flower anytime of year outdoors so long as the night temps stay below 12C and you can prevent mould in wet climates. They're a great asset to the cause and they're fun. I'm actually only trying these ones because I bought them to grow outdoors alongside some regular seeds of the same strain as a comparison experiment, but I've had to scrap that plan now. So I'm using them to fill the extra space in my tent and because I figure they'll be done quickly and I'll have a few more ounces of medicine to tie me over till I get set up in my new abode. I was planning on trying autos soon, but not this soon. I had a plan. I have 2 seeds each of three different strains of autos now that I hope to grow side by side after I finish this grow and have moved house. Autos will be a good way to start in my new house because I can get a quick harvest in and probably instantly replace them in the flower tent with some normal plants that I'll give a long veg at the same time to get the perpetual grow going again.
HPS all the way. LED will not give you the flowers like a real HPS will. Autos are not big long growing plants and need all they can get. I grow mine under 1,000w and do good.
Have you ever used LEDs? I think these little one's I've got are pretty good for vegging with a small grow, but for flowering I do prefer HPS. Still thinking about getting a big LED though. I've read a lot of interesting threads and journals etc and the really powerful ones look great. Still wouldn't want to entirely replace HPS...
I am waiting till LED can match the performance of HPS vs. cost. It would take me a few thousand to replace all my lights. I have more then 3,000 watts running by far. I will get them someday. Im too much of a geek might have to build my own and then I would love them.