i'm under the impression that auto-flowering seeds just means that you don't need to change lighting schedules to start flowering your plant. the plant regulates its own schedule. is this correct? if yes, what are the benefits of auto-flowering? i guess they'd be a good beginner plant, but personally i'd want more control over my grow.
the benefits are you have a plant that can give you weed in 8weeks from seed some are small so stealth is another reason and they dead easy to grow
Living in alaska I will tell you that autoflowers have a HUGE advantage over normal photoperiod strains. First of all, they are ruderalis, which is a very cold resistant type of cannabis. and second of all, here in alaska where the light never goes down to 12 hours of light (around 22hours all summer long throughout fall and half of winter) autoflowers grow monsterous up here. having a 3 foot tall autoflower is not uncommon yielding over 2 ozs of bud.
The main reason for me is that they have the same light schedule during veg and flower. I'm growing stealth so only have room for one grow area.
If growing outdoors then you can grow late in the season when the non-auto strains would need more light
Only thing with autos is that you want to be sure you have the germination and seedling starting process down to a science for your particular grow environment. An auto is going to be done about when it is going to be done, so if it becomes stunted or struggles early on, there goes your yield. Obviously with a photoperiod plant you can just veg longer to compensate for mistakes, but with autos you don't have that option. Not to say you shouldn't start with them, just something to consider. Good luck!
That's super interesting; I was just philosiphasizing about the AK grow environment with a bro who spends a lot of time up there.