I'm considering Purchasing some auto flowering seeds and was wondering what type of light cycle and nutes they should be put on for maximum yeild. Also any strain recommendations and advice would be much appreciated.
Funk is correct, autos are a crazy and for me an infuriating MJ tree, that does it's own thing when it wants too, thats why the marketing guys called them autos, they flower whenever they want, they are a cross between 'normal MJ and Rudieless, the small east Russian version, can't remember the correct name, tried them won't go back peace "V"
Before you make up your mind about Autoflowers, do more research and find out why some growers love them.
Are you one of those growers?? I think they would be great for a SOG grow but with each plant producing a lot less yield than other regular varieties it makes it hard for a cabinet (5ft tall by 3ft wide) grower like me.
[quote name='"RootsReggae"']Are you one of those growers?? I think they would be great for a SOG grow but with each plant producing a lot less yield than other regular varieties it makes it hard for a cabinet (5ft tall by 3ft wide) grower like me.[/quote] From my understanding you can't do sog from autos. Autos are perfect for testing out a new room, making sure the temp, humidity, and smell are under control. New growers use them to learn about growing. Autos have their place they just don't produce the best smoke or yield but everyone has to start somewhere right?
Roots, not an auto expert but I've played with a couple just to say I did & to learn a bit more about them. From the research I did, and what I tried that worked, most auto's prefer a 20/4 light cycle from start to finish. The only exception is that less stable varieties might not bloom under 20/4, which means they aren't really fully developed auto's. I grew a Northern Lights / Big Bud Auto because of its advertised superior yield, and because I've worked a G-13 / Big Bud cross for years, so had something to compare my results to. The old standby photoperiod ran away in production, but the Auto was respectable in yield (almost 2 oz.) and smokability. About SOG - don't really recommend it as it would take a shit-ton of seeds to pack a high density SOG grow. And, the auto I grew definitely benefited from a more open grow area to get more light to all areas of the plant. If you want to try SOG, wait until you have a great photoperiod mother that you can clone. Forget SCROG for auto's, they won't veg long enough to get into any decent topping or training techniques that work to fill a larger area with fewer plants like you can do with photoperiod plants. In fact, most recommend NOT topping an auto; let it stretch all it wants and LST her to get the most yield. About nutes, I'm hydro & use nothing but GH Flora series. A caution, most auto's don't tolerate full strength nutes during veg; nothing close. Here's the formula I used for the NL-BB I did. This was advertised as a 50-55 day strain, actually took 60 days. Figures are tsp. per gallon, GH-Flora series, in order of each type - Grow, Micro, Bloom: Germ. through week 2 - 1/2tsp ea. G,M,B Weeks 3-4 - 1tsp ea. G,M,B Bloom/week 5 - 7 - 1G,2M,3B (traditional full strength OK was here, peak growth seen) Week 8 - Lucas formula 0 G, 1&1/2 M (8mL), 3&1/2tsp B (16mL) End of week 8 till harvested - flushed w/ plain water (was only about 3-4 days). Worked for me, was fun, but I'll never give up my photoperiods. Can't stand to start a strain & find a beautiful specimen that can't be saved by cloning and growing a mother for future grows. And it's hard to find non-fem auto's for seed making. Then again, even if you did, I suspect that subsequent generations would start to revert to the various parentals and lose their auto capabilities. Just a thought that I don't have a couple of years to try to prove Hope this helps, bestaluck to ya.
[quote name='"Olde School"']Roots, not an auto expert but I've played with a couple just to say I did & to learn a bit more about them. From the research I did, and what I tried that worked, most auto's prefer a 20/4 light cycle from start to finish. The only exception is that less stable varieties might not bloom under 20/4, which means they aren't really fully developed auto's. I grew a Northern Lights / Big Bud Auto because of its advertised superior yield, and because I've worked a G-13 / Big Bud cross for years, so had something to compare my results to. The old standby photoperiod ran away in production, but the Auto was respectable in yield (almost 2 oz.) and smokability. About SOG - don't really recommend it as it would take a shit-ton of seeds to pack a high density SOG grow. And, the auto I grew definitely benefited from a more open grow area to get more light to all areas of the plant. If you want to try SOG, wait until you have a great photoperiod mother that you can clone. Forget SCROG for auto's, they won't veg long enough to get into any decent topping or training techniques that work to fill a larger area with fewer plants like you can do with photoperiod plants. In fact, most recommend NOT topping an auto; let it stretch all it wants and LST her to get the most yield. About nutes, I'm hydro & use nothing but GH Flora series. A caution, most auto's don't tolerate full strength nutes during veg; nothing close. Here's the formula I used for the NL-BB I did. This was advertised as a 50-55 day strain, actually took 60 days. Figures are tsp. per gallon, GH-Flora series, in order of each type - Grow, Micro, Bloom: Germ. through week 2 - 1/2tsp ea. G,M,B Weeks 3-4 - 1tsp ea. G,M,B Bloom/week 5 - 7 - 1G,2M,3B (traditional full strength OK was here, peak growth seen) Week 8 - Lucas formula 0 G, 1&1/2 M (8mL), 3&1/2tsp B (16mL) End of week 8 till harvested - flushed w/ plain water (was only about 3-4 days). Worked for me, was fun, but I'll never give up my photoperiods. Can't stand to start a strain & find a beautiful specimen that can't be saved by cloning and growing a mother for future grows. And it's hard to find non-fem auto's for seed making. Then again, even if you did, I suspect that subsequent generations would start to revert to the various parentals and lose their auto capabilities. Just a thought that I don't have a couple of years to try to prove Hope this helps, bestaluck to ya.[/quote] Best info I have received yet! Thanks for the help Olde School! Do you know which company made that strain of northern lights/ big bud? Yeah my only reserves about autos are not being to clone.
Check out big buddha seeds Critical Mass x Big Buddha. Its a huge auto thats easy to grow. I got 9/10 germ rate, and they grew like rockets. Im a newb and from 3 gal buckets, a 600w on 20/4 and an organic soil mix, growing all natural, they get nicely branchy... i could pull 2.5-3.5oz average and some of the larger phenos gave me 4-5oz a piece. Very pretty bud, lots of colors and nice berry smells that differ from plant to plant. Some with spicy backgrounds, others are musky. Moderate and enjoybable high, some phenos are way better than others. I havent had that stuff around for a while but would def buy another pack if i went the auto route again. Barneys Farm pineapple express auto is some good bud, even for being an auto. Its skunk X cheese X rudi, so be sure to have a filtration system. It reeks hard... even over brand new filters. I wish autos could be cloned because some of the PE auto phenos are fucking stellar.
[quote name='"jas43"']Check out big buddha seeds Critical Mass x Big Buddha. Its a huge auto thats easy to grow. I got 9/10 germ rate, and they grew like rockets. Im a newb and from 3 gal buckets, a 600w on 20/4 and an organic soil mix, growing all natural, they get nicely branchy... i could pull 2.5-3.5oz average and some of the larger phenos gave me 4-5oz a piece. Very pretty bud, lots of colors and nice berry smells that differ from plant to plant. Some with spicy backgrounds, others are musky. Moderate and enjoybable high, some phenos are way better than others. I havent had that stuff around for a while but would def buy another pack if i went the auto route again. Barneys Farm pineapple express auto is some good bud, even for being an auto. Its skunk X cheese X rudi, so be sure to have a filtration system. It reeks hard... even over brand new filters. I wish autos could be cloned because some of the PE auto phenos are fucking stellar.[/quote] I musta got a shit geno cause my big buddah critical auto only yeilded 12.4g dry.
[quote name='"mosesnumb"'] I musta got a shit geno cause my big buddah critical auto only yeilded 12.4g dry.[/quote] That's what scares me about autos. I'm a closet grower and would rather grow a strain that has a yield.
[quote name='"mosesnumb"'] I musta got a shit geno cause my big buddah critical auto only yeilded 12.4g dry.[/quote] Im sorry to hear that man. Everyone has different methods and grow environments. Shit happens. The smallest pheno i had was a 2.5oz leafy fucker, took forever to trim, it smelled like blue incense (in my mind at least) and raw green plant matter, even after a month cure. It smoked kinda harsh as well. My newb guess was that it was (possibly) a rudi dominant pheno. Cannabis genetics are a doozy.
[quote name='"RootsReggae"'] That's what scares me about autos. I'm a closet grower and would rather grow a strain that has a yield.[/quote] Yep its a crap shoot. In my experience alone ive learned that no two auto phenos are quite the same. Which is good on the 'unique' scale but not when it comes to having a predictable crop. Ive had some autos ripe as fuck at 2 months and a week, where as others have taken 3-3 1/2 months... it was some quality smoke for an auto but holy fuck thats a long time for strains that are supposed to be much quicker. But real deal clones are the way to go. Autos have their place in my heart though.
Roots, mine was World of Seeds Northern Lights / Big Bud fem. auto; got it from Attitude as a freebie. I've also heard good things from a friend who grew Nirvana's Northern Lights fem. auto. Nirvana claims 4+ oz. per plant yield, my buddy said his was comparable to my NL-BB, around 2 oz. Nirvana was cheap enough though - think he said $35 for five beans BUT... I've also heard that Nirvana's auto's (and many other breeders) are not always the most stable; some won't auto & have to be forced like a conventional photoperiod. If it's not blooming within about 25-30 days of sprouting,chances are you're going to have to drop the light cycle. I'd try 16/8 at first, then go from there. Glad I did it, will probably do it again one day, but if I have to count on med's for the wife, I go to my photoperiod clones every time Hand picked from conventional photoperiods I've already grown so I know what I got and can work on fine tuning on each subsequent grow. Probably the worst thing that could happen to me would be to find the one-shot wonder auto & never be able to recreate it Hope this helped, bestaluck to ya.
Mmmmm, Critical Mass.... just finished a photoperiod batch of that from Mr. Nice. Advertised as a rework of the original Big Bud strain, which is why I bought it. Didn't get the donkey dick buds like my old G-13 / Big Bud cross, but the smoke quality was exceptional, frosty, and big buds. Suspect that would be a very good yielder for an auto-cross, and if the smoke and smell is anything like the Critical Mass would be a keeper. But I can clone mine, BWAH HA HA HAAAAA!!!!! And I DID!!!! Sorry Man, sometimes I can't control my evil twin, and tonight he needed a laugh.
[quote name='"jas43"'] Im sorry to hear that man. Everyone has different methods and grow environments. Shit happens. The smallest pheno i had was a 2.5oz leafy fucker, took forever to trim, it smelled like blue incense (in my mind at least) and raw green plant matter, even after a month cure. It smoked kinda harsh as well. My newb guess was that it was (possibly) a rudi dominant pheno. Cannabis genetics are a doozy.[/quote] And on top of all that, i was 3 gal smart pots, organic and 600whps with led side lighting on 12/12 from sex. So our setups aren't too far off... autos just disappointment me. I'd rather take clones and have 6 plants flowering at 10" tall each than play with a tall ass auto and not know what you'll get...
[quote name='"Olde School"'] Mmmmm, Critical Mass.... just finished a photoperiod batch of that from Mr. Nice. Advertised as a rework of the original Big Bud strain, which is why I bought it. Didn't get the donkey dick buds like my old G-13 / Big Bud cross, but the smoke quality was exceptional, frosty, and big buds. Suspect that would be a very good yielder for an auto-cross, and if the smoke and smell is anything like the Critical Mass would be a keeper. But I can clone mine, BWAH HA HA HAAAAA!!!!! And I DID!!!! Sorry Man, sometimes I can't control my evil twin, and tonight he needed a laugh.[/quote] Haha some will be donkey dicks for sure. I dont do autos anymore but i cant really say anything against them. They've actually earned a high mark imo. Now i have an epic Mad Scientist (Sannies Herijuana X White Widow) mother and i would really consider her my holy grail. damn near overkill potency. Is the CM you have the same one used by Big Buddha seeds to breed?
[quote name='"mosesnumb"'] And on top of all that, i was 3 gal smart pots, organic and 600whps with led side lighting on 12/12 from sex. So our setups aren't too far off... autos just disappointment me. I'd rather take clones and have 6 plants flowering at 10" tall each than play with a tall ass auto and not know what you'll get...[/quote] The only thing i could guess would maybe be the light cycle. Autos love as much light as possible. I agree about clones though. Uniformity
Yeah, same here, nothing against auto's, just personally prefer photo-periods so I can run the clones, and the chance of getting different phenotypes from a batch of seeds. I'd try autos again one day if I got another freebie I was interested in smoking!!! If it's Critical Mass it's from Mr. Nice. Shantibaba & another breeder took their original breeding strains from a previous seed bank & began their own names to prevent bullshit with the previous seed bank. Howard Marks is in there somewhere (Mr. Nice) as a consultant or equity partner or something. They seem to be pretty open to other breeders using their strains for crosses. Mad Scientist sounds sick, heard great things about Herijuana & everyone knows what White Widow will do to your brain!!! Good yacking with ya, be seeing you around the forum.