Autos?? I’m thinking about trying them for the first time and I could use some advice.

Here's one.
Automatics make good Organic sinse

 

I am an auto evangelist. But I must admit, autos will never compare to photos in a two tent operation. The beauty of autos is one tent can be run 24/0. You would be using the veg tent just because you have it. 4 ft is low to finish a plant, so using your veg tent to veg autos would still be empty once they have moved to flower because then the flower tent would be full.
But if you insist. You could start your new autos in the veg tent about 30 days before the flower tent has room, same as photos, but an extra 12 hours of light to pay for in the now 24/0 flower tent. see?

 

If growing autos.....why would OP move autos from a veg tent to a flowering tent? Why not, depending on the light source, fill BOTH tents with autos....and let em run until harvest in the same tent?

OP, there are quite a few people on here who grow autos..........but if you can't find what you need here...you might think about browsing here for a bit: https://www.autoflower.net/forums/

 

First time auto grower here.. allways grown photoperiod allways..
Experiment is now coming to an end..
The autos just DO NOT compare to photoperiod what so ever..
The only upside is you can use 1 room.
And they "grow faster".. the only thing that means is your sacraficeing your "vegatative " stage.
Every experience grower know that the veg stage is were you make the money..
Why did I sacrafice that ? I would much rather keep a bunch of small plants under constant pinch mode and just put them in your other tent as you have room what is the diffrence ?
Might as well have a bunch of bushes ready in the chamber if you got a 2 tent setup. I am not impressed with my autos .
I have a bunch and every one is diffrent in size and feed it's very annoying there is not control for me. I like my veg stage

 

Depending on your grow style and knowledge......for sure. That doesn't mean you can't come close with autos....factoring in quick growing times resulting in more harvests.

Photo-periods
Look at it like this:5 weeks of veg on a........ lets say 20/4 = 700 hours
9 weeks of flowering on a 12/12 = 756 hours
Total hours from start to finish = 1456 hours of electricity

Autoflowers

10 weeks on...........lets say a 20/4 schedule, taking it from seed to harvest in 1400 hours of electricity

And it would finish 4 weeks before your Photos would......................if you went by my examples above

 

Oh yeah there absolutely are giant autos and some small ones that harvest very well.. the internet is riddled with people who are successful with them..
But there is a huge learning curve with them and experience after multiple runs would prove diff results.
I like large plots and auto can never be a crop therefore I will go back to consistant results of clones.
Its allways good to see both sides of everything when undertaking new stuff.
I was sold on the great benefits of autos.
But I'm actually good enuff of a grower were I can manipulate my plant in the veg stage that way they produce actual colas not little popcorn buds. So I just did not find the value of having a 3 month cycle produce little plants when I could a made it 4 and produced 2x that..
Hang around the game long enuff you will realize there is more value is consistant results that you can control systematically and reproduce every time at will.
Rather than jumping on the newest hype just to say "yes this is cool I'm part of it now!"
Autoflowers are seed by seed genetically diffrent every plant will always be diffrent you will never be able to do math and structure anything more than the ability to say "I'm cool guys" . With autoflower..
Unless you planted 20 at a time and only kept the healthiest 4 for your closet .. then maybe...
Unless your ding is bigger than a tent or closet size grow that might not make sence

 

Yes, and I hate to say that, because I love autos. I never grew another photo again after my first auto. The autos do best under 24/0. So usually, photo growers will try some autos in their 24/0 veg tent as the vegging photos are removed to the 12/12 tent. 4 ft is doable I suppose for better growers than me, but I would have a horrible time trying to flower my autos in that short of height. But that is what you would be looking at. You can see some amazing things micro growers do on the micro thread. Now, if you want to go full bore. You would simply stagger. So as the vegging plants get too tall, they would go into the big tent, but that big tent would now need to be 18/6 min with 24/0 being max, and most less intense middle of the roaders on 20/4.
Autos are great fun, but not electricity savers.

 

Autos ARE alot of fun!!

I totally agree with you about loving growing it as much as you enjoy using it

 

I really love them. In winter the 24/0 makes more sense. Free heat? I like to start a new seed every 30 days. Often different strains. So every month I have a new plant to harvest/dry/cure. It's a luxury for a small grower.

 

For making money I agree. For uniform impressive yield, autos can be mainlined like clockwork to produce very uniform plants. 9 in a 4x4 will be wall to wall even canopy. Takes 28 days to mainline an auto.

 

Don't let these guys discourage you from growing autos. I mainly grow photos but like to throw in some autos also.

 

Throw some autos in a 24/0 4 ft tent, then what? Hope they don't get too tall? The guy doesn't want to run the big tent 24/0. It is 12/12. Then the question should be, How do I grow autos in a 4 ft tent?

 

Lst. I've grown them in 4' tents without any problem. Not too complicated.

 

I dont have any height restrictions in my grow room so height isn't a problem for me.......with that said, I've NEVER had any of my autos reach the 4ft mark......but I DO LST

 

I thought I was doing good to keep mine at 24 inches, plus 8 for the bag. That's 32. My thin qbs didn't help because I run those about 30 inches over the medium. 65 inches or I quit.

 

But now, If you didn't want to use two tents, and you didn't mind running that big tent 24/0 or 20/4 in California, you could have all kinds of fun gowing autos. Start a seed anytime you think you might want some pot in 110 days. You can have many different strains for different situations, all growing together at diffent stages of life in peace like a happy family should live. These new qb lights take less than the old hps to run, and you don't have to max a 4x4 out to grow way more than one person can ever smoke. You can get started with less than 400watts and add more light when you see how non high your electricity goes.
Like I said, I'm an auto evangelist. I hate to see a grower sitting for 12 hours with nothing to do that is fun. Idleness is the photos playground. Think of all the trouble those 24/0 hours could be saving you from.
I worked hard to get to the point I no longer had to grow in summer. After a week it was so dark and depressing I just had to turn on about 135 watts to keep my circadian rhythm from shutting down. That's all I have been running this summer, 135 watts, one plant. It's the damn a/c that eats up my electricity.