When growing autos would there be a max size pot you should use? Considering the short growth cycle, cost of nutrients, daily watering would it make sense to use smaller 1-2 gallon pots?
I don't have experience with autos, but I know a few things. You're not going to have a fully trained plant that's been vegging for months and months as you might with standard strains, but the plant will use coco space as a regular plant would (in an unaltered cycle). As always, more roots, more fruits. Depending on how big your grow space is, type and amount of lighting, number of plants, etc, I would use the largest pot possible. That is to say, if you have a tiny space with a small amount of lighting (cfl's or a 250w HID for example), then maybe 1-2gal pots is right for the grow. But if you have a bedroom full of these things, with a couple of 1000w lights overhead and massive ventilation/circulation, go with very large pots! Hope that helped.
I put 4 -6 autos in a 7 liter pot and get good yeild. Feminized I put 1 in a 7 liter pot. I end up with a lot more bud than leaf, yields are excellent. I do grow under 1,000w lights so it helps a bunch.
I've got my NL autos in 2 gal pots. With LST, you can increase your yields regardless. Check out my journal here - http://forum.grasscity.com/indoor-grow-journals/1273277-2-vision-nl-auto-fems-t5-ho-cfls-coco-coir-perlite.html/page-2#entry19578602
Growing 2 autos out in the veg room now... 2 gallon smart pots... do have a lot of light 3k so I wish would have gone a size bigger on the smarties... they are filling out great expecting 3 oz +, did LST one but the Ultraviolet looked so beautiful flowering naturally i'm not gonna touch it