How To Grow The Best Auto Plants

Discussion in 'Growing Marijuana Indoors' started by Boint, Sep 30, 2010.

  1. So, I've been reading grow journal after grow journal and I keep coming across people having problems with auto-flowering plants. "My plant is 3 weeks old and is still tiny" "I yielded 10g from my auto" "Why are my auto's growing so slow?". But why? Is it the strain? Is it just auto's? NO.

    I'm going to show you how to get excellent yields every single time. Because if I can do it, then anyone can. I have learnt this from experience with growing auto's because these are the only plants I grow. I'm not a grow god or anything like that. I've just learnt what works best and what doesn't. I hope this helps those people who are struggling and gives them an understanding of how these remarkable variety's of marijuana can grow to their maximum potential. I only grow organic in soil, so I can't help you hydro people out there, sorry!

    Sometime over the next few months I will post a grow journal showing exactly what I've written here.



    SOIL

    Choosing a good quality soil will make a huge difference to your plants and will help them to develop to their maximum potential. If you skimp on the soil it WILL show. Plants will not be as healthy or vigorous nor will they grow as big and yield as much. I use Bio-Bizz All mix right from seed. Canna Terra and Fox Farms Ocean Forest are also great soils. Adding a little perlite can help with aeration and drainage.

    WATER

    Don't water every day! A lot of people make this mistake. It will slow growth, lower yield significantly and make your plants take longer to finish. Only water when the pot feels light or the top 2 inches of soil are dry. This is usually every 3-5 days.

    POT SIZE

    This one is important. The first few weeks of an autoflower's life is spent developing a strong root system which will provide it with the nutrients and water it needs to go through the rapid growth spurt to come. If there is not enough space within those first few weeks, the plant will not develop a big, healthy root system in time and as a result will grow smaller and yield less.
    Start in the biggest pots you can. The bigger the better. 5L to 7L is good, 8L+ is best.

    NUTRIENTS

    If using a good quality soil like one of the above, start feeding after week 3 from seed. Give only 1/4 strength to begin with. You don't want to overfeed at this stage as this is when the plant begins flowering and goes through a massive growth spurt. Overfeeding will stress the plants and slow down growth considerably. After week 4 increase the nutrients to 1/2 strength and then onto full strength feeding every second watering. If you notice a pale colour to the leaves or the lower leaves beginning to yellow then you need to increase feed at this point. Despite what a lot of people say, some auto's have quite an appetite.

    LIGHT

    HPS

    If you can, go with HPS. Do everything you can to go down the HPS route as apposed to CFL. Even a 150W will do wonders if you are only plan on growing 1-2 plants. When growing under HPS light, plants will grow lots of branches because the light is strong enough to penetrate further down the canopy and reach the small branches between the nodes of the plant. These then grow out and become their own little plants, each producing their own colas.

    CFL

    CFL's are ok and that's about it. Don't expect much branching or tonnes of bud. Plants will also be smaller and take longer to mature. Keep CFL's as close to the tops as possible, 2-3 inches away or maybe even closer if you can.
    When growing under CFL's, plants won't branch as much as the light can't penetrate past a few inches and therefor doesn't reach the lower branches. These stay small and usually stay close to the main stem to form a single cola.

    SUN

    If you have nice weather where you live you can just grow them outside. You can get great results depending on weather conditions and how much sun you get. If you get sun all the time, expect BIG plants and BIG yeilds. Don't let plants stay out at night if it's too cold ( under 15C) though as this will slow growth. Monitor buds carefully in the last 2 weeks for bud rot.

    TEMPERATURE, HUMIDITY and AIR CIRCULATION

    Don't allow temperatures to exceed 30C (86F) as this will hinder growth. At night, stay above 15C (60F). Humidity can be between 20/50 the entire grow, too high and you could loose your entire crop to bud rot. Make sure you have fresh air circulating in your grow area at all times.

    LIGHT CYCLE

    18/6, 20/4 or 24/0? Which one do you choose? That is entirely up to you. There isn't much difference between them. 24/0 will produce slightly shorter plants and about a 5% increase in yield. That's about it. Just remember to give your plants at least 18 hours of light per day for maximum growth and yield.

    STRAINS

    Be careful when choosing seeds, especially auto varieties. Do a bit of research on a strain before ordering. There are many new auto strains popping up from different breeders all over the place. Some don't show the auto-flowering trait and will have to be put into 12/12 to induce flowering. This is a pain in the ass so rather go with a tried and tested strain and save yourself the hassle of it all going wrong 3-4 weeks from now.

    Here are some strains which I recommend and that have been tried and tested:

    Lowlife AK47 - High yield, strong, big plant
    Buddha White Dwarf - Strong, beautiful aroma, potent smoke
    Lowlife Blueberry - Very tasty, strong, good yield
    Dinafem Roadrunner - Strong smoke, good yield, not 100% stable but close
    Lowlife White Russian - High yield, strong smoke
    Lowlife Hindu Kush - Small, tasty, strong couchlock
    Joint Doctor Easy Ryder - Tasty smoke, high yield
    Joint Doctor Lowryder - Small, medium strength, low yield, low odour
    Joint Doctor Lowryder 2 - Tasty, medium yield, good strength
    Joint Doctor Diesel Ryder - Smelly, tasty, small, potent

    There are many more, but these are some of the best and most stable.

    TIME FRAME

    Ok, so how do you know if you're doing it all right? This time frame should give you an idea of what to expect and when. If your plant is considerably behind what I've put here, then go back and read again.

    DAY 1 - First real leaves emerge
    DAY 6-7 - Plant has 3 nodes with smaller branches beginning to emerge
    DAY 10-12 - 5 nodes
    Day 17-21 - 8 to 10 nodes, plant sex is shown. Very fast growth by this stage.
    Day 25-30 - Plant begins flowering and starts to stretch. Bud sites popping up.
    Day 35-45 - Growth slows, gets a bit boring, buds slowly develop more and more each day.
    Day 50+ - Buds begin to fatten, heavy trichome production and smell. This is the exciting part.
    Day 65-75 - Harvest.

    LST, SCROG, TOPPING & SUPER-CROPPING

    Yes, you can LST autos and it works a treat too! Start tying them down after they reach the 5th/6th node. I usually get 12-14 tops with this method. It also doesn't slow growth which is important. SCROG is also a great way to maximise yield. TOPPING and SUPER-CROPPING are big no no's though! There just isn't enough time for the plant to heal and so will actually end up reducing your yield quite a bit.
     
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  2. The reason you see a lot of problems with auto's is because mainly noobs grow them and aren't very experienced in growing yet. Just use less nutes then normal mj plants and put them on a 20/4 light cycle. They really aren't difficult to grow at all. I have a prepetual harvest every 2 weeks with my 4 afghan kush ryder that are always exactly 2 weeks apart. Never gotton under 2 ounces using 400 watt hps. Just practice on them, get some good soil and nutes but be really easy on the nutes.
     

  3. Yep. Pretty much all the people who complain of the yields and how small they are either don't grow them properly or have never even grown them. Most of my autos get pretty big (around 25" to 40" tall and 2-3 ounces) and bushy with many tops. If you grow them right, I find they are as good, if not sometimes better than some normal strains from 12/12. But that does depend on which strain of course.
     
  4. where do you get you seeds. is breeding the same with autoflowering plants.
     
  5. Nice post. Thanks for sharing. +rep.
     
  6. W.O.S afghan kush ryder and pakistan ryder are the best auto's i have found.
     
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  7. Hey,
    Yes breeding is pretty much the same except you need to polinate your females as early as possible to give enough time for the seeds to develop and mature.

    I get my seeds from the Attitude seedbank. I highly recommend them. Herbies are good too.
     
  8. Never posted on this before i use other forums and i know this is an old thread. but finally someone who knows whats hes talkin about, i dont understand all these tiny plants i keep seeing about. All you have to do is start them in the biggest pot you can because the roots grow so damn fast honestly, i grew sum easy ryders in DWC so i could see the roots and when the plants was at like 3-4 inches tall the root shooting out the bottom of the net pot was a ft long. Start them in a big pot and they will yield 2-3 oz a plant. Nice1
     
  9. #10 mattspyro, Mar 3, 2011
    Last edited by a moderator: Mar 3, 2011
    beast post bro +rep:hello:

    what nutes do you use?
     
  10. im hearing ONYX has great results , im groing afghan kush ryder right now , everything seems simple and its growing really fast

    great post!
     
  11. I need to keep my LR 2 short and will be using CFL's

    Can you offer some advice on lst / scrog ?
     
  12. Nice post! Could you go into more detail on nuets. Do you need veg nuets or just flower?
     
  13. bump ^^^
     
  14. Would it be smart to use mh during veg still? Or just stick to hps the entire time
     
  15. all i grow is autos and this thread is giving some good advice on autos stick to wat it says if you are a new auto grower and you can't go wrong
     
  16. I am planning to start my first auto's grow soon found this post really helpfull. Last days i am making reseach about them. i got one big problem and that is height i have only 3.2 ft to work and 5 sq ft. iam going to use a 400w hps with a cooler . Can LST solve that problem or still need for height ?
     
  17. I like this thread. Kinda basic but that's what a lot of new growers like myself need. I spent hours reading all sorts of different threads in different spots. Threads like this are very beneficial to not having to look everyone. Possibly start an autoflower sub forum?
     
  18. Agreed this thread is helpful..
    I am 2 weeks from harvest with a easy ryder..
    I also a week off a flash Babylon auto which I grew before,defo recommend this strain..
    Im not sure bout the whole lst thing but im tryin with an experiment easy ryder to see what I can do..
    3 plants in total..350w of cfl..
    Il try post some pics.
    Peace
     

  19. just thought i would poke a hole in your opinion of CFLs
     

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