Just watched the auto flower show from Shango Los. Great episode, and I’m convinced autos are here to stay, and possibly the dominant choice of growers in the near future. I’m curious though; who’s grown photos 12/12 from seed and have you also grown autos? What’s the difference?
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I just read somewhere about the pro vs cons. Ill try n find the source.
I can tell you the ultimate finding was growing autos produced more bud because they were matured naturally, whereas the photo didn’t have a chance to fully mature with a starting 12 n 12 schedule.
Areas on the Equator have a constant 12 hours of day light all year round. Plants can and will fully mature on a 12-12 schedule.
Autos will always have a place, but don’t be fooled into thinking they’re the future. They are not the economical choice.
12/12 from seed will yeild less and since a seedling won’t flower until about 4 weeks anyway the only benefit is electricity savings. That’s my opinion about it.
I haven’t grown autos or 12/12 from seed.
I finished my second grow a couple of months ago. First round was all autoflower. I wanted to focus on fundamentals and trying to dial in environmentals for my new room.
Before my first equipment purchase though, I had my heart set on growing my childhood favorite, Thai.
Everything I new and read about it though, was that they get TALL.
In order to mitigate the expected stretch, I planned to go straight to flower with a couple of the beans.
I did let them go for about 2 weeks in veg room first, but put them in with the other 4 strains that had been vegging for closer to 6 weeks.
They took a couple/few weeks longer to begin flowering than the others, and the flowers took longer to mature (consistent with the strain), but the size of the plant stayed more consistent with their autoflower cousins from the first grow.
Autoflowers have their place. Like in oversized veg rooms, outdoors in northern climates or planting outdoors out of season. Ive only planted seeds late around June 21st in a region almost at 12/12 year round. Those plants grew about 16in tall and had 4 nodes with buds and a top, didn’t branch out at all. The thing with autoflower is that they have a built in potential from seed but it’s unknown until you plant it. Ive had barely 1oz plants up to 3.5oz autos(3 weeks longer veg without showing sex). They need to start marketing flowering time and expected yields so we can better decide. No more 4gram 3inch main cola gambles. Be curious to hear from jmystro as he stated he’s ran a few from 12/12.
Quality genetics from seed tend to have decent vigor. That’s plant specific though. Most seeds I’ve run from the start on 12-12 ended up 3 to 6 foot. Plants that finish in under 8 weeks can still have enough vigor to reach 4 foot while other more squatty plants that want to grow lateral branches turn into a 2-3 foot bush. Longer flowering plants can finish quite big. Growing from seed is always a crap shoot. Every seed, auto or photo is mature enough to start flowering at about a foot tall. Their vigor will determine how much they grow through the transition.
I’m a new grower playing only with multiple varieties of Mephisto Genetics in a 4×4 tent, 12gal hybrid-hempy living organic soil tubs, with plenty of DIY LED above and T5 fill/supplemental lighting running24/7, 6-8 plants with plenty of space, my yields have been between 110g to 289g dried dense crystal coated tops per plant with virtually zero larf or trim in between 64-73 days from seed. My only affiliation with Mephisto is that I send them money and they send me seeds, and I am simply amazed. The problems with autos are not going to be fixed by breeders, they already have been fixed. As far as potency, I have not tested yet, but my 77 year old hippie medical pain orthopedic patient tells me it is the best she has ever smoked. As the grower, i won’t go that far, but as your Zen Master i will say that there is no need for control Grasshopper, when these autos pump out nothing but buds before any disease/pest/issues even have a chance to develop.Get them off to a good start in the first 35 days, which in my case means a simple organic soil blend and weekly microbes from the top and hempy tubs topped off with water every 1-3 days, and you are cruising home for the next 30 days til harvest. Genetics, genetics, genetics, and keep it simple stupid, my keys to success.
Fyi: For me, Gold Glue yields between 110-150g, Sour Livers, Ripley’s OG and Forgotten Cookies have given me 138-225g and so far White Chem has been the star of the show averaging close to 200g per plant including a 289g monster that I was fortunate to have taken a small clone from when I accidentally topped it during “aggressive” low stress training early on. I reversed that clone and have a nice pollen stash from this plant as well as seeds from the reversed clone itself which I am growing out currently. Now, I take a clone from every auto plant I grow solely to reverse it and save pollen just in case that plant turns out to be a “star”. Cloning autos works great for that purpose but not for producing any plants for consumption use/yield. I have also found that all of the varieties I have grown so far respond well to aggressive low stress training after day 15 or so and simple topping after 4-5 leaf sets. Fimming technique has not worked as well, stunting plant growth significantly more than topping if topping is done when top has previously been tied down low and side branches have been allowed to achieve apical dominance over it.
Great info dudes, thanks for the replying
Personally I don’t think there is any good reason to grow autos indoors. Your just giving up control and not really getting any benefits in return. They make sense for doing outdoor crops in the off season or doing outdoor crops in northern latitudes, but that’s about all I would use them for. I think in pretty much EVERY other situation people would be better off growing normal plants.
People have been getting grumpy with me for saying such things lately, so I’m learning to just keep my mouth shut about autos…
Y’all grow whatever makes you happy!
(I just think you’d be happier with regular seeds. 😉 )
Fuck autos. I have no issue saying it to anyone.
Lol. I miss you bro. Hope you’re doing well.
I preface this by saying I have little grow experience, and zero experience with autos. This sounds like people doubting the invention of the car, or internet. Yes, autos lack in some regards, but the breeders are going to fix that. Just a matter of time. I see the potency, terps and flavonoid profiles becoming comparable to photos. Pure landrace photos are a niche that are important to a few growers, but I don’t think most people care. Soup, anyone that gets grumpy with a different opinion needs to smoke a bowl.
I am currently searching for the best landrace photos to breed with my Mephisto autos and then backcross to landrace, restabilize as auto, then backcross again and again, until….