New to autos ... Why are they flowering so soon?!?!

Ya, I have 3 going. My shorty broke soil and went through hell her first week. Seed membrane stuck for 3 days and I had to cut it off, then horrible rain for 3 days, then a worm got a cotyledon the first sunny day. But she is starting to thrive. I got a feeling she’ll be a runt.
My first grow so I’m not too worried. She’s been strictly outdoor with one my wife has going, except for a couple days after the worm got her. My.indoor girl is about 3 times the size and only 6 days young. If I make it to the end with any of them, I will be happy lol.

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The first plant you harvest is a real joy no matter how big or small

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I’m doing the beginner trial and error thing. My next one will be much more in depth. Just trying to finish the race this time. Going for the gold next.

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I appreciate your suggestion and I’m definitely not against planting the seeds in one home but can you please explain your thoughts on why you think the starter baby pot stunted the growth?

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Think of it like a goldfish.
Goldfish exude a hormone that stays in the water and once it gets to a certain level the fish stops growing. They grow to their container size. A goldfish in a large tank can get really big. Koi sized.
Because autos are on a clock so to speak, once they take stock of their environment they grow accordingly.
I use this to keep some plants intentionally small. I also found out that once they reach a certain point transplanting them does no good. Its gonna stay small.
This is not 100% for every auto.
I have had them take weeks to start flowering, but thats an exception.

That said, yours in the original photo is probably ok if you transplant it now. Dont wait any longer. Its probably going to be fine.

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A world class breeder, I won’t mention their name here, that specializes in autos, has growing tips on their website and they say that autos shouldn’t be kept in small pots very long.

They use 6” pots and transplant about 18 days, or thereabouts, from when the plant breaks ground. They say that when the roots get restricted by the pot that it can, and will, trigger the plant into pre-flower.

Their spin on it is that the plant knows that it has done what it can (mostly) under ground and switches to what it needs to do above ground.

Others that specialize in autos say that if using solo cups for sprouts that you should transplant about 7-10 days after the plant breaks ground….this time frame dovetails with 18 days for a 6” pot.

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@FlatLander I like this explanation. It fits my experience with autos.
However I have now switched to photo period because they are so much easier to grow.
Dont know why so many of us thought autos would be better to start with.

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Here is an example…Grew this great looking bud in just a small corner of the tent.


Here is the whole plant in its 6 inch pot.

Small space = small plant.
An auto wont come out of this even with a transplant. At some early point it locks in its growth pattern.

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That is great advice. Thanks for that. In the middle of my first grow with autos and I ran into all sorts of troubles with “little plant, big pot”, but I kept reading that you shouldn’t transplant autos. Good to have some guidelines.

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That’s normal timing 3 weeks , they about to start stretching , the only suck ass part is they not in they final pot but I would not transplant , I would cut the bottom half off the pot and put it a bigger pot with some good soil and hope they stunt much , but if you disturb them to much , you might risk the chance of stunting them , now is the best time but next run start them in they final pot in case the next one starts to flower early . It’s on schedule as it should be !

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@FlatLander Is correct. these need to be put in a final pot pretty quick. I do mine any where from 7 to 10 days. Waiting to long will really slow them down. I would say 18 days is way past transplanting time. or I mean when you should do it. Take a plant that has been transplanted at 10 days vs 18 and there will be no comparison. The 10 day one will be 2 to 3 times as big. You can take your time with photos. But autos respond faster in a bigger pot. Your best bet right now is to get yours into a larger pot if you can. I wouldn’t use bigger than a 3 gallon to gelp get her going faster. A 3 gallon will be more than fine for her :+1:

Here is an auto I am doing, it is in a 5 gallon pot.
7 days put in a final pot

14 days

21 days

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Thanks everyone! This has been really helpful. I talked to my husband the night before last and he said all of this made sense. Normally we transplanted them about a week to 10 days but we just got super busy and didn’t realize it would stunt the growth so much. Lesson learned! Going forward we’re just going to plant the seed in one pot :cowboy_hat_face:

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Just put 3 autos to go of the mix pack 2.0 , I’ll just do a briefing in Mt journal on them , if they come up and get going , fingers crossed :crossed_fingers:!
It’s been a long while since I’ve ran autos , hopefully they grow to put on a good show !

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I use these nursery bags here. Well, a size pretty close to them. Mine are out of stock. With these. You just drop the whole thing in to the final pot. No mess, no stress :grin: The 9x9 size is about the same as a one gallon pot. I have some of those that I use when I know I am not going to be able to get the plants in a final pot for a few weeks. Some thing to consider :grin:

https://www.amazon.com/ANGTUO-Biodegradable-Nursery-Non-Woven-Seedling/dp/B08PBN3PM7/ref=sr_1_6?dchild=1&keywords=Biodegradable+Non-Woven+Nursery+Bags+6.3+z+7.1&qid=1626454531&sr=8-6

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