Photos vs Autoflowers... real talk

definitely doing that my sour diesel is in its fourth week of flower and the autos are still in the seedling stage, my notes will be thorough

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I like that!

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I’m not a fan of autos. The only reason I see to grow them is if you can’t control the light. As far a speed. From seed to harvest. They can be the same. Your average photo takes 3-4 weeks to be mature enough to flower. Same as autos.

Biggest Pro photo. You grow a strain that’s a perfect 10 in your book. You can reveg and clone. And keep the strain indefinitely… Having that perfect bud for years, or until you get tied of it :slight_smile: You don’t need a lot of space or light to clone.

Ill always take photo seeds over autos. But won’t turn down auto seeds :slight_smile:

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I’m in the same mindset as @MW70, in that I prefer photos. I’m a clonaholic tho, and that gets me in trouble frequently!
However, autos DO have their place, outside as @CMichGrower stated, need to have them finish by mid-September to avoid the Vancouver atmospheric rivers that start around then. And it’s too hot in the summer to do a really good tent run (I’m finding), so photos fall/winter/spring in the tent, autos in the summer outside.

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Ive grown autos… havent done any in a while though. I enjoy training my plants. With photos i can train any way i like and can give her time to recover as many times as i like… with autos in my experience, i cant train any or as much as i would like. Autos are like crazy Karens. You never know what kind of sporadic temper tantrum she might have and not have time to recover well before she really gets into flower…

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I think @Nicky does auto flowers, and if I am right, he does them well. We will see.

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@Not2SureYet is an outstanding auto grower.

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Thanks @Myfriendis410 It looks like most has been covered above. I started with autos and they just liked me. I haven’t really figured out why so many don’t like them. As for advantages. I do think photos give a lot more options when it comes to growing and training. If I was going to advise a new grower what to do first. It would be an auto hands down. Here is why.
When you are new. You want to be hands on and always looking at the plants. With autos. You don’t have to worry about light schedules. The change automatically. With an auto. I was opening my tents all the time during their dark times and never had an issue. I wouldn’t do them un less you are in coco though. It is way more forgiving in my opinion. Starting these are the same as photos. If you do an auto for your first plant. Tag a few auto growers. I know I can tell you what to avoid when starting a seed. They say you can’t over water in coco. Which is true. But not for seedlings. I start mine in rooters. Water the nursery bag to run off. And don’t touch it for 4 days. I let it dry out quiet a bit. Water to run off. And by the end of the week. You will have a healthy seedling. I probably grow my autos a little different in I change my lights to a 12/12 during flower. And get the same results as if I was on a 16/8. Maybe even better since my biggest auto was on a 12/12 for flower. Once you have grown a plant. You may want to try a photo if you want to try training harder. But they are right. it seems we either love, or hate autos :laughing: I am an auto lover :laughing: I have to laugh at @ChittyChittyBangin s post above. He is spot on. With most autos. Un till you grow at least one plant of that strain. You will not know if it is a 3 oz plant or a 12 by nature. Most hit in the 5 - 6 oz rage pretty easy though.

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I like the photos because they grow bigger for outside. I call mine BIG MAMA!!

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Hey BIg Mamma!!!

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I also grow auto’s inside as a novelty, they look like a smaller version of big mama, I think they look kool

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stunning!

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Great responses in here.

Let me add this for an auto pro. If you can’t afford great lighting, being able to flower your plant on a lighting schedule up to 24h will allow you to reach DLI even with lower powered lights.

I like that they keep me on track with following schedules if I get sidetracked. I also think like @Borderryan22 in regards to having a ā€œbonusā€ harvest during a grow that’s taking longer.

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There’s no right or wrong answer for photos vs autos, but for me autos just fit my style of growing or maybe my mindset better than photos do. The original reason that I switched and gave autos a try is because I used to be ridiculously neurotic about light leaks. The efforts I went through to make sure I had plenty of air exchange into and out of my tents and closet while not allowing any light to leak through was exhausting. I used to build plenums around my intake spots, or bend black-out ducting into multiple S shapes, but that always put more of a strain on my exhaust fans and cut down on the CFM’s I was moving.

Once I gave autos a try, I took all that stuff apart and now I don’t worry at all about it and my air flow is much better.

It’s been a few years since I switched to autos, and ever since then I’ve been refining my techniques and gearing my set ups specifically for what I’m working with. I think this is where some of the divide comes from. Someone who grows photos and keeps mother plants for clones is going to be focused on totally different things than me, and their setups will reflect those differences. I’m certainly not looking to compete against anyone, but I feel like I’ve developed a system where I can crank out super quality autos at about the same rate as someone who’s cutting clones off of photos. I have a nursery tent that I set up about 2 1/2 weeks before my current grow is finished. I get my seedlings started in there, and then I transplant them once my big girls hit the drying room. This cuts a couple of weeks off a 13 to 14 week average time, so I can easily get 4+ harvests a year.

Last thing is that while I love growing any cannabis plant, I think autos definitely get plenty of unwarranted and unfair criticism. Yes, they can stunt and be low yielding, but I’d estimate that about 98% of the time that would be due to the grower and not the plants. They can also be monsters, and have great yields. And as long as you choose good reliable genetics like ILGM, Mephisto, or another reputable breeder, the buds are as nice as any photos I’ve grown.

These jars are buds from ILGM Wedding Cake, and Mephisto Creme De La Chem, Forgotten Cookies, 4 Assed Monkey, 24 Carat, Gold Glue, and Super Orange Haze. All autos.




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forrest-gump-tom-hanks

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forrest-gump-tom-hanks

@ChittyChittyBangin right behind ya!

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I rather grow all photos because of the long grow season here. BIG plants Great yields, My question is can a true photo be tricked by mother nature to Flower Early? I have went from starting warm , Then below normal temperatures for a month with lack of Sunshine, even though I don’t see pistols it looks almost like it wants to start flowering. mabey it’s just me counting chickens before my eggs hatch

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Back in mid May '21 when we moved to out house, my 4 patio clones I got in April were 20" tall. They barely fit in my Tahoe, and I have 36" at the hatch. Anyways, we had :poop: weather from about the 20th until mid June! My plants started to flower just from the lack of sunshine and really dark days. But that’s how I got my tent and my first light! Had to finish them in the garage!

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I was wondering if it was actually possible, Think I should pinch a little off ? The weather is supposed to warm up and get back to normal

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I think it’ll be fine, barely showing many hairs. If the weather improves I think she’ll straighten herself out. Mine were definitely forming buds, but that took until mid-June. We had a month of solid cloud with rain on and off. But NO sun…welcome to the wet coast!

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