Issue #103 - Sunday, April 6, 2014

Dear Fellow Grower,

In today's issue...

• Learn everything you need to know about auto-flowering cannabis strains - Are they right for your setup?
  
• Learn which breeders are recommended for getting auto-flowering seeds.
• This week's Trophy Pic features the buds of an auto-flowering plant from one of our readers?
  

Happy Growing!
Nebula Haze & Sirius Fourside (founders of GrowWeedEasy.com)

"I've come to believe that all my past failure and frustration were actually laying the foundation for the understandings that have created the new level of living I now enjoy."

~Anthony Robbins

Table of Contents

Intro to Auto-Flowering Cannabis Strains

Auto-Flowering vs Traditional Cannabis Strains

In-Depth Differences Between Auto-Flowering & Photoperiod Strains

Note: Unless you've specifically ordered an "autoflowering" seed from a seed bank, chances are you have a photoperiod seed.

• How long until harvest?

• Which yields more?

• Which is more potent? What about smell and taste?

• What's better for medical marijuana patients?

• How big will each plant get?

• So I heard autos need a special light schedule to start making buds...

• What if I run into problems?

• Which is better for growing outdoors?

• Can I use plant training methods?

• Can I clone plants (make unlimited new plants that are all the same as each other)?

So You Want to Grow an Auto-Flowering Plant?

• Which breeders can I trust for good auto-flowering seeds?

• Pictures of Auto-Flowering Plants - What do they look like at harvest?

• Time-Lapse Videos of Auto-Flowering Plants - See how autos grow

• Simple grow guide to growing auto-flowering plants in soil

• Additional Growing Tips for Autos

Autos descended from wild Ruderalis cannabis plants that likely originated in cold climates with short summers. The original Ruderalis plants were a type of wild hemp.

Auto-flowering plants will grow for about 3 weeks and then automatically begin flowering (making buds).

In general, auto-flowering plants produce buds that are ready to harvest in just 2-3 months.

For the first few weeks, autos only make vegetative growth - stems and leaves. After their short "vegetative stage" ends, the plant will start making buds.

After a 1-1.5 months or so, most auto-flowering plants will stop growing "up and out" and will no longer make new stems or leaves, instead all energy until harvest will be spent only be fattening and ripening buds.

Because of their short vegetative stage and lifespan, auto-flowering strains tend to stay relatively short no matter what the grower does, and are ready for harvest sooner than most traditional cannabis strains.

Unlike traditional (referred to as photoperiod) strains, autos don't need any special kind of light schedule to "tell" the plant to start budding. With a photoperiod strain, the plant needs to get 12+ hours of darkness a day to initiate flowering (making buds).

When growing photoperiod cannabis plants outside, flowering begins when the days get shorter. For outdoor growers, this also means that plants must be planted at the right time, and they grower must choose strains that will finish in time before winter.

Inside photoperiod growers initiate flowering by giving plants longer dark periods (usually by putting their grow lights on a timer). For indoor growers, this means that it's difficult to grow a photoperiod plant without a dedicated grow space that has been made light-proof (to allow for 12 hours of uninterrupted darkness each day while the plants are flowering).

For an auto-flowering cannabis plant, a grower doesn't have to worry about those factors. Every auto-flowering plant will start blooming (making buds) after a few weeks no matter what light schedule is provided. For outdoor auto growers, there's no need to match up the strain with your local time zone or plant at the perfect time - simply plant autos when you know you have at least 2-3 months of warm, sunny weather, and as long as you care for your plant you will be rewarded with buds to harvest.

Auto-Flowering

Autos generally are ready to harvest sooner than photoperiod. Most autos are ready to harvest 65-75 days after being sprouted from seed. Some "super autos" have been bred to grow very big and can take up to 100 days before harvest, though nearly all autos are ready to harvest in under 13 weeks (91 days).

When purchasing auto seeds, good breeders will be able to tell you how long the strain will take until harvest. It's important to note that most strain breeders will tend to provide the shortest time frame they can, and many autos will produce better yields and higher potency if left for a week or two longer than recommened. 

How do I know when to harvest my plants? - Basically you can look at your buds under a magnifier to know exactly when to harvest for top potency.

Photoperiod

Photoperiod strains generally take longer before harvest compared to autos. Most photoperiod strains are ready to harvest 3-5 months after being sprouted from seed, though the final time depends a lot on your grow style and which strain you choose.

Learn more about how long it takes to grow cannabis plants

Which yields more?

Auto-Flowering

Autos, when taken care of throughout their life, generally yield up to about 4 ounces of bud per plant.

Many growers end up yielding 1-2 ounces per auto for their first grow. Very small plants (such as the original Lowryder, or any auto plants which run into major growing problems) can produce a half ounce or even less.

In some cases, growers with a lot of experience, great starting genetics and perfect conditions can yield up to 6 ounces per plant or more.

It's important to remember that one of the advantages of growing auto-flowering cannabis strains is most growers can produce several harvests a year (since the lifespan of each auto plant is very short).

See auto strains recommended by experienced auto growers

Watch time-lapse videos showing Auto-Flowering plants (and learn their final yields)

Photoperiod

Photoperiod strains are a lot more variable about yields than auto-flowering plants, because growers have a lot more control over the size and shape of the plant, which has a huge effect on yields.

Outdoors, your yields will depend a lot on your climate. Warm and sunny with many hours of light a day will produce plants with bigger yields.

Indoors, generally your setup is the biggest determining factor of your yields.

Learn more about indoor setups and what types of yields to expect

5 Ways to Increase Yields With Growing Indoors (with any strain)

Beginning-to-End Indoor Grow Journals with Yields

While there are fewer auto-flowering strains to choose from, the potency is about the same for autos and photoperiod cannabis plants.

For example a "Blue Cheese" auto generally has been bred to have almost the same bud characteristics as a "Blue Cheese" photoperiod.

Luckily for auto growers these days, most people seem to agree that the potency is about the same for both the auto and photoperiod version of most strains.

In the past, buds grown from auto-flowering strains tended to be less potent than buds grown from photoperiod strains. This is because auto-flowering strains are decended from a type of wild hemp known as Ruderalis, which does not contain high levels of THC or other cannabinoids.

Yet in the past decade, auto-flowering strains have continued to be bred back with famous photoperiod strains, and the offspring that maintained the auto-flowering characteristics and produced the most potent buds have been selected for auto-flowering breeding programs.

Things have come a long way since the original "Lowryder" auto plants which were not really as potent as traditional strains. 

Now, most auto-flowering strains are comparable to their non-auto-flowering counterparts. Most growers seem to agree that auto-flowering buds are just as potent as photoperiod buds.

Smell & Taste - When it comes to smell & taste, the same rules apply. While there are fewer auto-flowering strains to choose from (though the list is growing each day), the smell & taste of each strain is similar to their photoperiod counterparts.

Learn how to improve the smell & taste of your buds

The one difference I've seen noted is that auto-flowering buds tend to be a little bit leafier (grow more leaves among the buds) than traditional strains, and therfore may need a little extra care during trimming to get rid of all the leaves. Some growers don't bother trimming them at all, since most of these "sugar leaves" are covered in THC-encrusted trichomes and resin.

It's important to note that some photoperiod strains grow in the same way, and I don't believe that extra leaves during the budding process is necessarily a bad thing. If anything, the extra leaves seem to power the growth of buds, causing buds to swell up more in a smaller amount of time with the same amount of light.

As I mentioned above, the buds produced by auto-flowering vs photoperiod plants are about the same potency, and have very similar characteristics. They also seem to work similarly for patients using the buds for medical marijuana purposes.

The biggest difference for medical marijuana patients is there are fewer auto-flowering strains to choose from. Though the list of available strains is growing every day, you may not be able to find the strain you're looking for available as an auto. 

Many medical marijuana patients get great results with auto-flowering strains. If you can find a strain that works for you, and you are set on growing an auto-flowering plant, you will be happy with growing autos. The buds usually have similar effects.

Auto-Flowering

Autos tend to stay short naturally. In fact, it is difficult to produce very large auto-flowering plants because they have such a short lifespan. They only grow bigger and upwards for about 1-2 months. The rest of their lives are spent fattening buds.

Generally auto-flowering plants will stay under 4 feet in height. On average, autos grow 1-4 feet tall by harvest time. The final height of each auto depends a lot on the strain you choose. You can also use some non-stressful plant training methods like bending tall branches over (LST - low stress training) to help prevent stretchy autos from getting too tall.

More tips for growing auto-flowering strains including how to LST them

Photoperiod

Photoperiod strains can be trained to grow into basically any size or shape.

Remember, sharing is caring!

Jump to...

Auto-flowering vs Photoperiod strains - by grower EasilyUsed

What do I need to get started growing cannabis indoors?

How Long Does It Take to Grow Weed?

Check These 7 Things & Cure 99% of Marijuana Growing Problems

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