Peoples interest about autoflowering cannabis plants and how to grow them have been exploding in the recent years and will continue to grow more and more as new and even more potent and powerful autoflower plants reach the seed market. The Google trend shows us that in the last year alone autoflower searches have almost doubled and people want to know more about these magnificent plants.

autoflower google trend

I have been creating articles about auto flower growing for the past two years and now I want to post a complete autoflower grow guide with a bit of information about each subject with a link to the more detailed article.

 

Why grow autoflowers?

First of all you should know why to choose autoflowers over the  regular photoperiod plants?
There is a complete answer on the homepage, but in short autoflowers are small, stealthy, they grow fast, produce big yields, have amazing mold, pest and insect resistance and as an added bonus can flower under any light cycle. These all are amazing possibilities every grower should see and think about but the main autoflower grower group are the newcomers as these plants are really easy to grow and can be a great starting point for those who want to cultivate their own weed!

Apart from the short strains there are also bigger, heavier auto strains that are almost as big as regular ones but will still flower automatically and these are called the “SUPER” autoflowering plants.

 

SUPER autoflower strains

These SUPER strains as I mentioned before are amazing as they are basically a regular Indica or Sativa strain with the added benefit of the autoflowering gene and additional mold/pest resistance. These strains were created with countless breeding cycles to get rid of the dwarf traits and get a truly high yielding autoflower plant.

You can read more about these SUPER autoflowers HERE

 

Autoflower Females vs Males

male and femaleRegular(non-feminized) cannabis plants are two gender species and any regular seed will get 50:50 chance of being male or female. This ratio is good for seed creators and autoflower breeders but not good for the regular growers as we need just the females. The feminized seeds will give you about 99 % female ratio and that means no more male removals or unchecked males pollinating the garden. Autoflowers are in no way worse than the regular cannabis when it comes to hermaphrodites but sometime they will come and you generally want to stay away from them unless you want to create female seeds as a female plant that shows some male pollen sacs is the way to create feminized seeds.

Indoor autoflower grow vs outdoor autoflower grow

Autoflowers can be grown indoors and outdoors and both places have their advantages, but it basically is up to you to decide the best growing environment. Here are some advantages to indoor and outdoor growing:

Indoors

  1. Autoflowers can be grown stealthy in mini cabinets,

  2. You don’t need to change light cycles,

  3. You can grow them in the vegging room where regular photo-sensitive plants are growing,

  4. You can get a harvest every two months from seed.

Outdoors

  1. You can get multiple harvests in one season,

  2. Autoflowers are adapted to resist pests and mold,

  3. They stay small and won’t be noticed by unwanted eyes,

  4. They can grow in any time of the year if the temperature is not below 10 to 15 degrees Celsius.

How to choose seeds

Before growing these autoflowering plants you need to get some seeds because these plants are pointless to clone as I explained here.

So, when you want to start growing an autoflower plant you will have a broad choice of seeds and strains. Often all these different strain varieties can overwhelm you, but basically you need to think about your growing conditions and space as well as the THC to CBD ratios and the smell and taste you want.

You also need to think whether you want Feminized seeds or Regular ones as Feminized seeds are pricier but they will give you all females whereas the Regular Ones will give you a 50:50 chance of Males and Females.

If you have a small grow room then you need to get the smaller Indica autoflowers but if you want a taller one for outdoor or indoor grow operation then the Sativa dominant autoflowers will be good for you.

Regular autoflowering seeds are good for breeding purposes but the feminized ones will give you close to 100% female ratio and you won’t need to waste soil or growing containers/space to grow plants and then get rid of the males.

Growing medium

You can grow autoflowers in soil, soilless mix or hydroponically but for the purpose of this guide I will just give a small introduction on soil growing.

Basically there are two types of growing mediums: With and Without nutrients. The ones with nutrients can usually nurture your plant for the first weeks of its growth but the soil/soilless mix with no nutrients will need all the nutrients to be supplied artificially with fertilizers. The mix with nutrients usually has slow release of these nutrients so they get available slowly and won’t damage your plants but the soilless mix has a neutral PH and no nutrients!

If you want to learn more about autoflower growing in soil then visit this page.

 

Watering

t5 lights autofloerLike any other plant watering cannabis is necessary because water is the lifeblood of the plant and all the nutrients dissolve in water so then your plant can absorb them. Remaining(unused) water is evaporated through the leafs in the photosynthesis process and that evaporation is how these plats keep themselves cool even in the hottest of summers.

Each growth stage of the plants life requires a different approach to watering. In the vegetative and flowering phases you need to supply a lot of water as these plants will use up quite a bit of this stuff. In the germination and seedling phase you need to add a little bit of water with a hand myster or pour it directly around the plant. A cup of water should be enough and for the first days even a cup will be too much. As for the timing, you need to check the soil humidity with a soil humidity meter or by just checking it with fingers. If it is dry then it is time to water. In the vegetative and flowering stages you will typically need to water once every two days but it all depends on the temperature and pot size.
A good way to know how much and when to water is this: if the pot feels light then water it until there is a little runoff water at the bottom of the pot, then let your plant grow and use up all that water till your pot feels light again.

Over Watering and under watering can do some damage to your plants and in extreme cases you can irreversibly damage your crop. Signs of under watering is wilting and weak stems but overwatering can express itself as a yellowing of leaf tips and it is the most common autoflower growers mistake.

A complete article on watering can be found here!

Nutrients

Cannabis plants need nutrients to grow and produce leaves, stems, buds and even seeds, and without nutrients your autoflowering plants will die but with too little nutrients they will struggle to grow and will be pale, with small leaves and almost no yield. From the other side too much nutrients will stress your plant by producing nutrient burn and a severe case of this nutrient overdose can also cause plants death.

Basically cannabis plants need 3 main nutrients – Nitrogen(N), Phosphorus(P) and Potassium(K). There are also some secondary nutrients and trace elements but almost all of the pre-mixed soils and fertilizers have those needed elements. If you are using soilless mix then you will need to supply your plants with nutrients using fertilizers, because they always have the secondary and trace elements. The main elements are expressed in the N-P-K  ratio (for example 10-10-10) and the numbers presented mean how much percentage of that solution is each of those main elements. In the 10-10-10 example, you would have a 10 % nitrogen, 10 % Phosphorus and 10 % Potassium and it would be an all around growing mix.

If you want to know everything about nutrients you can go to my most popular post about autoflower nutrients.

PH

If we are talking about the growing mediums and fertilizers I need to mention the PH scale and that autoflowers like a PH of 6.2 to 6.5 but some slight variations won’t affect your plants that much. If you don’t know what the PH scale is then you can read a detailed article on autoflower PH here!

Grow room design

When growing autoflowers indoors you need to also think about the Grow room design, ventilation, lights, humidity, temperature and other factors that could affect your plants growth.

First of all there is the space where your intended grow room will be and this can be anything from a PC case or a cabinet to a large scale room or office. In this guide I will only be talking about smaller grow rooms as usually large scale growers know what to do.

So when you choose your grow space you should think about how much light you will have and how much plants you will be growing. If you choose smaller autoflowers that will only get 40 to 50 cm in height then you should be fine even with a small cabinet on top of your closet or any other place where you can safely install lights and ventilation equipment. Another cool way to grow your autos are the Space-buckets that are a home-made growing domes made from plastic buckets.

After you have chosen your grow room location you should first think about the Light you will be using. There are multiple choices for you that can be a bit confusing at first, but when you understand the principles then it is quite easy to select the best grow light.

There are LED lights, compact fluorescents, T5 , High pressure Sodium and Metal Halide lamps which all are able to grow cannabis from seed to harvest. When choosing a light you need to know that different lamps give off different light spectrum and Intensity as well as more or less heat!

All plants will soak up light though small molecules in their leaves called photo-pigments. These photopigments are of different shape and structure so each one can take in different kind of light spectrum (light wave length). Different light sources produce different wavelength light and you need to know which light-source to purchase in what time of cannabis life. In the nature plants have adapted to the natural sun light cycle so they soak up all the visible light spectrum, but there are two stages of plants life and two different light uses. Cannabis plants love light that is mainly in the Red or Blue spectrum and that means the 650 and 475 nanometer spectrum. In the early stages of plants life they need more of the blue light so you need to supply a bigger color temperature light and the best are somewhere around the 6500K scale. But as the weed plant starts to flower it will soak up more of the red light that is in the other end of the light spectrum line and usually is found in the 2700K lamps.

HPS

High pressure sodium lamps are the golden standard in cannabis growing community but not so much in the autoflower world as mainly small scale growers are growing autoflowers. HPS lights are usually made for big operations because they produce vast amount of heat but they are also the most efficient as well if we compare the lumen to watt ratios. HPS light are best for the flowering stages of autoflower plant as they give off intense light that is high in the RED spectrum so that the right photopigments can soak in more of the red light. HPS lights are usually large and they chew vast amounts of electricity but with them you will be able to grow amazing buds.

MH

Metal Halide lamps are the second choice of regular weed growers but they are regularly intermixed with HPS grow lights because these bulbs give off more of the BLUE spectrum light that plants need in the vegetative growth. You will be able to grow a complete crop with MH lights but you will do best if you change to a HPS light when the plant starts flowering. For this reason Metal Halide lamps are usually used for seedling and vegetative growth of the plant and then growers change over to the HPS or different light source. MH light as well as HPS will give off vast amounts of heat so they are not good for small scale growers. But they are very efficient and will grow dense buds.

CFL lights

beautiful autofloer budCompact fluorescent light are more well known for lighting up our homes not growing weed but you can most definitely grow cannabis with them. Compact fluorescent lights are not as efficient as HPS, MH or LED lights but they are good enough and for small spaces they are amazing because they give off small amounts of heat and you can spread them out around the plant to get an optimum light spread to all leaves and buds. CFL bulbs are also the cheapest ones to buy because you can simply go to your local DEPOT store, pick them up and start growing your own plants. There are also different kind of Color temperatures of the CFL lights but the most common bulbs are the 2700 K and 6500 K lights so use the 2700 for flowering and 6500 for vegetative growth, but it is best to supply both bulb types for the entire plants life so mix them up and your autoflower will be happy!

T5 lights

T5 grow lights are the long fluorescent tubes you can see in offices and warehouses, but they are actually very good grow lights! They can be great grow lights because they spread the light evenly, they don’t get so hot and they are more efficient than the regular CFL bulbs. They  have the two distinct color Spectrum configurations as well and you should mix them up for the optimum growth.

More about autoflower growing with T5 lights here!

LED lights

LED lights are the new trend in the autoflower community as they produce low amounts of heat and each led diode will produce a specific color temperature light so they can be customized for optimum growth rates. LED lights are not more efficient than High Intensity discharge lamps but they are close! Comparing LED lights to other light sources I must admit, that they are perfect because they can produce specific light frequency that allows growers to pick specific LED lamps to meet their needs. That allows plants to better absorb the light and only the light that they absorb is created so the total efficiency for cannabis growth is higher than any other lamp. LED light  bulbs have a very long life span and some manufacturers say their bulbs are rated for 50,000 hours but in the real life you will get a much greater life span with small intensity or efficiency losses.

You can read more about each specific light at the light section of this website.

Ventilation

After you have set up a light source, you need to think about the ventilation and buy some vent fans that will blow air inside your grow box as well as outside from it and even circulate the air inside the room. A good rule of thumb is to purchase a fan that is able to get all of the air out of the grow room in about one minute. All ventilation fans have a rating of CFM that stands for cubic feet per minute and if you measure your grow room and calculate what is the total volume then the fan need to be able to move all of the containing air out in about one minute. There are different kind of fans but basically they are different in just three things: size, sound and the amount of air they can move.

For small grow room you may need only two exhaust fans but for larger operations with more plants you will definitely need more as the air inside the grow room needs to circulate because plants will take up all the CO2 of the surrounding space. If the grow room is small then the fan that blows air inside it can supply this air circulation but for larger grow rooms you will need an oscillating fan that will mix that air and your auto plants will love the fresh breeze and will grow faster Also the little stress that the plants will endure from that airflow will make them more resilient and with stronger stems so they can withstand the pressure from those buds later in their lifetime.

For the intake and exhaust fans you need to position them accordingly as the hot air rises inside the grow room. The exhaust fans need to be able to ventilate the hot air outside at the top but the cold air needs to be supplied at the bottom!

When you are thinking about the ventilation you also need to think about light leaks and odor control as cannabis is a strong smelling plant and if the smell is not absorbed by some material it will be present in the surrounding area around the grow box / room. The only thing you can do to get rid of the pungent smell is to introduce a carbon filter to the exhaust fan. This filter will take the odor out of the exhaust air and you or anybody else won’t be able to smell your marijuana plant growing. Carbon filters are in different sizes and shapes and you can even make your own from activated charcoal but the best filters are the ones that can be bought at the grow shops. They are made exactly for the odor control and usually are pre-made to go together with a specific exhaust fan. These filters will subtract some of the fan power so it won’t be able to exhaust as much air from your grow room so it is best to get 30 to 40 % bigger CFM than you need.

More about the ventilation and odor control here!

autofloer seedling close upReflective material

After you have supplied your grow room with light and ventilation you need to think about how your light is reflected from the sides of your grow room. If you are using a pre-made grow box you will have a reflective material pre-installed that will reflect almost all light back to the plants. That will increase their growth and in essence increase the lamp effectiveness. But if you are creating your own grow room then you need to install a reflective material on your own. Many growers use the plastic gardening film that is white on one side and black on the other as the white side is about 50 to 70 % reflective and will increase the intensity of the light inside your growing room. This plastic is cheap but not every grow room is the same and a white paint will also reflect some of the light. If the paint is glossy it will be more reflective. But the best solution for you is to get a mylar sheet that is specially made for grow rooms. It will reflect 99 % of the light and it is completely light proof, no light photons will be able to get out of your grow room. There are also growers who use the ordinary mylar foil or even the thin foil but the thing with foils is that they are not 100% light proof so they are not 100% reflective and they tend to crumble up so there can be some hot spots where more light is reflected and the plant can get burned at those spot.

Humidity

Auto flowering cannabis plants grow best in certain humidity levels and any changes could decrease the yield or introduce some mold and pest problems. Basically at the early stages you need to supply around 70 % humidity so your seedlings can develop healthy. Later when the flowering phase starts and your plants are starting to show white hairs you need to lower the humidity to about 40 % but some variations will not greatly affect your plants. Too high humidity will increase the chances of fungus and mold penetrating your garden and the plants will also not be able to grow to their full potential and respire water in the air so easily and they’re development will most likely be stunned.

Too low humidity from the other hand will stress the plant by not allowing the stomata (cells that are responsible for water respiration process and gas exchange) to open and close properly so the plant will again struggle to bread.

The humidity is measured by a hygrometer and it ranges from 0 to 100 % and that means that it is the actual percentage from the total amount that the air can hold in this temperature. As the temperature increases the humidity drops as air can hold more moisture and the reverse is true when the temperature drops. Temperature control can be good for humidity but the best way to increase humidity is to introduce water in the form of vapor or liquid. If you insert an open top container in your grow room  which holds water then that water will slowly evaporate and the humidity will increase, but if you want drastic changes spread some water in your grow room with hand myster or buy a device that is made directly for this purpose – electric humidifier. But if you want to get your humidity levels down you need to pour some salt in a container and set it inside your grow room. The salt will slowly absorb the water vapor and your humidity percentage will drop. There are also special dehumidifiers but they can be expensive to buy.

You can read more detailed article about humidity here!

Temperature

Temperature is another crucial part of cannabis life cycle as these small plants have adapted to grow in specific conditions that are present in the environment. Automatic plants grow best in temperatures that range from 24 C to 30 C  but some variations to both sides won’t affect them as much. Autoflowers by their definition are tough and in the spring and autumn the temperatures can get pretty cold so these plants have an increased temperature resistance and they can grow in almost any conditions where the temperature doesn’t get below the 10 C mark. If it does, then they start to greatly diminish yields and even die. Inside growers will most likely be faced with too hot temperatures and they will need to instal more powerful fans for the hot air to be exhausted faster.

Basically the temperatures can be lowered by increasing the exhaust fan power or by changing the light source from HID to CFL or in the best case to the LED one. There are also solutions where growers introduce glass directly below the bulbs and seal that part off and install different exhaust systems for both parts of the grow room, but in this case they are losing some light power and you will need to evaluate, how the grow room is coping with temperature before knowing your best solution.

Here is the complete temperature article!

Light schedule

Autoflower plants will grow under any light cycle but because cannabis is a C3 plant it gathers energy only in the light period and so the best light cycle is where the plant is able to get the largest amount of energy. That means that for the best case scenario you should let the lights shine 24/0(all the time). Autoflowers will also grow with a dark period and if you want to save electricity then you can grow them under 18/6 or 20/4 light schedule, but those plants won’t be as big and they won’t have as much weight. These plants will also grow under 12/12 light cycle but that will greatly diminish the yield. But you can easily stick them in the vegetative or budding room and get fast, amazing buds!

For more information about the autoflower light cycle visit this post !

Pot sizes

Pot size is another important part of the whole grow operation as too small pots will hugely decrease the harvest but too large pots will be hard to maneuver and you will waste a lot of growing medium.  Basically  weed plants need a gallon of growing medium for every month they stay alive so for autoflowers you need somewhere from 1.5 to 3 gallon growing containers (6 to 10 liters). For the small plants, that can be ready in less than two months, there is no need to pot them in 10 liter pots because they won’t grow that long to utilize all that soil and expand their roots throughout the pot. But from the other hand those large SUPER autoflowers will need at least 10 gallon pots, because they can get huge and grow for 3 to 4 months and they will definitely utilize the whole pot! Pot size can also be a good way to manage your cannabis plants size if you want to limit the growth as plants grown in smaller pots will stay smaller and for small grow rooms that can be a great benefit.

More on the pot sizes in this article!

Training autoflowers

Training techniques are used to lower the plants profile and to get more light on all the lower branches to create an even canopy. Training techniques have been effectively used to increase yields and maximize the grow space or lower the amount of plants necessary for the same yield. There are two types of techniques and they are Low stress training and High stress training where in the high stress training a plant is hurt in one way or another but in the low stress they are just slightly bent. Autoflowers are time sensitive plants and they don’t use the light cycle as an indicator for their flowering stage so they cannot be vegged as long as growers want. This is why you can’t High stress train autoflowers as from these incidents the plant may need a day or two to recover and if it lives only for 80 days then 4 days would be 5% of its growth and the yield loss will be even more significant. Autoflower growers usually use the Low stress training methods like Tie down or SCROG (Screen of Green) where they bend the main branch downwards to get more light and vital fluids to the lower branches to increase their growth rates. This happens because cannabis is a plant that advances the main cola to the sun the most and it does this with the help of auxins that flow through the plant but are in the greatest quantities at the top! When the plants main shoot is bend down the surrounding ones increase growth and soon they will surpass the main shoot and again can be trained down. This process will give you an even canopy and you will be able to get more grams from the same light and you will be utilizing all of your grow space.

autofloer LST

To Read more about the Low stress training methods go here!

Seed germination & planting

Autoflowers life starts with a seed and that means you need to properly germinate them to get a great germination rates and not to waste any money on seeds that just doesn’t germinate. Cannabis seeds can be germinated in two distinct ways: Natural in the soil or without a growing medium in a container. Both of these methods work well but each one has its own advantages. For example in soil you let the seed germinate as it would in the nature so it is the least stressful way but the seeds that doesn’t germinate will take up pots and will waste your grow space. But seed germination without growing medium is more controlled and you can control all the aspects and affect them as you like so you could potentially get more results. This second method is most widely used by autoflower growers and it just means that you put a seed inside a wet paper towel or toilet paper and seal in some kind of a container that will hold the humidity. These seeds will sprout in a matter of days and then you will need to transplant them in their final growing medium. But the organic method is even easier as you just need to dig a hole twice as deep as the seeds length in a wet growing medium and let it germinate like the nature is intended to.

There is one stage of seed germination that is different and that is the pre-soaking process. This process usually is done with older seeds and some growers say that it increases the germination rate. To do this you need to take a glass of water and dip your seeds inside. At first they will float on the top but after few hours they will sink and start sprouting. You can take them out at the moment when they sink or when they are sprouted but don’t let them soak for too long as they can die.

You can find out more about autoflower seed germination here!

Transplanting

When I mentioned the seed germination I said that you need to put your seeds straight into the final growing medium and this is because you don’t really want to transplant autoflowers. These small plants are not made for transplanting as again any stress will lower the yield and transplanting shock can be from few hours to a couple of days and that again is time your plant could have grown and produced leaves/ stems/ buds.

But if you must transplant them you need to do it really carefully and put them inside the same growing medium which is pre-soaked with PH neutral water. If you have a dark period inside your grow room you need to do the transplanting exactly before the night time and let the plant rest, but if you run your light 24/7 then do it at the evening as in the night the temperature will lower a bit in the grow room even if the light are on and that will allow your plants to cool off and regroup for the full strenght growth.

Here is an extended look at autoflower transplanting!

autofloer seedlingSeedling growth phase

When the seed is sprouted and the first leaves appear out of the ground, the seedling growth stage starts. At this stage the plant is creating massive root growth and it puts all its energy inside the expansion of the roots so the leaf growth is slow. This phase is crucial, but your plant needs no added fertilizer at this stage as any stress can kill it easily. You need to be careful not to do anything wrong. Humidity needs to be increased and those little plants need warm conditions but the seedling phase is short and it ends when the first true leaves appear.

Pre-Flowering growth phase

In the pre flowering phase the plant is undergoing the vegetative growth stage where a massive leaf and stem explosion will happen. In this stage the plant will grow really fast and it will need added nutrients that will allow all those new leaves and stems to properly grow. In this growth stage you need to start introducing fertilizer, but do it mildly applying ⅛ or ¼ of the recommended dose and slowly building it up to 1.2 the dose. The fertilizer needs to be rich in Nitrogen as this element is responsible for all the green growth and fluid transition in the plant. In this stage also the humidity needs to be lowered to 40 – 50 %. Small stress in the vegetative growth phase would not result in a plant’s death but it will result in diminished yield so as always be patient and care for your plants.

Flowering growth phase

autofloer female floeringThe real miracles start happening when your plant goes into flowering phase which can happen anywhere from 2 to 4 weeks and at this point plants will start to show the first signs of flowering – preflowers. At this stage growers usually identify males and remove them to get the sensimilia (seedless) garden. At this growth stage you need to supply your now flowering ganja plants with a humidity below 50 % and the ideal range is from 35 to 45 %. Your plants will also need different nutrients than in the vegetative growth stage and they need more Phosphorus and Potassium that will increase the bud growth rates and will allow them to swell and swell. Usually budding fertilizers are lower in the Nitrogen and high in Phosphorus and Potassium but the secondary nutrients contents are the same. From the first day of the preflowers it can be from one to two months till the harvest so a lot of things can go wrong but in general at these growth phases you’re less likely to damage the plant as it just need proper fertilizer and room temperature/ humidity to grow. As this stage comes to an end the flowers start to really swell up and the hairs start to turn brown. The trichomes that are on the plants where the active ingredients are will start to turn amber and slowly die.

Harvest

Harvesting your ganja plant is the best thing in the world as all the great work you put into it is over and you can chop off those buds. This is true but many growers doesn’t realize that this is the most crucial stage of your growing experience as too early or too late harvest will ruin the active ingredients of the cannabis plant so it won’t be of any use. The best time to harvest an autoflower depends on the strain but in general you need to check the trichomes and when half of them are amber then it is time to harvest that plant! Some sativa-dominant strains won’t amber up their trichomes and you can harvest them when about 10 to 20 % of them are amber, but indica dominant ones will do this degradation process fast so your harvest window is short.

You need to cut off the water for the last day or two to get more dried up plants but before that you need to flush the plants to get rid of the excess nutrients in them.

The harvesting process is quite simple and you just need to cut off the plant from the steam and cut the buds off the smaller stalks. But before doing this you will need to get rid of all the big leafs and manicure the smaller “sugar” leafs as usually growers make hash, oil or edibles from them and use only the most trichome rich parts of the plant for immediate consumption. When the manicuring process is done you need to start drying your harvest. The drying process needs to happen gradually in the course of two to three weeks and too fast drying will ruin the taste of tour weed. In this process your buds will lose from 60 to 80% of their mass and you can get the time when they are ready by weighting them with precise weight scales or by trying to bend one of the streams. If it bends they are not ready, but if it snaps they are ready for curing.

harvest time

Curing

The curing process is the final process after the harvest and it is done to get the best taste from your plants. In the curing process the buds are sealed inside an airtight container that lets the moisture come out from the middle of the bud and evenly spread throughout it. This air tight container needs to be opened few times a day for the first couple of days and then gradually the open rate will need to decrease to where the buds will be completely ready for usage. This process can happen from two weeks to several month depending on the strain and bud density as well as amount but it typically is done in a couple of weeks.

Storing cured buds

When your harvested buds are cured properly there is a little bit of moisture left in them that will give you the great burn but won’t ruin the bud if left inside a sealed container. You can store weed for as long as you want but it is best to use it in the first couple of months to a year because by this time buds will have evaporated all moisture and will not burn so good and will not taste as good also. With time the active ingredient count decreases as they slowly decompose in different kind of molecules. This storage process is usually done in an air sealed plastic bag or a glass jar and once every two to three weeks the container is opened for more of the excess moisture to evaporate and after couple of month those buds can stay inside the container for years without any oversight. These completely sealed storage containers need to be held in dark, cold places like in the freezer or basement, and will stay viable for years but most often than not you won’t store them as long 🙂 !

So if you enjoyed this extended autoflower grow guide and found it helpful you can share it with your friends to spread the word about autoflowers!

Tnx for reading, and I hope you learned something new!

117 Comments

  1. terry208 on

    The bud and sugar leaves continue to look good but I have now lost 95% of the fan leaves on my 11 week old auto bubblelicious the plant is close to 7 ft.tall I had to cut 6in. off the top due to space whats wrong with it? first time grower.

    • How the buds look? It is defiantly a nutrient deficiency of some sort but it may be that it is sucking those nutrients from fan leafs to swell the buds up. How are the trichomes looking? Is the plant close to finishing?
      I usually let my autoflowers grow for the last 2 to 3 weeks without any nutrients to get the best tasting bud and they always get yellow fan leafs some get more yellowing some less but it is natural.
      Basically in would be unnatural if you would harvest a completely green plant as that usually means that the nutrients are still there and you can get black ash when smoking.

      • terry208 on

        I now have new dark green fan leaves growing all over the plant also new flowers I know this can’t be right i’m just going to chalk this whole experience up to Genetics run amok and cut down this 7+ foot mutant before it climbs out of it’s pot and start s walking around i’ll talk to you later about my 2nd grow that is 2 weeks old i’m sure. oh, the buds are big and heavy and dripping with resin the trich’s. are 40% clear 55% milky and5% amber I quick dried one small bud to test the THC level and was locked-down for 5 hours from 2 med. hits, the dried and cured weed is going to be monster silly!

        • That really sounds like a monster plant 🙂
          Those could definitely be bad genetics, but if you have 55 % milky and the tested nug was fine then go for it and with a proper curing this will get you really high!
          Good luck with the harvest and the second grow!

      • Jack walker on

        Hi i am a first time grower i have auto seeds would a blue light work fine it gives of a nice heat and glow Tks

        • Hi,
          What kind of blue light? (CFL, T5, LED) Andwhat is the power output of that light (watts)?

        • Madeline Armer on

          Grown before but getting òĺd memories not same. Live in Alaska can’t grow weeds. Had a garden once but not regulating heat and humidity turned male. This sounds perfect. Can we do something to get some. Never did it it’s legal here. But I need help last one in basement had to carry water. Help me

    • 11 weeks = 77 days. I knows this is a bit late, but determinating plants have a serious end life day thay seems to be pretty consistantthrough the generations. Bare in mind, the determination date should have been supplied with the breeder information

  2. I am going to be starting my first season of autos in a month or so, I was looking over my ferts.. It appear I have some water soluble 30-10-10, so that would be my preflower fert, yes?

    Then I have some organic chicken poop, it says it 4-4-4. Do I need to get some blooming ferts or will this stuff be ok only?

    • Hi there, The 30-10-10 will be sufficient for pre-flowering and I think the 4-4-4 will also work for your first grow as autos don’t require as much nutes and you can basically grow them with almost any fertilizer.
      What strains are you thinking of growing and inside or outside?

  3. Toronto Money inc. on

    Love the site man. I’m a big fan of auto’s they are all I run in my grow room and on my outdoor rooftop grows.

  4. hi there,
    i just grow my super+ sweet for 11days for now, i am wondering if i am doing correctly or not for the pot size around 13cm and height about 14cm, also i used rockwool for replace soil(i used some hydroponic nutrient mix with water). Can u give me some advice, midowo ?

    • Hi Justin,
      I think you are doing everything right, but that pot may be a bit to small.

  5. Nancy Gallagher on

    I just started my first grow inside and also my first time with auto flowing plants. I am using an Aerogrow unit and I am very excited about it. Wish me luck!

  6. I really enjoyed the info. I am planning my first grow (outdoors) with ak autos from cannabliss.nl. Can anyone tell me what is the best soil to use for autos? I want to use a different soil because the soil where I will be planting is pretty much clay. Should the soil have added nutrients or should I add the nutrients myself. Also how deep should I dig planting holes for the autos?

    • Hi Bob,
      I have almost no outdoor experience, but I think time released nutrients work well outdoors but you can also use soil-less mix and add them later.

  7. My spouse and I are newbies and are attempting to grow an Auto Purple (feminized) and an Auto Blueberry Crunch (feminized) We are germinating strait to soil and read somewhere that the seedlings need only the first six hours (6 hours) in the dark and then should be placed under the flourescent lights. We therefore followed this advice and have had our seeds in their 5 gallon buckets of Miracle Grow potting soil under the light after only a few hours in darkness for the last 36 hours. Should we kill the lights at this point or? Thanks!

    • Hi Bosko,
      I think that it does not matter that mouch if they are in the light or not, just monitor the soil surface humidity and temperature as that light will make the evaporation faster but seedlings need moist growing medium to grow propperly.
      Hope this helps!

    • Uncle Byrd on

      I wish you luck… miracle grow really sucks for cannabis.
      My opinion of course but your experience may differ

  8. Mhai Thai on

    I am following your suggestions and experience and I am so far, VERY successful!! thank you!!

  9. First time AF growing experience. Northern Lights. Week 8. Growing under LED. The collas has a great potential,though there is not much hair on the buds. I mean,the amount of hairs per bud is low. Same story with Jack Herrer (AF),although on this plant most of the bud hairs already orange-brownish and still, the amount of hairs on each bud is very low. There is at least 1-2mm gaps between each hair.
    What has been done wrong? What can still be fixed?

    Hope that someone here knows something.

    Thanks in advance!

    • Hi Trolle,
      What LED lights do you have? I meant how much light do they output?
      It sounds like there is not enough light, some nutrient issues or simply bad genetics, but the third option is unlikely as you say two plants are like that.

      • Hi!
        Thanks for the answer!

        Well, i guess,it is probably the light issue. In the beginning they were growing under 600 hps ,and all looked very promising. Though, on week 3(i think) due to certain circumstances,we had to move them to another place with LED 77 Watt 20 stripes with 5 ultra’s stripes in it (40×40 cm). It is 4 plants . For instance,Short rider (one of them) is kind of ok.
        Do you think there is something than can be done to improve the situation or just leave it as it is and hope 🙂 ?

        Thanks again.

        • I think if you will add some additional Flowering ~3000K fluorescent or HPS lights then you will get more overall weight from those buds, but if they are already well into their flowering stage then maybe it is too late.

  10. I just started growing my 5 auto-flowers (carmel, skunk, black jack, haze and biodiesel mass) few days ago. I plan to grow them outdoor. Finished germination successfully with wet paper towels and I’ve put them yesterday in jiffy pots so I can transplant them easier after. Right now they are inside, inside seeding box with two glasses of water to keep humid under 2 fluorescent lights (cfl 75 with spectrum 6500k cool light) and today Carmel and skunk already started to show. Where I live there is a lot sunny days and a lot of humid but last couple of days it’s raining. In your opinion, what is the best time to take them out in real light-sun? And how much lights do they need now when they are inside seed box and f.lights (24/0, 20/4, 18/6…) because I don’t want them to be stressed when they come on sun? Any other advice or suggestion would be appreciated.

    • Hi BoBlack,
      If your plants are small then those CFL lights should be enaugh to keep them growing stedily, but I should advise you to get those bulbs as close as possible to those pants. As for the light cycles it would be best to give them as much light as possible and I would go with the 24/0 light, as these plants really do not need the dark period as I explained in this post .

  11. Hello!! Great site, thank you!! I’ve just started my first batch of bubbelgum, it’s going well but I have a few questions, can I take a stickling from my plant and plant instead of new seedsit? When or how should I do this? Also I will have to keep my plants in the dark for about 20 jours, can’t be avoided, how can I prep my plant for this? It will be 3 weeks from germination and 2 weeks up in the pot..
    Thank you so much. L

    • Hi, if you are talking about autoflower bubble gum then there is no way you can clone it as autoflowers have a pre-fixed life cycle, but if you are talking about regular bubble gum strain, then check out cloning techniques.
      For those 20 hours I think it should not be a problem and there are no preparations needed for your plants.

  12. Plant’s just started the flowering stage leaves at top of plant are curling inward on the edges what is wrong

    • There can be a number of different reasons for that, how is your PH level? what nutrients do you use and how often do you water them? Also what is the temperature in the grow room? all these factors can influence your plants growth and give those symptoms.

    • Helpful Joe on

      Old post obviously, but for anyone reading this question, the answer is heat. Curling at the edges indicates heat, also he mentions it happens only at the top of the plant which would be closest to the light (heat) source.

  13. CHRIS CT on

    My NL autoflowers are about 3 to 4 weeks into flowering and i am starting to get major yellowing on a lot of the fan leaves. I have 3 of them under a 1000 watt HPS and no nutrients as of now. Its my first time doing autoflower but have grown many times before. Am I feeding them too much? I wait until the top soil feels dry then I water but i am still getting YELLOW and DROOPY leaves. Can anyone help me please? Like I said I have 3 NL’s but the middle one is much more green then the side two. Same feeding schedule and light schedule. 20/4 HELP ME PLEASE!!!!

    • Hi Chris,
      This sounds like a Nitrogen deficiency but it may as well be something else.
      What king of Nutrients are you using and how often are you feeding your plants?

  14. closet_head on

    Thank you for the info on your website. My question is; Lets say you are growing regular non-auto flowering plants and during the vegetative stage you have them on a 24/0 stage light cycle. During this time you plants are growing at full speed. Then when it’s time to flower you turn the light cycle down to a 12/12. At this time the plants and I am referring to medium height indoor plants, dramatically stop there height and width growth. One, because they are know only getting half the amount of light, and two they are using there energy more towards the flowering it’s self.

    Now lets say you are growing some auto flowering plants, and you have had them on a 24/0 light cycle. They seem to love the light and are growing very vigorously. After about 4-5 weeks they start to flower. If you keep them on the same 24/0 light cycle will you notice a decrease in height and width as you would with a non-auto plant, or should you decrease the light cycle to get the same effect?

    Another question is can there be a difference in the length, and density of the bud in different light cycle. So, basically what I’m trying to ask is; which is the best cycle to use to get the best harvest result?

  15. Hi, great page, very informative and prob the best I have seen. I am a first time grower, trying an auto fem white widow out in a poly greenhouse ouside. my question is this: my seedling is 10 days from germ now has just sprouted its second set of proper leaves – very green all seems ok, but the first two (circular) pre leaves are browning at the ends ever so slightly – should i be worried? as i say the proper leaves coming through appear fine. Thanks in advance.

    • Hi Jim,
      This could be the first signs of some nutrient deficiency, I can remember some of my seedlings showing the same yellowing of those seed-leafs but as far as I can tell if you give your plant proper nutrients that effect should not advance to upper leafs.

  16. Hello Midowo,

    I must say, what a brilliant site! This site is the only one time site I need to research in order to have a successful grow of autos under my novice belt. Thank you for all your wisdom, info and experience.

    I am only stumped by one little problem which many friends have had in the past & for some reason cannot overcome it. I do not wish to encounter this same problem when I start mine this month in UK London (BTW would it be too late to start Betty Boo now or can I still grow it as its an auto, no matter when in the year?) (Outside on balcony in a green mini greenhouse?)

    Anyway, back to the problem. My question is: I am planning on doing a pure Organic grow in soil, PM old timers grow & bloom & PM soil. How does one control the PH of an organic grow?

    With hydro etc one must get the PH spot on & maintain it throughout grow, but with organic/soil, do I water at correct PH, only to find that the run off is different? If so how do you know what is the correct PH? Or do I just add 1/2 nutes to tap water & do not bother with the PH as the soil will buffer it to the correct level?

    Sorry to have gone on a bit but I hope you understand exactly what I am trying to say. Also, I heard from a friend, never to use PH Up or Down in an organic grow as you are adding chemicals & it is no longer organic, hence salt build up??? Would one use lime or lemon juice instead?

    As much info on this subject would be greatly appreciated as this is the only area stopping me from understanding a perfect grow.

    Thank you.

    • It most definitely does but there are a bunch of other factors(soil,nutrients,temperature,humidity,genetics..) that determine the size of your buds. But in general more light = bigger buds!

  17. I have grown a couple of crops and have never produced more than an ounce give or take per plant even though the claimed production was much more, my problem I think after reading some of the info here is that my grow room has no interior to exterior air exchange, I did not realize the importance of the co2 and the lack of it may be my problem, it seems that I would have cought on to this I worked so hard on my lights and soil, even the humidity and temp but not co2,looking to rectify this soon thanks to the info here.

  18. Thanks for that, the plant was ok, i used some very watered down home made nettle fert and it soon perked up. I have just harvested and drying as we speak. Not a great first result – I made alot of mistakes! (ignored the PH, Doh!), but it is all a learning curve. I have an auto purple just preflowered so fingers crossed.

    Thanks again,
    Jim.

  19. Justin Brower on

    My auto feminized blueberry from dutch passion has 3 sets of nodes and already has signs of preflowers, it’s about 4.5″ tall. Is it starting to flower? Im worried it’ll be small. Does the autoflower get bigger in the flowering stage or will it be the same size it is right now until harvest?

  20. Hello, awesome page. I was wondering if my auto blueberry from dutch passion, it is a feminized seed, if i stunted the growth, i have it in a 2.5 gallon bucket, no holes, i use my digital soil meter to tell me when to stop pouring water, the plant is nice and dark green, healthy, thick stem, about 4.5 inches tall, will it get bigger? Or stay the same height? It has 4 nodes on it, and started preflowering today. Any tips or info??

      • ScooterGirl on

        That’s bull. Autoflowers continue to put on vertical height for a good 2 or 3 weeks AFTER they start showing their sex as long as grow nutes aren’t switched to flowering nutes until vertical growth has stopped. WTF are you telling people they will stay only 4 or 5 inches?

        • Of course the plant can increase in size and I was not implying that every autoflower will stay that small, but I explained that there is little to do if you want to promote more rapid growth at that stage in the plants development!

  21. bettyboom on

    Hi Lovely green man. I love your page.. have my first auto fems in my tent atm… its 5 weeks since they germinated… theres no sign of flowering at all?? theyre in bio bizz all mix compost… had newt burn when i fed them first 2 weeks ago.. so have made newts much weaker..im using bio bizz. they look healthy nuff but no buds yet??? do I just keep going? theyre sposed to be ready in 3 weeks… lighting is 18/24 ive been ph at 5.8-6 … i have air cooled light on 400wt… extractor fan pulling in air from window and out of another… are they just slow? will they keep going after the 8th week? much love and light! BB

    • Hi, what is the strain you are growing? It could be an unstable breed or a super-auto with longer vegetative growth stage.

      • hi there I’m having a “problem” with some ak 77 auto flower. day 55 and still not pre-flowe. any idea what could be. they are under almost perfect conditions. thanks great article. ✌✌????

  22. Nuuskis420 on

    Hej!

    A great article! I read it carefully few times and I got the whole picture.
    I planed long time ago ti grow some autos, i bought in Spain some (sweetseeds) big devil and red devil (femilized).
    Just got the room done. Ill try to make a diary and some photos. So lets see how it works for a first time grower.
    I have smoked ganja for over 10y.

    Bless n peace!

  23. mikey wales on

    hiya im growing two feminized purple kush and three candy cane auto fem.im useing led lights.my kush is almost three weeks old and auto candies almost two weeks old.the autos r growing great but my fem kush not so good.there only about two and a half inchs tall and me tips r turning yellow only on the kush.im useing organic soil and bat guano.im medium level grower not that new.first time this ever happend.its drivin me mental please help.cheers mikey wales cyrmu

  24. tee ryan on

    i just started several auto plants under 4 ft t5 lights. can can one explain to me how long i should keep them under the vegging bulbs and then on to the blooming bulbs? thanx

  25. I have a Early Miss auto flower. Its in its 9th week but there still isn’t any amber or yellowing in the Trichomes . Should I keep letting it grow? Its grown under cfl’s It really healthy but according to the place The grow guide I ordered the seeds from says flowers in 7 weeks

    • Seed companies give those dates for plants grown in ideal conditions so under CFL lights it could take a couple of weeks longer!

      • Hi, my white widow Autoflower is 9 weeks old and have yellow spots on leaves what can it be?

    • Tricomes don’t tend to go that amber to be honest,I find it alot different to photo periods

        • Hi,

          Great guide and website thank you.

          First time grower here, going for a stealth grow in a pre built tool box, 50cm length, 30cm width and 48cm height. Bulb is 135w 6400k CFL, total volume of space is 92 litres.

          I know this is a small space and I won’t get a large yield but I’m a light medicinal user and just want to grow some high CBD strain to treat my illness.

          I’m wondering how many plants and what size pots to go for, any suggestions?

          N

  26. hi there! just doing my first hydro atoflower! can I put the seed straight under the 600w light fro germination?

    • I would not advise starting them under 600W light but give those youngones some fluorescent light. If you must then keep those seedligs away from that intense light and heat by creating at least a 15 inch gap between the light and your pots.

  27. Very informative article. I plan to try some auto-flower outdoors this year. You mention the temperature should be “10 to 15 degrees Celsius”. Is that for night time lows or day time highs, or ???

    • Hi, tnx for the comment!
      That is the daytime temperature. In the nighttime if the temperature does not dip below some 3 to 5 degrees C then your autos should be fine! In my experience I have seen some grows where the temperature in the nighttime was below 0 C and then those plants had some frost bites but they did survive and still produced some great buds!

  28. Great stuff, but why do none of your hyperlinks work? IE, get more info here & nada!
    Would be nice if they were good links, for additional data.
    Thanks for thus anyway ????

    • Hi,
      I just double checked all the links on this page and they all are working properly, can’t find anything wrong with them…
      Almoust all of them point to various on-site pages that were created to give more information about the particular subject.

  29. Hi, I like your site coz I like to switched to Auto-flowers,
    I have an auto in box where was a regular plant . And time there is 12/12. She was there one month and she has already started to flower
    what happens if I make a light 18/6 now? I mean the shock hurts my plant? If I do this gradually she also get a shock? And if yes, what about yields?
    Thanx.

    • Hi,
      If you have a stable autoflower strain then switching to that 18/6 should not harm it and the yield should be bigger because your plant will get more light that can be used to produce buds. If I were in your situation I would instantly switch to that 18/6 cycle and give my plants more time to absorb light and produce more yield.

  30. Magik Fingers on

    Wow all I can say is wow! I wish I found this first before over-killing my brain with too much info from forums, blogs, and youtube videos. And by far this is the most in-depth and simplified guide to growing Auto-Flowering Seeds. Kudos my Guru kudos!! I bow before you…

    First time grower here, just got done ordering my first batch of Auto-Fem seeds – 14 different strains, all from varies seed suppliers. I’m starting with Pyramid Seeds / Auto-Purple and Auto-Anubis which the website says they are a 56 day harvest and plant heights range from 50-90 & 60-130 cm. And eventually I figured I would work my way up the Royal Queen Seeds Northern Light, White Widow & Amnesia Haze strains.

    First off I have already did the baggie method after soaking the seeds. And now I have sprouts about 1/2″ to 5/8″ long. And I only have an organic universal soil to use this first batch, and I have two 3 gallon buckets which I filled 90% full(which i would have cut back to 70% if I read your guide first) but what is done is done. I even cut a liter water bottle(3″ long) exposing both ends completely open and placed right in the middle on the top of the soil about half way in and half out(and filled it about 80% inside with soil), then added a little more soil around the bottle for possible more security reasons(for rigidness). I read that this will help with the initial root growth forming faster so the majority of the energy spent on the roots growing vs. searching for the walls and bottom of the 3 gallon bucket I used, meaning it will have more energy for the initial sprouting of the plant out of the soil(and the open end on the bottom of the bottle will still allow for the roots to continue to grow downward and do their natural expansion after the roots makes their way out.

    1st question- Is this an ok method(the bottle method), is the initial energy helped by allowing the roots to find the bottle walls faster actually help conserve energy for the plant to grow and sprout faster upwards(easier) for the first 10 or so days instead of the roots growing and growing outwards and spending needed crucial initial energy?

    2nd question – I drilled 2 holes in the bottom of the buckets and flushed the soil out with about 5 gallons of water and allowed to drain for about 5 hours, the buckets are clear(hazy) so I can see there is still about 2-3″ of water at the bottom of the buckets(unless I need to drill bigger holes), but I know the soil is now full of water instead of the normal dry soil from the bag I purchased. So my question is did flush too much water? And did I wait long enough before for planting the seeds? I just did it last night at 2am (4/1/16) Europe time(basically 24 hours ago). I still see no sprout popping out of the soil and they are basically right at the top of the soil with a tad bit of loose soil on top.

    3rd question – how long should I expect to see the green sprout poke through the soil?

    4th and last question(for now my Guru) – I cut out the top of a liter coke bottle(which the width is a wider than the water bottle I planted in the soil) the coke bottle is the dome part with the cap at the top and basically I just set right on top of the planted water bottle for humidity reasons(instead of a baggie for humidity reasons). So my question is this an ok alternate? and if so do I leave the lid off so the moisture only has a little hole to escape or place the lid on to trap as much humidity in as possible or just let it sit half way on for extreme minimal humidity escaping?

    I know I just wrote a damn 5000 word request of your knowledge, but you sir seem to be right on que with your knowledge and I would like to go straight to the top for my beginnger information ;). So Mr. Green Guru any help and time you can take to respond to my 4 questions would be forever appreciated. I can even send pictures to an account or email if you need for a visual for better understanding of what I’ve done I will most certainly do.

    Thanks and much oblieged,
    Magik Fingers(soon to be)

    • Hi Magic Fingers
      Tnx for the kind words and it’s my pleasure to spread the knowledge of autoflower growing.

      Here are the answers:
      1- I have not used that method so I can’t know for sure if it would help the new seedling. But my thinking is that you should allow the new plant to naturally develop a big root ball eary on so it can take up much more water and nutrients and any obstacles to those roots can stunt the plant. But that is just my thinking as I have not used that method myself..

      2-I think that your innitial flush was ok and in 5 hours the top of the soil should have dried out just enaugh to give your seedlings a great starting enviroment. You have to be patient as it can take a couple of days for those sprouts to recover from “transplanting” and at first the tap root shoots down and only then those two seed leaves move upwards.

      3- 1-3 days

      4- I think it would be best to drill a couple of smaller holes in that bottle and keep the lid on. In the seedling phase the plant requires a lot of humidity but 100% humidity is too much so there should be some holes to let that humd air to escape.

  31. nick biodreamxx on

    hi MIDOWO!i got with a friend 3 autoblackbery kush and 2 autojack.i have 2 blackberies and one jack the resut my friend.i have put them in pots directly in soil outdoor mediteranean summer,on the 3rd floor.one problem is that i am at 22 day and i dont see developement as i expected.soil from garden store and 2 cfl lamps as they small.at 18/6 because i need to have them in the floor not at the balconyof 3rd.also i want 6h dark as they feel natural air and humadity condicions.but slow growth….maybe its the outdoor style …. more time but i worry at this stage its the vegetavive and most important at this stage.no feeding yet they are small after 6-7 layers thinking feeding but 22 th day and i am on second yet.-layers of leaves…!the other problem is you wont belive it how that happened my friend put 2 seeds in on pot 1 blbr,1 jack in the same po the rest condicions as mine.now what witith two in one very close each other…..thanks anyway….!

    • Hi Nick,
      What soil are you using? And how powerful are your CFL lamps?
      There can be a lot of thing going wrong with your grow starting from the PH to temperature or humidity.

      About your friends problem with two seeds there is nothing he can do because separating those root balls is nearly impossible. I thing the best course of action is to simply grow out those two plants and next time be more careful.

  32. Hey thanks for the site
    I have 2 critical 2 lsd and 2 white widow
    Critical has Ben growing for 2weeks under a 1200watt led
    And I just planted lsd in the same rdwc but they are a week younger
    And as of my white widow I have them in a dwc over them I have a 300watt led
    They are also the same age as the lsd
    Now since there still young they have only Ben feeding off of ro water ph 6.5
    I have carbon filter and three fans in a 5*5 and 6 ft tall tent
    18/6 is my light cycle
    I have general hydroponic organic nutes I know I have to cut the nutes in half to not burn my babies
    But my question is

    1 what am I doing wrong I’m a beginner and I want a really big yield
    My temp stays at 72 to 85 fh and humidity stays between 35 to 50

    2 when should I start feeding nutes and how much of what?

    3 is my lighting going to effect my results I was also planning on sticking a 900watt led as well ???

    • Hi Kyle,

      1 – As much as I can tell it all sounds very great and you should get a great yield from your set-up!
      2 – Sorry but DWC is not my specialty so I don’t want to give you false information.
      3 – 900W LED would of course be better than 300W but if you use the 900W fixture then check the temperatures because a 900W light can produce a bit more heat than a 300W fixture.

  33. Hi,about the ventilation,is the intake fan must be the same rate like the exhoist fan to blow the same amount of air as the air mooved out of the grow room

    • That depends..

      If you wan’t to minimize the smell and have a carbon filter at the exhaust then the exhaust fan must be stronger to create a negative pressure inside your growing area. But if you want to isolate your grow room from outside contaminants then you can create a more powerful intake fan and put a filter before the fan.

  34. Hello guys it is very helpful with ur vast info i will describe my conditions i live in a tropical place near the sea with the normal temperature around 30°C-34°C up except winter which doesnt reach 10°C my air has the tendency to corrode plants as it has high salt containt in air i am using a storage room not less the 8x10x4 its has a only door for ventilation with no direct sun light with open air flow almost constant and its first time i am growing. So plz help me what should i do

    • you need to install powerful ventilation or in the best case scenario an AC unit that would lower the air temperature and also filter the air from those salts and moisture.

  35. Hi
    Guys how are ya
    The blog is very helpful for me as i am a beginner i have many question for help if anyone can help i can send pics of my growing box which i think needs alot of improvement and for the outdoor grow my weather/climate is hard to deal with as it is arid near the coast line
    so less humidity and hot weather all year long
    Thnx

  36. Hey Midowo, thanks for the site! So much useful info here. Almost ready to start my first grow. I plan to grow 6 white widows in a 4×4 tent under a 600w full spectrum kind led. My question is will this light be enough to give me a good quality bud with good yield for 6 plants in a 4×4? Can I flower/veg under the same full spectrum led without hurting yield? Would it be worth it to save up for a separate veg light with more blue spectrum before I start my grow or just switch over to a kind 750w with an adjustable spectrum?

    • Hi Cloud9,

      I think that a 600W full spectrum LED light will be enough for 6 plants and you don’t need separate lights for VEG and Flower phases. The 750W light would be better but I bet that it costs a low more and you won’t nee that much more yield from it.

  37. Thanks for a great read. I’m getting ready to start my first ever grow. I’m growing 00 Northern Lights Auto Fem. can someone give me an in depth way to tell when this strain is ready to be cut down for harvest. I don’t wanna miss the window . Also I’m going hydroponic , so any tips are also appreciated .

  38. Hello, I am going to start my auto grow in soil in a green house. My question is how can you get more than one harvest from auto grows?

    • With autos that is not possible because you cannot regrow them. But that being said, you can harvest the top colas first and let the smaller nugs grow larger to get more yield from your plants.

  39. Hello, Thanks for your site with all this info. I have never been able to get a decent grow on autos at all, and I’ve tried 2 times. This will be my 3rd attempt, and I think my biggest problem, was the light schedule. They grew well, under the 18/6, but was stupid and threw them under 12/12 room with my others. They seemed to have failed in growth, so after much research and finally coming across this site, I think I will finally hit the mark. It was my lighting, and I know it. Didn’t know any better. I’m in Alaska, and usually use fems, but got free auto beans, from orders.
    Thank you for your time and input.

  40. I am 7 weeks into my first grow. planted 3 feminized amenesia haze. using a 1200 watt led in a 4x5x24 inch tent. I have had some problems with browing leaves, but rasing the light to 20 inches over the canopy and running the fan all the time seems to have me back on track. plants are in 5 gallon pots. I run the lights 21 hours with a 20 minute break during the 20 to rest the lights. I think i over fertilized a bit too at early budding, but cut back and things look good. All 3 plants are about 2 feet. Nice white cotton ball buds have formed, but they seem kinda small. Is that expected and will they continue to grow to a nice 6 inch buds? can and should i pull down the top a bit to uncrease yield? What would a good yield be? can i get 2 oz a plant? 1?

    • Hi Franc,

      Every plant is different but your buds will definitely continue to grow and swell up. If you want to do training then I would advise to use LST methods if your plants are already starting to flower. If you train your autos right you most definitely can increase the yield!

      • Kneehigh85 on

        IMG_1335.JPG

        I’m growing an feminised early miss autoflower. She’s doing great has nice color and the stalk is getting nice and strong not frail like most seedlings I’ve seen in the past. She’s on day 9 or 10 now and still on her first set of true leaves after the coytaledon leaves. The trues are just now getting bigger. It’s been a slow start but I imagine like you said it’s due to what’s happening under the soil but now that the leaves are getting wider I’m excited to see more growth! I tried to post a picture but it wouldn’t let me.

  41. John schlong on

    I’ve read all of your advise on autos and I keep popping back making little notes for the next steps In my first grow. I’m growing 2 blueberry bliss and 1 auto that was freebee in bat gueno soil under cfl lights and it’s been 26 days with no nutrients and they already have hairs popping. just started with the LST. And I’ve just got some hyfrotops solo grow. Just waiting on a 300wats duel spectrum light to arrive.

  42. Hey Now,
    Thank you for all the info, I am into my first Auto Grow, Outdoor. I have 1) Cotton Candy that is 39 days into her life and it said 45-49 days and she has beauty little Buds coverd in white hairs. They get bigger every day and look awsome! My Question is should I ever let her or any Auto Fems go way past these times and just concentrate on what my plants are telling me and keep using these (germination to Harvest ) times just as kinda guide lines? Thank you kindly, Peace
    Jim

  43. Paul the grower on

    Hi great article
    I’m new to t he auto flower scene currently got a 1.2 x 1.2 .2 meter budroom 6 inch carbon filter with ram air fan and 4 inch intake with carbon spray bar
    Grow ing 8 auto fast and vast in ten litre pots with biobiz light mix under 1 x 500 watt mars 96 reflector led and 1x 400 w mars led totalling 900 watts both with bloom and veg switches also a 1w ocilatating fan
    Now my question is they have all got to day 8 and the third set of true leaves are showing just had there first water of ph 6.5 water no fertilizer . When should I add feed to the water ? And when should i start lst ?

  44. i’ve just started germinate my seed its auto kalashnikova . can you advice me please what light is the best ?! i already prepared 12w led lamp and 2 32 watt cflbulb (blue) is that ok or do i need sth elsce , and am using peat moss soil , and do one seed needs all this light ?! as m growing only one , and for the auto the just need clear water no firtilizer to add or anything
    thanks

  45. Al jones on

    I have 25 AUTOS under 2 600w light , could i add seedlings to the same tent (its 2.4 by 2.4).? Or will that be too much heat for them to handle ? Appreciate any helpful anders organised suggestions. Tjank Al

  46. Hi, I’m 10 weeks in growing 3 white widow autos and all looks good but the buds r still quite small. All I can see r loads of white hair, they have gotten bigger, but still small for week 10. They began flowering at week 6 and r about 2 feet tall. They r in 15 litre pots, have a 300w LED light and r in bio buzz all mix. I tried feeding bio buzz nutes at week 6/ day 37 with only 2 drops in 1500ml of ph’ed water and the slightly burned so didn’t feed again. All leaves r nice rich green, the under leaves, however, r now going yellow and falling off, but the plant still has lots of leaves that r health. I am now just feeding them once a week with bio bizz bloom (2 and a half ml each) and a ph’ed water in the middle of the week. I’m guessing the r gonna just keep going to about 12 weeks until they r ready to harvest, does that sound right? Will they keep growing? When should I stop giving bloom? Any help at all will b appreciated. Thx.

  47. WhoKnows on

    Hey, great read. I agree with the majority you wrote in this guide.. But i disagree with the 24/0 lightning scheduele. I’ve tried 24/0, 20/4 and 18/6.. heck, i even threw an auto in my flowering 12/12 tent for it’s full life duration.. I didnt notice any noticeable difference between 24/0 and 18/6, other than saving som $$. 😀 I can’t recommend going 12/12 though.

  48. David A Cavanaugh on

    I just stumbled across this site, and I really like it. Ive been growing for over 50 years, but this will be my first attempt at growing autos. I just received my beans yesterday, and will be getting started this week. I am retired now and have become a boondocker in the desert southwest. I will be growing in my rv with big windows. I can legally grow up to 6 plants. Im using the Kratky method. Ive had incredible success growing veggies with this method. I would really like to talk with some people who might be growing simarly so we can share tips. Happy Growing!

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