Autos in the tropics

[nattyroots]

Hey all
I'm thinking of growing in a spot in the tropics that gets around 13.5 hours max of sunlight in the solstice. It seems, I've now noticed, that autos do best with more hours of sun but I don't have much of a choice at the moment. I understand yields will likely be lower given this daylight hours scenario. Any other concerns? Will the Autos flower too early and too small? Should I plant two to a pot? Looking to plant auto AK, Lemon and Amnesia Haze and London Cheese.

Thanks for any insight. 3 gallon pots and a light airy organic amended soil mix.

pce

 

[Fixer]

I've only grown autos in DWC but you can probably get away with one plant in a smaller pot. I always grew them 16/8 but if your in the N. Hemisphere the days will be getting longer next month. Good luck!

 

[The_Skunkist]

I would suggest XL genetics and mold resistant too .
Like fro example Green Poison XL from Sweet Seeds . Plus you will have them in a shorter time @13hours 1/2 .

Don't hesitate to put a lot of various plants if it is possible, you will spot the working ones for your environment .

Go for adapted genetics to your environment before running after names may be .
Auto cheese can be very despiting depending on breeder .

3 gal is not bad , but 6 gal is much more adapted . Use 15 to 30% coco in your soil mix for better results .

Have a good experience !

 

[WHIPEDMEAT]

make a nursery chamber for the seedlings and keep them under 20/4 lights for the first 3-4 weeks,
veg time and seedling stage is more important for them than the flowering phase



or install an outdoor lighting for them to increase the lenght of daylight period

 

[The_Skunkist]

Sure that would be ideal .

https://www.dailymotion.com/video/xs1e6o

 

[nattyroots]

Thanks everybody.

I will try to install some sort of light around them to make a nursery for the first few weeks to keep them from flowering early and to boost their growth. Not what I had in mind, but maybe I can figure out a way to do it.

I guess I misunderstood what Autos would be able to do in a more tropical/equatorial environment. I suppose they really are more adapted to more temperate climates where they can flower in spring/ early summer before the regular crop as opposed to somewhere where the hours of light never go much beyond 13/14 hours a days.

I'll send news. The genetics I guess are not the best autos on the market. They come from a Spanish company called BSF. Let's see how they do.

 

[nattyroots]

outdoor led option

outdoor led option

Just if anyone is curious, apparently there are quite a few small sun powered outdoor leds that I hope will produce enough light at night to keep the autos (or photos I would guess) from flowering (to be seen). Many of this fixtures seem to be relatively cheap.

I'm going to give it a try as I really hate when a plant flowers at like two weeks and yields a nug and a half.

 

[WHIPEDMEAT]

no, keyword is ip65 fixture for hps or something maybe leds



IP65 waterproof outdoor street light housing fixtures

just take a look on uruguays legal grows now have heavy support for growing

 

[kalopatchkid]

Just if anyone is curious, apparently there are quite a few small sun powered outdoor leds that I hope will produce enough light at night to keep the autos (or photos I would guess) from flowering (to be seen). Many of this fixtures seem to be relatively cheap.

I'm going to give it a try as I really hate when a plant flowers at like two weeks and yields a nug and a half.

I have never grown an auto before but in Hawaii we use simple house light bulbs for a few hours at night to keep plants from flowering. It doesnt take much light to accomplish this, as the main purpose for the lights is to keep the plants from flowering but the lights themselves are not powerful enough to grow plants (Saves electricity).


The big difference though is that photo plants can stay like this indefinitely and get as big as you want. Autos will start flowering whenever their DNA tells them to, so you need lighting that is powerful enough to actually Veg your plants and do it as fast as possible to give you the best yield before the plant decides it wants to flower.



In your situation, I'd probably still grow photo plants for more variety and just use the housebulb trick to veg them outside. When you are ready to flower, you just turn the lights off and let them go.

 

[Bud Chopper]

house bulbs will be hard to get i would get a supply of 75 watt exterior flood light bulbs

 

[nattyroots]

Thanks for the info on light addition in Hawaii kalopatchkid. That's quite helpful.

I think maybe these solar powered leds will be helpful even if all they do is keep the plants from flowering. I don't have electricity at the spot where I'm growing so a halogen flood light is almost impossible to use or any other bulb for that matter.

I guess I don't need to autos after all. Thinking I'll save those seeds to try to run indoors at some point. And i'll run some photos outdoors with added light to keep them in veg longer and have a longer yield alongside some sativa leaning seeds that hopefully won't flower even with 13/14 hours of light a day.

thanks

 

[kalopatchkid]

I have used solar powered flood lights before, just to see if I could and it did the job. The only downside was having to turn the lights on every night manually instead of being on a timer. They were around 1000-1200 lumens. You'll probably need multiple lights depending on how many plants you have, but you can definitely get bigger plants than without em.



I had a year where I just wanted to see how affordably I could grow cannabis. My biggest expense in Hawaii is electricty at ~$0.43 kw/h, so the solar lights helped cut costs alot