Auto-flower growth

its trypp · Apr 14, 2014

Alright, I am about 2 weeks into growing my Trans Siberian feminized Autoflower seeds. One of the things I was wondering about is if it is normal to see signs of gender this early. I was getting ready to top it when I noticed that right at the base of each stalk is a very tiny set of what looks like pistils. I know that it is common to see gender showing when it a plant is close to being ready for bloom, but couldn't find much information regarding seeing them this early. Thanks for anyone's replies

aridbud · Apr 14, 2014

Why would you "top" an autoflower??? They grow and live at a predetermined rate due to its ruderalis genetic make up. Trans Siberian (from Auto) is roughly finished in 68 -78 days (according to their info).

Any pruning, picking of leaves will definitely STUNT the growth and yield in the end. Leave it alone.

Yes, with autoflowering strains, you DO see the gender in roughly 21-27 days ....sometimes sooner, as in your case. she's a girl...let her grow!!!

Provide good light, and light on nutrients until budding stage...then (some will argue) use half strength bloom every other or every 2-3 waterings. During the last few weeks....just water.

From their description. ....
"Extensive covering of trichomes can be so heavy they may spread well down onto shade leaves, especially in the final 1-2 weeks of flowering. This can be maximized even further if it’s given its final flush just days prior to harvest and is then left for 48-72 hours in total darkness."

its trypp · Apr 14, 2014

Thanks for the information, it's greatly appreciated. I ended up not topping yet since the stalk from the fourth node has only just barely started growing. As to why I was going to; I had talked to a local grower, who said that it shouldn't pose much issue.

And yeah, was a little tricky getting the nutes dialed down low enough (as is apparent in the nute burn on the first set of leaves... >.< ) for it, though now everything seems to be going well and all of her new growth since has been a very nice bright green.

But, given what you have said, I suppose I will not top or prune the plant at all. On that note though, would LST be a viable option to increase yield? Or just let it do its own natural thing?

Thanks again for the reply, and the advice.

Cheers

Jhhnn · Apr 14, 2014

Aridbud def knows more than I, and her advice mirrors my own limited experience. Autoflowers seem to love warmth, strong lighting, long days, and pots bigger than you think you need. They seem to transplant OK for me going from solo cups to pots when they're about as tall as the solo cups. Others see that differently. My next batch will be in 3 gal pots. They may not need nutes at all.

Under good conditions, they'll grow & bloom explosively, show sex very early as yours has done.

My personal grow style is to just let 'em grow, and they seem to like it.

its trypp · Apr 14, 2014

Thanks Jhhnn. I actually went straight to the pot with the feed for my trans siberian, so no transplant shock for me

I have her in a 1 gallon pot, but next grow depending how well this goes I might bump it up like suggested. thanks for the tips everyone. cheers

its trypp · Apr 14, 2014

seed*

Mikenite69 · Apr 14, 2014

Yes you don't want to top, over feed, transplant or any other stressful things that might stress your auto out. I have grown a few autos to day and I love be little buggers. I have only grown them under a small led rated at 190w at the wall. But a 3 gallon pot was overkill it didn't root out the whole pot. But then again if I had it under a 1k then maybe it might of rooted the pot..

I actually have 2 autos going as we speak I haven't taken pics of them yet because I am trying to reverse one to make a bunch of fem beans for this summer. The auto I am growing I have grown before and it was really good weed the strain is delicious seeds La diva. The bud she produces stinks has great bag appeal and yields pretty damn good. She is proving hard to reverse with collodial silver though I have been spraying her over 2 weeks with no sign of balls yet. I'll keep ya posted if she actually flips and produces some balls.

But here is the list of autos I have ran to date delicious seeds La diva, auto cheese candy, next CBD seeds northern and diesal, seedsman auto blue, positronics cheese exspress. The only ones I didn't like were the seedsman auto blue the smell was ok but the potency was kinda dull and the taste sucked.

its trypp · Apr 14, 2014

Also, given what you said about nutes Jhhnn, I have 3 seeds left for my trans siberian. I think next grow I will try this;

Germinating all 3 in either a rockwool cube or a rapid rooter cube.

Plant 1:
2 gallon pot filled with cocofiber medium
No nutrients in the water

Plant 2:
2 gallon pot filled with cocofiber medium
The same ammount of nutes I am using for this current plant during veg, and half nutes every 3rd watering during bloom as suggested by arid.

Plant 3:
Will be transfered to larger rockwool cubes as it grows.
No nutrients in the water, as I want to see how it compares to the cocofiber medium.

I am ashamed to admit that financially I cant afford a nice ballast and HPS light, and unfortunately have to use t5 lighting for both veg and budding stages, although I have both the blue and red heavy spectrum bulbs for it. I know this is going to limit my harvest size as they aren't as effecient as HPS or equivalent lighting. The way it was explained to me was that since the lights and bulbs are low wattage that the buds will be "fluffy" rather than dense come harvest time, which will ultimately reduce gross weight. Any info about that by chance?

its trypp · Apr 14, 2014

Thanks Mike, Ill let you know how my Trans Siberian turns out. Let me know if she flips for sure!

But La Diva by delicious seeds yes? I might look into that for my next strain, though I was interested in trying the Sweet Dark Devil strain as well. But ultimately I will take a recommendation over anything else lol.

Cheers

Mikenite69 · Apr 14, 2014

Hey trypp your autos should do just fine under the t5 lighting hopefully its a 4 bulb? But autos don't need a ton of light. You can actually stick autos on a window sill or balcony and they will do just fine. That's the great thing about autos they aren't really needy plants. They are pretty much happy with whatever you give them.

With a couple autos under my 190w led I can usually harvest over a ounce dried per plant. I also barely ever feed them they really don't need it. In flower is usually the only time I'll feed them and I usually hit them with big up pk booster to get them to fatten up. I will also only give them mollassas or bud candy to sweeten them up.

Mikenite69 · Apr 14, 2014

If I get enough beans of the la diva I will be spreading the extras around. Also trypp if you only plan to run autos you can buy a brand new hps full unit like 175 watter off ebay for less than 100 bucks. That will come with everything you need bulb, ballast, and reflector all in one unit.

You can also spend a little bit more money and usually find a 1k unit that is decent it doesn't have to be top of the line for around 200 bucks. But if you only plan to run autos your best bet would be either a 400w or a 600w I would go with a 600w.

But you can look around on ebay and you can find some really nice deals. I bought my 1k magnetic ballast with a reflector for less than 200.00 but ofcourse I bought a better reflector for it that was air cooled.

Jhhnn · Apr 14, 2014

Mikenite69 said:
Yes you don't want to top, over feed, transplant or any other stressful things that might stress your auto out. I have grown a few autos to day and I love be little buggers. I have only grown them under a small led rated at 190w at the wall. But a 3 gallon pot was overkill it didn't root out the whole pot. But then again if I had it under a 1k then maybe it might of rooted the pot..

I actually have 2 autos going as we speak I haven't taken pics of them yet because I am trying to reverse one to make a bunch of fem beans for this summer. The auto I am growing I have grown before and it was really good weed the strain is delicious seeds La diva. The bud she produces stinks has great bag appeal and yields pretty damn good. She is proving hard to reverse with collodial silver though I have been spraying her over 2 weeks with no sign of balls yet. I'll keep ya posted if she actually flips and produces some balls.

But here is the list of autos I have ran to date delicious seeds La diva, auto cheese candy, next CBD seeds northern and diesal, seedsman auto blue, positronics cheese exspress. The only ones I didn't like were the seedsman auto blue the smell was ok but the potency was kinda dull and the taste sucked.

I use a 1000w dual arc bulb in a 4x4 space, 62.5w/sq ft. In square pots of about 2 gal capacity, my 2 grows of autoflowers were totally root bound at the end, the soil so locked up that it was difficult to separate it out when the grow was over. Samsara Ultraviolet, my first grow in 30 years, yielded an honest 3/4- 1 ounce of very fragrant bud per plant with a delicious & complex head high. Buddha's Syrup yielded as well, smelled great, but we found the high to be... boring. Both are fems.

Our next autoflower grow will be Black Creek Garden's Spyder, created by member Canned Abyss. It's a 2 sex line. Search for the threads, if you're interested.

That grow will be for seed. I may put an ultraviolet into the mix, just to carry the genetics forward in a F1. It's good stuff.

its trypp · Apr 14, 2014

Thanks Mike, I will keep that in mind about finding lighting on ebay. And yeah its a 4 bulb unit for the t5 lighting. Thats good to know that she will do just fine under it

I am actually germing a Strawberry Blue seed right now as well, its not an auto so this one will be going through a lot of LST, and hopefully by the time she is ready to switch to flowering I will have had the chance to get proper lights for her lol. And I will be keeping an album updated with pics of the trans siberian. Thanks again guys for all the information!

GanjaplantaSTL · Apr 15, 2014

I have currently 2 autos in 3 gals from start on 1000w light and I'm loving it. Thinking of doing 3/4 of my tent autos. My two strains are sugar mango lowryder & white widow and there just lil beasts. Gonna probably gonna try 2 gallon pots next we'll see how the roots are at the end but as for the outside looking, there doing amazing in 3G pots. Really liking the auto strains grow but we'll c on the smoke potency loll never smoked an auto or atleast not tht I noe of. Gl on all ur auto grows guys

rob feature · Apr 15, 2014

Aaaaaah, yes, now I see what you mean :biggrin:

I'll be following this with interest - always sorta wondered about the auto-flowering types. Hope she gets big & fat for ya :peacock:

aridbud · Apr 15, 2014

Like others, Jhhnn, mikenite have said...lighting...adequate, nutes, sparingly, container size over 3 gallon.

We've grown numerous out in 1.75 gallon containers just to see what minimizing will do to the strains we hybridize. The heights and yield on afterthought autos are taken from the smaller containers.

dickcorn has grown several of our strains...and grew them under 1000 w, 3 or 3+ gallon (cutting one bag with another fitting under to minimize root balls)....he did a phenomenal job with 20Gauge and another, if I'm correct.

Click on the hyper link at the bottom here (icmag/forum)to see what he's done...and our strains, if interested.

Just heed on the side of caution (not over fertilizing...or over watering...the 2 hazards of growing autoflowers) and you'll be impressed with results and rapid growth/harvest.

Yes, you can low stress train autos...increases yield quite a bit!!

Good luck, its trypp!!

its trypp · Apr 15, 2014

Thanks Arid, it's good to know I can LST my auto!, although I am wondering now if I am getting a bit of a late start on it. I think for this one I will let it do it's own thing and be happy with whatever she gives me, though if I can still LST and not have to worry about the late start I will.

Like I said I have a feminized Strawberry blue that I am germinating right now (btw this might just be me, but I have found great success in germinating in starbuzz hookah tobacco tins. Every seed I have put in is at 5mm+ in about 36 hours). Since it's not an AF and I am assuming a little less delicate nute and stress wise, I am going to practice LST with it. And I will keep track of it in my albums for sure.

its trypp · Apr 15, 2014

Hmmm, and just for curiosities sake I very gently started to feel how rigid the main stalk was for the plant already growing. And, in my opinion it is quite rigid indeed, and feels as if attempting to bend is more likely snap it than anything. So for this girl I will let her do her thing! >.<

its trypp · Apr 15, 2014

Oh! and then I suppose the last thing I would have to asks is if It would be wise to try to bring up the soil temps at all. Right now my soil temp is about 73* 24/7. I wanted to try to use a small reptile heat pad to see if I could bring the temps up to about 78-80*.

As for watering, right now she is taking about a half cup of water every second morning. The only thing I have in the water is CalMag. and then I guess I still will always have more questions, but has anyone ever used this product?
http://www.neemresource.com/NeemCake.html

its trypp · Apr 15, 2014

rob feature said:
Aaaaaah, yes, now I see what you mean

I'll be following this with interest - always sorta wondered about the auto-flowering types. Hope she gets big & fat for ya

Haha rob, I really hope so too. I am going to let her do her own thing this time. She is the first thing I have ever really grown, so wanted to just start with 1-2 plants since I know I don't have an "ideal" setup for my plants to worry about several. But as I said, I have a Strawberry Blue seed germing now, that is going to be more or less my "learning curve" plant lol. Gunna learn how to LST with her for sure. And she is going to provide me my first attempts at clones, etc. Anyways cheers! Cant wait to see how your grow finishes!

Auto-flower growth

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