do autoflower strains need total dark?

[armedoldhippy]

have access to a small plot with no visibility issues near my home. it gets direct exposure to the sun for nearly 11 hours a day. question is - will light from a nearby streetlight cause problems with it? or will that weak light overnight not bother it? i know that ruderalis evolved to grow so far north that it doesn't really get dark during the summer... all comments and opinions welcome.

 

[Great outdoors]

As far as I have been informed, they will flower with 24hr light. Never done anything to test it though.
Pretty sure a bunch will chime in here with real world experience.

 

[WHIPEDMEAT]

no, you can grow them under 24 hours of constant lights

check this post:
#1705

 

[therevverend]

No worries they'll be fine. They'll flower automatically regardless of light cycle. I do wonder about stress from irregular lighting causing male flowers to develop but that's a different topic.

I never have figured out how much secondary light it takes to mess with a plant's natural cycle. On cloudy nights I have quite a bit of secondary light reflecting off the clouds from city lighting. There's a street light that's on sometimes, partially blocked by trees and motion lights nearby that go on and off frequently. It's brighter then moonlight but not constant direct light. From the reports I've read around here it seems like the street light has to be very bright and very close to the patch. It seems strange because my experience indoors has been that any light at all fucks things up. Plants indoors are so sensitive and weak, it's another example of how much I prefer outdoor growing. Or growing both indoors and outdoors..

 

[member 505892]

No worries they'll be fine. They'll flower automatically regardless of light cycle. I do wonder about stress from irregular lighting causing male flowers to develop but that's a different topic.

Irregular light schedule can indeed mess with some autos, plants that had 24 hour light did fine but others with pretty random schedule were growing ok up to a point and then became a sausagefest.

 

[WHIPEDMEAT]

having some streetlight around is not really irregular those are set to switch on regularly with a lightsensor.

 

[f-e]

Auto's do better if given a regular photo like light period. The idea is that you don't need to though. They just seem to prefer it.

I would like to watch one actually, under 24 hour. With particular attention to when it does actually sleep. With my interest being it's rhythm, and it it's exactly 24 hours, when it's not pushed to do that. You should see it sleep and awaken, but if not, I could sniff around it with a co2 meter. I have always had an interest in modding the 12/12 cycle to something quicker.

 

[armedoldhippy]

i think i'm gonna get my big ladder out late one night, and climb up & spray-paint this side of the light flat black. i hate the SOB, can't sit out back at night without feeling like a LEO helicopter is hovering nearby. kill two birds with one stone, so to speak.

 

[armedoldhippy]

i read constantly about tourist fishermen in Alaska (Land of the Midnight Sun. hmmmm) that aren't paying attention will sometimes need rescue by lodge employees. they'll be found lying on river banks too tired to move. guides ask "why didn't you come back to the lodge, and poor SOBs say "i was gonna when it got dark..."

 

[marijuanamat]

11 hours light and a street light on will not make much of a difference and could be beneficial depending on how close the street light is. The closer the better.

 

[Ringodoggie]

Auto's do better if given a regular photo like light period. The idea is that you don't need to though. They just seem to prefer it.

I would like to watch one actually, under 24 hour. With particular attention to when it does actually sleep. With my interest being it's rhythm, and it it's exactly 24 hours, when it's not pushed to do that. You should see it sleep and awaken, but if not, I could sniff around it with a co2 meter. I have always had an interest in modding the 12/12 cycle to something quicker.

I did an experiment a few years back to change the Circadian cycle. I went with 12 hrs dark and 4 hours of light. The cycle was then 16 hours. I used blue light during the critical period to assist in green growth. If I remember right I cut the flower time down to about 5 weeks from 9. Naturally, yield suffered.

Sorry for the off topic.

 

[Vandenberg]

With Auto-flowers, a weak light without enough light par energy to matter is probably not a factor anyways, the 11 hours of light would be a growth limiting factor as they adore 18-20 hours per day (long-ass days) and 24 hrs doesn't seem to phase em much indoors as they still stay on auto-pilot.
I do give my indoor autos 20 hrs of light, that seems to be a sweet spot for many doin' indoors.
Good luck with your outdoor grow and I now return you to your regular scheduled outdoor forum.

Vandenberg

 

[Mitsuharu]

Why are you growing autos indoor anyway? Is the crop so much higher auto 20/4 than with a normal strain 12/12!?

 

[marijuanamat]

If i was growing indoors wanting a smaller crop, i'd go 12/12 from seed with a slight sativa leaning plant as you get around 3 weeks of vegging before they start flowering, and they'll grow a lot better than autos, and you use half the power. Its a no brainer.

 

[Gypsy Nirvana]

My auto's this summer just finished a coupla weeks ago - balcony grown - started them in late May as seedlings - on my balcony you have streetlights from the road outside - and light from inside the home - thru the glass balcony door - these auto/fems were never in total darkness - I reckon - what with all the moonlight and all these planes and helicopters - lights from cars/trucks and van's - fireworks - all sorts of light out here at night - but I would still see them sleep thru it all - and wake up - when the sun comes up -

- these plants seem to be quite hardy too - can take stormy weather with ease - and dont grow too high - but can still get you high - it's 'The fastest bud in town' -

Acid Kush - Auto/Fem - from Urban Legends - just before the chop -

 

[Vandenberg]

Modern Cannabis Genetics is/are a beautiful thing.
I have been using the "Atlas seeds" line of autoflowers which is bred for farmers, for farmers.
The founders are pals who are winegrape, commercial veggie, pot growers who sought consistency in the field with the Cannabis they were growing as they had with grapes and vegetables so they proceeded to professionally create that with Cannabis. (Thee end
Their genetics have been selected for field scale applications, but also provide top shelf performance for home growers as it turns out.
They have a lot of fog where they are in NorCal and their strains have become highly resistant to humidity issues as part of their selection process.
I get clone like consistency out of their Mephisto sourced 3bears O.G. as their backbone in many of the strains, and now 7 or 8 generations of expert selection they have renamed it "Mythic".
I like their "tri-cross" for its even canopy that is reminiscent of working with clones and produces a premium quality smoke. Also it takes five minutes to trim from a 4-5 ounce plant where we can legally grow 12 plants and give away up to an oz but no sales are permitted.
Topgun is a 60 day to sprout to harvest auto that is almost amazing to watch develop as it develops so fast.

My wife finds medical benefit from Atlas seed line offerings and has reduced her opiate pain killers consumption with tincture and various edibles I make for personal consumption. Atlas also have photoperiod strain offerings, although I've never grown them.
I keep the primary main stem for various combustable uses and then generally process the rest into eventual edibles as do the large California and Colorado dispensaries that field grow these predictable and consistent auto strains too.

I don't need to grow big, if I was doing it for profit hell yeah but as it is I do quality over quantity these days.
Where I'm at its now legal to grow but they still frown upon keeping 55 gallons barrels stacked up and filling the spare bedroom. Ah, to be young and ambitious again.
Oh yeah and their was that mandatory ten years in prison thing if they caught your ass. Bummer, as we used to say.

If you can grow photoperiods already, autoflowers are nothing but easy, just pop em in place in their final sized growing container (if in a pot) and provide minimal care and behold the wonders of nature and the concept of Easy Peasy.

Vandenberg

 

[Three Berries]

I just finished an auto in my veg tent running 18/6.

 

[troutman]

Autos flower when they're old enough regardless of photoperiod.

 

[armedoldhippy]

Why are you growing autos indoor anyway? Is the crop so much higher auto 20/4 than with a normal strain 12/12!?

the timers i have are not as reliable as i want, so i figured "fuck it" and am gonna let them go with no dark cycle. curiosity...it kills cats, they say.

 

[Mitsuharu]

autoflowers are nothing but easy, just pop em in place in their final sized growing container

And they need more light because you only have limited time to grow them big before they are flowering. So you need strong lights from the beginning in your final pots, otherwise they will stay small and could not benefit from these big pots.