What is the difference between growing auto vs fem? Is it that one will harvest soon than the other? Also for a novice grower setting out on their first grow, which one would you suggest starting with? I was going through the seeds an realized I had ordered both auto and fem white widow seeds. Thank you for any suggestions.
Auto plants don’t depend on a dark cycle to start flowering. Basically, they’re on a natural timer & will start to bloom at a certain time, no matter what. They don’t like too much stress or mistreatment, b/c it can stunt their growth; since they grow on kind of a set timeline there’s just not a lot of time for them to recover from stress. They take anywhere from 9-16 weeks til harvest.
Photoperiod plants can be vegged for just about as long AS THE GROWER CHOOSES. Bloom won’t begin until the light cycle changes to 12/12. You can do all sorts of high stress training on them, too. Harvest times really depend on how long you veg; the bloom cycle alone takes anywhere from 9-16+ weeks.
I love autos b/c I cannot guarantee a proper pitch black dark period, due to a large, clear cat door that lets tons of light into my grow room. I don’t like them b/c I can’t experiment with hst training techniques, and I can’t afford to make too many grow mistakes that could stunt the plant.
For a beginner-beginner, I personally would recommend photoperiod plants.
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I’m glad I asked because I was thinking an auto would be the easier but didn’t realize they didn’t bounce back as well as the photo ones. With it being my first grow I think I would want a more forgiving plant. I’m sure we will go through some bumps in the road along the way 
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@Missiles just to expand on the answer to your question an auto can be male or female, or feminized as well as indica, sativa, or hybrid. the fem seed, not an auto, is a photoperiod, also can be indica sativa or hybrid. im not sure that was explained, but seemed like part of your question
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LoL that opened up more questions in my mind. Does one know which type they are (indica, sativa or hybrid) beforehand? Sometimes my brain starts hurting from all the variables you have to consider when starting out. When I think I have a handle on it my mind gets blown again 
Breeders will give you that info. 
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Thank you. I bought all my seeds from ILGM so I’ll go back and look in the description and see if it indicates.
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They definitely do! Read the strain descriptions, closely. There’s often a few little strain-specific grow tips scattered in the descriptions.
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I just looked and it says “Whit Widow is indica dominant (though it’s only 60% to the sativa’s 40%) and provides effects that are simple and delightfully pleasant”. That is for the fem seeds.
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This is the first ever time I have grown. To me, as an outdoor grower, AF was easy peasy to grow. I was able to experiment with training and FIMing with no issues. This is one of 2 girls that I just bottled up for curing:
*this following is from my journal entry-
Good morning!! I been at it since early this morning, haven’t even had coffee yet but I have toked up on some recent dried WW and this shit is 
. I’m glad these 2 girls survived bud rot and made it to maturity. First 2 harvested aren’t bad smoke but they were pulled 3 weeks early.
So altogether between 4 White Widow Autoflowering planted in July, I have harvested about 200 grams. In the picture below with all the jars, 1 full jar and the almost empty jar (picture it full) are from early harvest but I wanted to show total harvest. I also have about 1.5 oz LARFY buds in freezer to make cannabutter.
AND I have another 4 to harvest in about 2-3 weeks and one that is following the beat of her own drummer, she is WAYYYYYY behind.
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Thank you very much for the look at your plants. They look great. I see AF was a great choice for you!
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@Missiles stealth is a must for me. I am in a very unfriendly state. I live on 17 acres but I can’t grow 8’ trees. After harvesting these last 5 girls in couple weeks, I will likely have grand total of about 15 oz or ironically, 420 grams out of 9 plants.
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Ha ha love it. 420 is an awesome number! I am currently over reading your 2 previous grows trying to learns some tips. I’ll be growing indoor though in a 2x2x4 tent. Hope to control most of their environment best I can.
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Welcome to the forum. It is a treasure trove of knowledge and the members are the best.
@PurpNGold74 @raustin @Familyman are some of the indoor growers I can remember off top of my head. I like reading about indoor grow but I have neither the space or funds, and I enjoy outdoor growing. Make a journal when you start and I’ll follow along.
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Thank you for the members that do grow indoors. I have talked a little to @PurpNGold74 in the threads. I will definitely start a journal entry when I drop the seeds. I am still in the process of getting the room prepped to set the tent up. it was a storage room but I have to clean out in order to put everything in. I haven’t been able to spend as much time on it lately as I thought due to other family priorities. I’m hoping to get the room done and possibly the tent up this weekend, if not it will be up by next weekend. I will give you a shout out when I’m up and running. Thank you so much and I am going to continue reading your two journals. I will tag you when I start my journal
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I thought i felt my ears burning this morning 
. Thanks for the tags. But the other two have much better hands on experiences. Im just here to keep people from jumping off cliffs til i can find some real advice 
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Lol, you know, you do that really well too, @PurpNGold74.
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Yes and @PurpNGold74 everyone needs a good push back from the edge every now and then 
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Happy to help whenever. I’m not the best but I’m not the worst.
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You should check out @raustin’s grows. She uses a 2x2 tent. Her last grow, she got 6 ozs from a single scrogged plant. With the height of your tent, you might want to seriously consider using the scrog technique.
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