I’m not sure if this is the right forum but here it goes. I’m still relatively new to this. I’m growing primarily to see if cannabis can help the various health issue I have.
I’ve grown autos successfully I think. I haven’t smoked weed for 40 years so I can’t tell if it good so I solicited friends to try and they say it a good quality.
So, finally the question is why would I grow feminized seeds as opposed to autos. I read all kinds of opinions. I don’t need the best to most yield so I’m thinking to stay with autos. I have a small tent and have grown up to 3 plants (autos). The lighting and ventilation was easy since they were all the same. I’m thinking I’d need to grow one or the other. Could not mix with my small tent.
Could someone give me a realistic opinion about grow these 2 types of plants.
Nothing wrong with Autos. If you are providing yourself enough product with them and are happy with the product then you don’t need to switch.
I found autos to be a bit unpredictable. I grow for my wife and need between 2 to 3 ounces a month. Photo period plants let me decide how big the plant is before I flower it. I have had autos 6ft tall and at the same time one two foot tall with one good bud on it. Quality is not the issue for me, but consistent harvest amounts are important. SO photos are controllable. Autos will do what they are programmed to do and I have minimal control over the outcome.
And you can mix them. You can pop an auto into the tent anytime as it does not care what the light schedule is. I often throw one in a corner just for fun.
Morning @BuzzCut2030. Here’s my two cents.
The major difference between Autoflower cannabis vs. Feminized cannabis seeds are that you do not need to set your darkness or ‘Photoperiod’ to 12 hours to induced your Autoflower to start the flower process.
Autoflower cannabis seeds are also Feminized, thus Automatic Flower. Most people use 18 hour of light and 6 hours of darkness when growing Autoflower cannabis. Autoflower seeds are genetically altered so they will mature when they are a certain age.
Feminized cannabis seeds are Photoperiod and will not start to flower until the Light period is set to 12 hours on (light) and more importantly 12 hours off (darkness). Thus they are referred to ‘Photoperiod’ Feminized cannabis.
The deference being is you can run your lights for a longer period and do not have to manipulate the Photoperiod.
I prefer to grow Photoperiod Cannabis. I can set my seeds to flower whenever I want to change the Photoperiod. I can also take cuttings and ‘clone’ my plant and get a exact copy/copies of my plant. And perpetually grow the same plant as long as I want. Without the need to germinate seed and baby them through the first 4 weeks of growth. Autoflower cannabis can not be cloned.
Photoperiod plants
Mothers vegging
Clones
Mothers flowering
Clones vegging
Clones flowering
Hope this helps!!
I think it is your choice. When I started growing I started with autos. Bob does a good job promoting autos and figured it was a good place to start. Plus, I thought it would be fun to grow some in our garden.
Out of the 20 some autos I grew I only killed (not actually but I screwed it up so badly it was not worth harvesting) one. They average weight was right around 3 oz. Not great but ok.
I then switched to fem photos. The main reason being I like growing and working / training plants. With autos I was very limited in what I could do in that area. I also like being able to manage / dictate when flowering is initiated. Autos do their own thing. I had them start the flowering process at 28 days (usually) to a long of over 50.
With photos, it is whatever time you want it to be given space constraints, turn over time, etc. It is your decision and not the plant’s.
In terms of quality I can not attest to the quality of either. I do not partake. I grow it for my wife. The running joke when I ask if it is any good is “Yes, it is very nice”.
I may be wrong on this but I believe autos produce more runts and photos. I see a lot of postings on here asking why is my auto only 6 -9" and is in full flower. Why waste 3 months growing a few grams of bud?
This Grandaddy Purple has been growing 60 days. I will be flip her to flower on day 63 - a solid 9 weeks.
One other thing is there may be more photo strains available geared toward specific medical benefits than with autos. This may be an area for you to look into further.
Photos you have more control. If you choose you can grow both together not a big deal. when you flip the photos the autos will not miss a lick. Personally I like my photos and use the auto’s for fill in. Good luck my friend !
Like the others have said. I’m growing 2 Feminized and 3 autos in the same tent right now.
The 2 in the back are Feminize the 3 in front are autos. When the time comes 1 of the autos will go outside. My tent is only a 3x3x6.
Thanks everyone for educating me on the difference between autos and photoperiods. I really do love learning about how to grow and what can help me with various health problems and at the same time put a smile on my face . Anything to thumb my nose at big pharma is only a good thing and can save me big bucks. Don’t get me started.
So I am going to start some photoperiods along with my autos that I have been doing.
This forum has been a great resource with people willing to share their experiences. Hope to do the same as I too get better at growing.
Thanks Again!
One other reason to run autos vs photos is if you have a light not quite sufficient to run a plant for 12 hours. An auto can be run 24/0 and some lights might need to be on that long for plant to achieve it’s Daily Light Integral (DLI).
If you were thinking about growing or finishing them outdoors, having both autos and photoperiod varieties could get you 2 harvests in one season.
The one danger growing a photo I’ve heard is that if it is not 100% dark when you flip them to 12/12, tjat can cause problems
I’m fairly new to this and have grown both, I start them in the one area 18/6 and then around a months time I move them up to the flowering tent which is 12/12. I like the idea of running just auto’s being able to do everything in one area, but I also like having a couple of Photo’s going. I have a couple AK-47 photo’s and a Super Skunk photo going, all are doing great. Just moved my Purple Kush up to the 12/12 spot and they took right off also. I also want to commend everyone on the forum.