Hey everyone. On a new grow cycle here and wanted to get some thoughts/reflection. So I switched over to a soil grow from coco because I dont have the time to water every day. So I’ll say that coco is my comfort zone.
Nevertheless, this is an all soil grow with Mother Earth groundswell and I’ve added a bit of alfalfa, kelp, bat guano, and bird to the soil. I’ve also mixed up some some guano spikes and have just been watering every several days. Running 3 mystery autos from Sweet Seeds, Amnesia Auto, and looking to finish with Laughing Buddha and Wedding Cake fems at the end of my auto run.
I guess what I’m bouncing off yall is this, the amnesia auto is approaching week 5 from seed. I know this is a sativa by nature. Why is this one so short lol can it be my lights are too close?. It started sexing 9 days from seed and I guess I’m just like wtf when it comes to autos. My yields are always small.and as you can see no deficiencies but they never really grow in size despite 5 gallon smart pots. I also just hit it up with some DTE fruit n flower.
Light wise I’m running a viparspectra 300 along side a HLG 100 so about 230 watts from the wall. In my basement so temps run 65 to 80 between daytime and night with 75 -77 being a good average with lights on
Autos are possible due to the ruderalis steains. The rudys are bred into our favorite strains and allow them to flower on a clock rather than light cycle. (Thats a very non scientific answer i know) This rudy teait brings with it a plant stature smaller than what the steain would normally be. So if you grew 2 amnesia haze plants. One is photo and the other is auto, the auto would be smaller (usually but not always).
This tendancy makes the veg cycle more important on autos versus photos. Any deficiencies or general dumbassery will be felt more in an auto because you dont typically have time to correct before the flower stretch. With a photo you simply keep it in veg, correct the issue and then flip when ready. Autos you just dance with the one that brung ya. If you stunt it in veg youll see it in flower
This might account for some of what your seeing. Hope 5his helped.
Yeah I definitely see that autos require a bit of a different style of growing and I guess that’s what I wanna nail down. As I’m seeing a similar pattern between several of these girls I’m beginning to question if its genetics, quality of seeds or quality of lighting. At this point, I’m watering once maybe twice a week.
I actually ran that amnesia in a 5 gal. I ran some purple punch in a 3 gal which I just chopped and it finished at about the same size as this girl now. Obviously after dry and hang theres not much there. Watering at between 6.3-6.6. I cant figure it out. Wondering if I should try watering just on the edges to push root growth.
Breeders notes say 80-85 days on it so in one hand I’m going…great 100 days…but the lack of stretch is tripping me out. My photos usually do really well 2.5 to 3 ft in 3 gals but this lady is unlikely a foot in week 5 in a 5 gal. Freaking me out a little bit lol
Just seen people struggle with autos in large pots is all. Seems like they pop up and spend a lot of time building root mass before starting to grow well, by then they are old enough to start flowering.
Are you starting them in pots they are growing in, or transplanting to the 3 or 5 gallon pots?
Good question, so this plant is actually a transplant into the 5. I was really against the idea of moving it but it was showing a ton of growth. So I moved it. Not a single down turned leaf next day or days for that matter and growth was exponential until budlets began forming these last two weeks. Now it’s just kinda focused on flowers which accounts for minimal bud sites. Again this gal sex’d 9 days from seed. I honestly have never seen anything sex that fast but I’ve only tried autos a few times with little success.
Thanks @beardless@dbrn32 is correct with pot size. If you are getting really small plants. I would use a 3 gallon pot. It will handle a good sized auto as well. In a small pot, the plant will start growing faster on top. I will skip how long mine veg as I don’t think may get as much time as I do. You should get 3 or 4 weeks from what I see from others. I use my lights to control how much stretch I get. I use about 40w or close to it for about 4 weeks. I then adjust to what I need to reach my scrog before I hit pre flower. As for plant size. I y self have run into a few little ones. I make note of it and can always use one for a filler if needed.
Your plants are looking pretty good though
I saw a sying about autos earlier this week, might have been @Not2SureYet that said it. “Autos are the cats of the cannabis plant.”
I never thought about it like that but its true! They give you lots of love when they want to. When they have an issue its serious and they dont help at all in solving it. And the just do whatever the hell they want.
RIP I have two cats and a dog that tries to be a cat so I def get this analogy . Are yall finding any particular breeders or strains that do well consistently? @Not2SureYet I’ve been using Seedsman since I started and am kinda jumping around. I lean towards Barneys farms idk why. Some Dutch Passion fems I had did well. My critical Jack auto from Dinafem def didnt. This round I’m running Sweet seeds random 10 pk. Hoping to pull some purples out of this run.
I stick with seedsman and ilgm for the most part. Now and then if there is something i want to grow and those 2 dont carry it ill order somewhere else.
. Are yall finding any particular breeders or strains that do well consistently?