many are advertised at 8 weeks but generally take 10-11 weeks to finish… the 8 weeks is based on optimum conditions with pro growers… and usually on a life long 12/12 schedule… which IMO would actually produce less harvest… better to wait a few extra weeks and get a larger harvest IMO.
most growers beef up the light schedule to increase harvest, which in turn causes the plant to take longer to finish.
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Thats how i see it as well was wanting someone else to back me up haha
Think the eight weeks is once it starts flower stage. Which for me is a little hard to pinpoint with autos as exactly when that is I just figure veg is 3-4 weeks in autos. I’ve heard as little as two weeks though
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On autos, the flower time is supposed to be from sprout I was told.
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I posted that question and got two answers…the days are counted from sprout, the days are counted from flowering…
8 weeks to veg and flower or 56 days…less than two months (6 harvests a year!)
the usual is three months…12 weeks plus to veg and flower or 84 days to over 100 days.
I guess the days are measured from flowering, at least on the ILGM site, as in the auto ww are 56 days.
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I was thinking that my auto took 23 days to start flowering and flower time as stated from vender is 8 weeks so im in weeks 4 of flower 4 or 5 weeks and she should be done
Just did a auto NL 100 days plus a few days maybe. Don’t know if i stunted it any.
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I think that if you just count flower on my girl 8 weeks =56 days plus 23 days veg time 79 days total could say 90 days for couch lock lol haha
Whatever i get off this plant is a win for the book first auto flower and ive got 10 seeds left 2 strains so i think ill run 4 next grow 3 and 3 plus ive got 3 photo seed that ill do all at once so im set for the next say 11 months lol
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Think I got 43?g and four ounce lil buds and leaf trim but I was in crap soil etc you’ll prob pull a good bit. I got 10 reg fems coming so it’ll be a while before I do autos again.
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Could someone please clarify flowering time for autos s photos? @MacGyverStoner @garrigan62 @latewood @Majiktoker @Hammer
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Right is the 8 weeks total time of just flower
Can do…here ya go…are you sure cause this is it. It doesn’t get any better than this.
Its large but it everything I know.
Will. 
Most growers seem to agree that the optimum amount of light to give auto-flowering strains of marijuana is somewhere between 18-24 hours of light a day. When I’ve grown auto-flower plants, I gave them 18 hours of light a day, and 6 hours dark, at least partially because it allowed me to turn the grow lights off during the 6 hottest hours of the day (I live in East Tenn where it’s hot most of the summer).
Recommended: 18-24 hours of a light a day
I’ve also seen many great growers give their autos 20, 22 or even 24 hours of light a day.

Do Autoflowering Plants Need an Dark Period?
There are growers who believe auto-flowering plants need a dark period and won’t be as healthy if they get 24 hours of light a day.
I personally haven’t seen evidence of that, and at least in my experience with photoperiod plants in the vegetative stage, cannabis seems to do great getting 24 hours of a light a day.
Additionally, the wild ancestor of auto-flowering plants (“Ruderalis” hemp) grows in the northern parts of Russia and may naturally experience nearly 24 hours of light a day in the summer. So it’s not crazy to think that auto-flowering strains will also do well on 24 hours light/day.
However, giving a plant less hours of light a day will save you on electricity, and if it does help the plant grow better then that’s a bonus! Combined with the fact that it gets hot here during the day, I always put my autos on 18/6.
I’m very happy with how my plants grow on an 18/6 schedule, but it’s definitely not necessarily the best light schedule to grow autos depending on your situation. Here’s a few more pros and cons to consider:
18/6 Pros
For hot climates, the ability to turn off lights during 6 hottest hours of daySaves electricityPossibly helps plant grow more healthy since it gets a dark period (this is unknown)
24/0 Pros
Cannabis plants grow faster when they get 24 hours light/dayA good choice if it gets cold and you don’t’ want lights to turn off!
Can I grow auto-flowering plants on a 12/12 schedule?
There are situations where it may be easier to grow your auto-flowering plant on a 12/12 schedule. For example if you’re growing flowering photoperiod plants, you need to keep them on a 12/12 schedule to keep budding. Is it okay to stick an auto in there too?

Yes, but…
Yes, it’s okay and your auto will grow just fine on a 12/12 schedule… except for one thing. Because your auto is getting less light each day, it isn’t able to make as much energy to power growth and you’ll end up with a smaller plant and reduced yields compared to if you’d given more light a day.
One of the really great things about autos is how they’re able to give you pretty impressive yields in such a short amount of time. Part of the way they accomplish this is you’re able to give the plant 18 hours of light a day to power buds, so buds grow faster than they would under 12/12. By giving your autos 12/12 you’re not using them to their full advantage. That being said, if you don’t mind reduced yields they’ll grow just fine!
Auto-Flowering Vegetative & Flowering Stage
When it comes to choose the best light schedule for growing auto-flowering marijuana strains, it’s a good idea to understand what light schedules are, and how different light schedules affect the way a cannabis plant grows.
All cannabis strains, whether they’re photoperiod or auto-flowering, have two main stages of life: the vegetative (first) stage, and the flowering (second) stage. Think of them as the “children” and “adult” stages of marijuana growth. During the vegetative stage a cannabis plant grows only leaves and stems. In theflowering stage the plant stops growing leaves and stems and starts growing buds/flowers.

Most strains of marijuana (photoperiod strains) rely on the amount of light, or their light schedule, to determine when to start making buds. Generally, if a marijuana plant receives 14 hours of light a day or more, it will stay in the vegetative stage (it will focus more on growing leaves and stems without any buds).
Auto-flowering strains don’t rely on light schedules to determine when to flower. Auto-flowering strains will automatically leave the vegetative stage and start budding after about 2-3 weeks regardless of the light schedule they’re given.
“Auto-Flowering” strains of cannabis have different light requirements that Photoperiod strains
Auto-flowering varieties of marijuana don’t rely on a change in light schedule to determine when to flower. These strains (sometimes called “Lowryders” or by their species name “Ruderalis”) will finish their whole life cycle in two to three months, regardless of how much light they receive a day. See a grow journal featuring auto-flowering strains.

Light Color Spectrum
Another consideration when growing auto-flowering plants is what light spectrum to use.
What do I need to know about how light spectrum affects cannabis growth?
Normally with photoperiod plants, you would optimally use more blue lights for the vegetative period and more red lights for your plant during the flowering period. With auto-flowering strains, you can follow the same principle by using the blue lights before the plant has showed signs of its gender, and then switch to more red lights once you see the first signs of gender.
Blue Light for Vegetative - bluish light (like from Metal Halide bulbs or 6500k (blue) fluorescents/CFLs) are a great choice for the vegetative stage, which for auto-flowers is just the first few weeks of life
Yellow Light for Flowering - yellow/Orange 5i7/red light (like from HPS bulbs or “soft white” colored CFLs/fluorescents) tend to produce the best growth and densest buds in the flowering stage. Their color mimics the reddish light from the autumn sun. It is completely okay to give your plant yellow light for its whole life. In fact, that’s what I prefer to do as yellowish light encourages stretchy growth, and I want an auto-flowering plant that grows fast!
Remember: Spectrum is much less important to yields than the total wattage of your lights! (More Light = More Yields!)
HPS grow lights are the most popular grow light for the flowering stage, with good reason. They are one of the most efficient grow lights available today (as far as electricity used for density/yields produced - even more efficient than mostLED grow lights), they’re cheap to start with, they’re just the right color spectrum for optimal flowering, and they’re more standardized and intuitive to use than many other types of grow lights. Learn more about finding the right size HPS for your space
However, marijuana plants are weeds, and will usually grow at least okay under either spectrum of light during either stage.
Light in any color spectrum will produce good growth and bud as long as you’re using cannabis grow lights and there’s enough brightness.
In fact, many growers use Metal Halide or other more “blue” colored lights for the entire life of the plant, and still produce good results. Some growers even prefer these lights for budding.
But the best yields and density in flowering is usually achieved with reddish-yellow light. For the hobbyist grower who may be low on cash and can’t change up the lights, you may want to consider getting all flowering bulbs for autos since they spend practically their whole life in the flowering stage.
Hope you find this helpful
Will. 
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fascinating. Thank you.
one possibility to consider… something I read somewhere claims that there is another benefit to the 12/12 schedule. It apparently shortens the term of the plant… ie. the stats on the seed says “Matures seed to harvest in 9 weeks”… but most generally take 11 or 12 weeks,… what I have read says that it will be ready to harvest in that 9 weeks if kept on a 12/12 schedule…
but as noted, with a smaller harvest overall… reading up on auto seeds on several sites it seams most autos are not fantastic producers and observation shows me that many growers get far more out of a plant than the amount credited to the seed…
perhaps one of you fellas with a nice setup can test this theory? Maybe sprout up an auto seedling before you put your photos in flower,… then toss the auto in there to grow while your photos bud out?
the information could be beneficial if someone is on a limited time scale,…say,… they are moving in 10 weeks… they may be able to germ a seed and harvest some bud before they have to throw all their gear into a storage locker or something.
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That helps alot for my knowledge base! Thanks man! But more specifically, when the seed bank posts a flower time for an autoflower, do they mean days from sprout, or from change to flower?
Notice times are often similar for both auto/photo seeds advertised. I’ve been told both.
it is my understanding that when dealing with autos the time frame they have listed is supposed to be from seed to harvest…
whereas with photos the time listed is generally budding time only
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Mine too, but there are conflicting information
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Autoflower finish times differ. I just keep them going until I get the % of Amber trichomes that I desire. You cannot put a definite number of days down and say a plant will be finished.
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