Auto Flowers ,any hints or tips?

Remember that one? At first I didn’t think it was the BBA - got it mixed up with the blackberry kush that is next to it, so I had a screen over it and split the main stem down the middle right when it started flowering - and it looked dead for two weeks?

Obviously it was also topped once. Heh.

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Autos are harder to grow in my opinion. If youre up to the challenge then by all means get ready for some pain. A tip is start autos in their final pot size. What I mean is you should start an auto like in a 1,2,or 3 gallon because transplanting these autos can be tricky. A super cheap transplant trick is, if say you have an auto in a one gallon FABRIC (make sure its fabric) pot, you can transplant that pot into a 2 or 3 gallon without having to take the plant out of the current fabric pot. The roots will grow right through!!! Autos are more sensitive to nutrients do to them living in hostile environments with barely any nutrients. Feed less with them. Also dont defoliate heavy all at once. Pick off say 3-6 leaves a day to avoid massive amounts of stress to an auto. If you stunt or maltreat your auto (via deficiency, light stress, overwatering, etc), theres a chance it wont make it to its full potential. What ive found with autos is you have to grow them in perfect conditions for them to reach their max potential. Hope this helps.

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Thank you,
That was very informative !

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I agree with most here. One, I feed mine very light. On average, about 300 - 500ppm. Most I have done do not like over fed. So I would recommend starting light and work your way up. I use a 5 gallon soft pot for almost all of them. I have to think they will be pretty small to use a 3 gallon pot. They do seem to grow a little faster in a small pot for me. Also, I grow in coco. So if you are in soil. A lot of this may not apply so much. One thing i feel I can safely say. if you want a taller plant. Give it a minimum amount of light so she will stretch a little. I do that because it make it easier for me to water. More light = tighter node spacing. I grow kind of opposite to Sam. He grows some super beautiful plants with lst. I am more aggressive as I like scrogs. So I am always topping and super cropping.
This is a Blue caramel auto I have going right now. She still has about 5 weeks to beef up some. I also have a West coast auto I have topped 5 times that just started to preflower… I would not recommend that for starting out though.
I guess the best thing you can do is get off to a good start as these do have a short veg time.
If you start a journal and think of it. Tag me in please. Like Sam and Steve. I like all autos.

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I grow solely autos. I’m no expert, but if you have any questions, I’ll try my hardest to give you a solid answer.

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I see a couple of backbuilding options on your plant if you want to do some experimenting.

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@Bogleg, I am not sure what that is. but I am always up to try some thing new

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Well, if you see foxtailing (like seems to be appearing on your plant) in single, chained calyxes growing straight out of the top of your cola, there is a technique called “backbuilding” - basically you top the bud site where the fox tail starts. The plant will stop growing calyxes in that spot. I have only experimented with it once, but it did end up producing a pretty cool looking cola with no foxtails on it when it was all said and done. What happened in my case was that I had a couple colas foxtailing the “bad” way on a Gold Leaf. I clipped one of those foxtails off, and then the cola proceeded to thicken up under where I snipped.

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Al helped me through it with my Bubba Kush when she was Foxtailing. I would do it again if another one of my plants did it :wink:

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Well then. I better get to chopping tonight :grin: it is odd how they all got little tiny hats. Thanks

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I defoliate as soon as I start lst. Be sure to only take leaves that are blocking colas form getting light and you’ll be fine :slight_smile:

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Doood that Carmel looks amazing !

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Thanks Sam. @Bogleg I cut 2 tips off and realized it looks like they are part of the bud. there is a nice thick stem going to them. I put bands on the 2 I cut to compare to the rest later. Sorry @crowkiller, I didn’t mean to hijack your thread.

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It’s all good :v:

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nice looking flowers dude what kind hydro system u use I just started one in 5 gallon bucket with airs tones no top feed first time trying this method

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The plants pictured were run using DWC in 8 gallon buckets. That was the only time I used the 8 gallon buckets… I went to 17ga totes after that. For flowering plants I switched to an ebb and flow system, but I’m currently holding a mom in my veg tent in a 5ga DWC bucket.

I’ve grown in the 3.5 buckets up to the 17ga totes, and for a single plant, I like the 10-20ga tote sizes - assuming I’m going to have the plant take up 8 square feet of canopy, anyway. The bigger the reservoir the less daily maintenance you need to do. PH is more stable, you don’t need to top it off as much, etc.

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Is it better to have top feed in dwc or will it make difference

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I have never personally used a top feed in DWC - @tdubwilly, on the other hand, has and I think he is a fan of using one, especially when transitioning from seedling to the final DWC system.

I usually run seedlings in rapid rooters until they get roots long enough for my bubble cloner, then I transition them into the cloner until they get roots long enough to reach the water in the net pots they will finish their lives in.

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Thnx for the info going to go without top feed this run c how it goes I just purchased the hlg 550 be first grow with led

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It makes a huge difference but you have to be careful. It can make huge advantagous differences or it can kill your plant if used improperly

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