What are your favorite strains to grow?

Thank you very much! That is exactly what I am hoping for out of it :grin: thank you again for letting me know :wink:

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I’m about to start Hawaiian Snow also 14 weeks. I like sativas and hybrids.

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This sounds exciting :v:t5::+1:t4::city_sunrise:

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As an outdoor guy in Canada I can never complete a haze… our weather goes too cold and too wet… too often in October…lol… so my solution is @Packee grow us some haze indoor…lol…

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Favorite strain to grow was the sour alien dawg. I did not have a single larfy nug on that plant at all. Heavy yielder with thc hitting the 30% mark on some grows. Makes your head spin with how potent it is. Some true pain medication. It remembers me of the true Alaskan Thunder Fuck I tried in the mid to late 2000’s that made you stupid. Great strain for depression.
I used to grow autos exclusively for a time but the potency is not there which makes sense because ruderallis is known for decreasing potency. I would say autoflowers have been the least favorite to grow because of how leafy the plants can get. I hate plants that have high leaf to bud ratio. Plus for all the extra hours of light to get not that potent smoke is bad.

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I’m not sure that is true of autos at all, especially not now.

Also, autos don’t need more light all their lives. It is more like – even with 12/12 they won’t flower until a certain age/size, generally.

@sdgreene @blackthumbbetty might disagree about lack of potency.

Check out 420 Addams recent grow.

420 Addams can fill you in on the autos she likes best, there is a lot of stuff out there that is really potent!

The only thing I don’t like about autos is not being able to keep a mother around, or other wise keep your favorite strains around as clones nearly indefinitely. And for that reason I haven’t really grown them a lot. But Tokesterdamus and 420Addams have nearly perfected their craft with autos.

Happy growing,

MacG

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And why we are here… I am back to bottom feeding… The other forum I started out in (at the bottom)and learned so much and was in the top tier… now back to the bottom (in certain ways) and time to climb to the top again (with learning)…

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I grew autos from 2017-18. I mainly grew fastbuds seeds. Blue dreammatic, green crack. I also grew some heavyweight seeds fruit punch and midnight express.
You are right that autos flower depending on age. What I learned is that anything under 18 hours of light and you wont get much from autoflowers. Autoflowers are picky too. They require less intense light, they require low nutrient strength feeds (most), if you stunt an autoflower early in its life it can/will stunt yield, transplanting can be a bitch if you dont know methods to avoid stress.
Photoperiods are better bang for buck because you need 12/12 or 11/13 light schedules for optimum growth. If you say break off a branch on a photo in veg, sure it will get stunted, but you can leave it veg until it heals itself and put it in the flower room. You cant do that with autos.All those extra hours of lights for an auto and to have less potency (strain dependant of course).
Also for example, take fast buds gorrilla glue, they take a popular strain and cross it with ruderalis to get an auto. The resulting cross (gg4 x ruderalis - for autoflower trait) is a watered down version of gorilla glue. Ive tried the real deal josey wales gg4 and that stuff almost made me go paranoid, too damn potent. I tried the fast buds auto gorilla glue and it was mediocre.

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Thanks! That plant has been grown 12/12 from start, too.


Fastbuds 6 Shooter, 77 days from germ
12/12 from seed


@sponge I’ve had incredible results with Fastbuds Blue Dreamatic and Green Crack, myself. In fact, Blue Dreamatic is one of my favorite strains, for flavor and potency. Green Crack got me 6oz of potent sativa buds in about 105ish days. I agree about their GG: I hated it.

Auto flowers can definitely be stunted by early mistakes. As far as light needs and nutes, I haven’t found them to be pickier. I run strong qbs and push really heavy nutes, but that’s kind of a cause/effect relationship. I typically run my autos like photos: 1 week 24/0; a couple weeks of 20/4; then 18/6 til bloom; finally 12/12 til harvest. I have found 12/12 from start to be just fine, as well.

Of course, there are limitations to autos, such as no cloning or experimenting with crazy training techniques. Plus, they are unforgiving of mistakes, sometimes even minor ones. No denying they have a mind of their own. It’s up to the auto grower to read their plants and know what to do/not to do and when. I won’t deny that I allow for a couple stunted plants, per grow. It ends up working out for when the others become beasts!

Their fast turn-around, not having to worry as much about light leaks, and the ability to flower at just about any light makes them invaluable to my small indoor grow. Plus, I have found them to be just as potent and stacked as their non-ruderalis sisters, strain dependent, just like photos. I get to try a huge variety of strains, over 3 harvests from Sept-June. I can now reliably pull about a pound per grow, using 25² ft. That’s probably not a lot to some people, but multiply that by 3 grows in less than a year, and it’s nothing to sneeze at. That’s my stash for the year. :grinning:

I love autos. Sorry you haven’t had good experience with them, but don’t give them up for dead; I had nothing but bad luck growing photos, so I understand.

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I started out growing autos… now I am a photo guy… I am going to start to grow some more in living soil and see what happens… but photos… hell I grow about 10lbs a year and as an extractor I need all but 1 of those pounds…because that 1lb covers what my stoner friends require…lol… autos have a definite purpose… that purpose just doesn’t suit everyone’s needs…

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I don’t get to verry often but when u grow outside I have no choice but to grow autos in order to get anything worth smoking our summer is short and the fall hits hard with a vengeance. Our summer grow season can end at the beginning of Oct most yrs it does…

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Yes I can say that the bluedream matic is close to bluedream but its nothing like the real deal blue dream (santa cruz cut). Again its the cross with the ruderalis that waters down the original cut used. I know some cant get access to the real deals but Im one of those that need the real deal haha. I live in the 46th parallel and I did an autodoor grow with autos but they flowered in 100 degree weather and maybe I timed it wrong but terpenes volatize off plants starting at 90ish degrees now imagine 100+ in the dead summer. I remember harvesting in July which was weird to me but I got okay buds nothing of note. Light leaks can still cause problems if you have a dark cycle. I remember one green crack herming on me because of a light leak. Some even grow 24/0 through all of autos life.
To be honest ive never heard of someone growing autos in 12/12 etc light schedule. Not even on the autoflower network (when I used to frequent) did I remember anyone doing that. Even the owner of that site said in a podcast of wake and bake america that anything under 18/6 will not bring autos to their full potential. I always done 18/6 and my heighest yeilding plant was fast buds blue dreammatic which pulled me about 350ish dry grams of buds. You should try 18/6 and see if you notice a difference.
I too run qbs but you need to pay attention to the leaves. Your leaves are dark green, shiny, and they are clawing which is indicative of the plant not liking the nitrogen they are being fed or overfertilization. Autos are sensitive. I started running photos and most autos dont like anything over 1.6 EC. Some like less but ive never seen many go over 2+EC when compared to most photoperiods I grow under that strength.
Yeah every one has opinions but I dont see any benefit in all the extra work for autos. Been there done that. Sorry if this offends but it wasnt my intention its only what ive learned while growing autos.

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Yes, you clearly hate autos.

I LOVE AUTOFLOWERS!

We all grow our own way.

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Well, welcome to the Grower’s Network!

The above might be true if you are growing in a closet under florescent light. Less light energy absorbed over a longer period of time makes up for the plants not being able to get enough in a shorter amount of time.

All cannabis, autoflower or not, can only process so many micromoles of light or photons in a given period. 12/12 is absolutely fine to bring any cannabis to its full potential with intense enough of light. Just don’t do less than 10 hours of intense light per 24 hour period or THC will significantly decrease.

happy growing,

MacG

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@sponge

The thing with autos is, a lot of people expect to grow them like photos then blame the auto when it dont produce like what they wanted

Trained properly to maximize light exposure and given the proper light rotation, my autos produce every bit as potent and dense buds as photos .

Also, ruderalis doesn’t shrink potency …that type of cannabis has less thc in it natrually…this is why most good breeders only breed on a small amount of ruderalis genetics …just enough for the auto flower to occur …this is also why most autos have mostly photo Genetics…

I’ve been growing autos for 3 years now…they are absolutely capable of producing great yields (4-8 oz per in soil!) Just as potent and dense buds as photos but you gotta work for it and learn to read and speak to your plant…if you don’t , you’ll get lackluster results …this is why most people turn away from autos , not because they are inherantly weaker, but because they don’t realize a different approach is required to grow them do they just blame the plant

And I’m with you @blackthumbbetty I love autos…most of the haters are people who had one bad experience and quit . Or they didn’t realize they need to grow them differently

I have a blue dream auto jar and a photo .they looks and taste identical and the potency is the same…I just had to grow them differently… If you manage expectations logically , autos can blow your mind .

This really seems to come down to personal preference…sponge obviously likes photos better and that’s cool! They are beasts !

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Yes that was my experience at first but I started to become better at growing autos within the next cycle but even when I grew the plant in near perfect conditions it was still lackluster when compared to the original strains. I stopped growing autos and went to the source of most of all the genetics fast buds had like the original gg4, blue dream, etc (still looking for the blue dream santa cruz cut, only smoked the flower, and the green crack, smoked the real deal cut that came out of Athens, GA). Im glad I did get the gg4 because the original blows the auto versions out of the water. When I tried the originals thats when I knew gg4 autos, green crack and blue dream autos are “watered down” in my opinion.

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well if you like the photos, then thats your thing! I find them tedious and annoying to grow :slight_smile: I like a plant that keeps me thinking! Tho, I don’t grow in large scale…4 plants at once 3 autos and 1 photo is my grow op.

with autos it is REALLY important to get good genetics…often time they have WAY too much ruderalis in them when does make them weak for sure , but again, this isnt a reason to swear them off, it is a reason to do diligent research on upstanding breeders :slight_smile:

for the first year I had similar results…now my auto buds are as dense and potent as any of my photo buds plus i got yields very close (in soil) so autos with smaller stature and shorter life span make sense. If I could grow out door, I 'd be rocking a LOOOOOT more photos :slight_smile:

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@sdgreene. I believe you have pictures to prove your point…:wink::wink:

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Amazing how toxic green plants look when you take flash pics in the dark, huh? It’s not perfect, but c’mon sponge, it’s lovely weed. :grinning:

I stand by my grows. :grinning: I am not a perfect grower, but I do my best and am always learning more. I am proud of my small, indoor organic auto grows.

We’re all here to grow. We all have different techniques that get us from A to Z. As long as we follow the basic grow rules, everything in-between is really a personal choice. There are many ways to grow the sticky icky. That’s what’s great about forums: learning all those myriad ways of growing WEEEEEEEEEED!

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Agreed. They take more time to tweak and dial in, once you get it though…look out

@blackthumbbetty :heart_eyes:

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