A Comprehensive Guide to Buying and Growing Autoflowers

You may have seen or heard about autoflowering cannabis strains, a relatively new type of cannabis that originates primarily from Siberia. These smaller plants don’t yield as much as regular dagga plants do, but they have some special features that make them a solid choice for beginner growers and those with limited space. In this article we’ll discuss everything you need to know about buying and growing autoflowers.

What You Should Know When Buying Autos

Autoflowering Cannabis Will Flower On It’s Own Terms, Regardless of Light Cycle

Although autos differ in a few ways to most cannabis, the primary distinction is that while normal ‘photoperiod’ plants move from veg to flower based on changes in light cycle, autoflowers will flower after a variable amount of time and will do so regardless of the light cycle being used.

Most growers will veg plants in 18 hours of light with 6 hours of lights off, and then change that light cycle to 12 hours of light and 12 hours of darkness. The idea here is that you’re emulating the change of seasons in nature, where as summer fades the sunlight hours lower. The plant recognizes these changes and believes that winter is coming so it needs to flower out.

As mentioned, autoflowers don’t do this. Instead, they will automatically enter flower after a few weeks of growing. So even if your tent has 18 hours of lights on, your autoflower will still start forming buds. This allows it to be used in ways that other cannabis plants can’t.

By Growing Autoflower Seeds Smartly, You Can Increase Your Yields Indoors and Outdoors

So with autoflowers having this ‘flower whenever’ trait, you may be wondering how you can use it to your advantage in the garden. There’s a few areas where this can be beneficial:

• They can be grown outdoors all year around for a consistent return of harvests every 3 or so months.
• You can use your veg space to flower them out alongside other vegging plants and don’t need a dedicated flower area.
• Their smaller size makes them ideal for limited grow spaces and are commonly used for closet grows.

The Essentials Of Growing Autos

The most distinct difference between autoflowers and photoperiods for most growers is how they are initially planted. Traditional cannabis plants are started in small containers usually and then potted up several times through its life cycle.

Autoflowers are different. They are usually started in their final pot to avoid the stresses of transplant. Since even a single week of recovery can dramatically reduce yields and result in a smaller, stunted plant entering flower.

Choosing The Right Pot Size

Pot size is an essential consideration for any cannabis plant, but it’s even more important when growing autos. That’s cause autos don’t have the luxury of recovery time from stress. When a normal cannabis plant is stressed, you can wait a few weeks for it to recover – but with autos, stress can stunt the plant early on and never allow it to recover before it goes into flower.

This is why it’s such a common practice for autos to be planted in their final pot and not transplanted up from smaller pots throughout its life cycle. This gives the roots room to grow free and inhibited, preventing stress and stunting.

So, what size should you be using?

As a rule of thumb, 10L is the smallest we’d recommend. It is large enough for most autos, but if the plant stays in veg for longer than 4 weeks, it could still prove too small.

A 20L pot is a better choice for varieties which are known to get larger, such as super autos or generally high-yielding ones.

Very rarely would you need to use a pot larger than 20L.

Understanding The Variability In How Long Autos Veg For

When I first started growing autoflowers I went in unsure of what to expect, and over the years I learned a lot about how these varieties grow and learned how to identify which autos are likely to flower quickly and which are likely to give more veg time. Here’s what I found…

Autoflowers can go into flower really quickly. Although each seed is different, veg times range from between 2 weeks to 6 weeks typically, and up to 8 or even 9 weeks for “Super Autos” which is just a term given to autos that have been bred for longer veg times.

That means you may buy a pack of 5 seeds, 2 may go into flower in week 3, 2 may go into flower during week 4 and 1 may start flowering only in week 5 or 6. That variation between each seed is common, as each seed has its own unique genotype. Similar to how if you have siblings, their growth rate is likely to be different, despite the shared DNA.

I found that autos which still use ‘old school’ autoflowering genes in their close lineage were more likely to flower out very quickly, while strains which were worked more in the breeding process tended to veg longer. This is because breeders sell more seeds when customers get higher yields, so selecting for slightly longer flowering times can help their own business.

I’d advise against using autoflowers that are still crossed to Lowryder, as Lowryder was an early autoflower variety which compared to today’s auto market, is just not as good. It flowers quickly, has relatively weak potency and smaller yields.

Instead, look for autos that have been bred into their own unique strain and has been done so with the goal to increase the yields and potency.

The Short Veg Time Means There’s Little Room For Error

Autoflowers are a great choice for newer growers, as they finish quickly and don’t require as much feed as plants with bigger root structures and larger sized flowers. However, having a plant that decides by itself when to go into flower means there’s no forgiveness if you make a mistake.

If your seedling and early veg stage has problems, you can easily have a small plant flowering out and giving you very little yield, I’m talking 2-5 grams. This isn’t as common now days, with veg times being a little longer, but it’s still something to keep in mind.

When you pop an auto, you want to ensure you give it the most comfortable first month of growth possible. By ensuring it thrives and grows large in the first few weeks, once it does start flowering it’s going to yield a lot better and when done ideally, can give some impressive results. Just keep in mind that it’s not always in your control and each seed is rolling the dice, no matter what strain you’re growing.

Training Autoflowers For Better Yields

When we grow cannabis, we use different training methods to improve the yields. The most common method being topping, where the main apical node (top of the plant) is cut off, which redistributes the growth hormones to other nodes on the plant, increasing its lateral branching and creating a more bushy plant.

But topping can be stressful and it takes time for the plant to bounce back after the stretch. This isn’t great for autoflowers where every day is important and can seriously impact your harvest.

To get around this, auto growers use a technique called “LST” which stands for low stress training. There are a few different methods under the umbrella of LST, but the most common ways its used is by taking the top node of the plant and bending it over (making sure it doesn’t snap) and tying it down so that it’s no longer the tallest part of the plant.

This causes the plant to undergo a similar redistribution of hormones, which in turn triggers more growth from the lateral branches, increasing bushiness, bud sites and ultimately yield.

It’s also common to tuck the fan leaves to open up direct light access to hidden nodes and covered lateral branches. The more nodes you can get to have direct light, the better for yields.

You can also remove a leaf here or there, but doing too much defoliation can cause stress and a lack of growth. I personally use LST in the first 3-4 weeks and then may do a light defoliation if the plant appears strong and healthy enough.

How Best To Feed Autoflower Strains

When growing autoflower strains, it’s often recommended to feed them at 75-80% of your regular feed ratios. I recommend this approach for a few reasons:

• Autoflowers are often more sensitive to high levels of nutrients.
• Their smaller root zones fill out pots less and thus has more nutrient availability compared to a rootbound plant.
• They have shorter life cycles and don’t need as much nutrient availability to make it through flower.

This is especially true for Nitrogen in the flowering stage, where it’s safer to er on the side of caution. When entering flower, you can start at 80% the recommended nitrogen and then at week 2 to 3 of flower, transition to using around 70-80% of the recommended flowering amount of nitrogen. Too much nitrogen can be detrimental to flowering autoflowers.

The same is true, but to less of an extent for Phosphorous and Potassium, which I recommend keeping at 80% recommended feed through flower. If your auto is larger than 4 feet tall, you may want to increase it slightly, but always monitor for signs of nutrient burn if you do increase it and then adjust accordingly.

Use a bit less water than you would for traditional rootbound plants too, especially if you’re in a larger container (over 10L) – as the small root structure can become oversaturated and struggle. Remember, in larger pots an autos roots may not be rootbound, meaning the medium dries out slower.

How Much Yield Can One Expect When Growing Autoflowers?

We often get asked what type of yields to expect with autoflowers and the truth is that there isn’t an easy answer for that. Autos vary so much in size between strains that the yield can be anything from 3 grams to 150 grams or more.

Here’s one of the more accurate ways to gauge your yields, based on how long the auto takes to go into flower:

• 2 Week Veg: Average of 10 to 20 grams.
• 3 Week Veg: Average of 15 to 40 grams.
• 4 Week Veg: Average of 20 to 50 grams.
• 5 Week Veg: Average of 30 to 100 grams.
• 6 Week Veg: Average of 30 to 150 grams.

The exact amount is going to depend on the genetics, especially how much the plant stretches during the first 2 weeks of flower, along with how well it was trained. Some growers have perfected the process of training, and are able to more than double their yields compared to untrained plants.

Addressing The Rumors

Autoflowers have seen some hate over the years, especially by growers who see them as weak or low-yielding. The main reason for this is mostly because of early autoflower strains which didn’t stray far from the original Ruderalis genes. Many of these opinions were left on forums and over the years those seeking information come across them and still think they’re accurate. But the truth is that the autoflowers of today are a lot more refined than those that were available 15 or even 10 years ago.

The negative claims around autoflowers often related to:

• Potency
• Yields
• Inability to keep mothers

How Potency Has Changed

Ten or fifteen years ago you’d be absolutely right in saying that autos aren’t very potent. Back then they were still largely based on the weak Ruderalis gene and wasn’t really moved too far away from its weak point.

However, nowadays there are some extremely potent autoflowers on the market and even some craft breeders who focus on improving these types of traits. Shout out to Mephisto Genetics for example.

How Yields Have Changed

Similar to potency, low yields were common with older autoflowers. Even if the grower did everything perfect, there was a chance at ending up with a 5 to 10 gram plant in the end. That’s not so much the case anymore, and when grown well – most autoflowers can yield better than they used to.

The reason they have lower yield overall is just cause the grower doesn’t get to decide when to flip to flower, the plant makes that decision for them. So you may end up with one that grows for a month before going into flower, while another may start to flower at just 2 weeks.

With the right choice for genetics and proper training, a yield of 20 to 50 grams per plant becomes very realistic. Not bad for a quick growing plant!

The Lack Of Cloning Ability

This one is impossible to escape, cloning autoflowers is still a challenge and while some growers have managed to get a clone to root, it usually just goes into flower almost immediately and results in nothing but a waste of time. When growing autos you should be prepared to grow from seed each time.

Consider Trying One Of Our Best-Selling Autos

Conclusion

We hope this has uncovered some of the mysteries around autoflowers and given you some direction in how to grow them. While autos aren’t a replacement for traditional cannabis strains, they are an effective way for new growers to get introduced to the plant and are ideal for growing alongside vegging plants, through winter months or outdoors in areas where artificial light may otherwise cause problems with photoperiod plants.

If you have any questions please leave a comment and we’ll try to assist you further.