Why avoid autoflowers when learning to grow?

[Boatguy]

That depends on the grow, the strains involved, the grower, the size of the plants, etc. Autos finish a lot quicker at Snoopy's crib. OTOH, you can get a photoperiod plant finish quicker than an auto.

What exactly are you trying to say?

 

[Doug Dawson]

Wether an auto finishes faster than a photo is totally on the grower. Photos only tend to take longer as growers tend to veg them longer since it's in their control and with autos it's totally on the plant when veg ends.

 

[SnoopyDoo]

To most with a small plant limit or space limitations what you suggest is years worth of growing. While I can appreciate your thoroughness I have to think what you suggest for new growers is a little extreme. In Canada you have a 4 plant limit. Running 8 grows of one strain would take years. If a person does proper research there is enough information out there to easily get them through grow issues.

Stagger the grows. Throw 1-2 plants into bloom every month and you've got 8 grows in one year.

 

[Doug Dawson]

Stagger the grows. Throw 1-2 plants into bloom every month and you've got 8 grows in one year.

That math does not work. Not only do you than need separate rooms but if you throw a plant into bloom this month and than 2 more next month you will than have a month or two where you cannot. Most plants take 2 to 3 months to flower and ripen properly from flip. Hey if it works for you than all the power to you, it does not work for me. I can grow 4 plants twice a year indoors while taking the summer off. That produces a few pounds a year which is perfectly fine. Throw in an outdoor grow at the cottage since it is a separate residence and I got weed to give away to friends and plenty for my rosin press. Also keep in mind that while your 2 first plants you flipped are in with the 2 you flipped second it is not legal here to grow and veg more. Clones, seedlings etc all count as plants here so 4 plants is 4 plants. That is the sad reality of legality here. That said we are much better off than some places.

 

[bf80255]

To most with a small plant limit or space limitations what you suggest is years worth of growing. While I can appreciate your thoroughness I have to think what you suggest for new growers is a little extreme. In Canada you have a 4 plant limit. Running 8 grows of one strain would take years. If a person does proper research there is enough information out there to easily get them through grow issues.

you gotta redo your math bud, 1 flower cycle takes 8 weeks give or take correct?
if you have 2 lights, 1 for flower and 1 for veg. you can veg for 2 months, clone, veg, clone, flower, veg ad infinitum.

now if you started from scratch and harvested your first plant at the end of the 4th month you will have completed 5 entire cycles in a cyclical fashion by the end of the year and 7 the following year. even with the 4 plant limit. if you dont have 12 months to devote to learning a hobby/craft you arent going to be very good at it. I consider anyone whos been growing less than 5 years to be a beginner.

the problem is reading about something and doing it are entirely different. would you rather fight a guy who has been fighting every day of his life for the past decade or the guy whos been reading about it for 10 years but has never actually fought? no amount of book learning in the world can beat real world experience.

 

[kovidkough]

you gotta redo your math bud, 1 flower cycle takes 8 weeks give or take correct?
if you have 2 lights, 1 for flower and 1 for veg. you can veg for 2 months, clone, veg, clone, flower, veg ad infinitum.

now if you started from scratch and harvested your first plant at the end of the 4th month you will have completed 5 entire cycles in a cyclical fashion by the end of the year and 7 the following year. even with the 4 plant limit. if you dont have 12 months to devote to learning a hobby/craft you arent going to be very good at it. I consider anyone whos been growing less than 5 years to be a beginner.

the problem is reading about something and doing it are entirely different. would you rather fight a guy who has been fighting every day of his life for the past decade or the guy whos been reading about it for 10 years but has never actually fought? no amount of book learning in the world can beat real world experience.

finding an 8 week strain is tuff, most are truly not ready for 10+ weeks, also forget running sativas, thats purely fast indica based system , my perpetual runs 60-70 days, any sooner and id be cutting to soon , of course other genetics will effect your flower time

 

[Doug Dawson]

you gotta redo your math bud, 1 flower cycle takes 8 weeks give or take correct?
if you have 2 lights, 1 for flower and 1 for veg. you can veg for 2 months, clone, veg, clone, flower, veg ad infinitum.

now if you started from scratch and harvested your first plant at the end of the 4th month you will have completed 5 entire cycles in a cyclical fashion by the end of the year and 7 the following year. even with the 4 plant limit. if you dont have 12 months to devote to learning a hobby/craft you arent going to be very good at it. I consider anyone whos been growing less than 5 years to be a beginner.

the problem is reading about something and doing it are entirely different. would you rather fight a guy who has been fighting every day of his life for the past decade or the guy whos been reading about it for 10 years but has never actually fought? no amount of book learning in the world can beat real world experience.

So you figure on doing this with one plant at a time than? Otherwise that just does not work. Most plants take up to 3 months to go from flip to ripe with preflower couple weeks in there. As for having to dedicate all 12 months of the year to plant care in order to be good at this, well that is just not the case. I am fully capable of doing 2 indoor and 1 outdoor cycles per year to create what I need. There comes a point when doing this for personal use that you just have enough and don't need more. I can dedicate years to learning, all that knowledge does not disappear if you take a couple months off in summer and only grow outdoors. But hey, it's up to you what you do. What I do works for me so to me that is all that matters. Happy growing.

 

[bf80255]

finding an 8 week strain is tuff, most are truly not ready for 10+ weeks, also forget running sativas, thats purely fast indica based system , my perpetual runs 60-70 days, any sooner and id be cutting to soon , of course other genetics will effect your flower time

where do you live if you dont mind me asking?
im from NorCal so finding an 8 week strain is preeeetty easy lmao but I understand that isnt the case for everyone.

thats kind of a personal preference thing but as someone whos subsisted off of flower sales there are only like 5 choices when it comes to strains you want to be growing.

1.Blue Dream
2. GSC
3.Gorilla Glue #4
4. Gelato
5. any O.G


otherwise your gunna be sitting on product for a long time and having to sell top shelf as mids
even tho most of these are 10 week strains they are typically harvested in 8 weeks (7 weeks for BD in a lot of ops)

its all personal preference, if my little 5 second calculation is off by a month or 2 your still getting about the same number of harvest a year yah know or you could chop a lil early.... all up to you

 

[kovidkough]

where do you live if you dont mind me asking?
im from NorCal so finding an 8 week strain is preeeetty easy lmao but I understand that isnt the case for everyone.

thats kind of a personal preference thing but as someone whos subsisted off of flower sales there are only like 5 choices when it comes to strains you want to be growing.

1.Blue Dream
2. GSC
3.Gorilla Glue #4
4. Gelato
5. any O.G


otherwise your gunna be sitting on product for a long time and having to sell top shelf as mids
even tho most of these are 10 week strains they are typically harvested in 8 weeks (7 weeks for BD in a lot of ops)

its all personal preference, if my little 5 second calculation is off by a month or 2 your still getting about the same number of harvest a year yah know or you could chop a lil early.... all up to you

you state even though these are 10 week strains...smh. have fun cutting early

 

[Doug Dawson]

where do you live if you dont mind me asking?
im from NorCal so finding an 8 week strain is preeeetty easy lmao but I understand that isnt the case for everyone.

thats kind of a personal preference thing but as someone whos subsisted off of flower sales there are only like 5 choices when it comes to strains you want to be growing.

1.Blue Dream
2. GSC
3.Gorilla Glue #4
4. Gelato
5. any O.G


otherwise your gunna be sitting on product for a long time and having to sell top shelf as mids
even tho most of these are 10 week strains they are typically harvested in 8 weeks (7 weeks for BD in a lot of ops)

its all personal preference, if my little 5 second calculation is off by a month or 2 your still getting about the same number of harvest a year yah know or you could chop a lil early.... all up to you

So you are growing and selling for profit, that changes the game some. I get where you are coming from, just doesn't fit with many personal growers needs. Especially those with low plant limits. You say you chop 10 week strains at week 7 or 8, see that is something I as the end user would never do. Hey, to each their own. If it works for you bud than great. I up up here in Canada, summers are short and I own a cottage. Since I don't grow for profit and want to enjoy my summers I see no reason to screw them up for my weed. Than again, I am not concerned about profits.

 

[Star Dog]

If I had the light and space I'd grow them, I tried them in the past when I was doing a perpetual grow and was running 18/6 anyway but the full operation went tits up due to the authorities so I never did smoke them.
Now what puts me off now is the uncertainty of seeds, its to expensive for me to grow uncertainty now, electricity prices have went up by almost 50% in the last year.

 

[bf80255]

So you figure on doing this with one plant at a time than? Otherwise that just does not work. Most plants take up to 3 months to go from flip to ripe with preflower couple weeks in there. As for having to dedicate all 12 months of the year to plant care in order to be good at this, well that is just not the case. I am fully capable of doing 2 indoor and 1 outdoor cycles per year to create what I need. There comes a point when doing this for personal use that you just have enough and don't need more. I can dedicate years to learning, all that knowledge does not disappear if you take a couple months off in summer and only grow outdoors. But hey, it's up to you what you do. What I do works for me so to me that is all that matters. Happy growing.

yes 1 plant at a time hence the 2 month veg (way too long for more than 3 or 4 plants at a time)
you said you have a low limit so i adjusted for it.

most plants do NOT take 3 months to flower thats just incorrect. unless your dealing with a pure thai landrace or another pure equitorial sativa.

im sure thats fine for you and your probably a good grower but I said that it was my recommendation....my own personal recommendation..... that if beginners want to get as good as possible in as short a span as possible... because some of us actually have to rely on the plant for income and not just as a hobby......then I recommend they grow 1 clone for a few cycles to really optimize and dial in your grow.


again....amateur fighters/athletes fight amateurs and not professionals for a reason. someone who does something a lot every single day is obviously superior to someone who does that same thing on the weekends or seasonally.

the knowledge actually does disappear....try to do some high school geometry if you've been out of school a while... not so easy.

thats like me saying I can still shoot 40/40 when I havent even touched an M4 in like 8 years. silly

 

[bf80255]

you state even though these are 10 week strains...smh. have fun cutting early

lol I guess u didnt understand the part where i said

its all personal preference

if my little 5 second calculation is off by a month or 2 your still getting about the same number of harvest a year


or you could chop a lil early....

all up to you

not what I do, because I dont sell flowers anymore and I dont grow commercial strains

 

[bf80255]

If I had the light and space I'd grow them, I tried them in the past when I was doing a perpetual grow and was running 18/6 anyway but the full operation went tits up due to the authorities so I never did smoke them.
Now what puts me off now is the uncertainty of seeds, its to expensive for me to grow uncertainty now, electricity prices have went up by almost 50% in the last year.

aww man thats the worst
thats true. Hey, my suggestion.... look around for auto growers doing feminized seed runs on here or AFN they usually use solid genetics and make S1s and more often than not will gladly share or trade with you.
that way you can give them anothe try without any risk

 

[Boatguy]

most plants do NOT take 3 months to flower

In my experience 3 months, or 10 weeks plus is the norm for flower.

 

[bf80255]

So you are growing and selling for profit, that changes the game some. I get where you are coming from, just doesn't fit with many personal growers needs. Especially those with low plant limits. You say you chop 10 week strains at week 7 or 8, see that is something I as the end user would never do. Hey, to each their own. If it works for you bud than great. I up up here in Canada, summers are short and I own a cottage. Since I don't grow for profit and want to enjoy my summers I see no reason to screw them up for my weed. Than again, I am not concerned about profits.

i gotcha
yeah its a very common practice to chop those early cuzz they bulk up so fast and it gives the weed a more racy buzzy sativa high

not my thing tho I like the full expression of terps

hell yea i feel yah. I dont grow indoor during summer either lmao the electric bill is astronomical from the cooling and ive got so much going on outdoors its kinda gratuitous

you got the right idea AYE why waste one of those beautiful canadian summers cooped up inside like a frickin hoser?

 

[bf80255]

In my experience 3 months, or 10 weeks plus is the norm for flower.

what strains are you guys growing???

if its not haze or thai I dont get anything longer than 10 weeks

I cant even think of one off the top of my head that takes 3 months......besides hazes and thais.

 

[Doug Dawson]

yes 1 plant at a time hence the 2 month veg (way too long for more than 3 or 4 plants at a time)
you said you have a low limit so i adjusted for it.

most plants do NOT take 3 months to flower thats just incorrect. unless your dealing with a pure thai landrace or another pure equitorial sativa.

im sure thats fine for you and your probably a good grower but I said that it was my recommendation....my own personal recommendation..... that if beginners want to get as good as possible in as short a span as possible... because some of us actually have to rely on the plant for income and not just as a hobby......then I recommend they grow 1 clone for a few cycles to really optimize and dial in your grow.


again....amateur fighters/athletes fight amateurs and not professionals for a reason. someone who does something a lot every single day is obviously superior to someone who does that same thing on the weekends or seasonally.

the knowledge actually does disappear....try to do some high school geometry if you've been out of school a while... not so easy.

thats like me saying I can still shoot 40/40 when I havent even touched an M4 in like 8 years. silly

LOL, a bit of an exaggeration there bud. If you cannot retain knowledge from growing for the past 10 months over the course of a 2 month summer period than I would say you have bigger problems than growing. Sure if you take 8 years off you will be way out of practice but nobody is talking about taking about that, I said I switch to outdoor and shut down indoor for a couple month a year, much different. Unlike fighting, in many cases I would take the amatures over the pros. They tend to put more time and effort into their individual plants. Many amateur home growers produce much better bud than the pros.

I do agree with you that if someone did your method they could learn a ton but you also have to consider most are after the end product as well as the knowledge. For the home grower many times a balance has to be struck to gain knowledge while still sustaining your needs.

As for plants not taking 3 months, I disagree. If you add the 2 week pre flower stage when you first flip to a normal flowering time than you are close. Most breeders state an 8 week flower which almost always translates into 10 or more. With the 2 week pre flowering time you are at 3 months. At least that is what I have found. I don't grow plants for quick flower times, I grow them because I want a particular strain and it is for my own personal use. I am sure there are faster plants out there, just not what I have wanted thus far.

 

[Star Dog]

what strains are you guys growing???

if its not haze or thai I dont get anything longer than 10 weeks

I cant even think of one off the top of my head that takes 3 months......besides hazes and thais.

I just flowered blackberry for 90 days?
Far too long for my liking.

 

[Boatguy]

what strains are you guys growing???

if its not haze or thai I dont get anything longer than 10 weeks

I cant even think of one off the top of my head that takes 3 months......besides hazes and thais.

pretty much sativa and haze, so i guess that explains it.