Autos and 12/12?

I was running a Tangerine Dream Auto with a Lemon Tree Photo and had cut the light back to get the lemon tree to bloom.
The TD is supposed to take 7-8 weeks from seed and it's been like 11 weeks but my trichs are not turning?

I chopped the Lemon Tree last week and shifted lights to 24/0 and the trichs started to lengthen and develop, but they are still clear. The fan leaves are beginning to yellow and fall away.

I was hoping to get some amber but, How long does it take to move to amber?

I'll not make that mistake again with my Autos. I'll do the next run straight 20/4.

You slowed everything down for the auto running it at 12/12 so it might take a little longer now to get any amber tho I never wait for amber myself. Mostly cloudy and barely any white hairs is prime-time for me.

Thanks for the reply.

I've only got a 250 W and a 140 watt LED light and was wondering if the lack of lumens also slowed it down.
I clipped a good sized bud today so I can test smoke it and look at the trichs a bit closer. Still clear to slightly cloudy.

I smoked a Popcorn bud from the Lemon Tree yesterday and it was very smooth, not much high but I could feel it. I got a quart jar of Lemon Tree out of one plant. I figure the Tangerine Dream will yield 2 to 2 1/2 jars.

I don't know much about LED lights being an HID guy but an extra 8 hours more a day of even less than great light would have helped.

I'd leave it on 20/4 for a bit longer and see if it doesn't ripen up and even get you to 3 jars.

OldMedUser said:

You slowed everything down for the auto running it at 12/12

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Not entirely true. The owner of the Autoflower network say optimum growth for autos is 18/6. Theyll still grow in 12/12 or 24/0 or only 8 hours of light but not to maximum potential (24/0 is in the "diminished returns" range.)
OP Trichomes arent the only thing you check. Check the calyx's, pistils and trichomes to know when to truly harvest.

Well I'm about to just call it finished. The Trichs are sorta milky, the calyxs are swelling, most of the pistils are shriveled and brown but some of the buds are still putting out white pistils. Monday will be 12 weeks and she was supposed to be 7-8 weeks. She doesn't appear to be putting on more weight.

I'm thinking that my lights are adequate but more lumens might improve things. The next run should tell me.

For my first grow with my Stink Bud 4.0/LED system I learned a few things. My next run will be Northern Lights and Tangerine Dream Autos again. I'll run 18/6 from the start and all the way thru. I'll save up some money for a QB or strips light and use my two existing lights for one tub of two plants. I'll stagger the next two four weeks, with the "new one" for another tub of two. I'll start training earlier and try a double FIM to get 16 colas. I think I can get 32 colas in my 2x2 net and get the light coverage I need. I'll start bloom nutes at 4 weeks and use the GH chart for nute %s.

I need to make some changes to my system for ease of maintenance and better light containment. Since it's getting HOT! here, I'll work on the system for a coupe of months. More filter/fans to exhaust the heat and odor control. I'll try for a Christmas Crop next run.

Once your trichomes turn from clear to milky you can chop, this is an early harvest and will go to your head, once your trichomes turn milky they will start to turn amber, this can happen very fast or not depending on strain, i like a body high i want at least half my trichomes amber, but they first have to go from clear to milky to amber to get there.

It's totally normal to still have clear trichs at this stage. One thing you must keep in mind is that your plant is constantly producing trichomes at this stage, and likely faster than the trichomes themselves are changing colors. Be patient man...auto's are no different than regular pot plants, you've got to give them time to fulfill their true potential, or just like a regular photo, you will get weak bud. Try to at least wait until the vast majority are milky. Clear trichs aren't going to be a very big bang for your buck.

Just checked and now some are looking like they might be ambering. Maybe 5-10%. I'm trying to be patient, but... 12 Weeks! I figure I'll chop in stages to see if the lower buds will darken a bit? It is getting a bit more frosty but I fear that my 12/12 slowed it down a good deal.
I tried to give her ~4-500 umols but had to move my lights up to cover the spread on the net. The scrog gave me ~20 good sized colas, 3-5 inches, but slim and not so fat.

Fortunately my nephew gave me some samples of his out door grow and I still have smoke on hand.

Autos respond well to a 7-1 light cycle , which can also help with a more even temp

Yeah I've heard of people harvesting sections of the plant like the top cola and upper branches and stuff, I'm sure that will work fine particularly if you're in a position of needing the smoke. Yeah that is one thing that deters people from autos, is that even though they're geared towards cropping out faster than photo's, they really aren't THAT much faster to crop. I guess it also really depends on the strain as well. Seed companies like to advertise a 6 or 8 week harvest, but the truth is, auto's will (generally speaking) only harvest maybe 2 or 3 weeks faster. While I'm sure they might not get as dense as they would on an 18/6 lighting schedule, I don't see it having that massive of an impact on your bottom line, so try not to beat yourself up over it!! I've always heard that if you're going for heady highs, aim for about 5-15% amber and the rest milky. But don't forget there will always be some clear trichs as the plant will keep producing new ones. You just wanna harvest when there are very few clears is all. Sorry for the rambling on Goat!

I'm not really upset about this. It was my first grow in 10 years, first Auto grow and I did a lot of things badly. I was hoping for a ~250 gram finish from 250-390 Watts of LED. lucky if I get 50 grams I guess.

GoatSoup said:

I'm not really upset about this. It was my first grow in 10 years, first Auto grow and I did a lot of things badly. I was hoping for a ~250 gram finish from 250-390 Watts of LED. lucky if I get 50 grams I guess.

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Welcome to auto flowers, feel lucky you got more than an oz, most auto's arent great yielders.

Last time I grew I did Super lemon Haze 16X plants under ~500 watts of T05 and got over 35 gm's per plant. If I remember right it was almost 20 weeks clone to finish. That's why I decided to try autos this time around.

Not that much faster? it can take 4 to 5 months to grow a photoperid plant, my mean average from seed to harvest is 72 days, a bit over 2 months, I think that's a bit faster.

It really just depends on strains Snole, not exactly black and white. Definitely not for everyone and every strain. Hence 'generally'. Generally speaking, no, not as fast as seed breeders advertise and claim them to be.

GoatSoup said:

Last time I grew I did Super lemon Haze 16X plants under ~500 watts of T05 and got over 35 gm's per plant. If I remember right it was almost 20 weeks clone to finish. That's why I decided to try autos this time around.

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Yeah, surpisingly auto's can yield decently (not insanely, but decently) contrary to popular belief rather than those little single bud sea of green auto's ya see around (Just as Buddhabudz has said time and time again). It really just comes down to the grower's ability to maximize the use of the plant's time. Especially the first 4 weeks, as more leaves equals more energy and more buds.

Dialed in are we? I sure wasn't, but now I know a good deal more and hopefully correct my mistakes. I assumed that the Breeders suggestion of 7-8 weeks was for a optimized grow, which mine was not. I was hoping for no more than 9 weeks.
I'm assuming she's going down soon no matter what I do. I put her on a three hour inspection cycle as she has turned a bit amber in the last 24 hours.

It's research not excited anticipation.

I harvested a dwarf at 52 days, they now sell super autoflower plants that take longer than your run of the mill auto, Dutch passion sells a strain called auto ultimate Dutch passion grew that plant under optimal grow conditions useing the best lights in the world but they pulled a key off 1 plant and have the pics to back it up, I find with autos and I only grow indica or indica Dom hybrids witch tend to be but not allways a bit smallish compaird to a sativa Dom auto that my yields tend to be much smaller than if I took the time to grow a photoperid plant, but my needs are small so I usaly have a couple in flower then start more like an assembly line, so I usaly have decent weed and rarely have to buy off the street, I allso usaly grow plants with a thc content of at least 20per cent if not more, high test autos at least indica one's tend 2 be squat, and relatively low, but I guess the bottom line is it's a trade off, you are ultimately trading speed for yield.

Hahahaha I like that phrase there. Hell man I feel like even for the most dialed in grows 7-8 weeks is cutting it short unless you want to harvest your plants with a lot of clear trichs.