how much do you guys pull on most autos, a few ounces under a 4 bulb T?
Autos much like photos grow larger based on container size.The difference is autos are genetically dwarfs, just like humans have dwarfism.This limits the ultimate size and yield.Most autos wont grow taller than 3ft regardless of a super big container.However container size can be used to control the height size and yield of autos.Another thing that limits height,size and yield is the very short life cycle. 65-85 days from seed to harvest is 1/2 the time from seed to harvest for the fastest photos.
So if you transplant, the shock costs you 2-7 days of growth and diminishes yield.It's best to plant your seed or very young seedling in it's final container from the get go.Any thing that stunts growth is a big yield killer.These plants only live 70 days on average so you can stunt growth by a week or more doing things you could get away with on a photo with no damage done,but it's a it is a big deal down the line via diminished yield if you do the same things to autos.
A few ounces per plant is easily obtainable but you are talking 2 square feet of area for one plant and a 5+ gal. container to get such a yield.In a commercial grow mothers and clones of photos will never be challenged by any auto flower strain ,or set up to grow them.Autos are for certain situations.I will list them the best I can.Personally I have gotten 10 Oz. off one Super auto in an 8 gallon container with nothing but pro-mix bx and Tiger Bloom nutes.This plant required nearly 4 square feet of floor space.
Super autos are Sativa dominate and take around 120 days to finish from seed.They are designed for the outdoor guerrilla grower.Some are not true autos and require a 6 hr dark period to mature fully.Most male show sex around week 4-7.A very few males wile require a dark period to pronounce sex.I will be doing some test projects with some thiapan 2.0 and some auto AKs. the TP 2.0 is a super auto this if you care to check it out I plant to start it in this thread around Sept.
I like small 12-18 inch plants packed in like sardines (Sea of Green) when I'm going for maximum yield per sq ft of floor space.Single cola type autos like Lowryder or Auto Assassin in 2 liter soda bottles (my favorite) will yield about 8-12 grams of dried cured bud. Nearly 8 bottles/plants will fit in 1 sq. ft.Call it 10 grams a plant and you're looking at 80 grams per sq ft every 3-4 weeks if you get a sea of green operation going .Let's say you have a 2ft x 2ft closet with a 250 watt HPS at optimum efficiency will pull 200 grams easily .This would take co2 and a lot more work to get that kind of yield with clones and mothers.SoG is much easier to do & far less space is need for autos vs photos.
#1. The 1st time grower- The first time grower can be quickly overwhelmed when you try to tell him how to pop his seeds, along with light cycle regimes, sexing, watering, feeding and the like.With an auto you can give you newbie grower friend a 3 week old already sexed auto flower in a 3-5 gal bucket. Be sure to feed it a good dose of flower nute right before he picks it up.Tell ol' dude to water it every 3-4 days and other than that don't feed it, pinch it or trim the fan leaves.
He can grow it in front of a sunny window in a closet under lights on the patio or in the Bush and the final result will be comparable.He will have a better than 60% chance of seeing some bud.When he can pull this off you know he will get the harder concepts of photos with the mothers /clones method.
#2- State Laws Dictate-In your state you may be able to have 6 plants or what ever the number and be under felony level cultivation.My state goes by total weight not plant count.The narcs here weigh the entire plant, I.E. leaf,stem & root system(the dirt most be totally removed, so most time it is cut with a machete at the base of the plant in guerrilla grows).
Consider just 2 mother plants would have me in felony cultivation land because 200+ grams is a felony 5 here.199 grams or less and it's a 1st degree misdemeanor (6 moths county time max $2500 fine).So I can have a shit load of pre-sexed seedling autos and be under felony weight easily.The males are toss out the door & the females go outside or into the flower room at 3-4 weeks.The fast sexing time is my favorite part, I hate growing a plant for 3 months before you know it's a useless male.
Now that I'm down to all females, lets say I ended up with 20 I will cull the weaker plants out over the next 10 days down to 6-12 plants.Again this will keep me well under felony weight.Only the last 2 weeks before harvest will the plants be over 200 grams.Full wet weight on 6 of the autos I grow indoors is about 500 grams.If busted I would stretch the proceedings as long as possible to allow the plants in evidence now to dry the fuck out to hey!I would dry it to about 25-300 grams so with any luck it gets 20% dryer and is under 200 by final court day.
#3 very small space or just want one for a hobby- Well nothing is better for small spaces than certain autos.RRF, Auto Assassin, and many others are good little producers in tight spaces like 1 x 1 or even less.
As for the original poster your plan is golden and one of the big pluses with autos. G.L to you all stop by my thread if you are interested in learning about autos.the adress is in my signature.
