Growing autoflowers and photoperiods in the same tent...

FromCali420

FromCali420

Member
Hey, so my husband and I need advice on something specific that we just haven’t been able to find.
we have planted two photoperiod plants and two autos ( which have a life span of 8-9 weeks) in the same tent. Our two autos are 5 weeks and our two photos are 8 weeks. All of them have been under 18/6 hours light, and all of them look healthy and happy. The problem is that now that the autos are starting to flower we noticed that the photos are following suit. They have begun to flower and that has derailed us from the original plan of putting them under 12/12 once the Autos‘ cycle was done. The dilemma is should we put them under 12/12 lighting to accommodate the photos wanting to flower, or should we continue with 18/6 lighting to accommodate the full potential of the autos until they have grown to end, then switch over to 12/12 ...but possibly stressing out my photos for the next month??? Also how should I feed my plants (photos)? Should I start feeding them bloom food even though they are still in veg lighting??And I guess, WHY? Why are they preflowering? Are they getting triggered by hormones from the Autoflowers?
* Also, putting them in another tent at this point wouldn’t be possible due to lack of space.
Thanks for your time all advise is appreciated :)
 
Humanrob

Humanrob

Well-Known Member
The autos can finish under 12/12 lighting, they just won't produce as well or as much as they would have with more light. If you think the photos are healthy and you are capable of maintaining their feeding and environment over the course of the 8 or more weeks it will take them to flower, they have the potential to produce way more than the autos and therefor might be seen as more valuable. So that would imply flipping to 12/12 now would lead to the better overall outcome. On the other hand, if you are a newbie, you have a better chance of actually successfully finishing the autos at this point, so you might lean towards getting the most out of them that you can and celebrating that success.

If you keep the lights at 18/6 until the autos to finish, your photos will have vegged for 12 weeks. That is a really, really long time to veg plants. I have no idea how big your grow space is, what medium you are growing in, how you are feeding them, what kind of lights you are using etc., but those are going to be some huge and hungry photos. It takes a pretty experienced grower to keep up with training and feeding a plant for that long, and you still have to keep them healthy and balanced for 8 or more weeks of flowering to finish them. That's a 20+ week grow, way more than I'd sign up for.

That's the beauty of growing, live and learn. Today's lesson: Timing is important.

Pictures would help... or at least be interesting.
 
FromCali420

FromCali420

Member
Humanrob said:
The autos can finish under 12/12 lighting, they just won't produce as well or as much as they would have with more light. If you think the photos are healthy and you are capable of maintaining their feeding and environment over the course of the 8 or more weeks it will take them to flower, they have the potential to produce way more than the autos and therefor might be seen as more valuable. So that would imply flipping to 12/12 now would lead to the better overall outcome. On the other hand, if you are a newbie, you have a better chance of actually successfully finishing the autos at this point, so you might lean towards getting the most out of them that you can and celebrating that success.

If you keep the lights at 18/6 until the autos to finish, your photos will have vegged for 12 weeks. That is a really, really long time to veg plants. I have no idea how big your grow space is, what medium you are growing in, how you are feeding them, what kind of lights you are using etc., but those are going to be some huge and hungry photos. It takes a pretty experienced grower to keep up with training and feeding a plant for that long, and you still have to keep them healthy and balanced for 8 or more weeks of flowering to finish them. That's a 20+ week grow, way more than I'd sign up for.

That's the beauty of growing, live and learn. Today's lesson: Timing is important.

Pictures would help... or at least be interesting.
Click to expand...
hey thanks for the response,
Im growing in a 3ftx3ft and I think 5ft high tent. I’ve got two LED lamps one of them says 450w... and im growing in perlite and coco soil. Feeding them some organic bloom feed / veg feed just and some vitamins... super basic and low maintenance growers here. I know that’s a long time to veg... but I’ve LST them to keep them short... my concern is mostly early blooming for the photos. I’ll put some pics and maybe you can tell me if she’s just showing sex or if she’s on her way to bloom under 18/6 lighting. The two bigger ones are the photos and the other ones are Autos. The close up pics is the lemon haze photo. Hope it’s clear enough to see.
Thanks
 

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Humanrob

Humanrob

Well-Known Member
Those look like "pre-flowers" to me, it's showing sex but may not start to actually produce full buds... I've only been growing for about a half dozen years, so I haven't "seen it all" yet, but my outdoor plants would often hit a certain size/age and show sex, but not start flowering (until the days started getting shorter). It's always a challenge to ascertain a plants health when photographed under blue/red LEDs since we're not seeing their actual colors, but the plants look to be in good shape so far. Nice job with the LST'ing.

It's a judgement call from here. If you are familiar with keeping plants alive for 20+weeks and feel confident that your original plan can still work, then see it through. If some plants in the tent are more valuable to you than others, then maybe shift the plan to favor them. It's an interesting grow, I hope you'll keep posting pictures as it goes, we might all learn something from this.
 
FromCali420

FromCali420

Member
Aww thanks I’m pretty proud of my lst‘ing... I’m super novice only have been growing for the past couple years. I’m happy to know it’s showing sex and not blooming. I think I will go for the original plan and just keep the photos nice and maintained until the autos are don. Let’s see how that goes! :) The 2 photos are in the 9th week, which are lemon haze and critical and the autos are in their 5th week and are super hash autos. I’ll take better pics for you all, not under led lighting. But I’ll have to wait till they‘re awake. Thank you for the feed back!
 
FromCali420

FromCali420

Member
Im trying out the Ring LST method. I didn’t top any of my plants this time. The critical here came out normal but the lemon haze had two heads without topping.
6B2E08EC-DBB9-4814-B58E-3D0B4D43362C.jpeg
Here above you can see the top head reach the edge and begin to twist.4D0CDA0A-6E20-40B5-9B2D-8B474818D2BB.jpeg
Here you can see that I accidentally decapitated one of the main tops but two more branches already are sprouting out. 31B49E02-F19E-4E53-89D6-9F6F4F026C02.jpeg
top left & bottom Right are the Autos. Top Right is the critical and bottom left is the lemon haze.D4D56C56-C55A-4D67-8F44-EF21238A2D3A.jpeg
Hope these pics are a bit better to see not a great photographer .
 

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Leeski

Leeski

Well-Known Member
Reason I ask cause they look like paper clips my concern would be as the plant/branches grow if there’s give/room they will cut into the branches good work good luck with the rest of your grow and merry Christmas ☮
 
FromCali420

FromCali420

Member
Leeski said:
Reason I ask cause they look like paper clips my concern would be as the plant/branches grow if there’s give/room they will cut into the branches good work good luck with the rest of your grow and merry Christmas ☮
Click to expand...
Yeah that was my concern too... so far I’ve been trying to do it loose but it has caused superficial damage which coincidentally made those branches a bit stronger. But definitely not advice to use it. A very merry Christmas to you too ✌
 
FromCali420

FromCali420

Member
I think I’m going to have to switch the lighting to 12/12 because the autos in no way are going to be done in 4 weeks. When I planted the seed it said a life span of 60 days... there’s no way they’ll be done so fast, and I don’t think I’ll be able to keep the photos small enough. So I’m thinking to switch the time and hour a day until I get down to 12/12. Maybe it will help ‍♀ If I gradually go down?? Or give time for my autos to adjust... we‘ll see.
 
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