I realize this is a "late" response to a post made last year, but it just came to my attention, so I'm responding now:
I don't run separate vegging and flowering rooms, so that claimed "pro" [for autos] is not a "pro" to me.
Just because something isn't an advantage for YOU, doesn't mean it doesn't apply to ANYONE. For those who have extra space in veg or cloning areas, autos let you flower plants there. You can also move autos back and forth from veg to flower areas if you like, again helping to take advantage of any openings you may have, minimizing unused space and maximizing yield.
Switching light cycles? Gee, resetting a timer one single time during an entire grow, gosh that is difficult and time consuming, thank God that someone came out with a strain where you don't even have to change a timer one single time during a grow. Thanks to that now even "Rain Man" can grow! Again, not a "pro" to me.
In being a wiseass, you're miss the point. I never claimed not having to reset a timer was a real advantage, though if you're operating with limited resources not having to use a timer at all certainly could be. There is also something to be said about not having to worry about light cycles/regimen AT ALL. But even for micro/cab growers like yourself there is still a potential advantage to autos.
While you're vegging plants in your ONE area, you can be FLOWERING autos at the same time. Since veg plants are smaller than final flower plants, typically combo flower/veg areas have extra space during the veg cycle while the small seedling plants are filling in. Throwing an auto in there is a way of getting extra use out of the otherwise unused space during veg.
Running 20-0 from seed to harvest. Again, not a "pro to me."
See above. If you have any bare floor or open spot in your grow box during veg you could use it to get bud with autos. Now maybe you don't care to do it, but that doesn't mean nobody does or that its a waste of effort.
There are numerous short strains, growing methods can be used to keep them even shorter, and using them can increase the number of bud sites giving you more production. If indoors they can be started right from 12-12 and if a short flowering strain they can finish as fast or faster than an auto.
Running short flowering photo strains 12-12 from se-ed and autos are roughly comparable in terms of overall grow duration. If the goal is to flower fast and keep plants short, I don't at all disagree that certain strains run 12-12 is a viable alternative to autos, so long as you're careful about picking your strain.
But IMO, short/fast is not really the biggest advantage nor main point of autos. The best use of autos is to grow plants to maturity under conditions where its not possible or practical to control lighting so rigorously. Not everyone has the ability or desire to create special grow rooms or cabinets indoors, for example. You can quite literally put an auto under a desklamp like a houseplant and grow it to maturity if you wanted to. Try that with a photoplant. You can also put an auto in a pot on your kitchen windowsill and grow it to maturity.
If grown outdoors they can be started late so they have a minimal veg time before going into flower, just enough for the plants to gain a little strength and develop a good root structure. Again, the "pro" is not a "pro" in my book.
Starting plants outdoors late is no "trick". Autos let you start a plant outdoors in March and harvest it 70 days later as early as May without any artificial lighting or special shading. And of course you can start plants indoors then bring them outdoors to finish any time of year.
More to the point, autos let you do "continuous harvests" OUTDOORS. . .planting WHENEVER YOU LIKE, then harvesting every individual plant 60-70 days later. With autos you can time the planting to harvest at any given date you like outdoors, in May, June, July, Aug, Sept, etc. Yes, you can effectively accomplish the same thing with artificial shading setups outdoors, but that's simply not practical for most growers, and you also lose flexibility in plant placement that way.
Left outside to themselves, autos will typically not turn into giant "trees" that attract unwanted attention. Again, that's potentially an advantage, even if it doesn't apply to you.
"Plants will mature outdoors during any part of year, including non-traditional times?" "Any time of the year?" So that means I can grow winter crops outside and the cold will not effect them? Or what was said actually only means autos can be grown outdoors during normal growing climate months and they will not need the short day's of fall to flower and mature. I suppose to someone that's a "pro,"
Really, you're just being intellectually dishonest with those cold weather statements. There is no need to pretend to be stupid.
If you don't see why potentially being able to set up a harvest outdoors anytime from May-November at a date of your choosing, or why being able to stagger multiple harvests through late spring all the way through autumn are potential serious advantages there is nothing more to talk about here.
There has been a long running argument among botanists that ruderalis belongs in the same classification as industrial hemp, largely because it's THC levels are most times on par with that of industrial hemp.
Sure, if you were growing wild ruderalis plants you picked out of the ground from Siberia or the American Midwest, then maybe this type of taxonomic classification might be relevant.
But since the better of the contemporary drug autoflowers have been selectively bred for 80+ generations removed from wild ruderalis plants, and contain the overwhelming majority of their relevant variant genetic content from conventional drug (not hemp) cultivars (the exact same way ALL drug cannabis strains ultimately trace back to low THC wild ones), the taxonomy of the original parent is irrelevant. Go ask any of your imaginary botanist friends whether or not a drug cannabis plant that has been hybridized with a ruderalis plant, then inbred with other drug cultivars for 20 years over 80 generations to achieve 10-15% THC content is a "hemp" plant or a "drug" plant, and then come back and post their reply.
People, can't you see that auto-flowering strains are just one more thing in the line of pure gimmickry being pawned off on growers as some sort of advancement because breeders hit a brick wall about a decade or so ago when it comes to real true advancement.
There has not been any real true appreciable increase in potency and or yield in ages, even though the puppies always think strains grow better with each passing year.
Thanks for the straw man argument. Who said autos had better yield or potency than conventional strains? Nobody has, and nobody is growing these strains for those reasons.
The fact is, exactly contrary to what you're suggesting, there has been continuous improvement in AUTOFLOWER genetics since their inception 20+ years ago. The autos today are a *LOT* better than the original "lowryder" in terms of potency, flavor, and (to a lesser extent) yield, and that's really the whole point here. The BEST of the autos are comparable in potency to good regulars, and for many growers, that's enough.
You certainly don't have to like autoflowers, nor grow them (and personally I don't), but I think its a mistake to claim they are totally worthless, when it seems plain that they potentially have something to offer to certain growers.