Anyone find autos a waste of time?

[Kola_Kreator]

Memphisto Fourm Stomper took em down Saturday but it was 76 days. So I ran a day over. Good chit.

That bud structure does not look impressive at all. If I had a photo period that finished looking like this I would probably drop it.

 

[Kola_Kreator]

You will very rarely get to see the best an auto can be.

Anyone who runs a perpetual photo strain by clone knows that you need to grow it out 3 or 4 times to really see the true expression and potential of the genetics. With autos you can only run it once and you don't get another shot so you'll very rarely see the genetics at their best..

Phenotype expression is 50% genetics 50% environment. So if anything goes wayward in the tent when your auto is in flower you are missing out on getting the best out of her.

 

[pegboy]

One thing I know is all autos have ruderalis genetics and all the autos I've grown express it to some extent (ie. leafy). This in itself turns me toward good old fashion sativas and indicas. If anyone prefers autos good for them. I definitely prefer photoperiod genetics.

 

[waterproof808]

Yep. Don't think I've ever seen an auto that didn't have yellowing/spotting leaves towards the last half of flower. This really is just poor genetics that make them difficult to feed and keep healthy for the entire grow.

I think its just that lesser experienced growers are generally the types that grow autos and they dont do them justice and cant finish a plant right. I'm not saying everyone that grows autos is inexperienced but you dont see a whole lot of growers with decades of experience growing rooms full of autos.

The biggest deal breaker for me is not being able to clone an auto if you find a stellar plant. IMO, a lot of the value of buying overpriced cannabis seeds (hint: they're all overpriced) comes from being able to clone those plants and keep the strain around indefinitely or until you get tired of it.

 

[Budzbuddha]

Let’s cut to the chase …. “ Who cares ? “

Photos and Autos are like stepsisters - each have their place. Autos can throw a variety of plant expressions ( leaf to calyx , speed , size , recessed traits , etc ) - they are like the “ microwave pizza “ of cannabis plants - pop them / flower them.

Sure there are some minor “ tricks “ one could do …
Long veg cycle upfront ( to root out and set plant structure ) , COCO based autos ( instead of soil ) , even some training that can now be done to them since auto breeding has progressed “ somewhat “.

Each type ( photo or autos ) have pluses and minuses -
Bottom line - Grow the weed - Smoke the weed.
Less fucking drama

 

[MtRainDog]

The biggest deal breaker for me is not being able to clone an auto if you find a stellar plant. IMO, a lot of the value of buying overpriced cannabis seeds (hint: they're all overpriced) comes from being able to clone those plants and keep the strain around indefinitely or until you get tired of it.

Exactly. You see a lot of complaints like "x strain is weak" but not a lot of running numbers... 1 or 2 seeds at a time usually. You gotta hunt for the good shit, and keep it around. Can't do that with autos. It's not magic, it's numbers.

 

[McStrats]

Yep. Don't think I've ever seen an auto that didn't have yellowing/spotting leaves towards the last half of flower. This really is just poor genetics that make them difficult to feed and keep healthy for the entire grow.

The yellowing/spotting probably has more to do with poor growing technique. Stick with it and you’ll get the hang of it

 

[McStrats]

I have a jar of auto nugs that look just like this one. I have jars of photo nugs too. When you find a good strain and when you develop good growing technique, there really is no difference.

 

[McStrats]

Let’s cut to the chase …. “ Who cares ? “

Photos and Autos are like stepsisters - each have their place. Autos can throw a variety of plant expressions ( leaf to calyx , speed , size , recessed traits , etc ) - they are like the “ microwave pizza “ of cannabis plants - pop them / flower them.

Sure there are some minor “ tricks “ one could do …
Long veg cycle upfront ( to root out and set plant structure ) , COCO based autos ( instead of soil ) , even some training that can now be done to them since auto breeding has progressed “ somewhat “.

Each type ( photo or autos ) have pluses and minuses -
Bottom line - Grow the weed - Smoke the weed.
Less fucking drama

How do you prolong auto vey cycle? I always believed it was determined.

 

[Django66]

good! more beans for us. keep telling yourself that.
Gnome Automatics kicks ass hands down. Mephisto and Errors got their shit down too. #1 Find an autoflower breeder that know his shit. The problem with autoflowers is that in most cases the breeder does not do the work. you have to bring autoflower cultivars to F-5 and further and backcrossing and isolating and all that stuff I do not understand yet. It takes years of hard work to create an autoflower cultivar that is stable. They grow 100 plants or more, pick the five best and trash the rest. Over and over again. That's my unscientific explanation of breeding but you get my point. Clue #2 when choosing an autoflower variety I look for a percentage of ruderalis in the description because that is what it has to be. It cannot be 50% sativa and 50% indica and be an autoflower. #3 when choosing a variety of autoflower pick one that fits your grow space. A good desciption of growing techniques and pot size and how big the plant get on average should be in the description rather that a "wine lable" list of effects.
I hope people don't give up on autoflower because the used bad beans to begin with. The Black Strap and Coal Miners Daughter that i'm growing in auto pots are kicking ass again and they hardly need any training or trimming. At harvest time I'm spending a lot less time on small buds and fan leaves. I don't know how they did it but these plants grow themselves in autopots and good soil. Don't give up on autos. If you hate em you hate em. No hard feelings.

 

[McStrats]

Photos have the advantage of decades and decades of breeding and development. If they weren't better than autos for that reason alone, there would be something drastically wrong.

The problem I see with the OP and detractors of autos in general...it's never a fair apples-to-apples comparison. People speaking in absolutes is eerily similar to how discourse in general is carried out today. Keep an open mind and make fair apples-to-apples comparisons. Anything else is just a grievance airing.

 

[McStrats]

Nice, but i refuse to believe i got the EXACT lucky genetic seed every time I've grown autos and the only time I've gotten 1.5 ft tall plants were in 2 liter perlite hempys. My history will show i had to ask wtf was a dampened off seed last year. I tought myslef by reading and like i said, even with tons of new variables, rocked my autos right out of the gate. 9/10 I'm sure the genetics in question might be different, but that's growers choice. Nobody can blame me they smoked their bobby brown, watched Scarface and decided to buy miracle grow and cool man sams donkZy x cookie on "sAlE" and they get 1 cola 8" autos. Those aren't bad though for sure.

Exactly. Grow good auto beans and treat them right and the reward is huge.

 

[Nutty sKunK]

One thing I notice with most autos is that the flower doesn't really finish like a photo. Very rarely do you see photos of autos before harvest with big full swollen bracts and receded hairs. And also the bud to leaf ratio is never looks that good.

There may be exceptions and I have seen some meph strains with a better ratio. But it definitely seems like a common trait in the autos I've grown and the photos I've seen. Seems like it's a genetic thing or maybe most just chop autos early.

Any pics of the autos/photos you’ve grown?

The yellowing leaves are mostly due to high light intensity. Photos get 12 hrs whereas autos mostly get 18/20/24hrs. So the DLI of autos is much higher unless you adjust your lighting which many folk don’t do

 

[Budzbuddha]

How do you prolong auto vey cycle? I always believed it was determined.

You don’t prolong it , just give it the full cycle upfront - so it can utilize its potential to root out and set up structure under the longest cycle. “ For me “ I don’t have to run them 24/0 - i can give my light rigs a break and step down the cycle during grow.

Some run 24/0 - fine.
Some 20/4 or 18/6 - also fine
I just start at 20/4 til sex and transition then 18/6 thru strech then when in “ actual “ flower 12/12 til finish since its flowering anyways. Everyone does auto’s differently - plant is done branching out and this allows me to keep photo flowers and flowering autos all together under same cycle till done.

Not trying to reinvent wheel …
Just something i do to keep perpetual grows.

 

[McStrats]

When a guy goes from growing cup wining photos to growing autos, my first thought is what is this guy fishing (Phishing) for.
I agree with every negative comment said about auto flowers because I gotten the same results many times from many different breeders.
I have also gotten those same type of results many time with many different photo breeders. So I definitely understand why breeder offer clone only.
What I don’t understand is why a guy would incorporate a “clone only” strain into his breeding program.
One of the last pack of auto seeds that I purchased came from one of the top auto breeders. My disappointment wasn’t because of the 8” single cola plant that smelled fabulous, by the way. It was the poor smoking characteristics of the plant that caused my dissatisfaction.
The breeder of the seeds explained why the seeds no longer smoked as they did before. What I couldn’t understand is the plants no longer grew as they did before. I grew this plant 3 different times, with each time producing results. Each time the plants went into the trash heap because neither me or my testers appreciated the samples.
Even though I admire that breeder, I no longer buy his work. However, I don’t campaign against him because I know many who are very satisfied with the breeder’s offerings. To each his her own.
Often I see a breeder working hard with a “cut”, hopefully not. But anyway I’ll make a small investment just so I can have an understanding of what that breeder find so interesting in the plant that he is working with.
How else would I know if I didn’t grow it for myself to see what the offerings were all about.
Common? Typical? Something all the “cool kids” are growing?
Are there any salvageable parts in the genetics, how much time and effort would I have to invest take to create something special from these genetics? If In fact that is possible at all to create something nice from the line.
By nice, I mean something that smokes nice, because every cool kid has those pretty, great smelling, and poorly smoking plants.
These are not the droids (plants) that I am looking for. So I don’t waste time and resources on them. You can grow as many of them as you want to for whatever reason that you want too.
The ole school in me firmly believe in the saying that “knowledge is power.”
I also believe that “Experience is the gateway to knowledge.”
When my experiences don’t meet my expectations, I take my experiences elsewhere.
One more time? Why would the grower of cup winners photos start growing autos anyway?
I judge not. Peace.

I guess some of us are less serious about growing than others. That's just an observation. I think what makes sense for a hobbyist (me) and what makes sense for someone who might be doing it for commercial reasons, are worlds apart.

 

[MtRainDog]

I like to think there's 4 types of plants: Keepers, Above Average, Mids, and Boof. You'll find 3 out of 4 of those in autos, and all 4 in photos.

 

[Budzbuddha]

To me the biggest problem - whether auto or photo - is the genetic dilution over the years. Strains “ reimagined “ and lost thru boutique branding. OG genetics stepped on by fruity lines or similar.

But sometimes you find one that is pretty nice that isn’t all hyped.

Dutch Passion Auto Elephant is one of them

 

[Nutty sKunK]

To me the biggest problem - whether auto or photo - is the genetic dilution over the years. Strains “ reimagined “ and lost thru boutique branding. OG genetics stepped on by fruity lines or similar.

But sometimes you find one that is pretty nice that isn’t all hyped.

Dutch Passion Auto Elephant is one of them

My ‘secret’ is ACE seeds autos. Only offer two atm but they are epic! I would highly recommend if u can get some seeds!

Hoping they release any other couple at some point but I know they don’t rush!

 

[Budzbuddha]

My ‘secret’ is ACE seeds autos. Only offer two atm but they are epic! I would highly recommend if u can get some seeds!

Hoping they release any other couple at some point but I know they don’t rush!

Thanks for the share - been looking for something different.

I kind a like Bomb Seeds too - Atomic bomb , Cherry Bomb , Gorilla bomb and THC Bomb. Those seem fairly consistent in grow.

 

[Oldreefer]

Growing autos along with photos for 2 decades+, perpetually, I've seen autos with most genetic variables; some breeders have certainly done autos quite well. Personally I like the timing part of autos along with the quality of the bud. Not once in 20 years, has anyone asked if my weed is photo or auto as I never can tell the difference either.
I veg everything under 24/0 T5HO...at three weeks, they all go to a flower tent under 12/12. After 20 years of doing this perpetually, I've yet to miss a gram. Quality genetics will provide quality results. Then it's easy peasy.
The only things I've changed in 20 yrs are my lights.