Any ideas how I can grow a photo-period outdoors so it acts like an Autoflower?

So I am in California and I know there is a way to grow an photo period just like an auto flower you just have to plant it late in the year, but I am not sure if this will actually work. I know that I can just cover them with a tarp and induce flowering but there is just to much involved and a high risk of her turning hermaphrodite on me. The breeder says that she will be ready in mid September so I was thinking maybe planting her in mid June so she acts like an auto flower. Any ideas would be well appreciated. lots of love.

Plant as a seedling outdoors about 4 - 6 weeks before equinox.

Sweet thanks so much I really needed confirmation I heard of this technique just was not sure.
is it the Autumnal Equinox? or the summer solstice?

Yes, Cover the plant with a garbage bag, or something to keep the plant in complete darkness until night fall. All you have to do is make sure the plant is receiving no more then 12 hours of light each day. There is another method to make a plant flower not dependent on lighting period. That is to grow a plant in a small pot. Once a plant becomes root bound, it has nothing else to do but go into flower. If you stick some plants in one gallon pots, they would become rootbound within approximately 2 months, forcing them to go into flower. I have done this before and I have also read about it on an article written by brown dirt warrior.

stonerman said:

Yes, Cover the plant with a garbage bag, or something to keep the plant in complete darkness until night fall. All you have to do is make sure the plant is receiving no more then 12 hours of light each day. There is another method to make a plant flower not dependent on lighting period. That is to grow a plant in a small pot. Once a plant becomes root bound, it has nothing else to do but go into flower. If you stick some plants in one gallon pots, they would become rootbound within approximately 2 months, forcing them to go into flower. I have done this before and I have also read about it on an article written by brown dirt warrior.

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can you please post a link to the article? i haven't noticed this in real life...i have had root bound plants for over a year...

Please post that link. I'd love to see that info as well. I haven't had any issues with rootbound plants flowering on me and I plan on trying to keep some mothers from this year.

found the link..

http://bigbudsmag.com/grow/how/article/grow-great-marijuana-nugs-forcing-your-plants-july-2011

i'd never heard of this before either...

racerboy71 said:

found the link..

http://bigbudsmag.com/grow/how/article/grow-great-marijuana-nugs-forcing-your-plants-july-2011

i'd never heard of this before either...

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Thanks man. +rep sent your way. Interesting read and I wonder what the results will be with outdoor plants. I may have to toss a couple into smaller pots to test this out.

i got into it with someone here...about this...
for reals i have had moms in 1.5 gallon buckets for over a year....never started to bloom...given they were on 16/8
the link says nothing about light periods...

SenorBrownWater said:

i got into it with someone here...about this...
for reals i have had moms in 1.5 gallon buckets for over a year....never started to bloom...given they were on 16/8
the link says nothing about light periods...

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yeah, i've never heard of this before either.. i have also grown some plants in one gallon milk containers from veg to flower and they never auto flowered on me... not saying this article is wrong, only going by what i've experienced growing on my own..

The breeder says that she will be ready in mid September so I was thinking maybe planting her in mid June so she acts like an auto flower

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Why do you want smaller plants with less weight when you can go the whole season ?

^
I do. I plan on putting them out on aug. mid.

^why?
the point?

I grow on my balcony in SoCal, so I have limited space. I started a photo-period plant last year later in the summer. Worked perfect. Nice and stealthy, with plenty of bud for my personal use. Not everybody has the luxury of being able to grow huge plants.

Link to last years grow: https://www.rollitup.org/outdoor-growing/559004-little-wonder-woman-balcony-grow.html

SenorBrownWater said:

^why?
the point?

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Last year I got chopped and sprayed with round up. The person who did it, told me. They no longer live in the state. This is half my fault and 100% theirs. They are the one who did the act. Not me. My point of saying some of it is mine. I went away for two weeks, and had my plants on timer. I chopped them however they where peeking 7 - 8 feet. I ran a tape on the chopped plant and it was 7. Who knows how tall it really was. They did not chop them because of the smell or because you could see them. They chopped them because they think pot is a gateway drug. They new I was sick, but did not know i had cancer. Ever once they knew, they still did not care that i was sick. They only cared that i was growing and they chopped them.

ok man here it goes... this is just my input on my experience. you can induce flowering earlier than flowering time by putting a tarp over the plant, there is no need to worry about mold because it hasn't budded up yet. you then figure out how much longer it will be till its 12/12 outside and thats when you get to stop doing it. you dont want to do it too long cause the buds will mold, so i'd say 20 days or so would be a good head start . that will get you an earlier harvest hopefully while its still nice out so you get less of a chance of mold. but the other way you can do it is build a mini greenhouse and instead of covering you just use an indoor veg to veg and use the outdoor 12/12 cycle to flower. (meaning you could only do this in the winter i would never constantly cover the plants through the summer because it is too risky for mold and the cover might damage the buds . and thats a lot of work..

HTP said:

Last year I got chopped and sprayed with round up. The person who did it, told me. They no longer live in the state. This is half my fault and 100% theirs. They are the one who did the act. Not me. My point of saying some of it is mine. I went away for two weeks, and had my plants on timer. I chopped them however they where peeking 7 - 8 feet. I ran a tape on the chopped plant and it was 7. Who knows how tall it really was. They did not chop them because of the smell or because you could see them. They chopped them because they think pot is a gateway drug. They new I was sick, but did not know i had cancer. Ever once they knew, they still did not care that i was sick. They only cared that i was growing and they chopped them.

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i remember your thread...sucks what happened...not fair bro...can you carport greenhouse?

Not really ... I wish I could but i am worried about zoning issues. They dont want any thing above the fence line. My garden is in 2' raised beds so that leaves only a 4' tall plant.
I am thinking about a loop green house, but once again I need to call the county.

so glad i live in the boons...
all they do here is google earth to look for buildings to tax...

also i see 12' fences in your future...
you know about the driveway alerts right?

Oh ya I got camera also....
Dont stop people. People will do what people want to do.