Flowering

What does "Autoflowering" mean when deciding to purchase seeds? I know what photoperiod means but doesn't every type of plant need the lights to go to 12 hours or less to make them bud?

silkyride said:

What does "Autoflowering" mean when deciding to purchase seeds? I know what photoperiod means but doesn't every type of plant need the lights to go to 12 hours or less to make them bud?

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No, auto flowering grow for so long than flower no matter.

what he means is, no matter what the light cycle, whether it be 12/12, or 24/0, the plants will flower in a specified amount of time no matter what. they have less yield, but they're good for smaller grows and they are also quicker

Autoflowers are hybrids with a ruderalis strain. Ruderalis is native to Siberia, and since the grow season is so short cannabis adapted to start flowering after about 2 weeks from seedand not from the changing light. Ruderalis by itself has a very low thc level, but by combining it with indicas or sativas you will get a strain with good potency and taste but with the autoflower characteristic. They aren't a bad plant to grow- they can't be cloned so pollination is the only way to maintain a perpetual crop. On the good side, they don't require near as much nutes as "real" cannabis plants.

HomeGrown&Smoked said:

Autoflowers are hybrids with a ruderalis strain. Ruderalis is native to Siberia, and since the grow season is so short cannabis adapted to start flowering after about 2 weeks from seedand not from the changing light. Ruderalis by itself has a very low thc level, but by combining it with indicas or sativas you will get a strain with good potency and taste but with the autoflower characteristic. They aren't a bad plant to grow- they can't be cloned so pollination is the only way to maintain a perpetual crop. On the good side, they don't require near as much nutes as "real" cannabis plants.

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Yeah exactly what he said.

HomeGrown&Smoked said:

Autoflowers are hybrids with a ruderalis strain. Ruderalis is native to Siberia, and since the grow season is so short cannabis adapted to start flowering after about 2 weeks from seedand not from the changing light. Ruderalis by itself has a very low thc level, but by combining it with indicas or sativas you will get a strain with good potency and taste but with the autoflower characteristic. They aren't a bad plant to grow- they can't be cloned so pollination is the only way to maintain a perpetual crop. On the good side, they don't require near as much nutes as "real" cannabis plants.

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^^^^Exactly^^^^ +rep

they can be cloned, but the clone will just be the same age as the mother.
good answer though

Thanks Brooklyn, 420 and Woody.

Like woody said they can be cloned, but not as a means to maintain a perpetual crop.

Ok, thanks for the info. An added question then would be, "so do I need to keep the lights at 18 hours+ for vegetation and then they just start to bud or is there an optimum set number of light-hours that the lights should be on for these kinds of plants"?

Not a problem silky- I did mine for 18 hours throughout the grow, others have done 24 hours straight and reported good results. Just don't worry about lowering the lights under 18 hours otherwise the final yield will be impacted.

Well, with that info I guess I might still just go with the old fassion "photoperiod" kind because keeping the lights at 18+ with a 1000 watt bulb costs a lot more as far as the electric bill. I look forward to bringing them down to 12 hours just because of that. Of course if Autoflowering plants don't take as long (which is what Woody said) as the photoperiod plants to achieve the final results it might be a break even senerio. Then again if the yeild is smaller (which Woody also said) the break even for electricity could be lost. I'd rather have the money spent on electricity acheive a fat yeild. Any info on that would be appreciated. I usually start my crop in late Oct and harvest around early March which is around a total of 5 months from start to finish. How long does it take with the Autoflowering type?

About 10 weeks from seed to harvest for autos. You can get a very nice harvest from a 1 1/2 month clone/veg or 2 month for seed/veg followed by an 8-10 week flower period, so anywhere from 3 1/2 to 4 1/2 months for a nice crop of indica- if you did a SOG (whole bunch of small plants) setup and flowered the plants 2 weeks after cloning you would get the crop in 2 1/2 months- the same amount of time for the ruderalis plants, just remember the individual plant won't get a huge yield by itself, but if you have 40 tiny plants the weight will add up. No matter what way you decide to go, you will get better yields with the "regular" compared to the ruderalis- you also get the added benefit of being able to clone the regular plant for the next crop. The ruderalis plants are great to grow, don't get me wrong, but they are more of a novelty than a commercially viable way to produce a crop.
I think you might want to check out a SOG grow- it does require a mother to take the clones from, but if you go that route you will essentailly double what you are growing in that 5 month period you mentioned.
Hope that helps.

Yes, that's all good info. I appreciate the concise info you provide. Even though I know about cloning, I will only be planning on one seed-planted crop. I usually calculate how many plants I need to provide my individual needs for one year. I find the heat produced by my 1000 watt lamp is pretty excesive and with the high temps outside durring the summer here in AZ it prevents me from doing it durring that time of year. The optimum temp for growing as you probably know is around 75-85 degrees and when it's 100+ outside I can't manage it even indoors with my AC going. The electric bill would just be through the roof so I just do it durring the winter when out side temps aren't usually higher then 70's or maybe 80's. Durring the months of Nov-Jan outside temps are around 50's to 60's which is perfect. I can keep the room a perfect 75 with the fans going. My gas usuage to heat the house actually goes down since the heat from my room helps heat the house. I keep the door open and let the fans blow heat out. The gas company actually cut me a check from my budget billing being too high last year. ha. I try to be a pretty proficient money manager. I wish I didn't have to be but unfortunately I aint rich. It's amazing how much heat one 1000 watt lamp produces. So, from what you're telling me the total grow time for an Auto-flowering strain from planting to harvest is about the same as a photoperiod plant so I'll probably stick to those. The area I cover with my one lamp isn't all that large to increase the number of plants. I find I can get what I need from about 8-9 good plants which my lamp covers nicely. I appreciate the help. With the info you've provided I think my decision is made. I'll go with the traditional photoperiod plants. Now I just need to make my decision on what to order up this year! I had white widow last time but I'm going to have a variety this year. Probably will include AK 47, Afgan Kush and white widow again. Any suggestions?

Sounds like a plan. I am working with some Barney's Farm LSD plants and they are fantastic. They are very nute tolerant and produce a very nice smoke. AK-47 is another good choice- I actually did an auto-ak47 grow for my first time out- it tasted great and gave a nice buzz. Since then I have wanted to get some true ak beans, I'm just too busy enjoying the LSD.

Barney's LSD eah. They sound pretty good. I'll take note of that.

Hey, I noticed my little hippie dude on my profile isn't showing. My Leaf signature is up but I've got no picture where others have (like your can pouring the green liquid HomeGgrown). I've checked my options and I do have it checked off to show so not sure what's up. Any help there?

All I would know would be to click on the 'My Rollitup' tab, then click on 'Edit Avatar' on the left hand side. I'm not sure if you linked it as a file from your computer or from a website, but it is possible that the file might have gotten corrupted or changed names.

Got it. My hippie dude is now up where he belongs. Thanks bro.

Not a problem, but one question: is that a cabbage patch hippie?

LOL,...I guess so. And you can guess what type of "cabbage patch" he came from. Cute little bastard aint he?

The best kind of cabbage of course. I don't know if he is cute, but it is definitely a cool avatar.