Hey Dude, good to see your efforts!
This is my 1st outdoor season with autos, and so far so good. I started 4 Buddha Red Dwarfs, 4 Lowryder #2, 2 Sagamartha AK48s and 6 Barneys Farm Flower Powers between 12 and 3 weeks ago. These are my findings:
Seeds sown into 12cm pots then transplanting into 2 gallon pots at 3 weeks seem to grow shorter (12 inches) and branch out more, looking like mini normal Indica dominant plants. They seems to show greater trichrome formation and mature in about 12 - 14 weeks. The Red Dwarfs are the most pleasing thus far, harvesting has begun. The AK48s are 1m tall, 12 weeks old and show no sign of flowering (clearly not Autos - shame on you Sagamartha!).
Seeds sown directly into 2 gallon pots grow taller (up to 24 inches) and do not branch out as much, looking like mini totem poles. Less (slower?) trichrome formation too.
All have been on the same nutrient schedule of Rhizotonic weeks 0-3; bloom (Cana Terra Flores) + bloom enhancer (Cana Boost) weeks 3-10; forcing solution weeks 10-12. The forcing solution was used as im impatient and thought the girls were taking too long, glad I did as it seems to encourage further late growth even though this will further extend the maturing period! I have been able to cut the mature tops off the smaller plants leaving the newer buds to develope further yield. I cant do this on the taller plants due to there basically being one main cola and no branching.
All plants get about half of the daylight hours in direct sunlight in UK summertime (16 hours daylight). I move the pots around the garden as they clearly mature faster with the more light you can get to them.
Hope this was of interest, I will post some photos if you or anyone else is interested.