sallygram
Well-Known Member
Okay I have your attention, I am sure there will be many conflicting opinions on this, Let me just start by saying I am very new to autoflowers and decided to mess around with them due to some extra space in my veg room, since they are not my focus I have been experimenting a little bit and wanted to share some things that I have found.
I have two strains that I have been working with Crop King Seeds, Dwarf Low Flyer and Femaleseeds, Auto Speed Bud. The Dwarf LF has a maxium height of 24" and they say you can get about 1 1/2 to 2 oz from each plant. I use 2 1/2 gal buckets with holes drilled in the bottom and sides filled with coir and I have been trying X nutes with them.
I am a huge fan of transplanting to encourage a healthy plant, yes it does shock the plant for a day or two but I belive it is more benificial then not to do it. Here is why, when a plant is started in a small container you water it more frequently thus it allows more oxgyen to go to the root system. However it is recomended that you never transplant an autoflower. I find that when I use a large container I overwater and thus stunt growth, looking at the boards it looks like a lot of other growers overwater too. So the obvious remedy is to transplant, but that was a big failure when I did it to the DLF it stressed the plants into flower mode and they would get to be about 8" tall, and yield a gram or two.
So I tried to use a styrofoam cup and rip it off when I was transplanting to avoid damage to the roots. Okay I suck at that too, growth was stunted.
This is what I find works for me: I fill up my 2 1/2 gal pot with close to dry coir, dig a 4 inch hole in the middle, drop in a ripped up peat pot on the bottom. Then I place a piece of PVC pipe on top of that and fill it slightly higher then the main pot. I go slightly higher because when you pull it out there will be a void that will need to be filled.
This method allows me to just water inside the PVC pipe and when I pull the pipe out there is little disturbance to the roots. I have found that at about 3 weeks the roots are established enough that you can pull the pipe and the plant isn't shocked into flower.
Here are some results this is at 51 days from seed. The 8 inch plant has about a week left before harvest.
The shaved wood around it was just added for the photo so the dog would not dig in it.
Another pic of the same plant sorry it was taken with the HPS on
Now the second plant started on the same day from the same seed packet using the PVC pipe method
She is 18" tall and still growing, the buds are nowhere near done and I expect an okay amount of bud from this plant as oppesed to the 1-2 grams from the other.
Both plants are essentially the same, Dwarf Low Flyers, same lights, same nutes, same age, same schedule (18/6). I used to blame this on Pheno types but now I think it was overwatering due to a too large pot.
I am sure there are a lot of opinions on this but I just want to remind you what works for me may not work for you and vice-versa.
I have two strains that I have been working with Crop King Seeds, Dwarf Low Flyer and Femaleseeds, Auto Speed Bud. The Dwarf LF has a maxium height of 24" and they say you can get about 1 1/2 to 2 oz from each plant. I use 2 1/2 gal buckets with holes drilled in the bottom and sides filled with coir and I have been trying X nutes with them.
I am a huge fan of transplanting to encourage a healthy plant, yes it does shock the plant for a day or two but I belive it is more benificial then not to do it. Here is why, when a plant is started in a small container you water it more frequently thus it allows more oxgyen to go to the root system. However it is recomended that you never transplant an autoflower. I find that when I use a large container I overwater and thus stunt growth, looking at the boards it looks like a lot of other growers overwater too. So the obvious remedy is to transplant, but that was a big failure when I did it to the DLF it stressed the plants into flower mode and they would get to be about 8" tall, and yield a gram or two.
So I tried to use a styrofoam cup and rip it off when I was transplanting to avoid damage to the roots. Okay I suck at that too, growth was stunted.
This is what I find works for me: I fill up my 2 1/2 gal pot with close to dry coir, dig a 4 inch hole in the middle, drop in a ripped up peat pot on the bottom. Then I place a piece of PVC pipe on top of that and fill it slightly higher then the main pot. I go slightly higher because when you pull it out there will be a void that will need to be filled.
This method allows me to just water inside the PVC pipe and when I pull the pipe out there is little disturbance to the roots. I have found that at about 3 weeks the roots are established enough that you can pull the pipe and the plant isn't shocked into flower.
Here are some results this is at 51 days from seed. The 8 inch plant has about a week left before harvest.
The shaved wood around it was just added for the photo so the dog would not dig in it.
Another pic of the same plant sorry it was taken with the HPS on
Now the second plant started on the same day from the same seed packet using the PVC pipe method
She is 18" tall and still growing, the buds are nowhere near done and I expect an okay amount of bud from this plant as oppesed to the 1-2 grams from the other.
Both plants are essentially the same, Dwarf Low Flyers, same lights, same nutes, same age, same schedule (18/6). I used to blame this on Pheno types but now I think it was overwatering due to a too large pot.
I am sure there are a lot of opinions on this but I just want to remind you what works for me may not work for you and vice-versa.