A Basic Guide to Autoflowers

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Hey OG people!

Iā€™ve never run an auto before but Iā€™m planning to pop my first one soon. Funny thing is though, Iā€™m actually planning to reverse it with CS for pollen so I have that ready to go when I pop the other four. I only have five of the Critical+ Autos, and they are the only Auto seeds Iā€™ve ever had yet, so I kinda figured Iā€™ll just pollen bomb the rest of them. Just solve my not having any Auto seeds problem good and proper.

Something I have yet to see mentioned in this thread is when the best time to start spraying with colloidal silver would be for an auto? With photoperiods you know when your flipping, but with an auto I wouldnā€™t want to start to late or too early.

Do people usually just start a certain percentage of the way through the given number of days till harvest? Like say 30 or 40% of the way into the total period? Or are people waiting till they see those first pistils pop out before they jump on the spraying?

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I like to start my seeds to be sprayed about three weeks befoe the seeds that will receive the pollen. It seems to take about thay long for the CS to reverse a plant.

I wait until I see pre-flowers before I start spraying. Spray once a day for three weeks, by then you should start to see some male flowers developing. It takes another week or two to dump pollen.

Here is my auto breeding threadā€¦

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^^^^ and at least for me starting to spray at about 2.5-3 weeks in seems to be a good starting point, you want to be spraying just at the onset or bit before of the plant wanting to flower, also its way more effective to spray your apical bud on the plant your reversing than trying to spray any side shoots.

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@ReikoX, @Mr.Sparkle, thanks for tips! I knew Iā€™d seen both of you mention this in your threads at some point, but I couldnā€™t seem to find it again. Also kinda figured it was good info to have in here as well.

Thanks!

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Iā€™m going to be doing the same with some mephisto beans here in about a month. I was planning on starting 1 double grape and 1 white crack about 3 weeks early as donor plants in my flower room.

Then pop 3 double grape and 3 white crack 3 weeks later. Im hoping to keep them in the same room as long as possible before moving the reversed plants to my veg room before they blow pollen.

Am I correct in thinking pollen cant harm my mother plants as they wonā€™t be flowering? Also my veg light is only an 80w led will that be enough?

yeah your photoperiod mother plants will be fine if in veg mode, and 80w depends on the light and other factors i guess, but just figure its light jsut at probably a reduced amount so it will take a bit long possibly ideally you try and provide the plant with the same amount of light it was getting.

Mind you can start and keep the ones your reversing just in your veg areaā€¦

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I read somewhere that too large of a pot can reduce yield with autos. The roots will fill their space before much growth resumes. Is this true? This would make beds terrible for autos. The ground even worse :joy:

What is the ideal size of pot then? 5 gallon? I know generalizations are tough, and this could rely on the strain also.

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I have found 3 gallon works well.

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My last 5 grows have been auto flowers I use 3gallon pots Iā€™ve made a few different strains ,Iā€™ve made a few photo strains as well,I like autos quick harvest

I have noticed some donā€™t like being sprayed with CS spray had a few plants that never produced pollen sacks

But Iā€™m still new to all this I just grow for myself

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Thereā€™s the old rule of thumb, one gallon of soil per foot of plant. Obviously that can be thrown out the window with proper aeration and feeding, but to reduce stress and make optimal growth easier, itā€™s still a good guideline. So yea, if itā€™s going to finish 3-4ft tall, 3gaL is a good container. But if your trying to keep things compact, go smaller and get less plant.

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I grew a 7ft blueberry auto in a 3 gallon pot fucker outgrew my tentā€¦ donā€™t top plants I kinda let them do their own thing

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Wow! Yea, with proper care big plants small containers do work, buts itā€™s also more work and things can go bad quickly.
This was about my limit, twice a day watering wouldnā€™t work for me in bloom, so up potted.
Grew in 16oz of promix for a contest - not an auto, just showing example of big plants in small containers

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Thatā€™s nice roots on that plant
Thatā€™s one of the reasons I stopped buying seeds from growers choice you buy 3 seeds of the same strain not one grows or looks like each other lol

I took a clone from that cream plant Iā€™m growing and
Sprayed it for 15 days with CS spray

No pollen sacks,happened last
Time I sprayed a cream plant

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Have your tried STS? Iā€™ve read some plants work with STS when CS didnā€™t work.

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Can you buy it ready made
Just seen some on eBay reviews say hit or miss
Thatā€™s the second time Iā€™ve sprayed a cream plant and it didnā€™t work,gorilla glue always works when sprayed and sour kush I use 240ppm CS which is pretty strong when they say anything over 30ppm should work

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I get mine from @Sebring, it comes as a premeasured kit of two dry chemicals. You just measure out the right amount of distilled water to make two stock solutions, then mix those two solutions together with more water to make your spray. The kit is enough to make several liters of spray. Thereā€™s a set of videos here too. You only spray once a week :wink:
https://diygreenlife.com/seed-shop/

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What about outdoors? I would love to use a raised bed that is already fabricated and filled also. Iā€™m really wanting to make sure also, that a huge pot wonā€™t hurt me too much in yield.

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The top part of the plant may not grow as fast when itā€™s in a bigger container, but then the growth will explode and catch up since the root mass is there. I think I read thatā€™s too make sure the seedling has a good anchor with the tap root going down, before it grows up and risks getting blown over.

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I have to figure out exactly how big these pots are, but Iā€™m trying to figure out how many I could put in them also.

Iā€™m gonna have some room to work with. I just need to know exactly how to go about it. I was thinking peat pots and start them a bit earlier indoors. I would like an early start.

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