As some of you know I’m over on Twitter as well. Somebody made the comment that autos will begin flowering when the roots reach the bottom of the container? Is this true? In my head that would mean they never would flower in ground. Isn’t it all a time thing?
As I trust y’alls knowledge far more I wanted to confirm or deny this
This is not true. Otherwise, what would drive them flowering in nature?
Typically people start in a large pot to avoid transplanting them since they have such a short life cycle.
Confirm, though each auto has a “set maximum size”
Auto’s run to the flowering. They strive, each at their own pace, to make the most use out of all the substrate they can acclaim, their flowering being triggered either by running out of substrate or by running out of “available cell divisions” if you will.
How many divisions can be had for any plant is likely dependant on both genetic factors and how healthy an environment can be created for that plants needs at each poitn in time.
For auto’s, it seems the first phase is crucial. If you nail a perfect gow period, abundant flowering will usually follow. Conversely, autoflowers recover poorly from stressors during the vegetative phase and this can easily stunt their growth so much that the flowering will suffer tremendously in both yield and quality.
It’s a timing thing.
It depends on the auto. Some of the older stuff does that. The more modern stuff, not so much.
Can I ask why they did/do that?
Root restriction tends to hasten flowering, but you are correct when you say that they simply have a set size naturally speaking.
It’s common to have some plants in larger pots when they are a little trigger happy with the flowering. I can even get some C99 males to flower in my cloning tub, if they have been left in their rockwool/shot glass combos too long and are root bound and stressed.
It’s a trait that has been bred out of the modern autoflowers. Some of the older stuff based on Lowryder tended to have the trait. As for why, I would could only guess.
It’s just a timing issue, nothing more. Any flowering due to roots hitting bottom of pot is purely coincidental and a correlation due to the age being hit around the same time as the roots reaching the bottom.
Autoflowers are a cross between Cannabis ruderalis and Cannabis sativa. This allows the plant to switch to flowering based on age rather than a change in light/dark conditions.
One theory that could explain how this trait would function in the wild/ground is that the plants roots hit, and are limited by, the permafrost found in their northern habitat?
Pure conjecture
Understand, but at the same time, this whole idea doesn’t pass the smell test for me. Taking it to logical extremes, it means that you could force an auto to flower after 1 week by leaving it in a red solo cup, or you could grow it in a 50’ tall PVC tube full of dirt and it wouldn’t flower for months due to the height of the pot.
Can’t find the full clip but it’s about 10 seconds in.
I still see it in modern autos… But its made me get them outta smaller pots and into their final 3-5g pots quicker as well…
As for why? I think the plant feels stunted, especially when roots encircle the bottom and start to touch themselves again. At that point the plant basically goes “Well, guess there’s not much more room down there!” and starts to flower.
Its more of a stunting and reaction, rather than the norm for them. Its not that it HIT the bottom, but rather what happens AFTER (the ensuing circling of roots). Plants can sense the presence of other roots, makes sense they can sense the presence of their own as well!
I agree with this. I like to move them to a larger container before roots encircle the bottom. timing / checking root growth is a big part of this. Clear cups for seedlings allow you to follow the roots down. Put the clear cup in a red cup if you worry about light affecting the roots (it generally doesnt). When the roots get near bottom, its time to pot up…
Heck I still see this in photos! Males especially, that will start putting out balls as soon as they start getting rootbound. They flower early as a stress reaction. Think there was a guy posting a couple months back with some mexican landrace photo plant that was autoflowering at 4 inches tall in a solo cup.
It can be down to the cultivar in question. I’ve seen some plants that do it and some that won’t in the very same batch of seeds. Auto’s or Photo’s. It just depends. Generally any good auto’s shouldn’t really do this, and should instead flower based on when they reach maturity, but it’s up to the cultivar, the breeding practices, and the grower.
And if you think about it. On average, most people plant an auto in a smaller pot than a photo. They figure its gonna be a smaller plant, needs less space. In essence, forced stunting… Sure you can grow in a 16 oz solo cup, but I really like at least a 3g for autos, 5g is nice but sometimes more than ya need. 1g or 2g have consistently made small autos for me. So much so I won’t use them anymore.
I believe autos start to flower when they feel root bound because it’s a survival tactic. The plant feels stressed and stress causes it to flower in hopes that it will be pollinated so that it can produce seeds and spread its offspring.
Often times it is beneficial to sew an auto seed in a larger container so that you can avoid transplanting, which can lead to transplant shock. Again, this causes stress. In my experience, auto’s are very sensitive to stress and it can severely affect harvest outcomes. I still haven’t completely mastered growing them yet but that is my opinion about your question. Whoever posted that tweet is a moron tho lol. It’s completely miss worded and nonsense. You can get a huge yield from an auto in a 2 gal container.
I agree, mainly because that tweet poster isn’t understanding the WHY behind the flowering, only seeing the WHEN.
And straight sowing an auto in a 5g pot isn’t easy either for most. Watering seedlings in large containers is an art unto itself. Another potential stressor.
My autos have produced enough to make me happy. Can they make more? I believe so. Heck, my first black cream autos produced 70g per plant, and I’ve pushed that to 110g on my best black cream now. I DO transplant (only once, and delicately before roots encircle), and usually right into a 3g now.
Can a 2g work? Sure. But the question for me then is it worth the extra attention. For some with space requirements, its the only option. But I prefer the 3g (even more than a 5g, for autos. Photos get the 5g pots here). I tinker enough already, don’t wanna have to micro manage the watering schedule too…
Mother nature is apparently. She uses a 2.6 gajillion gallon pot of soil when she plants in the ground 
ROFL
Gaia gallons.
For what it’s worth I have autos in 2G pots that were transplanted once that I would describe as small to medium.
