Hi there,
I have a question regarding something Ed Rosenthal wrote in the Cannabis Growers Handbook. On Page 38 he writes:
“Most varieties of cannabis are short day/long night plants, with the possible exception of C. ruderalis and some equatorial C.sativa varieties that are commonly described as auto-flowering and may be day-neutral”
Sounds like pure sativas with autoflowering properties do exist. Why can’t I find anything about this anywhere else. I have the feeling there should be more buzz about it if they exist. Anybody got some usefull Info on the topic.
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I popped some of the Papua New Guinea landrace seeds, seeds that came specifically from a seed-mother that showed auto tendencies. They grew to 6’ in 1gal pots, without flowering, so eventually I up-potted them and put them outside. Finally a week ago they started budding…
Limited experience, with a low count, (I only popped 5, 3F/2M) and only 1 strain, but neither root binding, nor drought stress induced flowering in these. Regardless, hopefully in 20 weeks or so I have some 
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Moroccan Beldiya were ‘semi’ auto-flowering sativas…
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Hey Johnny, Welcome to Overgrow!!
Yes, the equatorial plants are not exposed to significant variations of light/dark periods.
I recall the annual variation is something like max 10 or 15 minutes at the equator.
The stubborn plants can usually be ‘kicked’ into flowering by shortening the light period to 10/14 but I’ve not seen a comprehensive study on the subject.
Cheers
G
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No but I’ve seen non-autos go full auto.
I don’t think they exist 
Crapkingseeds has a super duper like full legit pure autoflowering thai though 
“Thai Autoflowering is a pure sativa-dominant that originally came from Thailand. This pure landrace cannabis strain has a powerful cerebral high”
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Thanks for your Answer. 20 Weeks of Flowering is insane. I’m around 50° North. I guess “auto tendencies” means the mother started flowering more early but with a similar to 20 weeks of flowering time?
Oh!
Lebanese landraces can have some auto flowering tendencies… they don’t have the equatorial look but can be considered sativas…
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Thanks.
https://www.aceseeds.org/en/moroccobeldiakifstandard.html
Not really equatorial but still interesting. Not sure what semi-Auto means. I guess they start flowering with 14h of light or something like this.
Moroccan were grown in the high mountains with no additional water / ferts, the ‘semi-auto’ feature kicked in when dryness / drought conditions appeared to ensure continuation of plants.
For pure equatorials expecting 13-11 to 11-13 hours of light ; their ‘auto’ flowering was more based on the maturity of the plant, rather than light schedule. I would not expect fast finishers, my PNG’s went 23 weeks IIRC…
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@royal is correct. I just read about this agian in the Landrace thread. I think where the idea comes from is the fact that some sativa start to flower around week 16, give or take depending on specific cultivator. Then can take up to 20+ weeks to flower. I don’t think this is the kind of automatic your looking for
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You could turn a Thai into an auto with a fair amount of work and an uncertain result.
Interesting property.
But I guess you could keep them in veg. with a 16 hour light 8h dark schedule. In my understanding that’s not really Autoflowering. But I now get why Rosendthal calls them auto.
Thanks. Yeah my understanding of autoflowering was that you cant keep them in the vegetative stage no matter the light schedule. I guess thats not true for equatorial ‘autoflowers’.
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Thanks. Does auto flowering tendencies mean the same as stress induced flowering like royal described for the Moroccan? So semi auto flowering and auto flowering tendencies mean the same thing?
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So when a description mentions semi auto I take it to mean they will flower under longer daysbut won’t fully auto as they contain no auto genes.
Keeping a mother from such plants can be a bitch.
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as in - no ruderalis genes - true autoflowering ; on the clock from when it germinates - from the far northern regions…
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Yes. Indubitably.
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I believe this only happens with heirloom sativas. You would have to have alot of plants and look for this trait. Iv seen it in Malawi dominant plants. If your growing something like this inside 10 hours on tapering down to 8 near harvest will make these types of plants flower. It’s just something you have to look for…
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Its most common among near-equatorial sativas and those past 45⁰
Whats real cool are semi-perennial sativas which go into Spring, reveg, and then grow another whole season or two. They wont do it on straight 12/12, but if you increase the daylight towards the end, they will.
They also will usually ripen asymmetrically.
The trick is to harvest the ripe parts and let the immature areas reveg into next “season”
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