Auto-Flower basics guide

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time4tokin20s said:
The original auto-flowering strain was created by The Joint Doctor and Highbred seeds.This is the revolutionary Lowryer.It was created by back breeding Northern Lights and William's Wonder with a Mexican Ruderalis.The amazing thing about this new strain was that the only Ruderalis trait left was the auto-flowering gene.This means that flowering is triggered by age rather then light/dark schedule.

The lifetime of the plants is short, lasting only 9 - 11 weeks.Within 2 weeks males will show themselves with the female showing around a week after that.From there the females go into a quick and violent flowering stage.They only reach an average highth of 12" with average harvests of 25 grams give or take depending on growing conditions.Giving it maximum stealth outside with up to three harvests a year.The size of the containers used will dramasticly effect size.Most growers use 1 - 2 gallon containers and can get well over an ounce out of each plant.

Due to the quick lifespan cloning becomes impracticable and is only grown from seeds.Since a separate light schedule isn't needed a grower can vegetate and flower in the same area.This creates new possibilities for small or macro operations.A small grow area can sustain a continuous S.O.G. giving a fresh harvest every few weeks.Most auto growers keep their lights at 18/6 or 20/4.A 12/12 schedule will dramatically hurt the final yield.

After the benefits of auto's was realized breeders began playing with them trying to make them bigger,stronger,and more potent.After Lowryder came Lowryder 2, also by the Joint doctor and using Santa Maria genetics.From these two strains a vast array of strains have been created in the last few years.With Low Life seeds, Mdanzig, and Dutchbreed joining to the new auto movement.Some of these new strains are said to have up to 23% Thc!
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Here are some of the strains available on the market -

Joint Doctor Highbred seeds- Lowryder , Lowrider 2 , Dieselryder , Snowryder(?)

Low Life Seeds- Automatic AK-47 , Automatic Blueberry, Automatic Lemon Skunk, Automatic White Russian, Automatic Hindu Kush

Mdanzig seeds- Masterlow, Power Stout, Blue Streak

Dutchbreed- Lowberry, Blue Barrel, Little Red Ryderhood, Lowryder Mint, Low Master, Mini Thunderfuck, Short Term Amnesia

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Here is the Joint Doctors grow guide for the original Lowryder-


OFFICIAL LOWRYDER GROW GUIDE (10/04) - written by the Joint doctor

Preferred growing methods

Indoors, Lowryder performs very well in soil mix (pots or beds) or in soil-less systems, where it can be cultivated from seed to bud in two months – 18 hours of light per day is recommended all the way through. Switching light cycles down to 12 hours may diminish yields and shorten the already-short life cycle slightly. Because Lowryder’s life cycle is so brief, cloning becomes impracticable, so only plants from seed are grown. By default, Lowryder is a great choice for sea-of-green.

Because flowering plants and seedlings can be maintained in the same room, Lowryder presents new possibilities for the small to medium home grower, including “staggering” your indoor harvest. A true continuous harvest system may be achieved by planting new plants periodically to replace the ones that have been harvested. This ensures that a grow
room is always full and always producing fresh bud, and one never has too much work at once. Click here to learn more about the Joint Doctor’s “1-2-3” continuous harvest method.

For best results, place jiffy pellet or plant directly into 1-2 gal.pots. Alternatively, start in 4-inch peat pots, then place
rootbound females into a plant bed after sexing (at approx. 17-20 days) – this may result in smaller plants than the first method. Grown under a 12 to 24 hour/daylight cycle from start to finish. I recommend 18 hours per day; this can be decreased to 16 after the first month with no loss of yield.


Outdoors: sow directly into soil after soaking, in 2 gal. pots or plant beds. New stands of Lowryder can be planted up until late summer, to ensure a continuous harvest outdoors. Avoid transplanting if you can, but do so if plants become rootbound. Rogue (remove) males at three weeks.


Growth Factors

Lowryder is extremely versatile in that it can be cultivated in virtually any climate or grow environment. In fact, it has pushed the envelope of growing, enabling early harvests in unlikely places like Finland, the North West Territories, and other northern, short-season, or high altitude areas. It is also well-adapted to backyard gardens, windowsills and patios where plants can be easily concealed because of their tiny size.

Nothing will mature earlier or faster than Lowryder! When other varieties have barely begun flowering, Lowryder outdoor growers are kicking up their feet and already enjoying their fresh harvests.


Characteristics

Lowryder virtually does away with the vegetative growth stage: it passes almost immediately from the seedling stage to the flowering period. To our knowledge, Lowryder has the shortest known life cycle and height in the cannabis species.
Male plants may be identified as such after approx. 17-20 days, while females show themselves a couple days later. Plants will even flower under a continuous light regime.

Lowryder females usually grow no taller than 16-20 inches. 12-16 inches is typical. Light intensity, pot size, and proper pH all play an important role in determining the size of plants at maturity – the better the conditions, the bigger the yield. Plants produce one main cola, although when they receive adequate light, lower nodes branch out profusely.

Yield and height are dependent on obvious growth factors. For example, plants kept in small peat cups on a windowsill may yield as little as 1 g. and grow no taller than 6 inches, with no branching whatsoever; while a plant in a 4-gallon container under high-intensity lighting and good cultivation methods, can turn into a profusely branched, two-foot wide 45-gram bud monster.


Fertilizer: During the first two weeks of growth, Lowryder should be weekly light feedings of a “grow” type nutrient solution, with micronutrients. When plants pass into full flower, they should be started on a “bloom” regime for weeks 4 through 6. Mycorise-type biological amendments (root stimulators) seem to increase growth significantly.

Average flowering time
Indoors: 40-45 days (after a 15-20 day seedling stage)
Outdoors: ripens approx. 60 days after seed is sown.
Note: 100% of plants display the auto-flowering genotype.

AVERAGE HEIGHT
12 inches. Minimum: 5 inches, maximum 16 inches (very light-dependent, with slight phenotype variations).

YIELD
Depending on light and other factors, Lowryder yields up to 45 g – one report even claims 96 g for one exceptional plant under hydroponics. Extremely light-dependent in terms of yield. Without adequate conditions, plants may stay extremely small, almost comically so – but still produce a decent smoke.

Buds are compacted close-quartered, slightly irregular and variable, with high bud/leaf ratio. Thick pistils, with orange coloration, and medium-sized, individual calyxes. Tends to be top-heavy indoors. Typically, budding sites start very close to the ground.

High is uplifting, surprisingly strong. Well-rounded. Best suited for outdoor activities. Smoke is smooth with pleasant, earthy undertones. Smell is not overpowering. Unique flavor, with echoes of NL and William’s Wonder in the bouquet.

JD on nutes:

I get a lot of requests for more info on nutrient needs for Lowryder. This is a hard question to answer as it depends how much money you want to shell out for nutrient products.

I get Advanced Nutrient products (many say the best) at a discount and I have adapted their formula for my own use. Advanced Nutrients provides a complete program for an 8-week grow and has a guide for different growing mediums.

For the first two weeks, I use what they recommend for seedlings.

Then I use the Micro 2+ Light Feeding program for the rest of their life cycle. I usually skip week 3 and 5 to bring it down to a 6 week program which I begin as soon as LRs are sexed.

I know it sounds complicated. Obviously all this is not needed.

As a rule of thumb, treat Lowryders like seedlings for the first 2-3 weeks, then switch them onto a light bloom program. So, you feed them a seedling/transplanting formula the first 2 weeks, then switch to a bloom fertilizer with something like a 5-10-5 or 1-2-1 ratio of N-P-K.

Give them a feeding of bloom fertilizer every week on weeks 3,4,5,6. Just pH-balanced water on week 7. Flushing solution on week 8.

...or for organic freaks, just plant into organic soil mix with bat guano mixed in... and put away the calculator... .
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I'm sure I forgot some stuff because I'm smoking the subject.So if anyone wants to add anything or has any questions feel free to ask.Don't forget to check out some of the great auto flower grow journals from our members.You will be amazed by some of these grows.

so would a 400 watt hps be good from start to finish .... and can u put more than one seed in a pot if u use a huge pot say 5-6 gallons
 
hi times,can u help me pls,i have grown before under light cycle,i am now attempting to grow afgan kush ryder auto,i have a 4 pod fds and a 1000w light,i understand i can put my seeds into ajiffy p and leave them under fluesent light 4 too weeks with a weak food then transfer them under the main light.can you help me with the right food,tds levals,ph i understand 5.9-6.0 and anything else you can think off would be ideal as i want the best out of these little crakers,thanks bud hope to here from you:tokie:
 
vermont_farmer said:
I have never grown these, so I am speakining through my arse right now, but I would like to make a suggestion. There is speculation in this thread that dwarfing is cause by light period [I agree] and by depth of tap root [I'm not sure]. There is an interesting way to determine if it is depth, or some response to the tap root making a turn when it hits the bottom of the pot. In many other nursery species we can increase plant vigor in a limited-size container by employing air root pruning.

Essentialy you need a specialized container with ridges and holes that guide roots to the holes. When the leading tip of the root, the apical meristem, hits a hole and the air outside, there is a different response; it signals the plant to branch at the previous root node. And this in turn increases the root capacity, and hence the amount of cation exchange and water uptake. It's an idea, to see if air root pruning will enhance growth for the auto-flowering strains.

Here is a source for air root pruning containers: xxx.rootmaker.com

You could do a SOG grow with 36 of the RMI-1S square 1-gallon containers in a 6x6 array. You need to have a little airspace between the pots for air movement. The containers are completely reusable.

VF
This is the very reason people are using smart pots; the fabric allows for root airiation and causes the root system to turn back towards the center. This affectively maximizes the use of your soil space, and results in larger plants from smaller containers!
 
jackson1 said:
Thanks Hamster for the research. That makes me feel a lil better anyway, maybe but I'd like to know who the long time breeder is and what their story is. why would you not add this info into your pitch about the new autos for credibility?

Also, 2 to 3 meters? wow, those are very tall autos. Kind of don't get it then because then why not grow and clone the regular strains if your not saving height issues do get on a perpetual grow system? Hopefully it works out for the best and they don't screw it up.

The Breeder behind Flash Seedbank,
is "Stitch". The same breeder who is behind "ShortStuff." He started Flash, which leans more toward the SuperAuto sativa strains. I have not grown any of the superautos, but I have grown both the "Snowryder" and the "Himalaya Blue Diesel", with great results. I am looking forward to trying his superautos outdoors next season.
HomieHogleg
 
Stitch just joined MP.......although it cld be anybody calling themselves Stitch.
We shall see if it is him or an imposter...
 
coold513 said:
so would a 400 watt hps be good from start to finish .... and can u put more than one seed in a pot if u use a huge pot say 5-6 gallons

imo yes a 400 watt hps would work well depending on how maney plants you plan on growing of course and i would not see a problem putting 1 2 or 3 lowryder plants in a 5 or 6 gallon thats the great thing with this they dont get big and bushy they are small and compact so good luck
 
bubba902 said:
I run a 400w hps. Its enough light for a 3x3
i couldnt do anything less than a 600watt in a 3x3. when i first started indoors i had a 400watt in about that size and theres a huge differnce in bud density when i upgraded.
 
risktaker27 said:
imo yes a 400 watt hps would work well depending on how maney plants you plan on growing of course and i would not see a problem putting 1 2 or 3 lowryder plants in a 5 or 6 gallon thats the great thing with this they dont get big and bushy they are small and compact so good luck

The number of plants has nothing to do with lighting needs. Lighting is figured by lumens per sq ft. You need 3000 lumens per sq ft for vegging and 5000 for flowering. You need this much light regardless of how many plants you are growing.

I would not put multiple plants in a single pot. Each plant should have its own pot.

I would also recommend a 600W.
 
The Hemp Goddess said:
I would not put multiple plants in a single pot. Each plant should have its own pot.
.

while that is true for most strains, i have some autos going now that are called Poison Dwarf from G13. they only grow about 6-10 inches tall (fully flowered), so that strain is perfect for putting 2 in the same bucket. grew 3 so far and noticed how small the strain was, so now i have 4 in 2, 2 gallon buckets. saves soil and space ;)

but this is out of the norm, and you want to stay away from multiple plants in one container.
 
no offense meant to anyone but this sticky is very out of date

on the feeding schedule

its very simple
veg nutes until vertical stretch has stopped then switch to bloom


figured id add this
to show the yield difference between now and then 45-96 grams then
and this is the plant grown by Seymour buds that now holds the record it was topped and grown in dwc under led's

http://www.dutch-passion.nl/en/news...est-from-single-plant-here-is-the-grow-diary/
 
I grow the vast and fast auto and get 4 ounces per plant regularly.
 
I read 6 pages of the auto sticky and didn't find the answer to my questions.

Can you fim and LST an auto plant? I have a few freeby auto's I would like to start soon.
 
No put it under 18/6 and just let her rip, I grew one out in my veg area while veg'ing along side of it, it was a freebee and it became a monster, i got 3 wholes off her and she got 3 feet high. it was nice to just let it grow, if you try to fem or lst your wasting harvest weight since your battling time not a photo period. mine lived from germ to death 81 days.
 
No put it under 18/6 and just let her rip, I grew one out in my veg area while veg'ing along side of it, it was a freebee and it became a monster, i got 3 wholes off her and she got 3 feet high. it was nice to just let it grow, if you try to fem or lst your wasting harvest weight since your battling time not a photo period. mine lived from germ to death 81 days.

dude, I want to do this in my veg area... I was asking around about this before, can you do it with veg bulbs (6500k or whatever) or do you need flower bulbs?
 
I'm flowering one with a 4k led. Aside from affects from hot soil, its doing fine. I'm sure a lower Kelvin would do much better, but people grow with higher K.
 
I have a question. Can you grow a auto flowering plant with a regular strain. You don't have to change the lighting because of time it take between growth of the plants.
 
Can you grow an auto flowering plant with a regular strain at the same time. It's seams plausible because you don't have to change the light schedule with a a auto flowering plant?
 
Sorry to not answer sooner Cow. I wouldn't grow the two together because of the nature of the way they grow. The photo flower plants get their signal for flowering from the dark period and need a given amount of darkness to keep the flowering hormones balanced. But the auto flowering plants don't depend as much on that trigger. However, because the autoflowering plants don't have as long to live and produce their flowers, they need more light energy to help them produce at their max capability. If you put them with the photo flowers, the autos will suffer for the loss of light energy and will produce very poorly.

I have found what seems to be the best method (at least with all of the autos that I've grown) is to keep the autos under 24hrs of light and feed them as hard as they can handle to get them to grow faster and bigger. Then when they reach sexual maturity, they may begin flowering automatically or you may have to switch the light schedule some. What I do is set my light timer so that there is a 4hr dark period. But I break up the dark period so that it is off for an hour and on for an hour, off 1hr, on 1hr until they have had the 4hrs of dark. this method has produced some very nice buds from my autos that I have grown. I can't swear that this method will work for every auto but I have used it on several different autos so far and it does very well. :)
 

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