Automatic Grows

[RoundEye]

Are there any members here growing automatics? I think the short grow time is a great thing and would like to know how to increase the yields to match what the seed suppliers say they can get.

[oldmac]

A few months back while ordering some seeds for a partnered grow I'm involved in, we decided to try some auto flowering plants, for what I call "shits & giggles". We got a 3 pk of lowryderXAK47 and a 5 pk of lowryderXsanta maria, all fem seeds. The auto AK47 was great, the santa maria sucked.

All 3 AK47s germed and grew abt as expected.
Only 4 of 5 santa marias germed, they never went auto and grew real large. Had to put them into the bloom room on 12/12 to get them to flower. Then 2 of the 4 hermied (ripped those out) and I'm still waiting for the remaining 2 to finish.

Have harvested 2 AKs with one left to get cut down, probably tommrow nite.
Here's 2 pics of the first AK and a 3rd pic of a close up of the last 1.

[attachment=o223777] [attachment=o223778][attachment=o223779]

All the autos were grown along side mom's and veg out plants under 20/4 using a 600w MH. I really liked the AKs and think they are great for a small scale closet or cabinet grow. In our case we will probably do some more since it was really growing for free, we always have the mom light on anyway so fitting in 3-5 autos doesn't really cost us anything.

How to match the supplier claims'? I can't tell you cause they are just that, claims. I tend to believe what I see for results and don't really go by the claims. Just give them TLC like any plant and hope for the best.

[RoundEye]

So given that nobody seems to match the suppliers claims, what average did you get. Looks pretty good to me. What would that dry out to be?

[oldmac]

So given that nobody seems to match the suppliers claims, what average did you get. Looks pretty good to me. What would that dry out to be?

Sorry to take awhile to get back to you.
Don't have an average for the three yet, last one is still going, second still drying. (we deliberately have taken them abt 1 wk apart) That first one pictured was a little less then an oz, abt 20 grams manicured and dried. Remember that vendor's claims my be based on total green weight and that's 3-4 times more.(they never say "dried & manicured")

We've been talking about it here as to what could increase it's weight or make it better. We wanted to use a 600 HPS instead of the MH, and that may help some. Also if you were growing these by themselves you could do CO2 enrichment, dial in optium temp and light and if you really must some sort of bloom enhancement nute pkg.

Like I said earlier I can see why these might be good for a hobbyist with a small space and needs something easy to grow.

[RoundEye]

I have (2), 400watt HPS lamps and CO2. I'm using "Supernatural" brand nutes. More specifically "bloom terra" for the flowering and "grow terra" for vegging. Obviously with the automatics I'd not use the "grow terra". Just trying to figure if it's worth the time to see if I can get anything close to their claims. I think a solid .oz would be my determining factor.

[youngboi]

I been lookin at a few different strains that come feminized. How many plants do you recomend per sf. What kind of medium do you recommend for the grow and what would you say the potency is...also how much lighting for say 50 plants.. Thanks alot

[oldmac]

I have (2), 400watt HPS lamps and CO2. I'm using "Supernatural" brand nutes. More specifically "bloom terra" for the flowering and "grow terra" for vegging. Obviously with the automatics I'd not use the "grow terra". Just trying to figure if it's worth the time to see if I can get anything close to their claims. I think a solid .oz would be my determining factor.

Even tho they are autos, you still need to use a grow nute like "grow terra" while they are starting out. They are vegging and will need a grow based nutrient, once they start to flower then you can switch to "bloom terra".

Got to look at the grow log last night, that first one was 23.8 grams finished. Second one is a little samller and currently 22 grams, may lose another 1-2 gr in the next few days (about 90% dry currently). Third is the largest and I'll let you know in about a week to 10 days.

These where grown alongside mom's and vegging plants, so never got CO2.
That could make a good difference, probably put you over a oz/plant.

[oldmac]

I been lookin at a few different strains that come feminized. How many plants do you recomend per sf. What kind of medium do you recommend for the grow and what would you say the potency is...also how much lighting for say 50 plants.. Thanks alot

As I mentioned above somewhere these were fem seeds from lowryder. The AKs grew like I expected and did well, the LRxsanta maria did not show auto characteristics or low size.

They seemed to do fine in 6" diameter pots, and in this case we were using Pro-mix bx. I would recommend adding abt 20% perlite to Pro-Mix since it does not drain as well as the old Pro-mix HP (hi-perlite) which is not available anymore. But any grow media or grow style could work with these.

You could fit 50 plants in a 4'x4' area comfortably and (to me) that means 1000w HPS, or some equivalent light source.

[youngboi]

Thanks a lot oldmac. How much of a spike in the electric bill do you think running 1000w 20/4 would be... Now my next obstacle is figuring out a SOG plan for this.like harvesting 40-50 plant every 3-4 weeks

[exit66]

would any of you auto growers willing to give up info on a nute schedule !! iam getting ready for the second batch of autos and would really like to get it right this time !! the first batch of ak47 are doing ok into there 4th week. iam useing adv. nut. and the seeds came from attitude seeds. there under a 1000w 18/24 grown in 4in ports w/ hydrotron w/ a drip system that drains back into a resivior. thanks growers !

[submast3r]

I've heard mixed to negative reviews from other growers on this site but they're always worth checking out yourself especially if you're interested.

[oldmac]

Hey submast3r,

I hope you don't mind if I answer some more questions to others on your thread. I mentioned and showed some auto's on one of my threads, but it really was a sub-topic to my "selecting a mom" thread topic. (I'm notorious for not staying on point). ;)

BTW, sub and others; my partner just got the Sept. issue of High Times and there is a great picture of an indoor grow room showing auto AK 47s.
What we found interesting is the variation in plant sizes, both height and width, that you don't usually see in a clone based operation.

[oldmac]

would any of you auto growers willing to give up info on a nute schedule !! iam getting ready for the second batch of autos and would really like to get it right this time !! the first batch of ak47 are doing ok into there 4th week. iam useing adv. nut. and the seeds came from attitude seeds. there under a 1000w 18/24 grown in 4in ports w/ hydrotron w/ a drip system that drains back into a resivior. thanks growers !

No secrets here, basically follow the mfg recommendations.

For example Dutch Masters' advance recommends water with full strength nutrient solution once and the next two waterings just plain water.
If I was using a drip system I would mix the solution about 33% strenght and run that continuous. Or put it another way I would put the nutrients normally used for 1 gallon into 3 gallons of water.

Again like I said above, start out iwth a grow nutrinet then switch to a bloom nute after the plant starts to flower.

[exit66]

thank you for ur imput !! i have been stayin on the lower end of bloom nutes. ill have a tds/ppm gage tomorrow so i can keep better track of nutes w/ notes. i belive that is the key for growing these plants.advance nutes, told me a schedule for autos and everything he said contained to tds/ppm, it seems that the plants like it hard and fast !!! ii have noticed a difference is size and thickness of the plants.just started soaking 12 afghan kush fem and 10 lowryder mix reg. can autos make seeds ??? again thanks for ur imput oldmac !! exchange e-mail address?

[oldmac]

Just realized this is RoundEye's thread, sorry. Hope you don't mind. :)

Hey exit66,

Since you are using a recirc system, using a PPM/tds meter will help you see what the plants are using. While I have and use one in certian grows, the stuff I'm doing in containers with pro-mix I just use common sense. I have a tendency to push hard on nutes till I see a problem starting then back off.

Autos that come from regular seeds are easy to make seeds with. Keep a male and put it with the female(s) you want to seed and you're good to go.
If you have fem seeds to begin with, it's hard to do but can be done. I'm currently thinking about trying my hand at it, but right now I'm pretty busy with a bunch of other things going on. You should be able to get a male from the 10 lowryders and stick it with a couple of the femmed hindu kush plants and make a cross and get seeds. Of course the seeds will be regular, not femmed.

Sorry, I don't do e-mails but like with anyone I would entertain a friend request. :thumbsup:

[exit66]

thanks for ur imput. ive been on the conserventive side on nutes. but ill still get a dicent return on my first grow. not what i wanted, but not bad. i have two setups for this grow. 1 for starting and 1 for the finish. both drip and re circ. how about some light info on just starting new plants. i have a 300 w LED light that didnt seem to work real goood w/ younger auto plants.works good for reg plants, not autos i have a couple hps 1000w a 400w mh and a 75w mh. iam thinkin about the 400w to start and as soon as i signs of flower move them to the "pond" for flower. thanks for the invite for a friend request, ill take ya up on it. i understand the mail request. what part of the country you at. iam in n/w az hot and dry. thanks again M

[exit66]

thanks for the use of ur thread, its been helpfull. ill send you a friend invite also M thanks

[reefdiver]

Okay...I tried to answer my own question by reading the context but can not figure out what an "auto" is. :o

[headshake]

Okay...I tried to answer my own question by reading the context but can not figure out what an "auto" is. :o

AF or auto means auto-flowering. so a strain crossed with ruderalis genetics.
what this means is that the plant should (all aren't 100% stable) start to flower on it's own, without the need to change to 12/12.

so you just start the seed, let it grow, and in 60 days or so you have a finished plant.


-shake

[reefdiver]

Okay...easy enough. Can these be grown outdoors or in a controled indoor grow only?

[headshake]

doesn't matter.

-shake

[billbongo]

Hi i'm into about 7 weeks of growing easy ryder, there are plenty of pistols but no bud, they are green and seem healthy, it says from seed to harvest in 11 weeks, should there be buds by now or am i just being impatient?

btw like a idiot i forgot to keep a calender so 7 weeks is a guess. I'm growing in coco plus with coco a & b nutes but not hydro, i've been watering/feeding manualy with jug.

Thanks a lot for any advice, hopefully after i've got a few grows down i can return favour to other noobs.

thanks

[RoundEye]

OldMac,
what sized pots did you put your autos into? I've seen some that use the 7-11 big gulp cups even. Those seem rather small, but given the short size of these plants I can't help but thing 5 gallon buckets is a bit much.