I've got a flood and drain system under a couple of 600w hps lamps, I've not grown anything for almost a year and decided to kick in for some xmas smoke but I'm stumped when it comes to which seeds to buy.

I had some Bigbud last year and the yields were good but I didn't rate the smoke, it was also a trimming nightmare as the plants got so big, I'm looking for something that doesn't stretch so much this time around, I can't face that much work again

I looked at the autoflowering breeds and they are interesting but the yields may be too small, though I'm tempted by the Auto AK47.

Any ideas?

Avoid LR's unless growing outdoors.

Whats your budget?
I just did a grow of Nirvana Papaya - £20 for ten and it's insanely mango smelling and a nice strong mellow high.
Female seeds do a great relatively cheap range aswell mate. Their bubblegummer looks the bomb and they've also got a support forum here.

I've seen a few good grows on here using LR seeds, I got curious about them as my last bigbud crop really took it out of me, 14 plants yielding almost 40 oz that took forever to mature, and the trimming..oh god the endless trimming.

The idea of small plants with barely any waste trim and 9 weeks flowering really does appeal to me right now but I suppose there must be a good reason for all the negative comments, no smoke without fire etc.

I've got 150 quid to spend, I'll definitely be wanting fems so I'll go have a look at Female Seed's range now

Sweet seeds Green Poison is my next choice - ready for crimbo ?

Hybrid variety with mainly Indica gene and very high yield, this variety is a Hybrid with Indica predominance but with long and flexible side branches on which dominate a large central cola with a rapid, vigorous growth and a fast, explosive flowering stage, yielding large buds and becoming a super-producer of buds within a few days.
With this variety, we sought for near-perfection, with exquisite aroma and taste, strong effect, high flower and resin production, easy growing and, above all, flowering very quickly.

The aroma of this variety is very intense, sweet, fruity and differs from other varieties of Sweet Seeds catalog.
The flavor of this variety is also very strong and prolonged, filling the palate with an exquisite floral, fruity flavor.

Due to its rapid flowering this plant is very suitable for growing in humid areas especially susceptible to attack by fungi, as this variety achieves rapid maturity, their harvest is least effected by the most virulent botrytis (gray mold), which decimate Indica buds with longer flowering periods.

Indica / Sativa: 70%-30% THC: 15%-20% CBD: 0,9% CBN: 0,4%
Indoor Yield: 500-650 gr/m2 Outdoor Yield: 500-700 gr/plant
Indoor Blooming: 7 weeks. Outdoor Harvest: Mid to late September.

I've grown quite a few of the automatics and a friend's grown quite a few of the ones I've not grown, so it's fair to say that I've at least got a reasonable basis for opinion on the subject. This is a summary of my current thoughts:

Avoid the original lowryder like the plague. As far as I'm concerned, the original LR's only current function in life is as a relatively stable basis for developing further auto crosses (although it'd be nice if someone would also stabilize out that goddamn straggly / spartan pheno). The yield and high are both pretty damned poor. I grew it once and I'm not doing it again. The only advantage is that it's still the quickest-finishing auto, but it really, really isn't worth it.

The only autos worth even flirting with at the moment are the AK47 crosses. The White Russian and Kush crosses are decent high-wise, but the yields are still depressingly low. The AK's -- especially certain phenos -- give a very decent high and a decent-ish yield. The only catch with them is the time. Oh sure, the packets say 10 weeks, but I've never had one do that yet. it's typically 10.5-13, with most in the 11-12 region. At this point you're getting into an area where you're almost as well off vegging a 'normal' strain for 3-4 weeks then flowering. You could do a nice Northern Lights in pretty much the same time.

skunk special from femaleseeds is quick 8 weeks or 56 days , good smoke aswell .

Never grown LR. Not my cuppa tea so can't offer any wisdom there.
From experience (ie, I've grown them out and tested them) I rate these (in no particular order):
Skunk (Sensi's); Pot of Gold (F'ingDutchmen), Mazar (I did DP's version), and last but by no means least Killer Skunk, and Smile, plus Smellyberry from Ugorg - all of which last three have been for me a real blast to grow and amongst the best weed I've smoked in a long time. The Maz was a femmed seed I could not clone her to save my life (and I usually get 100% strike rate), and I miss my Skunk mum summat rotten. But I'd not want to be without a KS and she, mercifuly, clones like a good'un! Which is nice.

http://www.uk420.com/boards/index.php?show...p;#entry1926182

This guy got a good result from LR2, I reckon a room full could be interesting, easy to start a rotated crop too...

I'm still undecided though, the sensible side of me says just get a normal strain and crack on, but the lazy side of me says a harvest in just over two months with less trimming would be great.

Thanks for the replies, I'm checking out all these strains

Well I ended up going with my impulse and ordering some Auto AK47, thanks for the suggestions anyway