making the switch (auto to photo)

[5Lip]

Honestly I'm nervous about this (I've threatened it before) as I feel I've got a really good routine with the autos / produce a reasonable yield of reasonable weed BUT I had a slight accident and lost my.last grow so I needed to buy some (which I was devastated about) but a trusted friend got my an Oz and it's made me feel I want to try growing photos.

 

I started with serpents guide and adapted from there, I would like to do the same with the photos so I'm after a "serpents guide to growing photos" or something equivalent 

 

Thanks in advance for your input

[Military Grade]

Congrats mate, Things will now be more forgiving and easier

 

 

What light and timing mechanism do you have to change thge lights to 12/12 when needed?

[5Lip]

Just now, Military Grade said:

Congrats mate, Things will now be more forgiving and easier

 

 

What light and timing mechanism do you have to change thge lights to 12/12 when needed?

I'm running two Mars hydro 600w leds and have inkbird temp.control and a (large )extractor. Need to do some work on my "room in the shed" in terms of light leaks but have been aware and have some material that will do that job just fine. I've got 2 autos in right now (24/24 but do have timers) and plan to seed a couple of photos and get the growing as the autos finish off

[5Lip]

I'm not going to lie these YouTube videos I'm sat watching make it look far more complex than my."Auto" routne

[handysmoker]

8 hours ago, Military Grade said:

Congrats mate, Things will now be more forgiving and easier

 

Got to agree with military here, i still got 3 autos to grow once done i will go to photos mainly for the higher yields

 

[brock1]

Get them light leaks sorted & your pretty much good to go. Auto's are like going straight 12hr light with photos. Just don't go crazy with a full sativa your first grow and you will do just fine. 

[MidgeSmith]

11 hours ago, 5Lip said:

I'm not going to lie these YouTube videos I'm sat watching make it look far more complex than my."Auto" routne

I am a fan of autos and photos, though I have been focussing mainly on photos.

 

To be honest, apart from judging when to flip from 18/6 to 12/12 and needing a bit more in the way of nutrients, I really haven't found it too far different. Though I am less expert th an many.

 

Autos get a bad rap, which I think is undeserved on the whole and I comfortably achieve a similar amount - about 10 Oz in my smallish tent (0.7SqM) doing ScrOG for either type. I'd say that the main difference apart from the light requirements is that if you piss an auto off early on, you can't just wait a while for it to catch up as it is sort of running on its own schedule. Also, may strains *can* grow taller than autos tend to.

I don't have a definitive guide to offer, although there are quite a few out there that say more or less the same thing. Most of the guides by the big seed stockists are relatively simple and accurate to my mind.  Searching this site and its grow diaries offers a lot of gold though.

Edited April 30, 2023 by MidgeSmith

[mysticriver]

11 hours ago, 5Lip said:

it's made me feel I want to try growing photos.

do it

I grew auto's for over 18 months

ive just completed my first photoperiod grow since changing over. I think you'll find that its not at all hard or complicated

& I have a feeling you'll find there's an improvement in quality

its even better if you can select/keep mothers & run clones (hark at me talkin' like I know it all...)

 

 

mystic

[Cajafiesta]

It's more or less the same concept, with some very different details. 

 

 

You'll need to consider potting up on a "reasonable" schedule. 

 

Nutrients will be potentially different, but it's not difficult. 

 

 

Light cycle flip and when you flip is probably the most obvious difference.  I have good luck with organic soil amendments combined with top dressing.  Look for some sort of "organic" shit that can be used directly in soil as well as a top dress.  I use Dr. Earth products, but not sure if they're available in the UK.  Regardless, they're the standards mix of stuff like pelletized alfalfa, blood meal, bone meal, ground up oyster shells etc etc.  If you can source a complete product like that, it really makes chasing nutrients a lot more simplified.  Use it in the soil when you plant/pot up.  Use it as a top dress as prescribed by the bag.  the biggest thing with this approach is that nutrient deficinecy correction doesn't happen very fast. so you have to re-amend/top dress BEFORE the plants start looking shitty.  if you don't, you're behind the curve. 

 

 

Photos are my preference.  It allows control.  if you have a hiccup you can just hold it in veg until you solve the issue, then go on with flowering. 

[purepotstill]

I'm running my 1st photo run after two autos. As said, main advantage is you can fuck up the things during veg time without compromising the end because you decide when they'll flower, it will just take longer.

 

If you were LSTing your autos (and even if you didn't), you should do the same with your photos. I've tried topping/fimming with no success, made some shit but was able to correct things with a good LST, so I my advice would be to just LST them for this 1st run.

 

Another thing : photos seem to have bigger needs when it comes to feed so don't rely on your usual autos nutes dosage.

[5Lip]

Thanks for the input….so for those that have changed did you change your growing substrate (I’m currently using plant magic & coir 60/40) and nutrients (I’m on plant magic)

[Cajafiesta]

20 minutes ago, 5Lip said:

Thanks for the input….so for those that have changed did you change your growing substrate (I’m currently using plant magic & coir 60/40) and nutrients (I’m on plant magic)

For whatever it's worth, I will always advocate for "dirt."  I run what is essentially a condensed version of "coots" soil. 

 

At the end of the day, it's 1/3 "compost like stuff" ( I use a mix of half inexpensive organic bagged compost from the home improvement store and half earthworm castings), 1/3 aeration material ( pearlite, pumice, charged biochar or whatever) and 1/3 water retention material ( I use peat).   I amend that with something like Build-a-soil "Craft Blend" or some of the "Dr. Earth" products. I will recycle this soil several times.  Each time I reamend it with whatever I feel like.  Typically some good EWC and additional Craft Blend or Dr. Earth.   I top dress the pots about every 3-4 weeks with more of the bagged Craft Blend or Dr. Earth.  That's it.  It works well and is pretty forgiving.  No need for worrying about EC and all that, in my experiences.  No dealing with washing coco to remove residual salt like I've heard about.  It's pretty dumb-proof once you get a handle on it.

 

That's why I like soil.  If you get some pretty gentle shit into the dirt, the plant seems to just get whatever it needs, when it needs it, as long as you keep the nutrient source available.  

 

The caveat here is that, if you use this method, you have to anticipate nutrient want.  If you end up with a deficiency, this method is slow to correct it.  Although, a slurry of EWC seems to be pretty immediately available to the plant, and it does seem to act as a "plant emergency room" with regard to rapid issue resolution. 

[MidgeSmith]

3 hours ago, Cajafiesta said:

You'll need to consider potting up on a "reasonable" schedule.

Oh yeah!  That's the bit I forgot when moving back to Photos

[Bud Baker]

I started with photo regs and still run photo regs, 15 years later. Done a few autos and the bud was sub par so sort of put me off a few years ago. Fems are okay I suppose, I just don’t like that if you find a keeper, that you could potentially have finicky genes in your hands for cloning ect. Photo regs for the win in my opinion.

[Bud Baker]

Also with autos just say you find a banging plant and it’s good bud, the next seed from the same pack could be some bum weed that wasn’t worth laying down 12 weeks of effort and time. No consistency , you find a reg keeper , that’s yours!