Help needed with first Auto grow

[mikethebike]

Hi potheads  , doing my first Autos but they just dont look right ?? . been growing constantly sine 1978, , nuff said !. Only photoperiods tho ..They are healthy as a butchers dog but no flowers ??. I've got 3 strains going Royal haze auto, from royal queen seeds which is fine about a foot tall a month old and flowering nicely. But the two others Runtz auto and glue gelato auto both from barneys seeds are well over a foot tall and a month old but no flowers at all ? ,, just the single pre-pubescent ones at internodes up and down the stems. Its supposed to done in 70 - 80 days from sowing and as i'm half way there with no signs of bud I'm getting a bit concerned. vipar LED's very mild nutes and 18hour days.. I wondered if some photoperiod had got mixed in at source at first but surely not two different stains ? .  Unsure wether to try 12on12off or sit tight ?. can anyone tell me at what age they should start to show little moptops please. tried to attach pics but no go .Any ideas or hypotheses also welcome. 

Cheers y'all

[Shumroom]

Hiya @mikethebike  

 

Have you been through the thread below?

 

http://www.uk420.com/boards/index.php?/topic/397925-help-for-new-comers-uploading-to-uk420/

 

Also…

 

The site is due some upgrades and certain browsers work better than others right now.

 

Some use DuckDuckGo others use Firefox.

 

Atb

 

 

 

[Openairbud]

@mikethebike maybe a bit on the slow side to start flowering, have they started alternating nodes yet? I'd maybe hold off another week before worrying, seedbanks often give generously short finishing times especially for autos. I've never had one finish on time as it were. You could always bend em over if you're worried about running out of headroom.

 

Welcome to the site btw

[mikethebike]

No they still pushing out opposite pairs. Thanks for the help and reassurance . I'll sit tight a week or two,, If still noshow ill rip them out and go again as i have photoperiods waiting in the wings haha .

Cheers for the help posting pics too   

Regards. Mikethebike.

[Lubdub]

Sounds like autos just doing their thing tbh. 

[Falcore]

ive learnt this recently after doing research, ive got autos, they aint the most forgiving plant, ive got one which is currently racing ahead of the other 2, Barneys Runtz AUTO im growing btw.

 

ive done a fair bit of LST on the one thats racing ahead but the other 2 are still small bushy plants. they seem to be doing ok though, hopefully they will finish at the same time as they were popped together, but only time will tell

 

 

Alan

 

[mikethebike]

Progress report,,,, Well what a difference a few days makes sometimes, popped my head in the tent this morning and 'HELLO'  , little mottops everywhere.A big thanks to all the growers that encouraged me to sit tight  . After 45 years with photoperiods it's been a steep learning curve. First go was a total flop.. overly strong nutes i'm sure. using 1/4 strength this time and they fitasfuck.. So yea these claims from the seed breeders about finishing times are a bit ,, erm,,, ambitious aren't they.. Fair play tho it's all to promote the product isn't it. What threw me a bit was that i have royal haze auto started same time and she started flowering at week 3 , but lesson learned,, not Autos are the same time frame. I can put me feet up get high and wait patiently for them to ' do their thing' now ,, Cheers all    

[5Lip]

Interested to know why you’ve switched from photos to autos?

[mikethebike]

Well tbh there's quite a few reasons behind the change. My pa used to say "decisions we make are rarely down to just one thing, it's usually a combination of factors", and this is true here.

When i very first started growing we would just pick seed out of Thai weed or Jamaican and go with that,,then when the first hybrid seeds appeared b4 tinternet we had to travel to Holland to get good seeds ,skunk no1 and northers lights etc ,and they where much more expensive back then ( tight Yorkshireman haha ) , so it was crucial to keep a mother box going to keep the strain alive. One problem is that some strains are stable, u can take take cutting from cutting endlessly and it will never change.And some are unstable so it gets weaker and weaker ,and less vigorous the more u take cutting from cutting,it has to do with breeding either two haploid types ( one set of chromosomes ) , or two diploid types ( two sets of chromosomes )  , which will both be stable, but if you cross a haploid with a diploid its unstable and gets weaker and less vigorous after the first few cuttings from cuttings. ( marijuana botany by Robert Connell Clarke 1981, highly recommended for any budding breeders out there , haha unintended pun  ) but the thing is they never tell you on the packet if its a stable or unstable variety do they , u just have to 'suck it n see' .. White widow is a good stable variety that i grew for 10 years from one cutting with no issues. But there's nothing like popping a fresh seed to get a vigorous and potent plant.And seed of all types is cheaper and easily available nowadays.

Also over the years keeping the mother box going has been very problematic at times with pests , house moves, rcd's tripping while out or working away causing flowering , and such like .

Another reason was that for many years autos just didn't stand up next to photoperiod for potency and its only lately that they have been able to breed genuine strong varieties, so now it's worth a try .

And i wont lie a bit of it was greed , going on 'the literature' autos are done in 70-80 days.whereas photoperiods need 2 weeks to root 4-5 weeks to veg then 8 to flower, so on paper it looked like i could easily get 6 crops a year instead of 4, but as the claims are a bit ambitious it's not as straight forward as i expected,but still shorter time than photoperiods.

And last but not least i was curious to give it a try. generally speaking i can still get more varieties and selection in a year than i could from photoperiods and i don't need to keep that mother box going anymore ..

Lots of pros and cons to both types. Generally speaking it is easier with Autos,but only time will tell if i stick with Autos or go back to Photoperiods.

Regards.

Mikethebike.

[5Lip]

Just now, mikethebike said:

Well tbh there's quite a few reasons behind the change. My pa used to say "decisions we make are rarely down to just one thing, it's usually a combination of factors", and this is true here.

When i very first started growing we would just pick seed out of Thai weed or Jamaican and go with that,,then when the first hybrid seeds appeared b4 tinternet we had to travel to Holland to get good seeds ,skunk no1 and northers lights etc ,and they where much more expensive back then ( tight Yorkshireman haha ) , so it was crucial to keep a mother box going to keep the strain alive. One problem is that some strains are stable, u can take take cutting from cutting endlessly and it will never change.And some are unstable so it gets weaker and weaker ,and less vigorous the more u take cutting from cutting,it has to do with breeding either two haploid types ( one set of chromosomes ) , or two diploid types ( two sets of chromosomes )  , which will both be stable, but if you cross a haploid with a diploid its unstable and gets weaker and less vigorous after the first few cuttings from cuttings. ( marijuana botany by Robert Connell Clarke 1981, highly recommended for any budding breeders out there , haha unintended pun  ) but the thing is they never tell you on the packet if its a stable or unstable variety do they , u just have to 'suck it n see' .. White widow is a good stable variety that i grew for 10 years from one cutting with no issues. But there's nothing like popping a fresh seed to get a vigorous and potent plant.And seed of all types is cheaper and easily available nowadays.

Also over the years keeping the mother box going has been very problematic at times with pests , house moves, rcd's tripping while out or working away causing flowering , and such like .

Another reason was that for many years autos just didn't stand up next to photoperiod for potency and its only lately that they have been able to breed genuine strong varieties, so now it's worth a try .

And i wont lie a bit of it was greed , going on 'the literature' autos are done in 70-80 days.whereas photoperiods need 2 weeks to root 4-5 weeks to veg then 8 to flower, so on paper it looked like i could easily get 6 crops a year instead of 4, but as the claims are a bit ambitious it's not as straight forward as i expected,but still shorter time than photoperiods.

And last but not least i was curious to give it a try. generally speaking i can still get more varieties and selection in a year than i could from photoperiods and i don't need to keep that mother box going anymore ..

Lots of pros and cons to both types. Generally speaking it is easier with Autos,but only time will tell if i stick with Autos or go back to Photoperiods.

Regards.

Mikethebike.

Thanks for sharing, really interesting. I’ve got it in my head that photo’s produce a better quality end product and just about to do your experiment the other way round (I need to grow my own photos and would love to grow a strain from a mother plant etc) I suppose there’s a place for both autos and photos 

[mikethebike]

Yes bang on pal, the overriding factor has to be quality for sure doesn't it. Iv'e always said i'd rather have a carrier bag full of primo over a bin liner full of cabbage ! . I have noticed Autos creeping to high 20% THC,, but the likes of Slurricane Photos at 32% and all the gelatos are absolutely incredible, such a sweet strong high. So i'm sure your right in that phots give slightly better quall,, but now that Autos are nearly at 30% i need to find out if the difference is enough to matter ,  iykwim    

And yes very interesting for me too that we are both heading in opposite directions yet both have perfectly sound logical reasons for doing what we are doing  ,, We should keep in touch,see if we both get what we want    

Regards.

Mikethebike..

[5Lip]

Yes will be keen to see how you get on and what you think. My supplier friend won’t even take a toke from my Stawdawg auto (which is my current go to) says the buds look too “airy”. For the first time in a long while I had to buy some recently and the oz I got from him did look / smell / taste and smoke nicer then my stardawg (it was really impressive actually but stunk the house out) BUT the high wasn’t that much better in fact I’d go as far to say the initial hit from my Stardawg was better than his, I’m glad I got the dealer stuff because it did highlight the differences between the autos I’ve come to know (and love tbf as I’m into a great routine with the grow pattern and feel I really understand the plant now) and this has given me the drive to try the photos. Time will tell I guess

Edited June 11, 2023 by 5Lip

[mikethebike]

Well the results are in, and that's a No big time. As usual it's not down to just one thing.

1 , The finish times are wildly exaggerated from the breeders so it takes just as long as a photoperiod in the end.I get why they do it, autos is big dollars to the breeders because you cant take cuttings, so i have to buy seeds every time i grow, whereas a photo i can get years of weed off one seed if it's a good stable variety, and have done many times. the finish times varied a lot too, at the point royal haze auto was ripe and ready to turn upside down gelato glue was a bit behind, and Runts' was miles away from ripe. So you have to either cut one before it's quite ready or leave it in their on it's own to finish which is extremely inefficient use of the tent. pretty well all the photos I've done are ready after 8 weeks flowering bang on.

2 , In the long run 18 hours on is half as much again as 12/12 costs, so over a year that shit adds up, and with lecy prices the way they are that's the last thing i need.

3 , Overall none of the three strains where a patch on my photos strength wise. 

4, Bud stature was pretty crap too, very wispy light buds with less weight per bud/bag.

 

So i pay more for seeds, wait same time as photos, pay more for lecy and the weeds inferior to photos !. It's a no brainer never again, it's top notch photos all the way for me. I am glad i tried it though  

[Revive]

3 hours ago, mikethebike said:

The finish times are wildly exaggerated from the breeders so it takes just as long as a photoperiod

Breeders info i take with a pinch of salt.

Its just a guide at best as there so many variables that will effect the plants finishing times..and then theres phenotypes to consider too..I ran an auto a while back that was supposed to be seed to flower and finish in 70 days, at 100 days it had just started flowering

Last season the same it grew like a fucking triffid got to about 7 feet tall and turned out to be a boy..was supposed to be a fem

I personally think some breeders talk a lot of bs and seem to say what ever it takes to sell there seeds..the money comes in and the morals go out the window 

[sweepy]

I started on autos and never really was happy, switched to photo and did much better but the real difference to me was moving from soil to coco/clay mix. Got some blueberry cheese auto in the tent now that I soaked the seed 1st may and they are ready to cut any day now, and the bud is the biggest and densest ive ever grown. My yeild isnt far off my best photo grow and its been so much quicker.

Proof of the pudding will be in the smoking tho

Edited July 22, 2023 by sweepy