strong autos- is there such a thing?

[MindSoup]

Oh yeah SS Auto Panty Punch. I grew one on my winsowsi and it was absolutely beautiful. Did really well considering the minimal effort, lovely old school dank smell.

[badbillybob]

38 minutes ago, Goohfy said:

It would cost more interesting I would think the electric versus all the benefits would be negligible in my opinion have a word definitely if he is a friend.peace Goohfy.

hes got a 120 by 120 set up using a 600w hps, his oil filled rad is 1500watts so the rad would be drawing twice the power during lights off as his light, hence its about a 1/3rd cheaper to do autos for him as he wont need the heater, for 8-10 weeks at 12 hrs a day

[MindSoup]

The rad won't be running all the time though, in fact it will use less than 600 watts to create the same amount of warmth as the HPS does. 

Edited January 25 by MindSoup

[badbillybob]

its a 1500watt rad, itll be using 1500watts.#

hes worked it all out and its costing much more to do fems instead of autos. his sheds not insulated and the rad would be on for at least 11/12 hrs a day for 10 weeks.

im not argueing for the sake of it, hes showed me the figures when i said-just do fems

Edited January 25 by badbillybob

[MindSoup]

It makes no difference, "creating" x amount of heat takes the same amount of electricity regardless of how big the heater is. The 600 watt is running continuously with just a portion of it's draw going to heat, so the 1500 will kick in here and there and use the equivalent of that portion of the hps running continuously. 

[burninit]

12 hours ago, SkullDuggery said:

But other than a one off setting up of a timer, what time are you actually saving? 
 

Plus you’re using more electric by running 24/7

 

 

A bit of give and take. 

Say an auto takes 10 weeks from seed to harvest. 

Well a photo would take Similar just to veg. So your saving weeks in that regard. 

I got watermelon auto in at the moment and did look at a few autos, read, reviews and looked at grow diary's. 

They seen to have a very good rep and that's from customers that have grown and used them. 

I think autos still have a rep from the past but companies put a lot into development and research always Trying to improve their products. 

So I do think there's a place for autos. 

But each to there own bud. 

 

[catweazle1]

AFAIK Any plant needs the same number of photons to produce the same amount of plant matter, so, an auto cannot be cheaper in the sense that less photons are used. You'll still use the same amount of electricity light-wise. You cannot get more energy out than you put in... unassailable fact of the universe. With autos you are spending about the same amount of energy money as with photoperiods, but over a shorter time. Autos are ideal for winter, I think.

Edited January 26 by catweazle1

[openthebox]

Mephisto is great, fastbuds sucks arse. 

[brock1]

I don't have any indica auto's avaliable maybe something I should make now I am happy with the high from my sativa auto's. Anyway if your friend want a strong auto I wouldn't flower it under 18-24hr of light. It one of these just because it can doesn't mean it should. I like to drop the light hours to anywhere between 10-14hr about halfway through flowering. This will increase the potency of a auto a lot like on a level with photos. 

[Vicfirth12]

Growing on 24 hours of light is a great way to stress the plants. Be it autos or vegging photoperiods. 

[highdihigh2]

4 hours ago, brock1 said:

I don't have any indica auto's avaliable maybe something I should make now I am happy with the high from my sativa auto's. Anyway if your friend want a strong auto I wouldn't flower it under 18-24hr of light. It one of these just because it can doesn't mean it should. I like to drop the light hours to anywhere between 10-14hr about halfway through flowering. This will increase the potency of a auto a lot like on a level with photos. 

HI @brock1 - interesting detail.

Can I ask you to clarify one point please :-

I was under the impression that most / a lot of auto growers prefer a 20/4 light cycyle. Is this correct ?

So if the cylce is 20/4 and the plant is a 10 weeker and pistils show at end of week 3 indicating flowering

has begun, that leaves another 7 weeks of flowering. Using the above method then I assume that the 

light cycle should be changed after a further 3.5 weeks of 20/4 to - 10 on / 14 off  - or 14 on / 10 off .

Am I correct ?

Thanks in advance

@badbillybob sorry for the hi-jack !

[5Lip]

I grew quite a few of the fastbuds range and a stand out strain was Stardawg, they always tended to finish around the quoted time. yields were “ok” buds airy and smoke was great (I’d grow Stardawg again no problem) I’ve just finished my first 2 photo runs and the end product is definitely different, denser buds, more intense flavour all round a much better end product.

Currently growing the Stardawg from ACE seeds and it’s looking great so excited to try the end product.

[badbillybob]

22 hours ago, catweazle1 said:

AFAIK Any plant needs the same number of photons to produce the same amount of plant matter, so, an auto cannot be cheaper in the sense that less photons are used. You'll still use the same amount of electricity light-wise. You cannot get more energy out than you put in... unassailable fact of the universe. With autos you are spending about the same amount of energy money as with photoperiods, but over a shorter time. Autos are ideal for winter, I think.

ill; try and explain.....again.

so we are going on the assumption that to run 700 watts for 24 hours (600w lamp and a airpump n oscillating fan along with extract fan, same set up for photo and auto.

 

AUTO -it works out at approx £8 per day, so for 10 weeks it will be £560 . no heating required

FEM, 4 weeks veg at £8 per day = £224, plus 10 weeks of bloom at 12/12 at £4.50 a day = £315. equals a total of £539.

then you will need to heat the tent with a 1500w heater for at least 10 hrs a day (uninsulated shed remember), so allow for £10 a day (10 hrs of lights off) approx. = £700

so auto for £539 quid or fem for £1239 quid, .

so, as you can see the auto is going to be miles cheaper.

 

Edited January 26 by badbillybob

[Lux_Interior]

I personally think auto varieties are more suited in the UK for outside antics. I've had a couple of dalliances with autos, the first, due to potting up and treating them like photo period feminised plants was a car crash. Last year I was given two FastBudz Gorilla Cookie auto seeds and I stuck them straight into large pots and put them outside in May (Lat 52). I took minimal care of them really but was pleasantly surprised at what yield I received come late August.

 

 

 

 

 

[brock1]

On 26/01/2024 at 15:00, highdihigh2 said:

HI @brock1 - interesting detail.

Can I ask you to clarify one point please :-

I was under the impression that most / a lot of auto growers prefer a 20/4 light cycyle. Is this correct ?

So if the cylce is 20/4 and the plant is a 10 weeker and pistils show at end of week 3 indicating flowering

has begun, that leaves another 7 weeks of flowering. Using the above method then I assume that the 

light cycle should be changed after a further 3.5 weeks of 20/4 to - 10 on / 14 off  - or 14 on / 10 off .

Am I correct ?

Thanks in advance

@badbillybob sorry for the hi-jack !

The thing with auto is their just a normal plant with a mutation that induces flowering based on age not season light hours. The reason most people go for a higher number of daylight hours is yeild. The more light the more time to create growth that includes bud growth. Mostly people try to ballance the hours of daylight 18-20hr of light is were most like to go from start to fishing. No timer change ect it's just a straight run from seed to harvest & keeps it simple that's why these time's are preferable for growing. However I find that if your treat them like a photoperiod strain after week 4+. I say 4+ because I have some long sativa strains so it's flowering time dependent & for some it could be week 9-10 that I do this. I will drop the hour to as little as 10hr of light but average around 12hr of light. This gives a more natural riping period & it reacts more like a normal photoperiod giving a similar effect & high. Unlike the 24hr plants that seem almost like they struggle to convert the CBD & other cannabinoids into THC/THCa cannabinoids or something to that context. The point being they definitely seem to take on a better high on par if not better than photoperiod strain equivalents.