Auto and regular feminezed aseeds together?

[Joe]

Hey guys, so i bought 2 auto pineapple expresa and 1 auto lsd 25 and one white widow and 1 grand heft auto and was woundering i can grow them togerther the auto and not auto. It would be under a 400w hps with a lot of room to grow. Thamks

[ZigZag]

Sure you can do that, I do it most of the time, but I limit it to maximum of three different strains (We can only have 6 mature plants at any one time). However there are some important considerations_
1. pick strains that finish in about the same time or better yet get autos that will finish before the photoperiod plants. When you cut the photoperiod plants back to 12/12 you will be taking some light away from the autos that they could have used if you hadn't cut back on the light _so if they mature first (faster) they will get more light for longer than if you started them at the same time as the photoperiod. Best way to do this is to start the autos 4 weeks before the photoperiod but that extends your grow by a month or more (if your photoperiod plants flower in 65-80 days)..
2. different strains mean different plant heights (usually) so even with training you may need "lifts" to get your short plants up to the level of the taller ones_ works well but just more work.
3. different strains may require different amounts of nutrients so you'll need to keep a close eye on them for any deficiencies or toxicity.
4. same thing goes for light intensity and with just one light you'll have to be able to move the plants vertically to make adjustments for intensity.
5. Another consideration is that I usually like to start germinating twice as many seeds as I want from any specific strain so I can choose the best two of each. It all depends on how many plants you want to have to grow to maturity.

Numbers 4 & 5 are also really only workable if you are using individual planters/containers for your plants.

For me its worth the extra effort to have 3 strains with each harvest. There are just so many tempting ones out there that its hard to make up your mind! I usually chose what strains I'm going to plant by what I can't get in a dispensary!

[Joe]

yeah i will be growing 3 autos then waiting a month and planting 3 more. its not legal here so 6 plants is enough for me to go to jail up to 3 years. i'm not dealing so i don't really have to be afraid...
training is a bit tricky for me since this is my official first grow ( the first one was grown with an infra red bulb and some shitty seed i found in my weed).id also like to know how bad it is if i dont have a reflector for the light sice the walls are also don't reflect light. feel free to look at my other post to se the grow room conditions, the light will be hanging by the ceiling and there is a fan.
thanks for the recommendations!
fly high, joe

[alltatup]

I would think that it would be a problem for the autos when you switch the light to 12/12. I've never heard of growing autos with that light schedule.

Ok, I just looked it up, and an article says you'll get smaller auto buds with a 12/12 sched.:

https://www.autoflowering-cannabis.com/autoflower-1212-light-cycle/

[ZigZag]

I haven't had any problems with the autos sharing a 12/12 photoperiod with the others _still got pretty nice results. This last grow I did autos only and they turned out pretty nice, probably the best auto results I've had and the photoperiod was set at 20/4 for the entire grow so that does seem to indicate more light is better than less. I was out of town most of the summer and traded a friend half the harvest for babysitting while I was out. Having just autos made it a lot easier for him to care for the plants whenever it was convenient. I'm going to post the grow asap. The results are pretty interesting.

[alltatup]

ZigZag That's fascinating!!! I would definitely grow some autos if I knew I could keep them on a 12/12 schedule. But then you say you got best results with a 20/4 light schedule... So maybe not...

[Sheesh]

I haven't grown autos but I've heard over and over not to mix with photos, for the reason atu said. 12 hours for an auto will lower yields significantly. Autos need 18+ hours per day from seedling to harvest.

[South Sierra Dude]

I would flower the photofem after i harvest the autos. Leave the light on 24/24

[South Sierra Dude]

You could fill the empty space the harvested autos leave with clones from your photo fems

[Joe]

thank you all for the advice! unfortunately i have already picked the strains and these are the grow times:
auto lsd 25 8-9 weeks
auto pineapple express 8-9
auto grand heft auto 8-9
white widow
power plant supreme
so if i wait a month to plant to the photos i should be good! that actually worked out perfectly!!! thanks a lot guys!!

[alltatup]

Hey joe, that is a good plan and a good idea! Thanks for sharing it!