4 autos enough for 3x3?

[s62]

Title says it all (almost). I’ve got a 3x3 and an LEC that I’m planning my next grow for. Would 4 autos be enough/too many to fill the tent? I’m looking for 10oz+ preferably. Anyone have recommendations for heavy producers?

[FatBoy40]

Currently I have 9 plants in my 4x4x7 tent 6 plants are photos 2 are Autos. The max amount of plants that my tent can hold is 16. You are using a 3x3 so I would cut your max to 12 or maybe even 10 plants, I would have to run the numbers for your tent. I plan on doing 10 autos for my next grow, You also have to factor in the pot size you are going to use that will also put a limit to how many plants you can have in there as well. IMO.

[YYCannabis]

I’m a first time grower and your numbers are an eye opener for me. I wasn’t sure if having 4 autos in my 4x4 was going to be too crowded. Now I know I can get some more containers and lights 😉

Cheers
YYC

[Weed Pharma]

Four auto’s are fine for your setup ( light/medium) and 10 ounces is a reasonable goal if 5 gallon pots are used.

[Organic357]

I have never grown an auto-flower but when I consider how many plants to grow healthily in a tent I I calculate the square footage for each plant's canopy. Four plants in a 3' x 3' would allow an average canopy space of 18" or 1½' per plant. I personally would not do more than four if flowering in a 3' x 3' because I don't like to have my plants too crowded and want to allow for good air circulation.

What I do though is use a 3' x 3' for veg and move to a 5' x 5' for flower. In that case I am comfortable running 6 plants in my 3' x 3' for veg which is the max allowed by the government in my state. This will also allow for them to be comfortable in the 5' x 5', allowing for roughly a 20" canopy for 9 plants. Since I am not going to violate the states maximums I will have a lot of extra room in my 5' x 5'. Having some extra room is not necessarily a bad thing as it makes watering and feeding easier.

[Spidermite]

It also boils down to the strain you choose. Ive had 3 autos fill a 4x4. I've also fit 6 in the same tent. Of course photos you have much more control of the size of the plant.

For example you could probably fit 8 Fast Buds girl scout cookies in a 4x4. But with Fast Buds Gorrilla Glue, Lemon Ak47, or tangiamatic 4 may be pushing it.

[Canuck147]

I have 3 autoflowers currently growing in my 3x3. All in 2 gallon fabric pots - 3 gallon pots or bigger I find to be harder to move around in the tent. 5 gallons or more takes autoflowers 10 days or longer just filling out their roots.
2 gallons are easier.
Not that they can't grow big so best pick your strain to accommodate you.
I have a 4 footer in a 1 gallon fabric pot right now.
Good luck growing.

[Cronk]

4 autos will fill your tent. if you want to do more you should try keeping them trained and very compact. 4 plants in my tent can get out of control in flower

[s62]

Thanks all for the responses. I appreciate your input. FWIW, I've been mainly considering Fast Buds autos on Seedsman. Ideally I’d like to grow 2 strains (1 cerebral sativa and 1 relaxing indica). I’d love recommendations for strains. I want to maximize my space and light, so let me know suggested number of plants, pot size, etc., if you’re up for it! You folks are the best!

[Spidermite]

I'd recommend Star Dawg, Girl Scout Cookies, and blue dream or Rhino Ryder if going with fast buds. Those stay smaller but produce alot of bud. 3 gallon pots with training and you could fit 3 or 4 in a 2x4 space. I've never grown in smaller pots but you can see tons of examples of setups and different strains in the Great Auto Showdown thread.

[FatBoy40]

Here is my veg tent 315w LEC 8 plants currently due to I went to 7 gal. pots for all except one, its a 3 gal for one of the autos. Just to give you an idea.

[Weed Pharma]

I've had great results with FastBuds auto's - topping at node 5 and pulling away from center- nothing fancy
.
Tangie Matic would be a good starting place as it's as close to pure sativa you will get in an autoflower and has their second highest yield, giving a good harvest even when problems are encountered.
Mexican Airlines is my favorite.
GirlScoutCookies and Blue Dream for the more known starins do very well, too.

See grow Journal #4 in my signature for some idea of how easy it can be.
(I no longer transplant FastBuds seeds-as they do very well direct planting in final container)

[SoOrbudgal]

You could do 4 autos in 3gal fabic pots easily. As stated above comments depending on strain. I've grown different strains together a few times now on indoor autos with low stress training and your lighting you could do it. I'm gonna push the limit this fall/winter with 5 photos in a 4x4 with 2 450R viperspectras. Not high end but they do the job for our needs. I've used them for 3yrs now. I did replace one it's new do to driver burnout.

[s62]

Ok, I’m now wondering about the following setup:
6 plants total:
2x FastBuds Crystal Meth auto
2x FastBuds Six Shooter auto
2x Dinafem White Widow XXL auto

I read a grow journal elsewhere where a guy grew 8 Crystal Meth autos in his 2x4 tent, which made me question size. I don’t want to do SoG (this time), I just want to grow 6 hefty plants that tip the scales at 10oz or more.

[Spidermite]

I have grown MSNL and Nirvana auto white widows and they would have been a great size to run 6 but I've never grown Dinafems.

[Canuck147]

Your gonna need a bigger tent.
Grow one of each.

[s62]

Thanks for the feedback, guys. I’m leaning back to running 4.

[FlyingDutchPaddy]

Hi s62,

i've got 4 auto white widow xxl's in a 4x4 tent. day 60 from planting.
RDWC setup though.

[s62]

Thank you for sharing! What are your thoughts on them so far?

[FlyingDutchPaddy]

My thoughts...

1 - bigger buckets for bigger roots,
2 - i've had a fairly long period where water temp was above 23C, so they were affected a little by root rot,
3 - since adding an extra airstone per bucket, roots have grown back by *a lot*
4 - when I checked the far right one (tallest), when putting it back somewhere accidentally it took a little bit of flowering bud (smoking that was nice though, got a nice high off it)
5 - i need a more powerfull light covering a bigger area; current LED is rated for 80x80cm footprint, but as it is i can't complain too much. The space they occupy now would be around 80x80, with the extra room used up by the main res & fan.

i think, if i used soil, i could have gotten another 2, maybe even 5 plants in, but would have been wishing for a better light even more.

overall, they are doing well considering the limitations of light and issues i had with the roots.

[Obi-Wan]

I grew a few Fastbuds autos last year and I see a lot of growers that keep them short and squat but they can be grown bigger. The picture below is 2 Tangie-Matic and 2 Blackberry by FastBuds from last year. 3x3 Tent, 400w HPS.

[s62]

Oh wow! I wonder if the yield goes up proportionately with the size of the plant? Do you remember your yields? Those look big! I think I may end up with just 4. Thank you!

[Obi-Wan]

At the time I was doing a perpetual auto grow and I pulled a little over 12 oz. from those 4 plants so about 3 oz. per plant. The yields would have been better if I had a light with more penetration, the 400w hps I run just couldn’t reach down far enough.

[s62]

I would be absolutely jazzed if I pulled 12 ounces. I’m hoping for 10 or more.