About to start growing a variety of autos

[smoorman]

About to start growing a variety of autos and am looking for general tips and ideas. Never tried an autoflower but I'm about to fill a 4x8 tent with at least 3 strains. I'd like to have at least 3 of each. Just looking for do's and don'ts etc. associated with autos. Any lessons learned would be appreciated.

[bboyfromwayback]

I just finished my first auto grow and one thing I’m doing differently than the first round is I started them in cups like I’d do if they were regular seeds. The first round I started them in their final pot since most say not to transplant autos and they were extremely slow going to start. My new sprouts are 4 days old, healthy and growing like they should. I expect to be moving them out of their cups into 2 gallon pots within a week.

Also you have to LST them. I grew two of each strain, let one grow natural and LST’d the other. The ones I LST’d will end up producing close to twice as much as the ones I let grow natural. The Indica strains were quick, last Wednesday was week 8 and they’ll all be done within the next week so I wouldn’t top them but the Sativa strains all still have another 3-4 wks and should have all been topped once.

[duckman]

go light on the nutes, they'll probably get pistils around 3 weeks, be really careful with the pH as you don't have a lot of recovery time...have fun!

[JohnEmad]

Second what duckman says. Less is more for most autos. If they are healthy off the go then topping is fine. Both LST and Topping have provided great results for me.
ph swings have caused my overall results to be less then possible. GL on the grow. Sure you will smash it.

[Canuck147]

These guys are right - although my current grow I went full on nutes starting with my second watering - Green Planet nutes - and my 3 autoflowers love it - growing best I've ever had - have 2 more just came out of the soil - first full watering was with a smattering of nutes and the little girls love it.

[Troyzstang]

Try to stay consistent and avoid stressing if possible. Clock is ticking and growth is essential. Best of luck.

[Canuck147]

Run your lights 20/4 or longer if you can.
After 45 days plant more.......

[SoOrbudgal]

Man they are pretty care free really. Go lightly like they have said tell you become familiar with how they react to your treatment and nutes. Just know that they are different and you need to see the difference with the growth. Mini photos that like consistency like folks have said. I LST and defoliate as needed.

[FunkyButtLovin]

It's the spice of life baby! Between the wife and myself, we're growing over a dozen different autoflower varieties right now.

I would suggest 2-3 gallon pots if you're using soil. If you're worried about yield, make a plan early and as long as they're healthy start topping and/or training around day 15-16 unless you know the type you're growing doesn't start flowering until week 4-5 but I haven't found any that do this consistently, most start at 18-22 days. I've had two start flowering at 16 days above ground and had one take ~30 days but majority of them start in the 18-22 day window for me.

[smoorman]

All sounds like good advice. All good resource info for when the inevitable small problems pop up. I plan on using coco FWIW. Any special consideration there?