Debating an auto grow, need advice.

[Saeteinn]

As a bit of background, I'm running a 4 bucket DWC setup and have really only worked with photoperiod seeds. The appeal of the short harvest time for autos seems like it's worth a try for some strains that work well for my pain, but are hard to find in shops these days (White Widow, Northern Lights, etc).

Would it be worth it to run only 4 autos? Would you reommend topping or any LST? I've read that high stress training and manifolds don't work well for autos since they grow so fast and the plant essentially wouldn't recover, so anything I can do to help the plant or the yield would be helpful.

ANY tips and advice are appreciated, as again this would really be my first time with autos, in any kind of actual setup (my old soil grow was such a joke!)

EDIT -- Any strain advice is also appreciated. I know some strains do better as autos than others, and a less fickle strain would be ideal for a first runthrough.

[Allenpro]

I am not much of an auto grower but the ones I have grown with any success were in a RDWC setup and I didnt notice any difference in grow time really. In hydro, RDWC or Coco Coir I veg 4-5 weeks tops and flowering time seems to be the same from what I have grown unless its a landrace Sativa photoperiod. But go for it, you never know until you try it

[Bluey]

I have a decent size grow room so decided I'd grow out 4 autos this grow whilst I germinated and vegged out my photoperiods along side in the same room. First time growing autos.

It worked and I also learnt the hard way how to use my new calmag additive.

It was worth it for me because I got 22oz of great smoke and fine tuned a whole new dry and cure process in the basement.

[golfnrl]

I started growing autos for the some of the same reasons you mentioned. I'm growing two at the moment in my 2x4 tent. My experience is they respond well to both topping and LST. I top mine at the 5th node on every grow. No problems.

[Saeteinn]

Thanks for the tip!
I was thinking of using that combo, since the LST and manifold has been working good for my photos.
When topping I also usually wait til the 5th node as well. Is there any particular LST you use, or do you just guide the plant after topping?

[golfnrl]

I'm not the best with the LST, so no particular method, but I do try and help the plant keep out of its own way.

[Saeteinn]

Fair enough, the advice is still appreciated

[Going2fast]

My suggestion is to not do anything the first time. Let them grow all natural. They will respond negatively to any disturbance during the veg cycle which is usually under 40 days. Topping can be done but only on extremely healthy plants and the return is negligible. Not worth the risk. Last is a great method once you get the hang of them.
Check out north Atlantic seed company. They have many top tier breeders and fast shipping.

[Allenpro]

I will 2nd that, NASC is awesome

[Ckbrew]

Re training autos, see https://forum.growweedeasy.com/forum...4-eclipse-grow post #15 on how the autos were trained, same as the photos. scroll to the end to see how they r doing now. Topped above node 4 then the branches spread out and tied to the ring. A different way of doing it. So far things are doing well.

[Saeteinn]

This is some good advice! After looking at the post and the fluxing tutorial, I may have to give this a try next session.
The seeds I have worked very well with the manifold technique, so it'll be interesting to see how it works with fluxing.
Also, those plants are looking good!

[No3odiesShad0w]

Tbh, I was tempted by the "shorter grow and harvest time" After a year and a half of growing autos, I realized it's only shorter by like 15-20 days on average with photoperiod of the same variety at the expense of yield. Autos yield nowhere near a photo period in the same amount of time. Other downside, if you find something you like, you can't keep it.

That being said, they're fun and you should totally grow some. It's a cool novelty and you can give yourself extra pops of flavor to your stash because they don't get too big and you can squeeze them into and corner that's available in your tent. Stick to LST. Give her a 90° bend and she'll grow like a topped photo.

I have lots of light leaks during the summer with the window AC, so to be safe, I run autos during the summer. They're a great tool in any growers arsenal.

[Saeteinn]

That was the idea, really. Have some extra of some specific strains I like while I work with my two.
My main focus is with the PTK (I have seeds for days) and my personal project that I'm breeding down, but it would be fun to have some autos on the side.
If that's your experience with autos, though, that's good to know. I likely won't put as much effort into those and mainly grow them as supplementary/for funsies.

[No3odiesShad0w]

Some of the extreme bending that I do which gets them into the proper position that I need and then I have a nice even canopy instead of having that main cola stretch out too far and then everything underneath becomes larf. This way you have a nice even canopy there's no high stress training and you get equal size buds going all the way down

[Saeteinn]

Nice! I'll have to add that to my arsenal of LST, that looks good

[No3odiesShad0w]

It's effective if you want to avoid high stress training techniques. Though, I've seen ppl topping autos. I've done it by mistake and still had good results but smaller plant for sure.

[Going2fast]

Here's two of my scarlet grapes autos grown a member on another forum. These she let go all natural. They are day 62 here.

[Bluey]

She is doing very well!