# Auto flower strain lighting



## Jimmy Luffnan (Apr 13, 2009)

Apologies in advance if this has been covered, but Ive searched and cant find a definitive answer..

With an auto flower strain like Lowryder, if grown under lights, which lighting spectrum is needed?

They have very little vegetative growth which leads me to believe that a 6500k light (blue spectrum) is not really necessary as they come into flower so quickly/early...

Using a 2700K light (red spectrum) would make more sense as flowering is the majority of the plants life.... so it would improve the yield.

The thing that trips me up..... is that auto flower strains are recommended to receive lighting on/off 20/4.... or even 24/0 through their entire cycle...which to me is used as a veg technique... not a flowering technique?

So... lol... what I want to know is... red spectrum or blue through the entire cycle of an auto flower..... or both?

Cheers!


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## danrasta (Apr 13, 2009)

id say a mix of two would be the best! i was asking myself about growing under blue spec and everyone said mix it up


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## LAX Skunky BwS (Apr 13, 2009)

Jimmy Luffnan said:


> Apologies in advance if this has been covered, but Ive searched and cant find a definitive answer..
> 
> With an auto flower strain like Lowryder, if grown under lights, which lighting spectrum is needed?
> 
> ...


 

right now im growing a lowryder dwarf mix...for the first 2-3 weeks it was under a 400 MH (blue spec).. once it started showing sex i went and switched it to the 400 watt HPS...i been doing 18/6 the whole cycle... autos respond to age not change of light cycle so it dont matter


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## Jimmy Luffnan (Apr 13, 2009)

Cheers for the reply guys =D
But Im sure you understand what I mean by the lighting schedule suggesting use of a vegetative spectrum...?

All information I have read states that auto flowers respond to light.... lots of light.... to thrive, not darkness as needed to flower....

I guess I just wanted to know if auto flower strains have an exception to the rule... or they have a mix and match just like every other plant =D

Cheers again


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## SunKissedBuds (Apr 13, 2009)

use 3 - 23watt(100watt equivalent) 2700K with only 1 or 2 - 23watt(100watt equivalent) 6500K and keep the girls light schedule at 18 on/6 off.... everything will go as planned! good luck


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## LAX Skunky BwS (Apr 13, 2009)

if u gonna grow a lowryder of any sorth with CFL's yea mix them up with blue and red spec...if u got a HID light system u can start with MH and then switching to HPS...they grow best Under 18/6-20/4 or 24/0 the choice is yours...


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## LAX Skunky BwS (Apr 13, 2009)

u can go with all blu spec the whole grow or red spec..it dont matter aslong as they are getting over 18 hours of light..like i said the choice is yours


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## Jimmy Luffnan (Apr 13, 2009)

Cool
Thanks for the info.
If its a case of choose your poison... I think that I might lean toward the idea of using blue spectrum CFL's
Efficient power usage especially for 20/4 lighting

As much as some people would crucify auto flower for its lack of yield... using CFL's for the entire cycle would be very efficient in method

Cheers again.


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## LAX Skunky BwS (Apr 13, 2009)

autos is a good plant to start off with.. very easy to grow


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## Jimmy Luffnan (Apr 18, 2009)

Okay... here is my thoughts for a .. I guess you would call it a 'Micro grow'

Auto flower strain... SOG style...

4x T5 48" 6500K HO [email protected] each
4x T5 48" 3000K HO [email protected] each

Bulbs are around 5000 Lumens each...

All in the same shroud.. think sunbed style.

Or I can have 8x of the same bulb... but Im led to believe now that a mix and match of both spectrums at 24/0 lighting would be ideal...

Combined power of 432 Watts... without ballast issues...

So... 432W power usage (no ballast), 40 000 lumens (mixed spectrum) nice and close to a SOG of autoflowers at 24/0 lighting?

What do you think?
Cheers!


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## danrasta (Apr 18, 2009)

id say if your willing to use that much wattage you could probaly get better results with a 250 hps!


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## KillHit (Apr 18, 2009)

a sog with autos? do you plan on constantly buying expensive auto seeds? bc autos cant be cloned.


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## Jimmy Luffnan (Apr 18, 2009)

danrasta said:


> id say if your willing to use that much wattage you could probaly get better results with a 250 hps!


The thought has been running through my head I assure you!

Im not an authoritative figure in lighting, and learning more and more about lumen's and spectrum's is a daily thing.... but I always try to seek the most efficient and cost effective way for each setup....

Auto flowers dont yield alot... and there is only so much you can do to create a better yield.... imo

Ive had ballast's blow up before and start fires, which is why Im probably a little bias against using them 

I know if I use HID and ballast for this grow.... I will buy the best... and then my budget will blow out..

Just remember... this is for little short autoflowers...

Cheers!

Here is a little sketch I did anyway... just to give you an idea...


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## danrasta (Apr 18, 2009)

im grow to lowryder #2 now and i had them under cfls at the start and they really didnt react that well to it i only had 100 or so watts of cfl but i had grown a plant that yielded just under an ounce with these ligths so i taught the lowryders would do well under it but they really didnt! i now have a 400 watt hps and theyve grown a good bit under it but still dont look like they yield much my point is auto flower really need alot of light to produce enough to get back what you spent on seeds


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## KillHit (Apr 18, 2009)

just thought i should show you my diesel ryder auto flowering under many watts of cool white. 

day 24..

8- 100w equivs
1- 200w enviro... waiting on one that arrived broken

so far so good.

I have them in a rubbermaid clamshell with some white skunk, and power kush babies.


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## Montykoolaid (Apr 18, 2009)

I'm currently growing Buddha White Dwarf (white widow auto flowering strain) under a mostly red CFL.


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## Jimmy Luffnan (Apr 18, 2009)

This is the lighting system I was looking at fyi..

http://www.littlegreenhouse.com/accessory/lights2.shtml

Down the bottom.. the 'Sun Blaze' system...

As I said in my earlier post... it covers a lot of area over 10 auto flowers...and you can have it very close...


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## kineticz06 (Aug 15, 2011)

Shop lights from walmart for $10, 6500k cool white bulbs (another $10) works out great for me. I grow all of my autoflowers under these. You can fit 5 under each light and they are cheap to run. My plants always seem to thrive! ive thought about adding some red in the mix but it seems like the yield is the same from what i have been reading. The autoflowers just want light, any and all, and they do what they set out to do. Thats why I love them =) Hopefully someday they get these things yielding more.


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