New to autoflower

gomicao · Jul 6, 2022

Hello all. I have grown regular fem seeds before, and I am about ready to germinate some auto flower seeds I have. I guess my question is do they need anything particularly special compared to regular seeds? I use a water only, clackamas coots soil mix, but was thinking this could be a bit too hot for an autoflower seed to go directly into the 10 gallon pots I plan to grow them out of.

I do recall that you want to plant your autoflowers into their forever home though. Would doing something like making a small cup sized hole in my soil and tossing a handful of regular ole peat moss where the seed will initially be growing help at all, or should the organic biology of the soil be fine for the seedlings to establish? Thanks!

MickFoster · Jul 6, 2022

gomicao said:
I do recall that you want to plant your autoflowers into their forever home though.

Myth.

gomicao · Jul 6, 2022

MickFoster said:
Myth.

So you can toss em in some red plastic cups like any other plant and let them establish roots first, then over to the final pot?

MickFoster · Jul 6, 2022

gomicao said:
So you can toss em in some red plastic cups like any other plant and let them establish roots first, then over to the final pot?

Yup.

gomicao · Jul 11, 2022

I ended up deciding I can plant them in some basic peat moss/perlite/wormcastings mix, about a solo cups worth, in the center of the 10 gallons and just keep them in my tent for the first week while they build their roots. The next two days will be 90+ degrees out and then lower to high 70's low 80's again. Figure no sense in risking those two hot AF days cooking the seedlings, when I can keep them in an ideal temp with good spectrum light for starts. A week or two from now they should be established enough to handle some of the summer weather fluctuations I think... and that is if they are all female to even begin with.

twentyeight.threefive · Jul 11, 2022

gomicao said:
I ended up deciding I can plant them in some basic peat moss/perlite/wormcastings mix, about a solo cups worth, in the center of the 10 gallons and just keep them in my tent for the first week while they build their roots. The next two days will be 90+ degrees out and then lower to high 70's low 80's again. Figure no sense in risking those two hot AF days cooking the seedlings, when I can keep them in an ideal temp with good spectrum light for starts. A week or two from now they should be established enough to handle some of the summer weather fluctuations I think... and that is if they are all female to even begin with.

I heard autoflowers need to be planted in their final home.

Myth. Oh ok.

Continues to plant in final 10 gallon pot as the original post stated.

SMH. Why bother asking for advice?

gomicao · Jul 11, 2022

twentyeight.threefive said:
I heard autoflowers need to be planted in their final home.

Myth. Oh ok.

Continues to plant in final 10 gallon pot as the original post stated.

SMH. Why bother asking for advice?

I was curious if the soil would be too hot, no one answered that question and my seeds were germinated so I chose the best option for my situation LOL. The other person who responded helped me learn that people do in fact transplant autoflowers which opens up options based on several methods I ended up finding (from normal transplants, to "cup in a cup" methods).. You on the other hand took the time to post literally nothing helpful, and berated me in a one fell swoop. SMH Why bother posting if you didn't have any of the information I needed? derp derp derp

Ya know... like "for future reference, coots mix and other living soils once fully cooked are fine for seedlings, so you don't need to worry about making a basic mix for your young ones" or "I find like photo period plants, even auto flowers seem to have more vigorous growth for me if started in a cup and transplanted" but nope.... just pissy and rude. You're so helpful! pfft

ProPheT 216 · Jul 11, 2022

gomicao said:
I was curious if the soil would be too hot, no one answered that question and my seeds were germinated so I chose the best option for my situation LOL. The other person who responded helped me learn that people do in fact transplant autoflowers which opens up options based on several methods I ended up finding (from normal transplants, to "cup in a cup" methods).. You on the other hand took the time to post literally nothing helpful, and berated me in a one fell swoop. SMH Why bother posting if you didn't have any of the information I needed? derp derp derp

Ya know... like "for future reference, coots mix and other living soils once fully cooked are fine for seedlings, so you don't need to worry about making a basic mix for your young ones" or "I find like photo period plants, even auto flowers seem to have more vigorous growth for me if started in a cup and transplanted" but nope.... just pissy and rude. You're so helpful! pfft

The biggest issue your gonna have now is watering. Gonna be hard to guage how much water and when to water a seedling in a 10 gal pot.

Better water something like a coffee cup every 2 days and slowly let the dirt get wet as roots grow

gomicao · Jul 11, 2022

ProPheT 216 said:
The biggest issue your gonna have now is watering. Gonna be hard to guage how much water and when to water a seedling in a 10 gal pot.

Better water something like a coffee cup every 2 days and slowly let the dirt get wet as roots grow

Glad you brought that up, as that is now my main concern

Due to it being a year since my last grow in these 10 gallons my memory of watering amounts for those specific pots is a bit hazy. Ideally I would get a couple gravity fed bluemats and just dial in a field capacity level of moisture, but that's for another time.

I hope to water as you mention, plus the surrounding soil/area to keep the soils biology alive, but not too wet while the baby is in its first week. My seedlings for my photoperiod plants transplanted from solo cup once they were big enough directly to the 10 gallons without any larger containers in between last time I used them. I watered them similarly to your suggestion and it went really well!

I am just happy to see how quickly (7 to 12 days) they take over a solo cup's worth of space as that will make taking care of the seedlings less of a hassle. It is a good thing I work from home so I can keep a close eye on things!

twentyeight.threefive · Jul 12, 2022

gomicao said:
I was curious if the soil would be too hot, no one answered that question and my seeds were germinated so I chose the best option for my situation LOL. The other person who responded helped me learn that people do in fact transplant autoflowers which opens up options based on several methods I ended up finding (from normal transplants, to "cup in a cup" methods).. You on the other hand took the time to post literally nothing helpful, and berated me in a one fell swoop. SMH Why bother posting if you didn't have any of the information I needed? derp derp derp

Ya know... like "for future reference, coots mix and other living soils once fully cooked are fine for seedlings, so you don't need to worry about making a basic mix for your young ones" or "I find like photo period plants, even auto flowers seem to have more vigorous growth for me if started in a cup and transplanted" but nope.... just pissy and rude. You're so helpful! pfft

To answer you original question. No autoflowers don’t need anything special. They are no different than photoperiod plants in needs. Keep them healthy like any other plant.

gomicao · Jul 12, 2022

Right on! It should be interesting to be sure. I have worked on a lot of outdoor plants over the years, but other peoples farms or gardens. This will be my first time having some plants out doors purely under my own control/or lack there of hah. It will certainly come with some learning curves I imagine vs indoor. At the moment my next task is to use some copper tape around my pots to try to stop the rather large snail population in town. I saw some pics that seemed to show it as surprisingly effective.

Nutty sKunK · Jul 12, 2022

gomicao said:
So you can toss em in some red plastic cups like any other plant and let them establish roots first, then over to the final pot?

Just remember with autoflowers you are against the clock.

You want to transplant around the 10-14 day mark. Any longer and u risk it stressing out and bolting (going into flower)

You may be able to keep it in the cup longer if using coco coir. The medium is ‘quicker’ than soil. I don’t use coco so don’t know 100%. But I’d imagine it wouldn’t be much longer then you’d need to transplant.

But I’ve seen you’ve gone with the final pot. It’s doable but more scope to go wrong. Especially if your mix is too hot.

good luck!

gomicao · Jul 12, 2022

Nutty sKunK said:
Just remember with autoflowers you are against the clock.

You want to transplant around the 10-14 day mark. Any longer and u risk it stressing out and bolting (going into flower)

You may be able to keep it in the cup longer if using coco coir. The medium is ‘quicker’ than soil. I don’t use coco so don’t know 100%. But I’d imagine it wouldn’t be much longer then you’d need to transplant.

But I’ve seen you’ve gone with the final pot. It’s doable but more scope to go wrong. Especially if your mix is too hot.

good luck!

Thanks I appreciate it for sure, and I shall take any luck I can get. I am hoping that since I used a cup to make an indent in the center of the pot, and then just put a base mix of 1/3 aeration, 1/3 sphag moss, and 1/3 worm castings that it should avoid it having issues with the rest being too hot. It is less so than subcool's super soil from what I remember reading anyway (could be wrong). With the first weeks growth or so mostly limited to the cup shaped base mix area is my hope at any rate.

If I had more beans to plant or experiment with I would surely try a few different ways to see what actually works best for me, and cups would seem the best way to have many seedlings going, but this time I only have 3 planned plants and its getting a little late to get them out and finished before fall rains come, kind of an "oh shit I better get this going" situation. I was able to clear some space inside for a tent to use it for them to start thankfully, which I wasn't sure I was going to be able to do at first.

I would keep them indoors if I could, but new living situations have caused me to be weary of potential issues with how much electricity I have available in the room where the tent is, as other people are now utilizing the same breaker for other things unfortunately. It would be lame to have the breaker constantly popping off and messing with everything especially if I was out of the house.

Mr. Bakerton · Jul 12, 2022

I have always transplanted my autos. I think you want to get to them before the roots hit the pot- at least thats my goal. Also before any sign of flowering. Once i was 2 weeks late transplanting from what I thought was the right time (due to life) and they flowered early. Just be gentle and transplanting without the roots as a massive ball is better (for all transplanting, imo).

I love autos as I can prep the base with some good soil and add a bit of dry feed into the transplant pot and never have to worry about the soil taking them all the way. Meaning I don't need to add stuff along the way. At least in the auto's I have grown.

Watch them carefully and if they start showing signs of flowering, i wouldn't mess with them. Like trimming, topping, etc. Not like photos where you can just hold a week or two to get that good shape.

Have fun and remember the next time will be better.

I have enjoyed tossing an auto in with my photo grows from the start as right about the time when the photos are closing the tent down I can take the auto out, make some room and get a harvest.

gomicao · Jul 12, 2022

Mr. Bakerton said:
I have always transplanted my autos. I think you want to get to them before the roots hit the pot- at least thats my goal. Also before any sign of flowering. Once i was 2 weeks late transplanting from what I thought was the right time (due to life) and they flowered early. Just be gentle and transplanting without the roots as a massive ball is better (for all transplanting, imo).

I love autos as I can prep the base with some good soil and add a bit of dry feed into the transplant pot and never have to worry about the soil taking them all the way. Meaning I don't need to add stuff along the way. At least in the auto's I have grown.

Watch them carefully and if they start showing signs of flowering, i wouldn't mess with them. Like trimming, topping, etc. Not like photos where you can just hold a week or two to get that good shape.

Have fun and remember the next time will be better.

I have enjoyed tossing an auto in with my photo grows from the start as right about the time when the photos are closing the tent down I can take the auto out, make some room and get a harvest.

That sounds like a lot of fun having them in the same space. I have some photo Blueberry Muffin seeds I really want to plant, and I may actually give them a try indoors this winter despite my electricity concerns, that or look at getting some more autos so if the power cuts off and issues rise up, less time will have been wasted. It will at least be easier to keep the heat down in winter at any rate, which may allow me to get away with things and if something happens... Well... gotta find out one way or another eventually.

I will keep on the lookout for early flowering and heed your advice not to mess with them after. I would certainly like to top them once, but that might not even really need to happen given their life span and the structure I have seen in my buddies autos which seem to have more prominent kolas compared to his photos. That might purely be a strain thing though. Either way I am excited to see how they come out, or learn some hard lessons should things go south for whatever reason.

Nutty sKunK · Jul 12, 2022

gomicao said:
Thanks I appreciate it for sure, and I shall take any luck I can get. I am hoping that since I used a cup to make an indent in the center of the pot, and then just put a base mix of 1/3 aeration, 1/3 sphag moss, and 1/3 worm castings that it should avoid it having issues with the rest being too hot. It is less so than subcool's super soil from what I remember reading anyway (could be wrong). With the first weeks growth or so mostly limited to the cup shaped base mix area is my hope at any rate.

If I had more beans to plant or experiment with I would surely try a few different ways to see what actually works best for me, and cups would seem the best way to have many seedlings going, but this time I only have 3 planned plants and its getting a little late to get them out and finished before fall rains come, kind of an "oh shit I better get this going" situation. I was able to clear some space inside for a tent to use it for them to start thankfully, which I wasn't sure I was going to be able to do at first.

I would keep them indoors if I could, but new living situations have caused me to be weary of potential issues with how much electricity I have available in the room where the tent is, as other people are now utilizing the same breaker for other things unfortunately. It would be lame to have the breaker constantly popping off and messing with everything especially if I was out of the house.

I got a tap root out the bottom of the cup in only 6 days after planting the seed. They move fast!

Should be all good! Outdoors seems to be able to withstand hotter soil mixes

gomicao · Jul 12, 2022

Nutty sKunK said:
I got a tap root out the bottom of the cup in only 6 days after planting the seed. They move fast!

Should be all good! Outdoors seems to be able to withstand hotter soil mixes

Yeah I was thinking if I transplant autos in the future 7 days was gonna be what I would shoot for, wow 6 days! Yeah I would be bummed if I had my plants flower in the solo's unless of course that's is what I was shooting for hah.

Nutty sKunK · Jul 12, 2022

gomicao said:
Yeah I was thinking if I transplant autos in the future 7 days was gonna be what I would shoot for, wow 6 days! Yeah I would be bummed if I had my plants flower in the solo's unless of course that's is what I was shooting for hah.

Just one root tho. I aim for 10 days, forms a nice rootzone before they shoot off

Mr. Bakerton · Jul 15, 2022

gomicao said:
That sounds like a lot of fun having them in the same space. I have some photo Blueberry Muffin seeds I really want to plant, and I may actually give them a try indoors this winter despite my electricity concerns, that or look at getting some more autos so if the power cuts off and issues rise up, less time will have been wasted. It will at least be easier to keep the heat down in winter at any rate, which may allow me to get away with things and if something happens... Well... gotta find out one way or another eventually.

I will keep on the lookout for early flowering and heed your advice not to mess with them after. I would certainly like to top them once, but that might not even really need to happen given their life span and the structure I have seen in my buddies autos which seem to have more prominent kolas compared to his photos. That might purely be a strain thing though. Either way I am excited to see how they come out, or learn some hard lessons should things go south for whatever reason.

Exactly. You should be having fun, learning along the way. YOu may get it 100% right the first time and all wrong the 5th time. I have done both - topped and not topped. YOu will get different results if you switch strains. Keep that in mind.

Honyuk96 · Jul 16, 2022

From my experience w autos, every little thing is compounded. If i ever grew them again, i would never top or LST them at all. Let em grow like a christmas tree. I would never go bigger than a 3 gallon pot either, it’s all that’s needed. I grew in coco and watering seedlings up to solo cup size, i watered w a syringle. Gentle and works well. Good luck

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