Question for AUTO growers?

Hey guys,

I'm getting really interested in auto-flowering strains, particularly the AK47 X lowryder cross that the Attitude has. It seems like a really good option for an apartment grow for personal use.

My question is, how much of a concern are lights leaks with this strain? I know you can leave the cycle at 18/6 the whole life of the plant, but does it have to be pitch black during the dark phase as it does with standard plants? That's the biggest hassle for me with normal indicas and sativas, because it's hard for me to control the temperatures without allowing for light leaks. I'm wondering if I could just set up my 400 watt light in my wardrobe and cut some huge intake holes in the back of the wardrobe, set up an exhaust fan and not worry about all the complicated light proofing and ducting with spray paint. Ideally, I could just leave the door of the bureau open to make sure it's cool enough.

But if I'm not home to immediately shut it when the lights go off, would that cause the plant to hermie or reduce yields? Since the light only has to be off for six hours anyway, I could just set it up so that it's dark when it's dark in the external room and it wouldn't be a big concern, right? Any thoughts from the people who've grown these strains would really help me out. Thanks a lot for reading!

It doesn't have to be total darkness but 24/7 is what I've used.

well if they can flower with 24/7 then I'm sure there'd be no problem with having an intense light period for 20 hours and then a very low light time for 4 hrs, right?

vtguitar88 said:

well if they can flower with 24/7 then I'm sure there'd be no problem with having an intense light period for 20 hours and then a very low light time for 4 hrs, right?

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Keep auto's on either a 20/4 or 18/6 cycle.
No light should come into ur garden during dark period.

Autos are not photoperiod. There is no significance to light coming at any time except that there is no reason to deny light. There is no horticultural evidence I've ever seen that says a dark period has any value for an autoflower. For the same reason I veg 24/7.

Illegal Smile said:

Autos are not photoperiod. There is no significance to light coming at any time except that there is no reason to deny light. There is no horticultural evidence I've ever seen that says a dark period has any value for an autoflower. For the same reason I veg 24/7.

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hmmm so i'm hearing conflicting things. What you're saying smile makes sense. If you can veg for 24/0 and have good results, couldn't you just do 18/6 to save electricity/heat and not worry about the utter darkness during the 6 off?

Illegal Smile said:

Autos are not photoperiod. There is no significance to light coming at any time except that there is no reason to deny light. There is no horticultural evidence I've ever seen that says a dark period has any value for an autoflower. For the same reason I veg 24/7.

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That is right there is no photo-period,
but you say you veg 24/7, autos do not have a veg time as soon as they sprout they are wanting to flower, the autos i grew starting flowering about 7 days after popping up.

They aren't geared to light cycles for their growth stages. they have only one direction, they don't reveg, so light leaks are irrelevant.

Autos should have no problems with light leaks at all. I have never had problems with regular seeds going herm either with light leaks. But I dont let it happen to often.

So the only question is whether there is an advantage to the plant of denying light for X hours a day. I have never seen any evidence there is. There are many superstitions about growing.

Plants don't need to rest if that's what you mean.

Autos come from the extreme northern latitudes where 24 hours of sunlight occurs during it's growing season, so it is genetically coupled to constant light.

i ve got 20 aks goin now at 18/6 as well as some blueryder, diesel ryder, auto kush fems. oh yeah easyryders too. in two tents each tent has 1200 watts woth of hps light and no light leaks. i jus think that during dark period it should stay dark

Just start a reg 47 seed in 12/12 Same yield, less energy cost.

this might be kinda dumb but the moon puts off light. so wouldnt a little light leak not really matter? just curious cause its not like outside plants have 12 hours of complete darkness every night.

As for just flowering a reg seed from seed, you may be right about higher yields, but you have to worry about light proofing and complicated ventilation. With autos, you can just stick a light in a closet, leave the closet door open most of the time, and grow a few plants without worrying about any complicated light leaking, vents, or anything. For someone growing for personal use, this seems pretty ideal...

Regular seeds should not go hermie cause of light leaks. Its poor genetics that make hermies(mostly fems go hermie). If your growing regular seeds, you shouldnt worry to much about every speck of light coming in on your plants, unless your perfecting your grow.

Like how much of a light leak are we talking here?

Well like right now I have a regular grow goin, it's with a 400 watt hps in a small 3rd floor closet. In order to keep it cool enough in there, even with a 4 inch inline exhaust fan and two 4 inch intake holes cut in the bottom of the closet door, I have to leave the closet door open to keep the heat from building up. Maybe it's just cause I bought the shittiest 20 dollar fan available. So now when I go into flower, I'll have to be up at the moment the light goes on to open the door, and be there just before it goes off to close it, otherwise it won't really be dark in the closet at all, or it'll be 90 degrees when the light's on.

With an autoflower, I could just leave the closet door open whenever necessary and close it whenever if it didn't get to hot, and not worry about ventilation holes, ducting, complicated shit like that. I share my house with other people and didn't feel right about cutting big holes in the back of the closet. Sure that would keep it cooler in there because 0 degree winter air would be flowing in, but what about when the grow gets done? Horrible insulation issue, higher heating bill, etc. So with autos, again, all you have to get is a good light and as long as you're not trying to be really stealth, you can just have free air flow to it, along with free light flow.

JanesGreenFinger said:

this might be kinda dumb but the moon puts off light. so wouldnt a little light leak not really matter? just curious cause its not like outside plants have 12 hours of complete darkness every night.

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It's not dumb at all. One needs to understand that indoor growing is not putting actual sunlight on a plant, it's artificial and quite different. Indoor plants tend to become very light dependent as opposed to the very same plants growing outdoors, where more leeway is tolerated (like ur moon scenario). The two ways of growing could not be farther apart from each other.

But Autos don't care and will tolerate light at anytime. It doesn't bother with HOW much light in hours, it only wants LUMENS.