A few months ago I moved from photo-fem grows to Autoflower varieties. 4th crop in process. Starting a crop on each new moon. 10 seeds cracked with ~90% germination rate. Lower per-plant yields but love the ease of grow. Getting only +/- 2 oz per crop but that’s more than I use. The fast growth rate really limits the amount of feeding and care required. Looking for information and advice to increase yield.
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Hi @Vicrider! Nice to meet you!
Following for knowledge. I, too, am used to photos and am learning autos. Have definitely NOT attempted a fast one.
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Well, I’m quite a rookie myself for indoor AND autos but I’ll share what I’ve learned so far.
My first four I let one just grow natural.
I tied one back and did a little LST.
I topped one and maximized LST.
The fourth I multi-topped.
All just so I could understand autos better.
A single topping and maximum LST proved to win that round with about 3.6 ounces dried.
The multi topped plant stunted and only produced about 2 ounces.
On my second crop I single topped 3 of 4 plants and kept up the LST.
The fourth I’ve topped twice and maximum LST.
So far the 4th plant appears to be flourishing the best.
Pretty standard 18/6 lighting throughout, happy frog soil, seaweed extract with waterings, a little tiger bloom and Cal/mag during flower, and a steady dose of Led Zepplin.
Anyways… for this true rookie with indoor and autos… that’s my input.
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Well, I’m saving it in my bookmarks. That’s phenomenal. I appreciate your knowledge, my friend! I’m trying to figure out which way I’m going to go with my reveg. Moving to a 3 gal on rooting day.
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Thanks hippiepa. I grow outdoors till bud stage. We have issues with Powdery Mildew and fungus here leading to bud rot if not carefully monitored. At bud I move the plants under a canopy to reduce exposure to rain.
I have tried femming and LST on my autos. Femming did little to increase yield. LST did expose lower branches to more light but again no significant increase in yield. I don’t light my plants. Here in Hawaii power is very expensive and again, IMO no significant improvement in yield. I start the seedlings in ProMix with only 1/2 strength Thrive SuperGrow for feed. I start in 3 gallon pots and don’t transplant. @ 2 weeks I use a veg feed and @ 4 weeks I use 1/2 strength Hawaiian Bloom. @ 5 weeks another Bloom feed then only water to flush. Harvest when trichomes are 1/2 cloudy and 1/2 brown.
I would add pics but haven’t figured out how to attach them.
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Great experimentation @HippiePa 
I tend to believe it’s the steady doses of Led Zeppelin that gives you such good results 
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So I’ve had great results with autos. Just finished a big grow. My lowest yielding plant this grow was 3.5oz my biggest was 10oz. 3 different strains, 8 plants total.
LST is a major factor, you need to open up the plant some. Not just to increase growth but to protect aginst mold, bud rot, etc. Autos gow fast and will crowns themselves.
Defoliation of the lower 1/2 of the plant just before flower, typically week 2. At this point I also remove all the lower secondary branches off the mains. I prefer to leave only the top 3 or 4 budding sites. Week 3 is the time to do this, remove the branch one day, wait a few days then remove the fan leaf that feed that branch. This gives the plant time to recover, leaving that fan leaf helps the plant to keep making the extra energy needed. Make sure you trim on feeding days.
Every day, preferred twice a day, tuck your leaves. This is where you tuck all your fan leaves down into the plant, make sure all the bud sites are exposed to the light. For best results do this 3 to 4 times a day.
Feed hard, really push the plant, watch them closely however. Burnt tips is fine, burnt leaf is less solar power for the plant. If you dont know then learn about A.C.T. (aireated compost tea) use it on trim days
Absolutely BLAST them with lighting, 18/6 is the minimum. I run mine either 19/5 or 20/4. I also have a screaming high PPFD.
Learn about VPD. This is a big deal when trying to really push your plant. It greatly affects how well the plant moves water through it. Therefore affects how much food the plant can uptake.
After that its genetics. Using HGCC your good on that part.
Go see my lemon haze grow in the how to section. 6 plants just under 28oz total.
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This is a great piece of information!! I was always under the impression that you had to leave autos alone - almost a “don’t touch or they won’t grow” mentality. You’ve just put all that to rest!! You’re getting higher yields from autos than I get from photos!
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Aloha Rye. Thank you for your information. Lots to unpack. As a new autoflower grower I am not familiar with some of your methods.
I get the LST.
I don’t understand the early (week 2/3?) trimming. Only leave the top 3 budding sites? Whoa. So you only have to LST the two remaining branches?
Remove the branch. Do you mean the bud site above a lower fan leaf? As part of the early trimming?
Trim on feed days. What is the feed? What is the feed schedule?
Tuck your leaves twice a day. No clue here. How do you do this? Bend the leaves down? For only the two remaining bud branches? Or those that shade the lower branches?
Will learn about ACT.
Blast with light. Where I grow outdoors additional lighting is not an option. In fact this is why I moved off fem reg strains to autos. Do you mean indoor grow lights or just extending the number of hours of light?
What is PPFD?
What is VPD?
Looking for your lemon haze grow.
Again, thank you for this info and sorry to lean on you.
Newbie
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Week 2-3 is generally the last week of veg, that’s what I trim heavy then, the preflower and flower will stretch alot.
Leaving the top 3 bud sites.-----on each branch coming off the main trunk, remove all the lower budding sites but the top 3. 2 or 3 days later remove the fan leaves that feed those secondary branches.
As for feeding. That is up to each grower to determine what to feed and that will affect when. If growing in soil and not feeding regularly them trim on watering days, it allows the plant to uptake what it needs to recover.
Leaf tucking, just what is sounds like. Tuck your large fan leaves down into the plant. Make sure the bud sites recieve the light.
Blasting is giving as much light as long as you can without heat increase.
PPFD- PAR Per Foot Distance, a measurement of light at distance, subject to the square inverse law.
VPD- Vapor Pressure Differential. Google it, way too much to type here. Very important when you push plants hard. It directly affect how well they transpire.
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Well said very well educated my friend!!!
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Thank you sir. Well said.
@Vicrider I have a YouTube video that shows what @Rye is talking about the the pruning before flower.
It should help you understand better and I’ve started getting monster yields with autos. Just harvested over 1lb dry from my 3x3 using a 200 watt light. All autos.
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1lb in a 3x3 with autos?!
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@HippiePa Yeah. I’ll show the dry weight after I finish up the trim. I got great yields in a 3x3 but I also planted cultivars that all had an indoor yield of around 500 grams per square meter so I pretty much got the max yield I could get in a 3x3 with those cultivars using sog.
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That’s simply amazing. That’s why I come to this forum… learn from the best. Nice work.
Sadly, I didn’t quite total 200 grams from my 4 WW autos.
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Just finished up trimming and drying 6lbs out of my 4×4. My lowest plant yielded 8oz. Had 1 lemon haze that was 12oz off it. Buds bigger than a aluminum can. I’ll post some pics when I get it all in jars. Just went and bought some new 1/2 gallon jars just for this.
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This is off 2 plants. Skywalker×watermelon autoflower. Just at 90 days from seed. 4 ft tall when harvested.
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@Rye what light did you use? I ended up getting 2.25 grams per watt with my qb2000 with this auto run. That’s a damn good efficiency and roi.
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Just amazing Rye!
I’m truly on the bottom rung of that ladder… but climbing
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