1st Grow, Cash Crop Auto Flower, Brown Leaves?

Day 30, 12" high, looks healthy, feeding just water ph 6.2 temp 27d, I am just wondering what people opinions are with the big fan leaves some of the big ones are blocking lots of smaller leaves under, should I be cutting any fan leaves off or should I just be leaving things alone, this is my very first grow and I have not run into any problems I'm aware of yet, going into 5th week and this female auto flower is a 9-10 weeks seed to harvest, just curious when I should be noticing any flowering, I have had them under 6500k and 4100k lights through veg stage I have heard some peoples comments saying don't switch the lighting for autos because they grow so fast, I do have a 2700k light for flowering just seeing if I even need to add it or not.
Thank you for your help and advice!
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Your autoflower is acting very similar to mine, (which I am being told is normal) as they grow quick and do not respond the same as other non autos. I am also wondering if I need to thin out a couple of fans to let the undergrowth get better light anyone?? If you prune them though in the case of of auto NL auto they just get more bushy.
 
cagycritter said:
Your autoflower is acting very similar to mine, (which I am being told is normal) as they grow quick and do not respond the same as other non autos. I am also wondering if I need to thin out a couple of fans to let the undergrowth get better light anyone?? If you prune them though in the case of of auto NL auto they just get more bushy.
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Don't be so hesitant to handle auto flowers pretty much like normal plants. Here are some things that I have noticed in my 2 years of working with them. First let's talk about what they are.

They are simply a cross of either indicas, sativas or both with Cannabis ruderalis. Cannabis ruderalis is a species of cannabis that has
evolved in some of the less hospitable areas of the planet. Either due to the elevation or the distance from the equator they have survived in areas that would not support an Indica or sativa. Not to get too involved but it happens in plant populations on a continual basis. I guess the easiest way of explaining this would be to look at a population of a plant species in a marsh or swamp. You will notice that you may have a clump of water loving plants in an area. As you walk around this growth you will notice often individual plants that have taken root higher up on dry ground. Not it's normal location. As that plant makes and disperses seeds more plants will grow in this less favorable environ.
Over the centuries they become even more adapted to what was once a non hospitable area until they have become a distinct different species from their swamp loving cousins. The same thing happened to develop Ruderalis as a species.

OK so what has happened is that as cannabis grew in less ideal environments it evolved mechanisms to survive. In the case of Ruderalis it evolved in areas of extremely short summers due either to the elevation or the latitude. So therefore it had a very short time to flower and reproduce. It evolved to flower not on a photoperiodic basis but on a time schedule basis. This resulted in a plant that concentrated in surviving and not producing copious resin or high amounts of THC. Which is why it is now used as a cross with more powerful sativas and indicas.

There is nothing magical about this. You can find it in almost any vegetable crop with various days till maturity.

So back to Auto flowers. what I have found is this.

-they transplant extremely well with proper caution and will respond as well or better than normal plants. I have even transplanted plants well into flower with surprising results.

-They respond just like any other pot plant to the various training techniques. Tying down branches and selectively removing shading fan leaves to allow lower nodes to grow is the same as normal plants.

-Pruning techniques can very. In general if the plant is primarily an Indica you may harvest less if the plant is topped. If it is a sativa dominant strain I pinch it to increase bud sites. The only down side to pruning is in lengthening the time to finish.

-Be careful not to over feed autos. Especially nitrogen. This can result in more stretch and again lengthens the time till harvest.

There are some other things that I have noted but I will save that for another time. I hope this gives you a better understanding of what you can expect with an auto flower grow.

If you have any questions I will be happy to try to help out! Best of luck!

I guess the easiest
 
Thanks up the holler. I didn't realize its more the sativa, indica think that makes it respond as it does. More Indica experience here. when I topped the one that is a definite auto variety NL it just stunted, then bushed out. It has developed a couple of distinct tops now. But I think some of my issues are getting used to distance to light with an LED. And I have a terrible heat problem right now.
 
Tell me about it man. We went from late winter to early summer here. < Wondering if Silica in my hydro would help with heat stress. And thank a lot for recognizing my age and shooting that link.
 
cagycritter said:
Thanks up the holler. I didn't realize its more the sativa, indica think that makes it respond as it does. More Indica experience here. when I topped the one that is a definite auto variety NL it just stunted, then bushed out. It has developed a couple of distinct tops now. But I think some of my issues are getting used to distance to light with an LED. And I have a terrible heat problem right now.
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Hi cagycritter, my problem has completely went away, over past week I gave my auto 2 gallons of 6.2 ph water zero nutes every other day, the plant absolutely loved it, and I have my lights 8" away with temp at 75-85 with 20-4 light cycle, temperature was the main issue for me, if the temp is like 95-120 it's way to hot and will stunt it, I have a exhaust fan and have the room cooled with ac now. I'm in week 5 now, and it's 15" I expect it will get around 20"-24" not sure if your seeing some flowering, but all over this auto I have flowering starting it is also getting very skunky. I am using CFL also not led. I will post a pic
 
Glad to here Mb. Temps will kill ya for sure. I have never grown a whole cycle to completion with CFLs, but I have read threads from those who do and they manage some decent econo grows for sure. up until this grow I had been vegging with CFLs in coco 5 gallon size, and flowering under HPS. I knew the summer would be hard for me to AC the room I use so I have started to play around with some inexpensive LEDs just to see what happens. Anything over 85 degrees depending on the setup and cookage is imminent!:yikes:
 
Hey UP the Hollor.. love your input and explanation of an AF plant.. I'm only on my 2nd grow and have started to experiment with it as it happened to be the same strain and wanted to see what different techniques would do.. I always pinch a few weeks into flower and so far seem to like it. What I did this time so different was I F.I.M. cut one plant at week 2 of flowering and was totally surprised by the difference.. she had a twin that grew the typical single cola with a few side branches, the single cola getting really fat and finishing at least 2wks before his sister plant.. but the sister plant that was FIM trimmed went crazy and really filled out. Some of the branches doubled up on the end buds like it was topped even though nothing else was done but the FIM at top of plant.. just having fun learning about these and appreciate your input..
Hey MB... back off your watering just a wee bit, your soil always looks soaking wet, just a thought.. I believe in dry stressing them from time to time and when I water they go bonkers.. but all in all your plant looks good man. very nice.

Below are the twins... left was FIM cut, the other left alone.. this was a few weeks ago.. and again, I'm still learning and one thing I've learned is to back off the nutes.. cheers
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Hi roundman, thanks for the help I have been using lots of your advice, I have been waiting till it's super dry now I usually water then take the picture right after every time, I find my 5 gallon goes dry completely ever 2 days or so, this is the first time I have every watched a week 1 flowering, so cool to see it start, not sure how good my yield will be as its a auto flower and is only 18" in height, I do have over 40 budding spots all over tho, I'm pretty impressed with how it has turned out so far, I am just giving it ph 6.2 water every time I don't use any nutes ever, guess it doesn't need it as the organic soil I am using must be good enough. The nutes I got were just a waste of money I suppose. Anyways I will post a pic of week 1 flowering.
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Looks awesome dude!

I've just harvested my first auto only had it in a 2ltr aqua pot I reckon I'll get an oz if I'm lucky.

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I'll start this tread from the beginning so I can see your progress

:Namaste:
 
Hey Roundman! Good observation on the dry stressing of actively growing plants. Now remember this is a fine line kind of thing. But slight water stressing of young actively growing plants is good. especially if you are transplanting them outside. "Why?" You might ask. Well when plants have to search for water their natural reaction is to grow more roots as they search for water. It's a technique that I have used for years to grow field tough tomato, pepper and melon transplants. And of course Weed!
 
Week 9 overall week 3 of flowering I am just starting to notice some Amber trichs, I am just wondering if anyone has an idea how long this should take till harvest? It's a cash crop fem autoflower. It's my 1st ever grow. So any advice on harvest would be appreciated. I am thinking another 2-3 weeks. Thanks

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