Appreciation first! Then questions about growing Autos in Coco-loco!

[Seniorweeder]

1. First and foremost let me just say "THANK YOU" to all the great people here that helped me along my first "photo" grow journey. Sorry if I was annoying and took up so much of your time, but I am happy to say that my beautiful girl is in her 2nd flush and I am clipping/trimming her this coming weekend. Just so pleased to make it and I could not have done it without the help of you awesome folks. One happy ass old man here! Please see the pic of my ripe girl!

2. Question today: Has anyone here grown Auto's in Coco-loco? When beans arrive I am trying my hand at my first "Auto" grow. As I have read Auto's don't need as much nutes as photos. I am planning on using the Fox Farms Coco-loco as I did with my first photo grow with what I feel was great success, no nutes needed except Cal-mag all the way into Flower. My best results at germinating was 24 hours soak then into peat pellets, I lost several trying the paper towel method, so I am planing the same with the Autos except for a 30 hour soak (I hear the seed shells are thicker), using only Distilled water into Veg. I am wondering if the coco-loco with built in nutes will be too hot for a auto seedling, and hoping the peat pellets will buffer some until I transplant into their final 2 gallon soft pots? Also because I had good results using a Growstar 600 watt LED growing my first photo, I am using the same here. Do Autos have different light requirements? Thanks as always my grow family!

 

[Seniorweeder]

I apologize, I forgot to mention the plant strain. The Auto's I am trying are" Tangerine Dream", and "Blueberry Auto". Hope this helps!"

 

[odinsmaster]

My first 3 plus years were growing autos in coco loco. Fill free to look threw my old journals, you will see my good and bad grows lol.

autos take just as much nutes as anything else in my experience. seeds pop just like photos. coco loco is not too hot and so feed your plant for 3 to 4 weeks.

 

[Seniorweeder]

My first 3 plus years were growing autos in coco loco. Fill free to look threw my old journals, you will see my good and bad grows lol.

autos take just as much nutes as anything else in my experience. seeds pop just like photos. coco loco is not too hot and so feed your plant for 3 to 4 weeks.

Thank U so much "Odinsmaster", Your grow journal was super impressive, it helped/encouraged me a bunch for my upcoming first grow of the "Blueberry" auto strain. OMG I had no idea they could get that big. It appears U may have used 3 gallon pots? I am using only 2 gallon soft pots to get about 6 plants in my 2'X4' grow space. I imagine they may be smaller in these but Im ok with it as I am not a heavy smoker. Any thoughts on my Growstar 600 watt LED set up? It treated my newbie ass well for my first "photo" grow for sure!

 

[odinsmaster]

Thank U so much "Odinsmaster", Your grow journal was super impressive, it helped/encouraged me a bunch for my upcoming first grow of the "Blueberry" auto strain. OMG I had no idea they could get that big. It appears U may have used 3 gallon pots? I am using only 2 gallon soft pots to get about 6 plants in my 2'X4' grow space. I imagine they may be smaller in these but Im ok with it as I am not a heavy smoker. Any thoughts on my Growstar 600 watt LED set up? It treated my newbie ass well for my first "photo" grow for sure!

I don’t know much about the grow star, but looks like it’s doing ok for you. 2 gallon pots will work. Man they are growing some monster autos now.

 

[Buds Buddy]

High ! Looks like you did OK for a 1st grow. Buds look good. To be honest, I think you would yield much more per plant with a better light. A 600 watt Blurple light usually only pulls 180 - 300 watts from the wall at best. I try to run a min. of 30 watts per sq. ft. of actual watts from the wall. 50 watts p.s.f. is even better.
Did you grow this plant in Coco or soil ? Coco is a whole different ball game then soil & a lot more feeding. I hated it.
I went back to soil just because it's the easiest.
I use to grow Auto's too. Didn't like them either because you can't control the Veg & Flower cycles. They also never seemed as potent as the same strain in a photo version. Most Auto's still take 10 - 12 weeks to finish. You only save about 2 weeks time. So the way I see it I can run my lights 12 hours a day for 8 weeks in flower with a photo or I can run them 20 hours per day with an Auto. I think it's cheaper to run Photo's in the long run. Besides that I can clone photo's & get hundreds of plants from one mother plant instead of buying seeds.

 

[Spitz]

I like your chances on this upcoming grow. You could likely do better with more wattage. I think autos are a bit of an “equalizer” for a room/tent that is slightly underpowered. You have the luxury of being able to run your lights on 18+ hrs/day And closing that DLI gap. Six is a HUGE number in a 2x4. Two plants is a yes, 3 plants is pushing it to the limit, 4+ is not going to end well from seed. Clones are obviously a different story.

Drop a few less beans and give your fewer plants the “spa treatment“. Good Luck!

 

[Seniorweeder]

Thanks so much guys, based on your input, I will drop back to trying 4 - 2 gallon pots instead of 6, for my space, and consider doing research for my next Fall grow and get a more intense light for the space. As I have mentioned before I am not a heavy smoker and not looking for a "couch lock" buzz, just maybe something to ease a bit of pain and maybe mellow me out and help me not drink so much. That being said, I don't need a huge harvest or super weed, either. I am mainly trying my hand with the "Autos" because I read they are easier to grow and mostly a shorter growing period. Where my grow box is located will not do well in the heat of Summer weather here, so I was hoping to get in a run before June or so. While doing my usual Summer Veggie garden I will try some photos for an outdoor grow! Going for AC/DC first run! I will germ my photos for the outdoor grow with my next Autos, what is the temperature range for starting outside at the earliest? Heres our Veggie garden space for those who care!

 

[Spitz]

In my opinion, Autos were made for multiple outdoor harvests in a season. Start one seed every 30 days. Lol.

 

[SoGnotSOG321]

4 tops, I've got 3 full sized autos and one that stunted in two 3x6 areas under 2 MH2000s 300 watts at the wall each and they are loving it.

The fade is on and I'm chopping in a week maybe by the 21st. This stuff will knock you out, I'm mainly on edibles and tinctures with some lotions..worlds better than tylenol or ibuprofen by themselves. I'd compare the lotions to the topical lidocaine lotions. These are two Bruce Banner and one Gelato.

 

[Seniorweeder]

Just incredible, very encouraging for this ole boy! Thanks for sharing these beauties!

 

[SoGnotSOG321]

I went thru and chopped some plates on them all last night. I stuck regular colored push pins into their main stalks, I've used just plain sheetrock screws but these weren't quite that thick. This is going to boost resin, bro myth? idk? I thought about super cropping the mains a couple weeks back but autos idk I haven't had luck with doing much to them. They've filled out a lot in those weeks since and the amber is coming on.
Your plant looked nice enough and you always get to try again.