Average time for an auto from seed to harvest?

[User43]

In our big Dark Devil Auto community resource thread, Rifleman mentioned that his DDAs were always ready at around 93 days, 100 days, something like that. But others, growing the same strain (and possibly even ones from the same selfing for some of them, IDK) reported that theirs were ready at various times, going all the way down to 61 or 63 days. Maybe type of grow (soil/hydroponics), composition of media, container size, nutrient ratios, and perhaps even temperatures and lighting can play a part in determining how long it will be from sprout to time of maximum number of cloudy-headed trichomes.



Of course it can. I'd only consider that if I was planning to grow a sizeable mother plant and regularly harvest a fair number of cuttings from it, though - but that's just me (and just me at this point in time). I expect I'd be more likely to do a small hand-watered/passive hydroponic setup or a small soil one. If the latter, I'd "refresh" it once a year or so by pulling it out of its container, cutting off an inch or so of roots/media from the sides and bottom, then pour a fresh layer of soil into the same container, set the plant back into it, and fill around the sides with the fresh mix. And give the greenery a good trimming to match the percentage of root matter that I removed, so that the plant stayed healthy.



I suppose so, lol. I once did an experiment in which I stuck three seedlings in 6-ounce or 8-ounce (I think it was the former, but couldn't swear to it) Styrofoam cups and parked them on top of the medicine cabinet in a bathroom, directly under a pair of little CFL bulbs. They were still alive a year later. They received minimal water and barely any additional food. I would have had to have treated them like I didn't hate them if I had wanted to regularly take cuttings from them. And if I had wanted a reasonable(?) number on a regular basis, I'd have most likely needed to stick them in larger containers - but not huge ones, the 6"x6"x6" ones would have been enough to support a small perpetual garden. Wouldn't have taken much in the way of resources at all.

Here's a thread by a guy who was doing a 112-plant perpetual SOG grow. It was supported by three smallish mother plants. You can see two of them in one of the pictures in post #5. It looks like they were sharing one container, so half the root space.

Come SOG With Me: 112 Plants, 2 Liter, Hempy SOG

Hello everyone, It's been a long time since I've ran a journal here. I just started a large SOG grow today so I've decided to journal it here for you. I have 3 Snow White(NLXCinderella99) mothers in my veg room along with a 50 site aero cloner. I just transplanted the first 16 rooted clones...

www.420magazine.com

For a mother plant, or more than one? Well, you don't need to ensure a regular uninterrupted period of darkness each day - and, as I mentioned above, you don't really need much space/etc.. So you might not actually need a grow tent for it/them. A decent sized shelf with some old-school fluorescent tube lighting screwed to the underside of the shelf above it might work. A little cabinet picked up at a yard sale, CraigsList, or a thrift store. Sturdy cardboard box, even. If your mothers get too large for the space, give them a haircut. Treat them like houseplants; you do not have to grow out everything that you cut from them.



Seems to me... If you're relying on a few big grows to provide you with product, that you'd be more vulnerable to disaster, not less. Instead of possibly losing the equivalent of a short period's worth of supply, you could lose months' worth. Unless it's something major like a house fire, I suppose - but that could destroy everything, including whatever you have in storage. <KNOCKS ON WOOD>

But whatever you end up being best for you. I'm just mentioning options. BtW, most folks who grow semi-constantly end up producing way more than they actually need. Some of them get pretty creative in finding uses for the stuff. Or giving the excess away as gifts.

Well now its sounding like I would be silly not to have a mother plant going... Thought they needed a lot more space but I guess youre only cutting off pretty small amounts... I could do it with either white widow or
bubba kush, only photo period strains I have atm... Very minimal cloning experience, but a friend I used to
help out had pretty good success with clonex and I think it was inexpesnive.

OP soz we hijacked your thread.

Doesnt bother me one bit, I like listening to grow methods cuz I havent heard of half of them... And I forget half of what Ive heard so I really like checking out everyones methodology on here. Some realllllly surprising levels of devotion
on here, very impressive.

 

[TorturedSoul]

Well now its sounding like I would be silly not to have a mother plant going... Thought they needed a lot more space but I guess youre only cutting off pretty small amounts... I could do it with either white widow or
bubba kush, only photo period strains I have atm... Very minimal cloning experience, but a friend I used to
help out had pretty good success with clonex and I think it was inexpesnive.

rooting cuttings about hard as managing to find the grounf after yuve already fallin off the ladder lol no worries you have to work pretty hard to fuck it up

 

[SoGnotSOG321]

I've heard of 18 year old mother plants, I was skeptical to be sure. Taking cuttings from clones and splicing them back on the mother to keep it going. Only rumors though ok? It probably didn't look like the tree of life at all.

 

[Southerncough]

1) assume 3 months for autos, maybe 3.5 from seed
2) you don't have to keep mothers to run a perpetual clone flip. Just root some cuttings, flower the mom, repeat. I've had great success running a clone flip in a small grow space before and when you're ready for a break or want to change strains just don't keep any cuttings off the last clone when it's time to flip it.
3) if you're not confident about cloning, practice on basil
4) perpetual autos are fun too! When starting a new garden i like to kick it off with an auto to play with while my photos are doing their thing.
5) leave the lights on longer for more weight. Autos don't need 12 hours of darkness, so why rob them of fuel?

 

[SeniorMoments]

Im real curious what state your in(or maybe canada?) and also how well do you know your neighbors lol.
I can see a neighbors house in the picture so im pretty sure they can see that HUGE pot plant lol.
Do you have a greenhouse tarp over it normally?

I know my neighbors and share
I kept some netting over it till I did the first chop .