Are Auto's worth it these days.

A lot of growers - both seasoned and new - for some reason try to strongarm autos.
They are damn near plug and play. Coco / Hydro tend to make bigger ones. They do pretty well outside when they are in the right season to grow wild. They are like the TV dinners of cannabis - pop them into some dirt / 90 odd days later ….. head medicine.

Their hardwired life ( let’s just say for argument sake ) about 100 days + or - , just locks you into a feed requirement to cover at least 90 days.
That is easy to do with bagged mediums and some minor amendment tweaks. The host medium being the main feed source for weeks.
Hell I even used jobe tomato spikes on a few 1 gallon grow bags to feed them. VIGORO Pelletized “ tomato - Veg garden “ food works extremely
well ( scratched into surface / watered in ).

Also , they don’t quite stunt and stall as easily as years ago …. So you can top / LST / supercrop / defol / manifold them .
But , there are some limits. I find the heavy sativa leaning autos accept the abuse a bit better since most good sativa heavy autos are best run as long as needed. ( just like the reg versions ).

So easy how you amend and set it all up to run well right out of the gate. Just water the plant the first month. Top dress as needed, easy on the ferts. Really don't over love and it's gonna reward you. What is not to like about that?

Kindbud421 said:

Like what do you mean? The SIP bucket? Or my tent setup they are in…

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The sip set up please ! Only if its not huge inconvenience. Much appreciated

Budzbuddha look up his posts. There is a wealth of expertise in growing autos in his posts. It's also very easy reads. Not bro science or so damn technical you need a degree from MIT to understand. Follow his info and you'll be doing well. Try slight tweaks if you feel the need to.

420 Garden said:

Budzbuddha look up his posts. There is a wealth of expertise in growing autos in his posts. It's also very easy reads. Not bro science or so damn technical you need a degree from MIT to understand. Follow his info and you'll be doing well. Try slight tweaks if you feel the need to.

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Just like he says, (literally plug and play)

nomadicsoul said:

The sip set up please ! Only if its not huge inconvenience. Much appreciated

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No problem!
Bottom bucket is a 6 gal brewer bucket. Net cup is from 3pk at dollar store. Four slots cut at cardinal points about 1/4 inch wide. The tube is pvc, not quite big enough inner diameter, switched out for 1.5” black potable water line vinyl. When measuring for depth, place wick cup under inner bucket and mark for screws. This will hold inner bucket up allowing wick cup to sit in nute solution. Keep ph between 5.5 and 6.5 like hydro. Feel free to ask any more questions. You can do this with 5 gal, I just used what I had at the time and it provides a little more res space.

I did the set up (wicking) you have shown outdoors you really have to be vigilant about cleaning the holding bucket. It gets pretty funky with growth. Works pretty well for outdoor tomatoes but personally I didn't like it. Keeps you soil wet all the time. I think that plants need that dry out time to keep vigorous growth. But, if it works for you go after it. GL!

Kindbud421 said:

No problem!View attachment 5269735View attachment 5269736View attachment 5269737View attachment 5269738View attachment 5269739View attachment 5269740
Bottom bucket is a 6 gal brewer bucket. Net cup is from 3pk at dollar store. Four slots cut at cardinal points about 1/4 inch wide. The tube is pvc, not quite big enough inner diameter, switched out for 1.5” black potable water line vinyl. When measuring for depth, place wick cup under inner bucket and mark for screws. This will hold inner bucket up allowing wick cup to sit in nute solution. Keep ph between 5.5 and 6.5 like hydro. Feel free to ask any more questions. You can do this with 5 gal, I just used what I had at the time and it provides a little more res space.

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Brilliant , thanks ! I really appreciate you taking the time to share this.
One question , how do you know how much to water ?

nomadicsoul said:

Brilliant , thanks ! I really appreciate you taking the time to share this.
One question , how do you know how much to water ?

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measure down from inner bucket one inch and drill 5/8 “ holes 180 deg from each other. These will be drain holes for excess. Sry, forgot about that

Are you placing a cut-out in the bottom of the inner bucket to put a cottage cheese or sour cream plastic bowl? You do that and pack it with soil. That is your wick.

Oh didn't look at your pic that shows it. GL!

420 Garden said:

Are you placing a cut-out in the bottom of the inner bucket to put a cottage cheese or sour cream plastic bowl? You do that and pack it with soil. That is your wick.

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Yes! Got two photos in veg in SIPs. Just took clones from one the other day. Days 51 & 54

Great stuff here for my next grow. Ive had great success with hempys before but the mixing and PHing of water doesnt fit with my busy lifestyle so Im looking for a way to make organic growing work better for me, this may be it . Cheers guys.

Check out @ Budzbuddha his posts on organic soil will have you doing this. He really does know his sheit. It is a very easy grow and healthy as all get out. This is my current run. Autos consisting of Mephisto Fourm Stompers and Twenty20 Mendocino Cosmo. All day 2 week 7 above ground.

Kindbud421 said:

Yessiree. 6 gal brewer bucket for res and 5 gal bucket for pot. Gives a little more room for res and roots.

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I f your fertilizer is right with Autos you, ( I ) dont need A big pot at all.

newcayney2008 said:

I f your fertilizer is right with Autos you, ( I ) dont need A big pot at all.
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True, you can get big plants from solos! But even bigger with a 7 gal pot

Kindbud421 said:

True, you can get big plants from solos! But even bigger with a 7 gal pot

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Depends. Anything over 2-3 gal is a waste for coco/soiless and half gal of coco can grow the same size plants as 5 gal of soil. Most autos don't need 7 gal. Just being wasteful.

I'm new to growing, had success with outdoor photos last year...but it was dicey due to fall weather/cold nights. Outdoor is my only option. I live in the city with a fair ammount of light pollution, I had constantly block out my neighbors back porch light. Stressful.

This year I got some Southern Lemonade auto seeds. Gonna use 5 gal mesh grow bags with fox farm ocean forest soil, tap water and advanced nutrients bloom, micro and grow.

I thought I was going to quit growing a few years ago but when I saw my supply dwindling I changed my mind. Had a freebee Banana Kush Auto from Seedsman and tried it out because I wanted something quick even though I swore I would never grow auto's because of their long standing reputation. I harvested almost 10oz off of it and it was fire.
I have been switching back and forth between auto's and photo's my last few grows and have only had one auto so far that was pretty much a dud at 1.8oz at harvest--still good smoke. I haven't run across an auto yet that I didn't enjoy the smoke or strength yet. I have grown seven different strains and I would say my average harvest is 7oz. per plant.
I haven't seen a lot of info or heard a lot from folks who are not on the anti-auto fence about what they consider a decent yield.

breedwheel said:

I thought I was going to quit growing a few years ago but when I saw my supply dwindling I changed my mind. Had a freebee Banana Kush Auto from Seedsman and tried it out because I wanted something quick even though I swore I would never grow auto's because of their long standing reputation. I harvested almost 10oz off of it and it was fire.
I have been switching back and forth between auto's and photo's my last few grows and have only had one auto so far that was pretty much a dud at 1.8oz at harvest--still good smoke. I haven't run across an auto yet that I didn't enjoy the smoke or strength yet. I have grown seven different strains and I would say my average harvest is 7oz. per plant.
I haven't seen a lot of info or heard a lot from folks who are not on the anti-auto fence about what they consider a decent yield.

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Yeild is relative to pot and not by plant fot me. 10 oz in a 1 gal vs 10 oz in a 10 are very different. In my 2.2 gal autopots, 4-6 and i am happy. I can get 2 to 2.5 in 2 liter soda bottle coco or perlite Hempys. Last 5 gal i did could be found here somewhere(harvested in October and struggling so had to take a break right now sadly), but i bet all together it was atleast 8-10. I don't weigh much.