Seeking Outdoor Autoflower Feeding Tips

I'm just a few days into my very first grow which is an outdoor autoflower grow, but I've been doing quite a bit of homework to make sure everything is ready to go when they get bigger. Right now the sprouted seeds are in their 5 Gallon grow bag 'forever homes' using Pro-Mix and a little bit extra perlite. The weather has been cool and cloudy, so they're taking their time, but I expect them to pop up in the next few days.

I researched nutes and feeding schedules and decided to stock up according to the Kiss feeding schedule, but using only Maxibloom unless I see deficiencies.

I bought a Ph and EC meter. Calibrated them successfully. I did a test batch of KISS, and just basically got myself acclimated to mixing and testing and mixing again. I thought I was ready to go until I realized you feed autoflowers way LESS than photoperiod plants.

Good thing I did.

So I went looking around for an Autoflower feeding chart and found various videos and stuff, but I really have my mind set on using just Maxbloom if possible.

QUESTION:
If I wanted to use the KIss formula (with or without the koolbloom and cal-mag), would I cut the amounts in half or 1/4 compared to a photoperiod plant? So far I've seen 'adjust to 1/4' and "work your way up" but I wouldn't mind seeing if anyone else had the same question and figured something out.

What EC/ppm range should I be aiming for (ballpark) for each stage? Is photoperiod EC/PPM cut to 1/4 or 1/2 for Autoflowers as well?


Thanks!

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Kiss formula (in case you're wondering)

start of veg!
7 grams of maxibloom
5 ml of cal mag
7ml of molasses
adjust ph as needed ( i run mine around 5.6-6.2)

week 1-2 of flower
5 grams of maxi
2ml of koolbloom liquid(GH)
5ml of cal-mag
7ml of molasses
adjust ph as needed

2 weeks before you flush
3 grams of maxi
1 gram of koolbloom powder(strong stuff)
5 ml of cal-mag
7 ml of molasses
add just ph as needed!

transition from week 3 to 2 weeks before flush
7 grams maxi
5ml cal-mag
7 ml molasses
adjust ph as needed

Read the plant. Some autos are crazy heavy feeders. Some are not.

As a rough guide it goes a little like this for soil;

Root stim for 2 weeks. Add a little food. Pay attention to first set of leaves. If they yellow increase food.

Week 3-5 comes the stretch. Lots of calcium/N needed at this stage. Will get a calcium def week 6-7 if you’ve not kept up with the requirements. Autos seem to require a lot of calmag between stretch and initial budding.

Keep reading the plant for signs of hunger.

Week 7-9 is usually the most food they get. Then you can taper off around week 9 depending on plant mature ness.

Ive had autos be ready in 70 days or 100. Keep reading the plant to know when to cut food.

Good luck

Thanks for the advice.

Do you usually cut the nutrients to 1/4 - 1/2 strength compared to photoperiod plant guidelines for stretch (veg) + bud?

Personally I feed autos like photos only difference is they may not get fed as often. Instead of every 3 weeks may be 4 to 5. In 5 gallons I'll give 5 to 8 tbls of veg or flower or mixed. 5 tbls of humic acid, 1 cup worm castings, and 5 teaspoons of azomite or 5 tbls of rock dust.

If they go longer than expected instead of feeding again that'll be mainly wasted I'll add a couple inches of worm castings, fox farms original blend, or ocean forest to the top.

I'm going completely non-organic, but your feeding adjustment for autoflowers still lines up with the general advice I've seen so far: Cut down nutes and feeding in some way. I know there isn't an exact number, but I'll go by the rule of thumb of feeding under and adjust as needed.

Thanks.

As said above, it is strain dependent to some extent. However I tend to feed quite sparingly. Not very frequent, and about half the amount it says on the bottle/packet. Only root stimulant, e.g liquid seaweed, during the early stages of veg, and then only once. When pre-flowers appear around week 5, I give some grow nutes, and again when flowering proper starts. This helps with the stretch. I give grow nutes again, then start the bloom nutes, tapering off the grow nutes gradually but keeping up with the bloom.

How does the plant get any nutrients if you’re going soilless using Promix like I am?

bc_southbuds said:

How does the plant get any nutrients if you’re going soilless using Promix like I am?

Click to expand...

Sorry, missed that you were growing soilless. That's a whole different ball game. You're going to need a base level of nutrients I suppose, and how close that is to a photoperiod requirement depends on the strain. Some modern autos behave much more like the photo counterparts.