New Grower AF Trigger: Age or Maturity?

[Grey Bear]

A auto can never flower too early. It could be too early compared to a photo but a auto will only flower when its mature enough photos u can force flowering can't do that with autos.

Completely agree.
That is why it is important to keep veg nutes going until the flowering stretch is done or close if you are looking to increase yield.

 

[Eekman]

Great thread


Nice discussion you have going on here.

How is it that an auto flower can re-veg if nutrients are set back to veg, along with light schedule.

See my sig in the beginning of my Perpetual grow. Had some lowrider's do it.


Keep up the good work

Nice infor Gtron


bye for now


Eek

 

[Muddy]

The reason I ask is that a friend of a friend of a friend has an auto strain that has been growing above soil for a little under a week now, and it is putting out its second set of true leaves (non-cotyledons.) This seems slightly accelerated compared to average, in which case I am mainly just wondering if it will make for a quicker harvest OR a bigger harvest.

When they start flowering actually has little impact on the final yield. I've had some flower as early as 16 days while others have gone 25 days. If you switch nutrients at the first signs of flower they will finish faster but yields will be reduced. The key to high yields is getting them as big as possible during veg and the way to do that is to keep them on veg nutes until vertical growth stops, which usually happens between about day 35 - 40, regardless of when they start to flower. Of course there are always exceptions. Super autos can take up to 5 weeks to flower and won't finish their vertical growth until they are a bit older. Where most dwarf strains will finish in about 75 - 80 days, supers can go as long as 120. So genetics can also be a factor.

 

[Mushroom King]

Ok, it's about day 7 or 8 since complete germination (when it poked out of the ground), and yesterday I started noticing what looks like a pre-flower (pre-calyx) forming on the first set of true leaves' node. The 3rd set of true leaves are just starting to form. At this rate, it's growing almost 1 node per day. This is the first auto grow I've observed, but this seems like the fastest growing plant I've ever seen (and lived in the heart of the Emerald Triangle for 3 years.) I'm instantly captivated and fascinated with these strains.

 

[medic grower]

Also read an nice article that they also can start flower when rootbound starts in the pod. Triggers them also into Flowering.

 

[oldster]

I put a couple of Stone Dragons out very early this spring in Wall-o-Waters, temps would get down near or below freezing at night. It did slow down when they sexed compared to ones kept inside longer where it was warmer. It did not seem to effect the final size of the plants they just grew and sexed slower at those lower temperatures. Plan to try it again in the spring with a larger group of plants to compare how much it improves harvest date compared to plants put out after last day for frost in my area.

 

[Mushroom King]

Well it isn't particularly root-bound, but there was a tiny bit of one root starting to poke out of its container (about the size of a large Dixie cup) before it was transplanted into about a half gallon pot maybe 2 days ago.

Starting around 2 days ago it's been receiving a daily organic fertilizer solution of Peruvian seabird guano, Jamaican bat guano, and hempseed protein powder, all boiled together for about 30 mins. in approximately 2-1-2 ratio probably.

 

[bubblekarma]

I don't know man, this is a good question.

The plants that I'm growing now were started at exactly the same time. One plant named "Helen" poked out of the ground about 5 hours before the other (Shelly). But after germination, Helen was about 6-8 days behind on growing it's first set of leaves and I had almost given up on her. Helen was quite a bit shorter, but grew and stretched until it was about matched with "Shelly" who was nice and bushy and tall. Helen never got as bushy but did get within 2" of height and started flowering at basically the same time as Shelly did.

Shelly did show trichomes about 2-3 days before Helen did. And currently, Helen, who has been trying to "catch up" to Shelly this whole time, is now showing much more amber in her pistols then her better looking sister. It almost seems that Helen wants to finish before Shelly, even when Helen has been behind the entire grow...

 

[Muddy]

Starting around 2 days ago it's been receiving a daily organic fertilizer solution of Peruvian seabird guano, Jamaican bat guano, and hempseed protein powder, all boiled together for about 30 mins. in approximately 2-1-2 ratio probably.

Daily feeds aren't necessary or recommended. Weed plants like to go through wet/dry cycles. Keeping the soil constantly wet will cut off needed oxygen to the roots and can stunt your plants. Get a feel for the weight of your pots when they are almost completely dry and only water/feed when they feel that way. When you do feed them, given enough so that about 10% runs out the bottom of the pot. As nutrients are broken down they create a bi product, which are salts. If allowed to build up in the soil they can eventually cause problems such as nutrient lockout. That extra run off will help to keep those salts leached out of the soil, preventing them from building up and causing issues.

 

[Muddy]

I put a couple of Stone Dragons out very early this spring in Wall-o-Waters, temps would get down near or below freezing at night. It did slow down when they sexed compared to ones kept inside longer where it was warmer. It did not seem to effect the final size of the plants they just grew and sexed slower at those lower temperatures. Plan to try it again in the spring with a larger group of plants to compare how much it improves harvest date compared to plants put out after last day for frost in my area.

It's the soil temperature that causes that. Once soil temps drop into the 60s growth slows and can actually stop. I've done several experiments where I've left small, non flowering plants on my garage window sill all winter. Temps in the garage were often in the 40s with some days in the 30s. The plants didn't die, but they didn't grow either. Around March when the days started getting longer and the temps started to increase, they resumed growing and actually flowered. Keep in mind that the ruderalis plants that were used to create autos came from cold climates in Canada, Russia and Hungary so were adapted to colder climates.