Outdoor Autoflower plants in full soil?

[sprinkl]

Hi, my first post here, don't have much experience with autos yet, but I already tried all the things you shouldn't do: topping, supercropping, transplanting into bigger pots during flower... Now I want to try again and plant a bunch outdoors early.

Does this work well in full soil? I've had a negative experience with semi-autoflower photo plants, in a 70l container it did fine, but the one in full soil just kept preflowering and stretching...
The one in the 70l pot also had a few huge roots growing from the top of the container into full soil(I dug a hole to keep the plant more stealthy), it didn't really take off until I chopped those off with a spade.
They both started preflowering and stretching begin July when the days got shorter. So I think the genes were decent. It's like the plants needed to be rootbound to start flowering.

Thing is I want an early outdoor stash and plants that stay short for stealth reasons. If they grow too big and flower late I could as well grow semi-auto photo plants...

 

[namvet25]

A 70l pot is overkill.A 5 gal pot would be better.Any of the lowryder strains will be smaller for a stealth grow or some of the dwarf strains.By the way nice to have you with us and don't be afraid to ask any questions you may have.

 

[Muddy]

Welcome to AFN. I would suggest growing dwarf autos strains for an early crop. I've grown them outdoors both directly in the ground and in pots. I prefer pots. For dwarf strains 3 - 5 gallon pots are sufficient. Outdoors, dwarf strains generally take about a week longer than the same strains grown indoors, so most would finish in about 12 weeks. If you're looking for something a little bigger, take a look at the Super Auto strains available from Flash Seeds. They take a bit longer than dwarfs, about 16 - 18 weeks, and get quite a bit bigger, up to 6', but usually finish well before the choppers fly. Yields are generally 2-3 times more than dwarf strains. They will do well in 10 gallon pots.

 

[sprinkl]

I'm definitely looking at dwarf auto's, not superauto's. As I want a small size and fast finish.
So a pot is preferred, but I want to grow guerilla and don't plan on using a pot, what if I plant it in full soil? I suppose a longer flower period and taller plant?

 

[Muddy]

Not with dwarf strains. I've grown them directly in soil and like in pots, they only take about a week longer than indoors. Mainly due to the reduced light outdoors compared to indoors. Just take the necessary precautions regarding pests and critters. A good deer and rabbit repellent like Liquid Fence and weekly applications of insecticidal soap when they starting flowering to control spider mites.

 

[Nemesis]

Not with dwarf strains. I've grown them directly in soil and like in pots, they only take about a week longer than indoors. Mainly due to the reduced light outdoors compared to indoors. Just take the necessary precautions regarding pests and critters. A good deer and rabbit repellent like Liquid Fence and weekly applications of insecticidal soap when they starting flowering to control spider mites.

Ever heard of badgers eating it aswell? Caught one munching one of my mates plants when camping, never seen anything like it. Perhaps it had a headache? lol
How to deter Badgers? Ive no idea. lol
Beautiful creatures anyway dont mind sharing my smoke with em. :buds:

 

[Eekman]

Here is a thought, and why I think it.

I had a dwarf that wasn't supposed to be dwarf. all my other auto's were growing fine, this was about two inches tall then the others were going into flower. Then when I was watering, I exposed the root, and it was growing sideways just below the surface of the soil. So, gently, I very carefully dug up a little soil, pointed the root down, and filled the area left back up with soil. She shot right up after that, even more that I expected because she almost caught up with the other's. Not saying this happened, but it could have. When you were chopping at your roots with a spade, maybe you knocked into growing in the right direction???

Just a thought, my two cents.

Eek

 

[Nemesis]

Thats odd, I had the exactly the same in an air pot, the main tap root was growing sideways, not down.
I just left it and it finshed ok. Smoked ok too
Still strange tho that they sometimes do that, anyone know why?

 

[sprinkl]

Ok thanks for the fast replies guys!
I'm looking at 2 or 3 of the following strains: easy ryder(seems like a strong yielding one, a friend got near 20 grams of it outdoors with barely any direct sunshine), diesel ryder, purple ryder, flash seeds cobra, jet47, speedy g or kush van stich.
I already got 1 fem easy ryder seed. Strains I will buy will be regulars, I might make some seeds for next season. Instead of planting one at each spot I'll plant two, not too close to each other so they don't get too seeded.
Now I just need to find out which ones yield best in coldish temps, I want to get them out by april 1st the latest, around 50°N it's not very warm around here by then. I will pregrow them under a 150W MH for a few weeks to get a little head start.

Here is a thought, and why I think it.

I had a dwarf that wasn't supposed to be dwarf. all my other auto's were growing fine, this was about two inches tall then the others were going into flower. Then when I was watering, I exposed the root, and it was growing sideways just below the surface of the soil. So, gently, I very carefully dug up a little soil, pointed the root down, and filled the area left back up with soil. She shot right up after that, even more that I expected because she almost caught up with the other's. Not saying this happened, but it could have. When you were chopping at your roots with a spade, maybe you knocked into growing in the right direction???

Just a thought, my two cents.

Eek

The plants I were talking about were "early" photo strains, which to me are semi-automatics. They were vegged indoors before putting them out in march. They got pretty huge. The one in full soil just wouldn't start flowering. I also had to trim it a lot, I already tried to keep the height down by letting it grow sideways but the side branches got to a height of 2.5m at one point, totally destroying my stealth plans AND my nerves! The one in the container I'm sure would have finished faster if it didn't have the root going into the full ground. Still it finished halfway october, despite extremely rainy weather, like 3 weeks without stopping. It took it like a champ, only had 1-2% mold on 280 grams dry weight I think double could easily been had with better weather and earlier finish so I will definitely try these plants again this year, with a shorter veg time and smaller pot to match so they finish flowering earlier. Last year I tried Outdoor Grapefruit and the year before Easy Sativa from Female Seeds. Now I'm just looking for a way to get some buds before I run out of the 280 grams my outdoor plant gave me. If this works I may never have to grow indoors again which is a nice thought, not that I don't want to it's just nice knowing I don't have to

 

[Nemesis]

They are looking good indeed!