Outdoor Photo verses Auto

[stonemaster]

In two separte beds I planted 16 photos and 16 autos. This is Sept.8 so I believe I have at least 3 more months of season left. The photos will veg for one month then flower as will the autos.Both beds were dug down 18 inches,laced with water retention chyrstls and organic tomato food then refilled with origanal soil.Both are 1 meter sq. and planted at the same time, sorta. The first planting was on sept.4 was photos that had spent one week inside under c.f.l.s.The matching autos spent one more week inside and were planted sept.7.
The photos are;
8 ball kush
vanilla kush
afgan kush
o.g. kush
o.g.13
chem dog
wildfire
trainnwreck
4 o.g.ghost train haze
Sorry,wrong pic!

 

[stonemaster]

The autos are;
Afgan kush x White widow cross from earlier this year.
Budda Syrup x White widow cross "" ""
Budda Demios
It will be interesting to see how the autos compare when the flowering responce of the photos is bypassed.Also this is my breeding group for this fall. I will be making f2s from 2 earier crosses as well as starting the road to some new auto strains. All the kushes I will breed to the afgan cross(f1) and the ghost train and others I will use the demios and syrup as mothers and fathers.Also I have 4 Satori beans up,28% thc,to breed with.

 

[Muddy]

I think you may run out of good weather before you can bring all those in. I'm farther south than you are and set Aug. 1st as my last planting date for autos. Once soil temps start to fall into the 60s and the roots cool down, most growth will stop. You may also run into frost danger once your get into November. It's certainly not enough time to grow those photos. Flowering is triggered when the days start getting shorter after the summer equinox in late June and starting them now, with the decreasing daylight every day, they may not flower at all. Photos should be started by early June at the latest.

 

[stonemaster]

I was hoping someone would say that Muddy! Care to make a small wager on weather(ha ha) or not they finish? It is only fair to tell you that my spot was developed with extended seasons in mind. I very carfully oreinted this bed so it faces S.S.E. to catch the early morning sun and more important the huge stone wall to the north serves as a heat sink, catching sun thru the day and releasing it as heat at night.Also I am trying to make a seed run, 6 weeks to flower and 6 weeks to set seed. They sprouted Aug.24, so the end of nov. should do it.I know photos and was felt this is a fair match. Same number of plants, same bed prep.,same amount of light each day and the same number of days to work with.The only difference is the photos got 1 week under lights and the autos got 2 weeks.Also I will top the photos once and the autos none, although I will tye both breeds down.Care to bet?I am betting the photos will out yeild and produce stronger product than the autos.Most people will say the photos do not have enough season left. This bed in seasons past has withstood 25 degrees farinhight but not 23.

 

[Muddy]

I hope it works out okay for you. I would suggest putting some black plastic or mulch around them to keep the soil warmer. It's the cold soil temps, more than the amount of light or air temps, that will affect them late in the season. Cold soil inhibits their ability to uptake P, which is why a lot of strains will show purple leaves in late harvests.

 

[slightlystoopid]

I would be willing to bet your photos don't get very big at all seeing as in how if you are from Kentucky you only have 12 hours of daylight at this time of the year and that will decrease with the season so your photos are not even going to veg they will be flowering right away which will make for much smaller plants bro .

 

[stonemaster]

I agree with slitlystupid, they will flower soon bypassing the veg state for the most part and remain much smaller than normal.What does this sound like? Sounds like an auto. Their growth rate this last few days has been awesome!By sat. I will top them, forming 4 maybe 6 main limbs each. They are planted in a see of green form, and I estimate 2 foot length on these limbs by harvest.Two buds per plant will be donated to seed production.This is sept.11, 1 week in the bed and 1 week under lights. The largest one is a o.g. ghost train haze that was started in the bed 1 week before.

 

[stonemaster]

Everyone is talking about how the photos will do, what about the autos?Is there enough time for them?These are the first 6, the other 12 are still in my c.f.l. cabinet, I call it my "easy bake oven", 2 weeks behing these 6. Any predictions on how they will do?

 

[Muddy]

What I've found with late auto grows is that once the soil temps get into the low 60s growth pretty much stops. They just sit there and don't do much of anything. I let one of those Mi5s go 16 weeks, hoping it would do something, till I finally said F it and just chopped it.

 

[stonemaster]

Here is the math(if you will) on why this bed has extended seasons.Here in ky. some of the rivers have what are called palisades. These are 200 foot tall cliffs above the river.By taking a boat ride with a compass, you can find cliffs facing all directions.Choose one that faces south souteast and you get first light and most of last light. First light is most important becauce it warms the soil as soon as possible that day.Of course you have to cut a few trees.On these cliffs are "benchs", small level areas up and down the cliffs. By choosing one near but not on the top, you now have both a wind break behind you to the north, and a heat sink as part of the bed.Also you are near the top of the thermocline.The cold air is stratified with the coldest at the bottom and the warmest at the top.As the whole cliff acts as a heat sink, the air it warms rises up to you. So even on a night that there is a severe frost on all the state, these "mirco-climates" act as though they were 100s of miles south.The angle of the sun must be considered also. I am at 39 degrees north, which is the max angle the sunlight makes. By having the front side of the bed consisting of a log and stone retaining wall near 40 degree angle, the sun strikes it at a 90 degree angle, similar to the tropics. More heat is absorbed per sq. ft. than on flat ground.As this is side of the bed, like a container, the heat is transferred into the soil.So I have a heat sink behind be and below me,protection from weather from the north, full exposure of sun from the south and heat absorbson elements such as light colored mulch in the summer and dark in the spring and fall and the correctly angled side to the south, add up to much extended seasons.