New Grower Yield Compared to photoperiod

[itsnineteen84]

Hey guys, I'm not a brand new grower but its my first time posting a question.

Thing is, I've got so much information from everyone's past posts that I haven't needed to until now so thank you everyone!!

What I cant figure out is since auto's have an extra 8 hours light everyday compared to a photoperiod in bloom does that mean auto's are bigger producers overall?

If Critical Mass has one of the largest photo yields and Think Different has one of the biggest auto yields then which will get me the most per meter squared in a scrog set up?

My thinking is that autos have to produce more based on the 56 hours more light it gets per week in a grow room. And since the product is head and shoulders above anything we get locally quality is no issue but supply certainly is.

Im running DWC with a 600w hps + 400w hps in a 1.5 meter square area with a 190w Led to supplement.

 

[lykaboss]

My personal experience is that photos yield more, I love autos since they were what i first started with and grew them for almost 2 years before switching to photos, The main reason i switched was yield. I wasn't getting what i wanted out of them. The smoke was always good just lacked the yield. I have seen people on here pull some good yields from autos. I guess it depends on the grower, another reason i switched to photos is because of overall cost's. I didn't want to have my lights running for 20 hours straight, i saved a bit by going to a 12/12 cycle.

Auto will always have a special place for me since that is what got me into growing.

There are some heavy yielding autos out there, also not all photos are good yielders. Just do some research on a strain you are interested in before putting them into your personal grow

 

[wwwillie]

Hey and welcome!
Never really thought of it in a how much can I yield kind of way before ( well beyond the obvious considerations). I am curious what folks think too.
Peace and happy growing.
:karma Cloud:

 

[blue]

Hey 1984 ^_^

Welcome to AFN!

since auto's have an extra 8 hours light everyday compared to a photoperiod in bloom does that mean auto's are bigger producers overall?

Not usually - a lot goes down to growing method, user experience, and good equipment and environment. Autos are on a life a death timer so the extra 8 hours a day just means that they come to maturity quicker - but will die. Or another way to put it is, you don't have control over the length of Veg, and when it starts flowering - it starts flowering.

If Critical Mass has one of the largest photo yields and Think Different has one of the biggest auto yields then which will get me the most per meter squared in a scrog set up?

Difficult to say really! We've got people here who are killing it in just DWC - one of my buddies has a journal here with what will probably turn into a 1000g dry autoflower. (not bad for 10weeks odd ^_^)

Im running DWC with a 600w hps + 400w hps in a 1.5 meter square area with a 190w Led to supplement.

Sounds very nice!

Hit me up if you need any links or help around the forums!

All the best
Blue ^_^

 

[lr2jd]

This entirely depends on the photoperiod/growth cycle. If you have a photo plant on 18/6 for 8 months, it will become huge yielding over 1000grams easily. If you put a photo plant on 12/12 and an auto on the same schedule, the photo plant will outyield the auto. However, on 24/0 or 18/6 cycles, the photo plant wont even flower, so the auto will be a greater yielder. It's like comparing cars with planes to me; they're so different, you can't put a label on it in ounces. Some semi-auto's are the way to go for me. At least for outdoors. These plants start flowering in july/august (or after about two months of growing independently of lightcycle) and van reach heights of over 3m (is that 6ft?) when sown in springtime. However, this is quite strain-dependant. These yields are comparable to me. With the photo plants losing the battle, since they start flowering in bad conditions (frost, rain, clouded) around here. Compared to full-auto's, the semi-auto's win bigtime. Although, I can do three runs of full-auto plants every summer, and just one semi-auto run since they take more time. If you're growing indoors: take a photo! These are easier to manage and work great in scrog. Take in account the energy bill: 18/6 for two/three weeks and then 12/12 for 8 weeks is cheaper than 18/6 for 10-12 weeks.

 

[itsnineteen84]

thanks for your thoughts guys, im starting to get a better picture.

I see what you mean blue, but is a photo not also on a death timer once it is put under 12/12? And if I veg a photo for 2 weeks with a bloom period of 8 weeks are they not comparable now since they lie within the same 10 week window if kept on their respective light schedules? Is it that the auto simply cannot use all the extra light it receives and just prepares to wind down and die instead of putting its power into getting bigger buds?

lr2jd, I know that a longer veg period will lead to more roots and a bigger harvest but then the extra time it takes compared to an auto will be spread out over a longer period and therefore yield will be spread out over more days so less grams per day if I put it like that? or is it that the bigger electricity bills out way the return received from an auto?

All information is still pointing me to photos being bigger yielders but I still cant understand why all the extra light an auto receives over it life doesn't lead to bigger yields.

I have seen good growers get 10-15 oz per plant from an auto under optimum conditions so am I correct in thinking that a good grower would expect 15 to 20 oz per photo from a photo keeping the veg to about 4 weeks and using the biggest producing strains of each?

So, if I grew a photo in DWC under 1000w per meter square with 4 weeks veg and it was a strain that bloomed in 8 weeks am I going to yield substantially more than an auto that takes 2 weeks less but has more light per day in bloom? Using the highest yield photos and autos as the example.

Sorry for the emphasis on yield over quality but supply really is an issue where I'm from and autos are more than enough quality wise for me to think about yield only.

 

[blue]

but is a photo not also on a death timer once it is put under 12/12?

Hehe - yes it is!! But as another here said, if i veg i photoperiod all year and have bud sites everyuwhere and it's seven feet tall - and "Then" i start 12/12 (death timer) - I'll have much more product at the end that if i'd have grown an auto in 9 weeks.

(although my electricity costs would be ridiculous ... and then i'd be smoking the sma e strain for the rest of my life lol)

Edit: Re-reading your question - I would also say that if i were to veg a photo for 2 weeks and then flower it, i dont think i'd yield the same as an auto. - i think 4-6 weeks vegging is probably where i'd see a big yield increase. (just my opinion there as i havent done masses of photoperiods)

So .. Autos for variety and turn around really! - potency isnt an issue for me - everything i've grown has been strong enough for me! (or too strong)

Is it that the auto simply cannot use all the extra light it receives and just prepares to wind down and die instead of putting its power into getting bigger buds?

I'm not sure on the science of this - there are better people for the botanical side - maybe JM has done a thread on it! I though autos "did" use the light which is why they can veg and flower in the same time it takes a photperiod to flower.

Sorry for the emphasis on yield over quality but supply really is an issue where I'm from and autos are more than enough quality wise for me to think about yield only.

If it's pure yield, I think most people would say photo's vegged for a reasonable amount of time (6 weeks) will be the way to go.

 

[lykaboss]

All information is still pointing me to photos being bigger yielders but I still cant understand why all the extra light an auto receives over it life doesn't lead to bigger yields.

2 factors, Genetics and the skill of the grower

I have seen good growers get 10-15 oz per plant from an auto under optimum conditions so am I correct in thinking that a good grower would expect 15 to 20 oz per photo from a photo keeping the veg to about 4 weeks and using the biggest producing strains of each?

A grower that pulled 10 oz a plant indoor on ANY plant is very skilled, for an auto to pull that... WOW must be a hell of a strain and a hell of a skilled grower and i only seen it done by a handful of people

I know a guy that does DWC only, using photo plants, he pulls an average of 1.75 to 2lbs per plant and only grows 2 plants. He uses 20 gallon rope totes and a 5 x 5 scrog net for each plant. Also he has been doing it for the better part of 10 years.

Your yield with autos or photos is going to come down to experience and skill set, I remember only pulling 1 to 2 oz a plant when i first started...... I have gotten alot better. Hell i even wasted a whole 10 pack of seeds before because of my noobish ways LOL So that 10 pack = No yield.

 

[Grey Bear]

I encourage my patients to grow autos for several grows in order to
1. Get them up and growing
2. Eliminate the hassle of lighting schedules for total newbies. (I run 24/0) Just getting some people to realize you don't just have to water them whenever it crosses their mind is a chore at times.
3. Give a little variety before a longer and yes larger yielding photo grow.
4. Pinpoint a photostrain they may want to try without quite the same commitment time wise.

 

[itsnineteen84]

Thanks again guys, I've researched this for so long but I kept running into people who hated autos without thinking about WHY photos yield more or WHY autos don't but I'm seeing no biased opinions here.

So, just to try nail this down, a skilled grower can get a high yield from both an auto and photo but the superior genetics of a photo and a longer veg time of ideally 6 weeks will typically lead to way higher yield over an auto. Big yields from photos are a lot more common than from autos for the average grower and seeing those huge yields people like seymour buds get from autos are mostly a lot more unlikely than if a grower as good as seymour was growing a photo?

And the average grower like me, who has only gotten 5oz from one plant since I started growing autos, should expect to beat that yield easier if I switch to photos? I know getting 15oz from one plant in a scrog is Olympic level growing but its where I want to be

I wonder though in another ten years when autoflower genetics start to reach where photos are today will they produce substantially more than photos directly because of the extra light during flower.