Autoflowers

Auto flower are ok only if you plan to grow in summer outdoor and don't want to wait for autumn. Photoperiod you have much more control over your plant. Height, flowering time etc. If you want the best of the two world ( speed and control) get a F1 photoperiodic. 6 weeks to end the flowering and you decide when yo switch to 12/12

++ FASTER LIFE CYCLE around 8–12 weeks DISCREET PLANTS Autoflowering cultivars typically reach a height of between 70 and 110 cm SIMPLE LIGHTING REQUIREMENTS 18 hours of daylight and 6 hours of darkness throughout the entire growing cycle. Possibly 20/4 RESISTANT PLANTS Autoflowering plants have strong, powerful, and resistant genetics NO PROBLEMS WITH LIGHT POLLUTION Growing autoflowering varieties means you can be much more relaxed about light pollution. LESS NUTRIENTS REQUIRED Autoflowering strains thrive in less nutritious substrates. Coco coir is ideal for autos. - - LOWER YIELDS The small size and short life cycle of autoflowering strains comes with a trade-off: smaller harvests, IN GENERAL. LIGHTING COSTS You'll save money on nutrients, but you'll likely spend more on lighting. THC LEVELS Some growers are put off by autoflowering strains because of their supposed THC levels. But honestly, with the new genetics developed in recent years, we're getting closer to parity! CLONING IMPOSSIBLE Since clones are exact replicas of the mother plant they come from, they inherit the same age! NO TIME FOR RECOVERY Their short lifespan leaves very little room for recovery from major mistakes, but don't think that they don't respond to LST or even HST: I top mine every session! The best way to form your own opinion is to give it a try. It will only take you a maximum of three months from seed to harvest, and in my opinion, you won't be disappointed! 😉

the psycho-active ingredient is the same. they can produce viable offspring, so they are very much the same plant. The trigger for flower is different. Ruderalis tends to be less potent, though those differences are mostly minimized by now through selective breeding. an autoflower is good outside to avoid a wet season or a cold season. I don't know how, but if providing a dark cycle is somehow impossible, it'd be good for that context too, but seems more lazy than necessary, lol. autoflowers are not faster. They don't magically circumvent the same growth needs/limitations of a photoperiod. Anything an autoflower does (except randomly flip to flower), a photoperiod can do just as well. You can run a photoperiod 12/12 from seed and get the same range of weeks until completion. i'm sure yield can be similar... but the greater inconsistency of autoflower size from varying vege phase length makes maintaining a consistent canopy more difficult, which will impact consistency of yields, too. (in addition to the shared and similar, likely the same, variable nature of bloom length) in the end it won't matter much to anyone that keeps a plant healthy... if not as confident about such things, stick to photoperiods as you have more leeway to fix mistakes in vege phase.

@mouse in fairness it is kinda lame that there isn’t a lobby for general discussion. I feel like with the update GD is doing this would be a good one to add on?

...start a small discussion.... you can't have a good one in the questions part of the site. you can;t even reply to any of the comments. it does not operate like a typical form, no one can reply or quite items just add new lines and shit can get lost in the mix. There are tons of threads like this out there. just need to search for it. Maybe the better place to see contrasting opinions would be on the autoflower network form. or one of the many other big weed forms out there.

Sorry yeah OK photo is a better yield over all..

Yield is usually lower/ that doesn’t mean you can’t get a crazy amount, but on average photos yield more. Other than that, you get a faster seed-to-harvest w/ same or similar potency. I don’t know a person who can tell auto from photo smoke.

With my standart veg for 5-7 weeks , my biggest photo girl indoors is around 250 g/plant, biggest autos - same 250 g, not once and from different breaders. Electricity is a point, reduced control is very important point, but generally outcome will be close if everything goes well. I grow in soil, from seed, organically as i can, maybe other styles opens more benefits to one or other type of grow.

If you can't support a photo(light control etc..) then an auto is for you. If you don't want to spend loads on electric then photos are best. If you want to make life hardwork then autos will do that for you. Having no way to control veg/flower there's no room for error or you loose out. As for strength and flavour. I think they are the same. Grew Brain-damage auto the other year probably the strongest bud ever smoked...