9 Autoflower breeding tips for beginners:

by May 8, 2019The Science of Growing0 comments

Autoflowering weed plants are fantastic weed plants to use for both indoor and outdoor growing. They grow explosively fast and flower completely by themselves. Because of the ease of growing, they are usually highly recommended to growers. So here is some autoflower breeding advice we have learned as beginners.

Autoflowering weed species flower automatically and therefore have a shorter life cycle. If you sow them outside at the right time, the buds can mature beautifully, and you can produce large healthy yields during harvest time. There is a multitude of autoflowering varieties that seems to grow every year since seed companies respond to the growing demand for the easy-to-grow weed plants.

Although anyone with autoflowers can easily grow good weed outside, they are also especially recommended for beginner outdoor growers. This blog post will cover our top 9 tips for successfully growing auto flowering weed plants. Hopefully, these tips can help anyone who is going to grow autoflowers for the first time.

Tip 1. Do not sow autoflowers too early

With the outside weed jitters in the head, growers cannot start early enough. After all, the winter has lasted long enough, right? In addition; when you start in March and keep your seedlings for a few weeks you will have a nice head start, right? This is typically the case but does not apply to autoflowers.

Because autoflowers have a fixed lifespan of about 1-3 months, you don’t benefit anything by having them grow underneath an energy-saving lamp inside. June, July and August are the hottest and sunniest months of the year so make sure your autoflowers last for those months. For best results, you should only germinate autoflower seeds after Ice Saving (mid-May) and no later than the end of May.

Tip 2. Autoflowers Germination

Germinating autoflower weed seeds is no different from other weed seeds. But because autoflowers are short-lived, it is especially important that everything goes smoothly. The sooner the seeds come out, the sooner they can start growing. Therefore always germinate autoflower weed seeds according to the 100% successful method. Then it cannot go wrong in the first place and your autoflower also gets a flying start.

Tip 3. Repot Immediately

After a day or two, possibly three, your autoflower seeds will have a little sprout. It is important to sow them as quickly as possible because as long as the bud is not in the ground, it lives on its reserves. Plant your autoflower seed directly in the pot in which you want it to bloom, or in the open ground of your garden. Otherwise, you have to repot it all the time and your autoflower simply has no time for that. And remember: the bigger the pot, the bigger the plant can become.

Tip 4. Airy earth

Always try to use a richly fertilized soil and aerate it with coconut and perlite.

Due to the short-lived life of an autoflower, it is important that autoflowers grow as quickly as possible. Airy mediums such as rock wool and coconut are ideal for this type of quick growth, they ensure little resistance and a lot of oxygen for the roots. Unfortunately, these mediums alone are not always suitable for laymen or beginners. Getting mixtures and combinations correct is definitely an art but one that has multiple successful end products. Use a richly fertilized potting compost and add some coconut fiber and or perlite. The earth should contain enough plant food until the arrival of the first buds, while the coconut and perlite make the earth nice and airy.

Tip 5. Organic Flowering Food

When discussing weed plant nutrition, pH values ​​and EC measurements it is easy to get lost in the science of it all. That is why we recommend richly fertilized soil. As long as your soil is rich in nutrient or compost your autoflowering seed should have enough food until the flowering phase begins. In the flowering phase (from the moment you see flowering hairs) use a good organic flowering food and stick to the quantities outlined on the bottle. As long as you only use pure organic food you do not have to rinse the plant as much prior to harvesting.

Tip 6. Avoid Water Damage

When it comes to watering since autoflowers only live for a short time, you cannot afford any stagnation of growth. You should, therefore, avoid over-watering with autoflowers, and this is particularly difficult at the beginning – when the plants are still small and the pots are large. The large amount of soil absorbs a lot of water while the still small autoflower cannot drink it.

The end result being is a plant that becomes too wet, causing the growth of the seedling to stagnate. In the beginning, only give a small amount of water to a small autoflower and make sure that the plant does not get too wet. Some times using a spray bottle to water can help mist the plant as well. Because of this, you may have to keep a closer eye on the autoflower in the beginning and water it more often with smaller amounts.

Tip 7. Train Autoflowers Without Stress

It is becoming a bit of a mantra, but autoflowers have a short life and cannot afford to stand still for the best results. It is generally said that it is better not to top autoflowers, but there are growers who have done this with great success.

Instead, you can train your autoflower without stress. Stress-free training incorporates all techniques where you do not cut, damage, or prune anything. Instead for example, with stress free training you can tie the branches of your autoflower to help support the leaves to maximize sunlight.

Tip 8. Grow Four

Although autoflower weed plants can now also become quite large, most varieties will never grow into plants larger than 2 meters in height. Most autoflower weed species grow around a meter or so high. So we have found if you grow 4 plants you can yield anywhere from 1/2-1 full ounce come harvest time.

Tip 9. Watch Out for Aphids (and Ants)

With autoflowering weed plants you completely avoid the typical outdoor growing problems of the autumn. Simply because autoflowers bloom in August and are therefore already drying up when autumn comes.

But the warm flowering months of July and August have their own problems. Aphids, in particular, can be a real nuisance for flowering autoflowers. You can try to fight the annoying critters but you better prevent them from ending up on your autoflower. Therefore pay attention to where you place your autoflower weed plants and try to steer clear of ant nests. Ants like to milk aphids because of a sweet viscous substance that they excrete. In exchange, they carry the insects into your weed plants. So if you see an ant nest, remove your weed plants immediately. You can fight an ant’s nest easily using boiling water.

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