Too late to start autoflower plants in greenhouse?

[johnybologna]

Almost ready to harvest! Considering getting some seeds to try another grow, but I'm not sure if I'm too late or not.
I'm in a mediterrannean climate, soil is basically pure compost, grow in a greenhouse. I was thinking about getting autoflowers, so they would grow and flower pretty quickly, but on the website where I buy seeds the only option under harvesting time is 'May to August'. Should I not get autoflowers? In the general menu there is a 'end of November option', but I'm not sure if this is meant for earlier planters. I guess my yield will be lower than a summer harvest, but will it be too low to be worth it? Any advice is more than welcome!

 

[TorturedSoul]

How cold will it be in your greenhouse in three months?

 

[Blew Hiller]

Almost ready to harvest! Considering getting some seeds to try another grow, but I'm not sure if I'm too late or not.
I'm in a mediterrannean climate, soil is basically pure compost, grow in a greenhouse. I was thinking about getting autoflowers, so they would grow and flower pretty quickly, but on the website where I buy seeds the only option under harvesting time is 'May to August'. Should I not get autoflowers? In the general menu there is a 'end of November option', but I'm not sure if this is meant for earlier planters. I guess my yield will be lower than a summer harvest, but will it be too low to be worth it? Any advice is more than welcome!

What are you projected sunlight hrs/day and max min temps for the next 3 months? No reason you couldn't plant autos anytime if the temps are suitable, but note that many pics of autos (harvested) will be where the plant got 18-24 hours of light per day. Even with 15 hours of sunlight, the actual received by the plant is around 13, so your yield outdoors (for autos) will generally be lower than under indoor lighting. Upside is sunlight is free

 

[johnybologna]

Low and high outdoor temperatures for my city (according to a Google search, so not sure about the accuracy) and hours of sunshine (per day) and sunlight (the 15th of each month) for
September: 18- 27C 9.3 12.2
October: 15- 23C 7 11
November: 12- 18C 6.3 10
December: 11- 15C 5.5 9.5

First year that I live here, so can't say how warm it'll be inside of the greenhouse.
We tend to have a lot of sunshine most of the days, until it starts raining somewhere in fall. Then it's clouded for days on end, followed by a couple of days of sunshine, followed by a week of rain...

 

[flashmp3]

What are you projected sunlight hrs/day and max min temps for the next 3 months? No reason you couldn't plant autos anytime if the temps are suitable, but note that many pics of autos (harvested) will be where the plant got 18-24 hours of light per day. Even with 15 hours of sunlight, the actual received by the plant is around 13, so your yield outdoors (for autos) will generally be lower than under indoor lighting. Upside is sunlight is free

Check my current journal. I have grown 2 green crack auto and one amnesia XXL auto under only 8 hours of direct light and my plants couldn't be bigger. I had read several times autos needed at least 12 hours of direct light and more to thrive. I don't believe that anymore as I could see myself what happens in real life. I think many websites repeat the same incomplete information or maybe old. I think you can't grow a good size plant under 8 hours in soil + plastic pot. But this is definitely more than possible with coco + fabric pot. Check the last pages of my journal. I never managed to grow such big plants indoor

 

[johnybologna]

Check my current journal. I have grown 2 green crack auto and one amnesia XXL auto under only 8 hours of direct light and my plants couldn't be bigger. I had read several times autos needed at least 12 hours of direct light and more to thrive. I don't believe that anymore as I could see myself what happens in real life. I think many websites repeat the same incomplete information or maybe old. I think you can't grow a good size plant under 8 hours in soil + plastic pot. But this is definitely more than possible with coco + fabric pot. Check the last pages of my journal. I never managed to grow such big plants indoor

Great to hear! I'm growing in open soil. I'll start them as soon as possible

 

[flashmp3]

Great to hear! I'm growing in open soil. I'll start them as soon as possible

Green crack auto outdoor

• flashmp3
• Aug 15, 2019

PicsArt_08-08-03.39.06.jpg

• flashmp3
• Aug 8, 2019

This is the indoor one :

image00010.jpeg

• flashmp3
• Aug 8, 2019

And the big monster

Amnesia XXL Auto day 80

• flashmp3
• Aug 4, 2019

Amnesia XXL auto day 81

• flashmp3
• Aug 5, 2019

Amnesia XXL Auto day 80

• flashmp3
• Aug 4, 2019

I first thought I would try outdoor plants along with my indoor grow as I had started more seeds than needed they received their first week of like indoor under 20/4 then only two remained indoor. I thought even 1 or per plant would be great. Finally I quickly discovered 8 hours of direct outdoor sunlight( weather has been pretty sunny with maybe one week of rain during the entire grow) were giving way better results than indoor 20/4 under more than 600 watts of new gen led (true wattage)

Edit : I think the coco plays a big role. I started to grow with soil and plastic pots. Then I moved on coco. Man the plants were growing way faster and healthier! Then the fabric pots added a bit of speed and health as they can't be overwatered in that setup and the roots seem to thrive. I don't think I would have got half of this with soil.

 

[TorturedSoul]

I'm not up to trying to do a quote/edit on the phone, so:

I agree with flashmp3. Eight hours of light per day is enough to take a plant to harvest. As to whether you'll be happy with that harvest, lol... How much light-energy the plant receives per day is going to be the determining factor. Now there's a maximum that a plant can process at any one point in time. In other words, you can't blast it with the light from three suns for ⅓ the number of hours per day that another plant would receive under our one sun and expect the plants to be comparable in size at harvest time, lol. But that's probably not germane to the topic at hand.

Your main concern will be minimum daily temperature. Ruderalis is real-time hardy, but I wouldn't assume that trait would be passed along and down through the generations (although I suppose it could be, like any other trait). 11°C is 51.8°F, and that's pretty low, IMHO. I'd try to get some heat in there if at all possible. Supplemental lighting wouldn't hurt, but keeping them warm would be the priority.

 

[flashmp3]

I'm not up to trying to do a quote/edit on the phone, so:

I agree with flashmp3. Eight hours of light per day is enough to take a plant to harvest. As to whether you'll be happy with that harvest, lol... How much light-energy the plant receives per day is going to be the determining factor. Now there's a maximum that a plant can process at any one point in time. In other words, you can't blast it with the light from three suns for ⅓ the number of hours per day that another plant would receive under our one sun and expect the plants to be comparable in size at harvest time, lol. But that's probably not germane to the topic at hand.

Your main concern will be minimum daily temperature. Ruderalis is real-time hardy, but I wouldn't assume that trait would be passed along and down through the generations (although I suppose it could be, like any other trait). 11°C is 51.8°F, and that's pretty low, IMHO. I'd try to get some heat in there if at all possible. Supplemental lighting wouldn't hurt, but keeping them warm would be the priority.

My outdoor green crack will both yield more than the indoors ones... Buds developed also bigger outdoor. Bigger plants, healthier. 8 hours direct sunlight. But the temps and RH have been amazing with temps around 72F-95F and weather mostly sunny everyday except one week total of raining days. Again I advice people to try coco and fabric pot (I used 3gal following advises of @Asesino85 which proved by its results that 3gal gave better results than 5gal for medium size plants). They are night and day vs plastic with soil. Plants grow faster. And again I was the first to be surprised by how well 3 plants with 2 different strains developed so well with only 8 hours of direct sunlight. Again I repeat the indoor ones under 20/4 never did that well. So I think most of the people saying autos need more than 12 hours outdoor use soil in plastic containers or are just repeating things they read on internet without never trying themselves. I m not pointing anyone, I just really want to share cause this can help growers try outdoor even if they don't have maximum direct sunlight and still have huge harvests. My amnesia is drying currently but looking at the size of the buds and quantity I don't see how she could have produced more...

 

[flashmp3]

However if the strains don't like cold it won't help things as mentioned by @TorturedSoul

 

[Blew Hiller]

Low and high outdoor temperatures for my city (according to a Google search, so not sure about the accuracy) and hours of sunshine (per day) and sunlight (the 15th of each month) for
September: 18- 27C 9.3 12.2
October: 15- 23C 7 11
November: 12- 18C 6.3 10
December: 11- 15C 5.5 9.5

First year that I live here, so can't say how warm it'll be inside of the greenhouse.
We tend to have a lot of sunshine most of the days, until it starts raining somewhere in fall. Then it's clouded for days on end, followed by a couple of days of sunshine, followed by a week of rain...

You can safely add 10 degrees to all of those min temps so you should be good. Be sure to vent properly because the heat can do more damage than than the cold (I've had my plants comfortably down to 9C in the GH).

 

[Blew Hiller]

So I think most of the people saying autos need more than 12 hours outdoor use soil in plastic containers or are just repeating things they read on internet without never trying themselves.

I grow in soil (water only) and fabric pots and I had a 2018 summer grow with 6 different stains of autos...some did better than others, both in size and bud development. They were in the direct sun, in a GH, during the longest daylight hours for my location. While some were bigger plants than my indoor autos, none had better bud development...by a significant margin...so much I didn't even grow any autos this summer.

I will consider running autos under less light this winter to see if there is any appreciable difference from last winters 18/6.

group 4x4

• Blew Hiller
• Feb 7, 2019

Blew Hiller Winter Grow 2019

Kush auto

• Blew Hiller
• Feb 14, 2019
• 4

Blew Hiller Winter Grow 2019

NLxBB

• Blew Hiller
• Feb 14, 2019

Blew Hiller Winter Grow 2019

 

[flashmp3]

I grow in soil (water only) and fabric pots and I had a 2018 summer grow with 6 different stains of autos...some did better than others, both in size and bud development. They were in the direct sun, in a GH, during the longest daylight hours for my location. While some were bigger plants than my indoor autos, none had better bud development by a significant margin...so much I didn't even grow any autos this summer.

I will consider running autos under less light this winter to see if there is any appreciable difference from last winters 18/6.

group 4x4

• Blew Hiller
• Feb 7, 2019

Blew Hiller Winter Grow 2019

Kush auto

• Blew Hiller
• Feb 14, 2019
• 4

Blew Hiller Winter Grow 2019

NLxBB

• Blew Hiller
• Feb 14, 2019

Blew Hiller Winter Grow 2019

I have always loved to watch your plants pictures. This summer I was surprised not to see your usual summer grow. If I was thinking who grows outise here your name would come first in my mind. I know you know autos and outdoor growing. Next run try coco with 3 or 5 gal fabric pots. Coco really makes things go faster so autos can develop faster. I also used roots boosters. The entire advanced nutrients line. It also helped taking advantage of those little 8 hours of light at their best

 

[Blew Hiller]

I have always loved to watch your plants pictures.

This summer I was surprised not to see your usual summer grow.

Still figuring our what works for me...I am pleased so far this summer

Next run try coco with 3 or 5 gal fabric pots. Coco really makes things go faster so autos can develop faster. I also used roots boosters. The entire advanced nutrients line.

I am too lazy and cheap to do the whole nutrients thing

 

[TorturedSoul]

Flash: I'd expect a plant grown in coco coir to have the potential to grow larger than one grown in soil, if the gardener treated the former as a hydroponic medium. That's assuming clones from the same mother; with autos, that's not feasible, so I wouldn't really care to guess which would end up becoming larger (too many variables and all that).

Generally speaking, if you cannot imagine a cannabis plant getting bigger, grow it again in a large, well-aerated DWC bucket, lol. For examples of this, have a glance through the Dark Devil Auto community thread and then check Rifleman's perpetual journal thread door information about how his turned out in DWC. I think he just used small reservoirs (five-gallon bucket), too. Or look at some of LEDRF's threads; I think he might have gotten a kilogram off of an auto plant, lol.

Disclaimer: I just woke up after somewhat less than three hours of sleep, so I might be misremembering the amounts, Rifleman's reservoir size, LEDRF's method... or my own name, I suppose.

Blew: Nice looking plants, as usual. Your experience makes me a little regretful that I didn't place some autoflowering plants outside when I had the chance. If I did so now, they could conceivably suffer hard frost (and would almost certainly be the only thing with any chance of still being green, which would just make it too easy for rippers (whether thieves or LEO) to spot. But it might help me next year, assuming I'm still around and still able to get around.

I've got no suggestion regarding laziness, other than hope reincarnation is a thing, maybe . But for "cheap," fire of a dozen or so polite emails to that many nutrient companies, letting them know the brand you currently use (or saw someone use, read about in a journal thread, found information on in a web-search two minutes before composing the emails, etc.) and that you'd be interested in considering {brand}, but have ended up wasting your money in the past on brands that weren't very good - and were wondering if they offered any samples that you might try. You might end up with enough for a full grow, or at least a plant or two.