S.E Victoria Indoor/Outdoor Super Auto

[missrachael]

Hey all, hope you're all well & happy. Outdoor grower for a few years and love my big gals but have just ordered a few Auto/Super Auto seeds.....cant wait to have a play with these little miracles. I plan to start off inside (never grown indoors before) 4 - 6 weeks and then outside. Would love to hear your experiences and thoughts, good or bad with Autos, especially outdoors in Vic? Peace to all.

[crow]

Jinx!  I've purchased a couple of Autos to do exactly the same thing this year [in Vic as well].  I've chosen Big Buddha Super Automatic Sativa and Short Stuff's Auto Assassin [both feminised].

 

Last year I got an early outdoor harvest by covering my plants to manipulate the light hours but it was a pain in the butt.  Also, my daughter is now getting to an age where she'll wonder what the heck I'm up to darting into the bushes morning and night to uncover and cover the plants!

 

It's my understanding that autos are better not transplanted so I plan to start them off directly in the ground around late November and hope for a nice early harvest around January to February [both strains are supposed to be around 8 to 10 weeks start to finish].   I figured if I plant approx 1 month before the summer solstice I'll maximise the number of light hours available to the plants.

 

Good luck with them and look forward to seeing your results.  Out of interest, what strains have you ordered and did you go with fems or regulars?  What sort of set up do you intend putting them in indoors?

[budsmang]

Hey mate, not from vic but had some good fun with a similar setup last year. As crowsange say autos don't like being transplanted so I started them in big pots. After 25 days some went into the ground do and some stayed in the pots. The ones in the pots definitely did a little better but as long as your super careful transplanting should be fine.

 

If you can afford it I find coco is the best for autos.

 

Good luck!

[missrachael]

Hey guys....thanks for your replies. Had planned to start and finish the autos in pots for the same reason. Thinking my seeds should arrive anyday now, plan to pop half a dozen directly into good soil and then bung them into a large, easily ventilated cupboard. Any suggestions about warmth sources? An old light bulb maybe or heat pad? A simple grow light once they're up? Read about making them individual humidity domes using halved plastic soft drink bottles which sounds like a plan. I've ordered Short Rider, Bubblelicious and Northern Lights all Nirvana.....20% discount won me over but after more reading and your recommendation want to order another half a dozen. Excited about getting all my gals in actually, both big and small......yeah fems all the way for me. You? Hey crowsange if you're from my part of Vic then your hard work was well worth it.Days and days and days of unrelenting rain with no wind either. Oh my lord what a nightmare it twas. Oh well onwards and upwards.

[missrachael]

Although have just read that seedlings in small containers grow faster during the first couple of weeks.....all to do with roots loving oxygen. Tomorrows research. Tired. Bed.

[budsmang]

I start all directly in Rockwool that I have left in ph 5.3 water to soak over night. Chuck em in a Chinese food container, glad wrap it up and the leave it on top of my grow light. Once I can see the tap root poking out the bottom of the Rockwool they go straight into the final pot. In my experience Autos tend to grow big long tap roots so I have them in 11L deep square pots. Anything above 8L should be fine.

What soil are you going to use?

Edited August 26, 2014 by budsmang

[Frank Reynolds]

I'd love to see one of these taproots Carrot'shave taproots mate, most veggies or most plants for that matter don't

[choofy]

I plan to start them off directly in the ground around late November 

 

I like your timing ange

 

my 2c to this convo…..planting in ground too early (when ground is cold) = no growth during veg & a final yield of 1/2 jbag tops

 

and Jan is our best month for growth + its the driest….good to have plants established so they have a bit of water tolerance to them and can cash in on all that sun

 

   late Nov sounds like a good fit

Edited August 27, 2014 by choofy

[missrachael]

Absolutely......way too cold outside overnight for the next 6 weeks or so, especially down our way. Reckon I'll plant another batch in November and in January too just for comparison sake. My regular big gals always start off in the greenhouse, usually during the first half of September and the autos will be inside for at least 6 weeks probably.......although to save me setting up a light (the whole indoor thing is so foreign to me) perhaps a greenhouse & heat mats combo would work? Our soil is lovely loam enriched with horse & pigeon poo and we're nestled in the hills near the coast. Love the whole growing process and am really looking forward to my auto adventure. Awesome to hear from you guys, thanks.

Edited August 27, 2014 by missrachael

[crow]

Hi again,

 

Buzzo, who's a bit of an auto expert, posted the following a while back...

 

 

Most Auto growers who are serious about it, are cupboard growers...They are not particularly well suited to outdoor grows.

 

I could go on....But I see this growing style a lot these days....People chucking in Auto's with there outdoors grows to see how they perform.

And wonder why the results are shitty..

 

IT'S EXTREMELY IMPORTANT TO HAVE EVERYTHING PERFECT IN THE FIRST 2 TO 3 WEEKS or your results will be pathetic to say the least.

 

1. They must be Fed from day one

2. They must have plenty of light from day one.

3. They must have a very unrestricted growing medium.

 

They will not perform in Soil very well at ALL.