I have been thinking about doing this write up for a long time. I want to share with all of you the most important things I learned on not only my first grow… But rather my first 3 grows… It is important to remember first and foremost… You never know it all! You will continue to learn and grow every time you sow a seed!
I am no expert! I don’t claim to be! I’m just wanting to share important knowledge that new growers should know about Autos! ***This is also geared for starting in soil or lightly ferted soil. Not geared for the soil-less or hydro grower***
My goal is to keep this as general as possible… I’m not going to get into every single detail that I do… These are UNIVERSAL guidelines that are tried and true. Most of the information I’m going to share here can be found all over AFN but I wanted to put as much here so that New Growers can come here and know what Autos need to be successful.
First I’d like to stress… BE SMART BEFORE YOU START!! Know your grow area/tent… What you are going to choose as your way of growing… EX: Soil, Soil-less, Hydro, DWC, Hempy Buckets, etc… What Lighting you are going to use… HID’s, LED’s, Flouros, ect… and RESEARCH! Before you go out and spend 100’s of Dollars on lights, beans, & Nutes, etc… Know exactly what you want to do and get your 100% effort on focusing on what your growing priorities are. Maximize your space and figure out what works for YOU and YOUR setup & area… Whatever you choose, lights, nutes, soil, etc… There is always an expert in it here on AFN and you can PM them anytime or start your own thread and ask for help! There’s always someone here that will steer you in the right direction. But, you have to have a goal first and know what you want to do. You can’t expect someone to DESIGN a setup for you. Shoot! That’s HALF the fun! Designing and maintaining your own grow area!
Second… Choosing a strain. I don’t recommend (and I think most Master Growers would agree with me) the more difficult strains such as Hazes… You want to pick something first that appeals to YOU and your likes. There’s a strain for everyone out there! If you see a strain that makes you drool or you can just taste by looking at it LOL chances are you are going to love smoking it! So find a strain that is easy to grow for beginners and something that just tantalizes your MJ Senses!!! You can honestly be seduced by a strain… Believe me! I have! LOL Every seed bank site has a degree of difficulty to grow in the strain description… Make sure you know you can handle it!
Most important! AUTOS ARE NOT PHOTOS!!! You cannot go into an Auto Grow the same way you would approach a Photo grow. I don’t care if you’ve been growing for 50 years and are the King Kong of Growers… You cannot do it the same way and be successful! It’s just that simple. So understand that the first time you grow and Auto you are a NOOB! LOL Period! Accept it and get ready for a ride!
The most important difference to know between Autos and Photos is Autos don’t go by the light cycle! They go by their respective age and not the light cycle. So you don’t have room for error! The first few hours, days, and weeks of life are so vital to an auto! They don’t have the recovery time Photos do let’s say if you burn them or your pH is off. Once you make a mistake with an Auto the deed is done and there’s no turning back or fixing it. SO you want to have the BEST start possible. And I know you’re saying to yourself (O.K. Smartie… So how do you get the best start?) NO NUTES UNTIL THEY SHOW SEX!! I’ll say it again! NO NUTES UNTIL THEY SHOW SEX!!! Watch how much you water and once they show sex start off feeding at ¼ of the recommended dose and GRADUALLY work up until the final 2 weeks of flushing… Don’t have a goal to go full throttle with nutes from the very beginning or you will fail horribly. That I can guarantee!! Very rarely do I ever get to go full dose nutes with my Autos.
If you want to “feed” your seedlings I suggest you pick up some Myco Powder! I’ve used Humboldt Nutrients Myco Madness and now I use Plant Success’s Great White. YOU WILL NOTICE THE DI
ERENCE!! Myco is essential to root development and root development occurs at the crucial time when you don’t want to make any errors and stunt your plants! Myco is an Inoculant. They are tiny spores that are activated once water hits them so they are not nutrients and will not burn your plants. But too much of a good thing will always be bad so ALWAYS follow the dosage instructions for your particular product!
As you may or may not be aware, transplanting will cause stress to your plant. Since we don’t want stress at all with Autos you want to either go directly to the final grow pot from the beginning (If it’s Fem Beans) or the only other way I would recommend is Tier Transplanting. FullDuplex, a mod here on the form, came up with a great way to transplant with out stress! So if you want to pull males and keep female I suggest tiering. What I do precisely is a bit different than FD’s with a twist that ThaiBuddhaMan added.
I take my cup of choice, cut the bottom off of it. Slip an uncut cup over it. Fill it up with my medium and plant my sprout. Then once they pop out and the leaves reach the ends of the cup you take the uncut cup off the cut one and place it in the final pot! How easy is THAT!? OH! And don’t forget to add a bed of Myco to those roots for maximum performance!! J
Whatever nutrients you are using I generally recommend this. Give them Veg, Bloom, Cal/Mag, & K from the time they show sex. Since they are flowering you want the P-K there but since they are still growing vertically you want to keep giving them Veg Nutes until they stop growing vertically. Then cut out the Veg nutes all together. Then continue your other nutes until your final flush.
I think this about covers it. Again, these are just things that I learned from mistakes and experience. Most importantly from better growers than I. So, if a Master comes through this or anyone for that matter that thinks I’m wrong or I’m giving false or erroneous information than please say so! My purpose is to guide a bit so some new growers can avoid the mistakes I’ve made… I will add to this as I remember additional important information or discover some thing new! Or as members come through here and add things I don't know! Please do my fellow AFNers!!
Remember, here on AFN you are never on your own growing… Growing for the first time can be a bit nerve wracking. We’re all here to help!
HAPPY GROWING!!! :smoke:
:smokebuds:
EDIT: Thanks TBM for the additional important information I missed. I don't know anything about Hydro... I should have made that more clear! I appreciate the additional help!!
I am no expert! I don’t claim to be! I’m just wanting to share important knowledge that new growers should know about Autos! ***This is also geared for starting in soil or lightly ferted soil. Not geared for the soil-less or hydro grower***
My goal is to keep this as general as possible… I’m not going to get into every single detail that I do… These are UNIVERSAL guidelines that are tried and true. Most of the information I’m going to share here can be found all over AFN but I wanted to put as much here so that New Growers can come here and know what Autos need to be successful.
First I’d like to stress… BE SMART BEFORE YOU START!! Know your grow area/tent… What you are going to choose as your way of growing… EX: Soil, Soil-less, Hydro, DWC, Hempy Buckets, etc… What Lighting you are going to use… HID’s, LED’s, Flouros, ect… and RESEARCH! Before you go out and spend 100’s of Dollars on lights, beans, & Nutes, etc… Know exactly what you want to do and get your 100% effort on focusing on what your growing priorities are. Maximize your space and figure out what works for YOU and YOUR setup & area… Whatever you choose, lights, nutes, soil, etc… There is always an expert in it here on AFN and you can PM them anytime or start your own thread and ask for help! There’s always someone here that will steer you in the right direction. But, you have to have a goal first and know what you want to do. You can’t expect someone to DESIGN a setup for you. Shoot! That’s HALF the fun! Designing and maintaining your own grow area!
Second… Choosing a strain. I don’t recommend (and I think most Master Growers would agree with me) the more difficult strains such as Hazes… You want to pick something first that appeals to YOU and your likes. There’s a strain for everyone out there! If you see a strain that makes you drool or you can just taste by looking at it LOL chances are you are going to love smoking it! So find a strain that is easy to grow for beginners and something that just tantalizes your MJ Senses!!! You can honestly be seduced by a strain… Believe me! I have! LOL Every seed bank site has a degree of difficulty to grow in the strain description… Make sure you know you can handle it!
Most important! AUTOS ARE NOT PHOTOS!!! You cannot go into an Auto Grow the same way you would approach a Photo grow. I don’t care if you’ve been growing for 50 years and are the King Kong of Growers… You cannot do it the same way and be successful! It’s just that simple. So understand that the first time you grow and Auto you are a NOOB! LOL Period! Accept it and get ready for a ride!
The most important difference to know between Autos and Photos is Autos don’t go by the light cycle! They go by their respective age and not the light cycle. So you don’t have room for error! The first few hours, days, and weeks of life are so vital to an auto! They don’t have the recovery time Photos do let’s say if you burn them or your pH is off. Once you make a mistake with an Auto the deed is done and there’s no turning back or fixing it. SO you want to have the BEST start possible. And I know you’re saying to yourself (O.K. Smartie… So how do you get the best start?) NO NUTES UNTIL THEY SHOW SEX!! I’ll say it again! NO NUTES UNTIL THEY SHOW SEX!!! Watch how much you water and once they show sex start off feeding at ¼ of the recommended dose and GRADUALLY work up until the final 2 weeks of flushing… Don’t have a goal to go full throttle with nutes from the very beginning or you will fail horribly. That I can guarantee!! Very rarely do I ever get to go full dose nutes with my Autos.
If you want to “feed” your seedlings I suggest you pick up some Myco Powder! I’ve used Humboldt Nutrients Myco Madness and now I use Plant Success’s Great White. YOU WILL NOTICE THE DI
ERENCE!! Myco is essential to root development and root development occurs at the crucial time when you don’t want to make any errors and stunt your plants! Myco is an Inoculant. They are tiny spores that are activated once water hits them so they are not nutrients and will not burn your plants. But too much of a good thing will always be bad so ALWAYS follow the dosage instructions for your particular product!As you may or may not be aware, transplanting will cause stress to your plant. Since we don’t want stress at all with Autos you want to either go directly to the final grow pot from the beginning (If it’s Fem Beans) or the only other way I would recommend is Tier Transplanting. FullDuplex, a mod here on the form, came up with a great way to transplant with out stress! So if you want to pull males and keep female I suggest tiering. What I do precisely is a bit different than FD’s with a twist that ThaiBuddhaMan added.
I take my cup of choice, cut the bottom off of it. Slip an uncut cup over it. Fill it up with my medium and plant my sprout. Then once they pop out and the leaves reach the ends of the cup you take the uncut cup off the cut one and place it in the final pot! How easy is THAT!? OH! And don’t forget to add a bed of Myco to those roots for maximum performance!! J
Whatever nutrients you are using I generally recommend this. Give them Veg, Bloom, Cal/Mag, & K from the time they show sex. Since they are flowering you want the P-K there but since they are still growing vertically you want to keep giving them Veg Nutes until they stop growing vertically. Then cut out the Veg nutes all together. Then continue your other nutes until your final flush.
I think this about covers it. Again, these are just things that I learned from mistakes and experience. Most importantly from better growers than I. So, if a Master comes through this or anyone for that matter that thinks I’m wrong or I’m giving false or erroneous information than please say so! My purpose is to guide a bit so some new growers can avoid the mistakes I’ve made… I will add to this as I remember additional important information or discover some thing new! Or as members come through here and add things I don't know! Please do my fellow AFNers!!
Remember, here on AFN you are never on your own growing… Growing for the first time can be a bit nerve wracking. We’re all here to help!
HAPPY GROWING!!! :smoke:
:smokebuds:
EDIT: Thanks TBM for the additional important information I missed. I don't know anything about Hydro... I should have made that more clear! I appreciate the additional help!!
Last edited:
Thanks for the +rep!! 
