Autoflowering by Dreadybob for Weed World

Welcome all to this special issue of Weed World. For this issue, I am going to talk to you all about autoflowering plants. In May I was lucky enough to go to Spain and see some auto flowering plants for myself, thanks to Dinafem. They allowed me in to one of their seed rooms to see for myself their latest creation The Haze Automatic. Now, I was totally against feminised seeds to begin with and to be honest, still am. They are genetically bad and they are far from organic in the way they are produced. But some people are lazy and prefer them for ease of use and at present the market for seeds seems to be geared towards laziness. And then they bring out feminised automatic flowering varieties!!?? What am I supposed to make of that? Ha ha!! Well, with feminised seeds explained in another review within this magazine, I will stick to the auto flowering side of things and try to explain their uses, benefits and drawbacks.
First of all, let me explain autoflowering and how it has become possible.. Autoflowering comes from extensive crossing and breeding of either of the two main types (genus) of the cannabis plant with a sub variety called Ruderalis. Both Indica and Sativa or a mix of both can be crossed with the Sativa sub variety called Ruderalis. The Ruderalis variety differs slightly from the usual types of cannabis. By this I mean that it is not photosensitive to light periods or it is a photoperiod-independent plant. Or to put it quite simply, the Ruderalis variety is not governed by the same rules of light periods as the usual types are. It is known as a day-neutral plant whereas all other Cannabis varieties are known as short day plants. This refers to the length of night and day the plant is getting as to when it initiates the flowering period (it actually initiates due to total darkness hours rather than light hours). 12 hours on and 12 hours off is known as a short day. Ruderalis varieties and any crosses that successfully utilise the genetics of the Ruderalis varieties flower depending on time or age of the plant and work best on longer periods of light to achieve best results.
Ruderalis strains are said to have originated in Russia and the surrounding countries and were recognised as a subspecies of the Cannabis Sativa family. It was a term used to describe the varieties of Cannabis that had escaped cultivation and adapted to the surrounding region. Wild or feral strains that grew short but adapted well to the low light conditions and short summer periods, needed to finish quickly to enable reproduction and survival for the following year. It’s these particular traits that make the Ruderalis perfect for breeding into and using them to create the auto flowering strains we see today. They are also very resilient to pests and changes in temperature and disease which is another bonus for new genetics. So for years we have all looked upon the Ruderalis as being weak and pointless but now we understand its benefits towards making quicker more robust plants that can be grown practically anywhere with very little skill required. I don’t know how true it is that Ruderalis strains came only from Russia as you would expect wild strains to have made it to most corners of the northern hemisphere and adapted to its environment by now.
So the term auto flowering describes a plant that will start to flower at a particular time rather than the shortening of the light cycle. In effect, you can from seed to finish of flowering, be done in 8 – 10 weeks depending on the variety used. Now that is amazing if you want quick results or to fill a large outdoor area quickly. But the amounts produced outside can be greatly reduced unless you have longer periods of daylight in your area. I find that automatics work best in indoor rooms with a continuous light cycle of 20/4 or 20 hours on and 4 fours off. I know this sounds crazy but trust me, they like it. In fact, if you are just thinking about growing automatic strains, you can totally get rid of the need for two rooms for growing. You will not need a veg and flower room, just a single room on 20/4 or if you choose to keep your regulars and normal feminised strains, you could keep the flower and veg rooms but have some automatics flowering in your veg room all year round. How incredibly versatile!! This type of plant will flower in every situation you put it in pretty much. To offset the increase in power consumption for going on to a 20/4 light cycle, you could decrease the amount of lights you have in the room or drop from using 600watt lights to 400watt lights without any disruption to the plants and their production. In fact, in Spain, in all the rooms, 400watt lights was all I saw. It meant you could have more lights with less heat and spread the light better than if you were running on 600watts all over.
Now, when I went to see Dinafem and knew I was going to see some automatics in flower for seed production, I instantly drew a picture in my mind of a room full of 1 foot tall plants with barely any room for any large flowering points on. So really, expecting a half ounce max per plant, I was totally shocked when I entered the room to find 4 foot tall plants with lots of bud on!! Bear in mind that these Haze Automatics take just 75 – 80 days to fully mature from seed. It was at about day 65 when I was there and they were all looking really tasty to me. The smell was amazing too. It smelt very hazy indeed and brought a smile to my face to smell such nice smells coming from an automatic strain. Although my opinion on these genetically faulty plants still stands the same. I have to say, I was still impressed with what I was seeing. They have done bad things to the plant to get to this point, but all for good intentions if that is possible and allowed to be said..
The bud shots in this review are obviously full of seed as this particular room is for the production of the Haze Automatic itself, so I was very lucky to be able to stand in a seed production room and see for myself what it’s all about. Also, to be standing amongst a new strain that is only just ready to be released was an amazing feeling too.
Most auto flowering strains take between 60 – 70 days to fully mature from seed with the Haze Automatic taking slightly longer at 75 – 80 days due to its Sativa genetics being quite predominant. The Haze used has kept its pungent aroma, taste and high which makes this automatic my personal favourite automatic at the moment. (Again, only if I have to make that choice lol!! But it is actually very good).
As I mentioned earlier, automatics will work outside but the yield will be greatly reduced from what you can expect by growing them indoors under proper light conditions. This does not mean they will do badly outside. It’s just that they don’t always get so tall unless weather conditions are perfect for the whole veg stage. I say veg stage, automatics don’t really have such a thing. The first two weeks from germination onwards can be referred to as the veg stage but they start to flower pretty quickly so you have to hope they have grown perfectly to obtain good yields outside. I recommend trying them inside and I think you will all be surprised at the results you get.
Also, as there is very little veg stage with an automatic, there is absolutely no way you can try to mother the plant and produce cuttings.. This is just not possible in the time given as the plant will just start flowering and any cuttings taken would end up as bonsai bushes with a 1 gram max on each!! It can only be stored as a seed and then more seeds can be made from pollinating each next generation with selected feminised pollen. It means that you must buy more each time you wish to grow them but to be honest they are affordable for what you will save from not buying you medicine elsewhere.
I think auto flowering strains will appeal to most growers in most situations.. I myself have a few automatics in my veg room now. Just because I think it’s cool that you can be flowering in the veg room whilst waiting for your main med supply in the flower room. I never thought there would come a time when that was possible. Also, if you decide to grow outside, you can effectively do two runs in a year. An early crop and a late crop without the use of shading or force flowering (light deprivation in the US). So if you plant them out in mid May you can expect them to be fully mature by mid to late July!! With enough time to plant a second crop before winter kicks in!! The Haze Automatic does take slightly longer than most automatics though but considering its Sativa influence it still matures fast enough to enable the two crops a year outside. They are more likely to gain more height and therefore more end product than all other automatics too due to this slightly later maturity point. The Haze Automatic is the beginning of a new type of automatic revolution in my mind. The first to properly make use of the Haze genetics and to be fair will be hard to imitate. Although given enough time and the way things are going at present it will not be long until more haze varieties of the auto flowering strains are on the market. I would expect to see a lot more people taking interest in these quick strains to fill the gaps when their meds are otherwise running low. The flavours and potency are still being maintained so in my mind, although it is genetically wrong (my opinion) I am finding myself drawn towards them still as they do have incredible versatility and can provide extra medicine in times of need.
The Haze Automatic was a very good smoke too. I spent almost a week with the people of Dinafem Seeds and in that time I met some very good people and saw lots of interesting stuff. The views were amazing, the food was the best and the smoke was unbelievable.. I spent a lot of time sampling the delights and I was very impressed with the Haze Automatic. It kept me floating for most of the trip ha ha ha!! I would suggest that if any of you are thinking of trying an auto flowering strain to consider trying the Haze ones first. You will not be disappointed that’s for sure.
Anyway, enough of me ranting on, time to go roll another.. I am in two minds now about auto flowering and feminised strains.. I hate them but I like them too.. Is that bad? They do have their uses though.
A BIG thank you goes out to all at Dinafem for showing me around and looking after me so well and for most probably swaying my thoughts on the whole auto flowering idea..
Let’s all go wild and plant as many seeds as we can in every direction and see what happens..

Big up yourselves and toke it eazy
Dreadybob out….