Como LST Autoflower Cannabis Plants | Sonoma seeds (2023)

FAQs

How long do I LST my Autoflower? ›

L.S.T should be applied during the first 3-4 weeks of an autoflowering plant's life cycle.

Start autoflowers in their final containers

To max out yield, you should sow seeds directly into their final containers. Alternatively, you can germinate them using the paper towel method (or whatever your preferred germination method may be) and then put them straight into large pots.

The overall yield of your autoflower plant can be increased by using LST, more light will get to the foliage, thus producing more food and resulting in denser buds.

Regular autoflowering plants are small, yielding between 10 and 50 grams per plant. You cannot expect a strain with a fast and short flowering time to produce more than 30 grams but super autoflowers can yield 200-300 grams if you give it the perfect environment.

When growing autoflowering seeds, the plant genetics determines when bloom starts and not the grower. Most cannabis strains stretch for around the first 2 weeks of flowering. Some stretchy strains will continue to stretch into the 3rd or even 4th week of bloom. Sativa strains will stretch more than indicas.

You can top the plant once, or repeatedly, and allow as much time as you wish for the plant to recover and grow. Plants grown from autoflower seeds can be topped, but the high stress training technique will cost your autoflower several days to recover from the process.

Bury the seed about half a cm to 1cm down into the soil, making a hole with a pen or a toothpick and putting the seed inside with the little root facing downwards. Cover it with a bit of soil without compacting it too much and leave it there until the plant begins to grow above the soil.

Yes, you should remove fan leaves during the flowering stage using the correct technique. Removing fan leaves will open up light and produce a better air exchange to the lower canopy. It will also ensure that more energy can go to your plant's valuable parts and make for a bigger harvest.

Pros and cons of growing autoflowers

Simple: One autoflowering plant can produce hundreds of seeds, simplifying the germination process and eliminating the need to purchase more seeds. Flexible: Autoflowering seeds flourish in a variety of climates and environments.

Do Autoflowers need dark? ›

Do autoflowers need a dark cycle? Autoflowers don't necessarily need a dark cycle. You can grow them under an autoflower 24 hour light from seed to harvest. Many people do just that whereas others feel that they get slightly better results with a 20/4 or perhaps 18/6 autoflower light cycle.

During flowering, cannabis doesn't need much nitrogen, but instead needs more phosphorus (P) and potassium (K). This is why you will usually come across two types of cannabis fertilisers—those for vegging, and those for flowering. The above applies to both autoflowers and photoperiod cannabis.

The main premise behind LST is that you can expose your plant to more light, and thus, create a wider plant that receives light deeper into the canopy. You'll increase yield with bigger colas throughout the plant, and fewer popcorn buds. This leads to an overall increase in yield.

The highest yielding autoflower is Green Crack . This autoflower produces yields of up to 650g per square meter after only 9 weeks from seed to harvest.

Autoflowering plants can produce a sea of fat buds when topped properly. This helps maximize yields under a grow light. Many growers say you should never top an auto-flowering plant, while others claim they can top their autos without a problem.

Some of the heaviest yielding autoflower strains can take up to 15 weeks from seed to harvest.

Most reach an average autoflower height of around 50-100cm. The final autoflower size depends on the genetics and the growth conditions which you provide.

Green-O-Matic Auto

With a lightning-quick flowering time of only six weeks indoors and 5–6 weeks outdoors, Green O Matic is regarded as the world's quickest autoflowering marijuana. The quick and long-lasting effects of this marijuana, combined with its mildness, make it a fantastic choice for daytime use.

Change Nutrients for Each Stage

The bigger the leaf area, the bigger your buds will be. Nitrogen is the nutrient needed most for this green growth. When plants reach their mature size and begin flowering, they need more phosphorus, the nutrient most essential for budding.

Generally, you want to water every 2 or 3 days during Flower and you want to water enough that 10-20% of water comes out from the pot as runoff. You can check your soil moisture by sticking a finger in the pot: if the soil is dry a couple inches down, then it is time to water again.

How do you increase terpenes in an Autoflower? ›

Use supplemental UV lights.

UV light, when used at the right intensity, can be a great way to increase your plants terpene and oil production. Having low levels of UV light introduced to your plant gives it the response of producing more resin and oils so it can shield itself from the slightly harmful UV rays.

This is the reason to start your autoflower plants in their end-growing containers. It is best to give your auto-flowers between 4 to 5 gallons(15 to 19 liters) of SoHum Living Soils® premium grow medium so their roots can thrive and will not become root bound, causing unnecessary plant stress.

During the flowering stage LED Grow lights should be located between 16-36 inches from the plant canopy. Moving the grow light closer will increase the light intensity which can maximize photosynthesis.

However, it's important to remember that topping is a high-stress technique. If you're going to use it on an autoflowering strain, you'll want to do so very early, and only if you're positive your plant is super healthy. In general, we recommend staying away from topping when growing autoflowering plants.

As your autoflowers get bigger, they need more frequent watering and larger quantities. During the germination and seedling stages, give each plant 3-7 ounces every 4-7 days. During the vegetative stage (when your autoflowers are growing leaves and branches), give each plant 10-20 ounces every 2-4 days.

It won't have a negative effect on the flowering process — in fact, if you fail to properly prune and/or remove the fan leaves, the flowering process is much more likely to go awry. Once your plant has entered the flowering stage, you'll want to execute another round of defoliation.

Plants flower automatically after 2–4 weeks. The average period between planting and harvest is 10 weeks. Autoflowering seeds are also feminized. No need to worry about male plants.

Autoflowering plants do not depend on light cycle changes to begin flowering. Anything from 16/8 to 24/0 lighting schedule works.

How Long Do Autoflowers Take From Seed To Harvest? Autoflowering strains typically move from seed to harvest in 8–10 weeks. However, some varieties can take up to 12 weeks to fully mature.

18/6 LIGHT CYCLE

And since autoflowering plants have short vegetative phases and often grow shorter than photoperiod strains, you'll typically want to give your autos at least 18 hours of light. This allows for robust growth, without overspending on energy.

How long is the seedling stage for Autoflowers? ›

Speed - Autoflowering strains will be ready to harvest in less time than their photoperiod counterparts, usually around 8-10 weeks from seed.

You can remove fan leaves during flowering in much the same way you do during veg. Prune away large leaves that are overshadowing bud sites, as well as dead or dying fan leaves. One thing to keep in mind is that you should prune in intervals, giving at least a couple weeks between each session.

Nutrients for flowering stage (4+ weeks)

Use an NPK ratio of 5-10-10 or similar. Some autoflower nutrients contain more phosphorus (eg. 5-15-10), and these are suitable as well. Of course, if your cannabis nutrients are an all-in-one solution, you may not need to switch up your feeding at all.

Once your autoflower starts really producing bud you should start feeding only blooming nutrients. You should slowly start transitioning from vegetative to flowering nutrients as soon as you see pistils appearing.

Low-Stress Training Creates More Buds

More colas means more flower buds for you to harvest. Another benefit of LST: It allows you to limit the maximum height of your plants, which can be critical in an indoor garden when you're raising plants that may reach more than 7 feet tall.

Topping is effectively used to obtain multiple, even-sized floral sites, while LST is then used to bring these floral sites to the same height to maximize grow lamp efficiency.

Gorilla Cookies are the strongest autoflower seeds in the world, with THC levels reaching up to 27%.

Sweet Gelato Auto is one of the fastest autoflowering strains in the market. It is ready for harvest 7 or 8 weeks after its germination indoors. Outdoors, it will take a bit more than 60 days to generate up to 170 g per plant.

Thus, when establishing an autoflower, its best to use a peat-based 'soil-less” medium such as Pro-Mix, with light amendments to bring up its nutritional value. Because to be sure, an autoflower does require water and fuel to grow; but most autoflower strains will always require less inputs than tropical strains.

What happens if you don't flush Autoflower? ›

You see, during the growing cycle, your plants store excess amounts of nutrients, salts and other compounds. If you don't allow the plants a chance to dispose of these surplus compounds by flushing them before harvest, your final product will be much harsher and more bitter tasting.

A 5-gallon smart pot will suit most autoflowering plants, although many people get great results even with 3-gallon pots. If you're growing indoors, you may want to place something below the smart pots to absorb the water or you'll end up with a lot of water everywhere.

LST should continue during early flowering as vegetative growth continues. Maintain a flat, level branch structure. Vegetative growth will eventually stop when the plant is putting most of its energy into flowering. Minimal adjustment is required after this point – apart from keeping shade away from key areas.

Low-stress training methods, however, represent an ideal way to manipulate autoflowering plants and maximize their yield. Since flowering can begin in as few as two to four weeks in autoflowering cultivars, LST should begin earlier to reap the benefits.

At the end of an autoflowers life cycle, the fan leaves will start to turn yellow and die. This means all the resources are being directed to the buds. It takes up to 3 weeks from the start of yellowing until they die.

The best way to train autoflowers is topping, without a doubt. You can also use another training technique called FIMing. Both techniques are very similar and you can use other techniques along with either topping or FIMing.

It is recommended that you wait until your plants have at least four nodes before topping them, and most growers recommend topping the plant above the sixth node. Nodes are the part of a plant that connects new stem offshoots with older growth, which can form a branch, a leaf, or in the case of cannabis plants, a bud.

You can remove fan leaves during flowering in much the same way you do during veg. Prune away large leaves that are overshadowing bud sites, as well as dead or dying fan leaves. One thing to keep in mind is that you should prune in intervals, giving at least a couple weeks between each session.

If you have low temperatures during early growth of an auto you may permanently reduce the ability of your auto to reach it's full potential. Likewise, if you have serious nutrient issues, overwatering, poor lighting etc you will also likely see permanently stunted growth on your autoflower plants.

Autoflower cannabis average time from seed to harvest

With 5-6 weeks of vegetative growth and around 9 weeks of bloom it can take 15 weeks or more for a feminised strain to reach harvest.

What should my buds look like at 5 weeks? ›

In week 5 of flowering, you can observe the buds all over your plant becoming thicker. You may also spot new buds growing in new places such as along the main cola. With buds abounding, your cannabis plants will get fatter every day. This is a surefire sign you are in full flowering mode.