Best Soil for Auto-Flowering Seeds?

No matter if you’re an experienced grower or just beginning your journey, nothing matters unless you’re using the right soil for your marijuana seeds. But did you know that each seed requires a certain type of soil? Today we’re focusing on the much-loved auto-flowering variety, made popular for its fast yield and low maintenance. So, what is the best soil for auto-flowering seeds?

Auto-flowering marijuana seeds need light and aerated soil to let the roots move easily during its fast growth period. This includes a mixture of compost and peat moss. Autos are also more sensitive than other seed varieties, so it needs soil that contains less potent nutrients. We suggest making your own soil, rather than buying one pre-made. This lets you control the amount of nutrients.

So, while these are some of the strongest seeds on the market, having evolved to adjust to extreme conditions in Eastern Asia, they still need the right love and care. If you don’t use the best soil for auto-flowering seeds, you run the risk of stunting your plants, or even making them unable to grow at all. Continue reading to uncover more about autoflowers and soil.

 

What Are Auto-Flowering Marijuana Seeds?

Much like their name suggests, auto-flowering seeds are a type of seed that grows “automatically”. This means they don’t rely on light cycles to grow. Instead, autos will flower once the plant reaches a certain age. They do require some light to grow and thrive, but the light doesn’t need to be monitored as much as other varieties.

Autoflowers are not photoperiod plants, which means they are not dependent on seasonal environmental changes. This makes them advantageous for cultivators who want more harvests throughout the year, as the process from seed to harvest is much faster than most other varieties.

Auto-flowering marijuana seeds are fast-growing and produce short plants with thick stems. This all makes sense when you consider their origins close to the North and South Pole. With such extreme, cold conditions, these plants have had to adapt to survive.

 

Best Soil for Autoflowers

The best soil for auto-flowering seeds is a blend of peat moss, compost, perlite, and vermiculite.

• Compost is a combination of decaying, nutrient-rich soil that keeps the rest of the soil fresh.
• Peat moss is a type of moss found in wetland areas of Canada. It is a soil amendment that improves its overall health and physicality, and is ideal for plants that lean more on the acidic side.
• Perlite is a type of natural volcanic glass, made into a lightweight form that improves drainage and aeration – a match-made-in-heaven, autoflowers that need plenty of airflow.
• Vermiculite is the name used to define a group of hydrated laminar minerals, and is added to potting soil to enhance water and nutrient retention. It also aerates the soil, although a little less than perlite, but when paired together, provide plenty of wiggle room for those autoflower roots.

The ideal ratio of these elements for auto-flowering seeds is as follows:

• 3 parts compost
• 3 parts peat moss
• 2 parts perlite
• 1 part vermiculite

This ratio keeps things light and airy, which is exactly what your autos want. Once you’ve mixed these together, you can go ahead and place the soil in your pots. Remember to keep nutrients light, as autoflowers don’t need much additional help.

 

How to Grow Auto-Flowering Seeds

With your mixture at the ready, it’s time to plant those seeds. This process is the same as other cannabis seeds – the only thing that really changes is whether you’re using soil or hydroponics.

Now that your seeds are planted, here’s what you can expect:

1. Germination

Germination is fast with these seeds, taking just one to five days rather than up to ten days like some varieties. One of the easiest ways is to drop the seeds gently into a glass of room-temperature water and keep it in a dark space at around 27°C. After 72 hours you can transfer it to a soaking wet paper towel – cover it with a more wet paper towel to keep it dark and warm. Once you see it sprout, transfer it to the soil.

2. Seedling

By now, a seedling should be visible. The leaves are very small at this stage. This is where you can provide some light, like a 250W LED, and you can also give some nutrients. Auto-flowering varieties need only a quarter to half the amount of nutrients that would be given to photoperiods.

3. Vegetation

For the best growing process, keep the environmental temperature no more or less than 20°C and humidity levels between 40% and 50%. Provide half a litre of water each day. You might even begin to see some flowering happening at the later vegetative stage!

4. Flowering

Now you’ll notice some sacs begin to peek out from the nodes. At their biggest, autoflowering marijuana plants can grow up to just 60cm. Increase the surrounding temperature by about 1° each week, reaching 25°C by the final week.

Much like growing other seed varieties, the type of soil is not the only thing that matters in producing a strong, healthy yield. Other factors including pH levels and nutrients also come into play.

Essential nutrients you should be giving to your autoflowers include nitrogen, potassium and phosphorous. And when it comes to your soil’s pH, it must be kept within the 6.2 and 6.5 range. Autoflowers like things a little acidic, but don’t go overboard as this can create a toxic environment for the plants.

 

Grow Your Own Auto-Flowering Seeds

Now that you know the best soil for auto-flowering seeds, you can be on your merry way to growing your own weed. Just remember to use the correct ratio – 3 parts compost and peat most, to 2 parts perlite, and 1 part vermiculite – and you’ve got yourself the perfectly aerated and lightweight soil to grow with. If you’re using the best soil, then it makes sense to only use the best seeds. Explore our huge range of top-tier auto-flowering seeds, feminized seeds, and much more.