Your Ultimate Guide to Auto-Flowering Marijuana Seeds

Since first coming onto the scene back in the 80s and 90s, auto-flowering marijuana seeds have sure made their mark on the cannabis industry. Now, three generations on, cultivators have managed to develop autoflowers that rival the potency of regular marijuana seeds. But the best part? Autoflowers have made amateur growing easier than ever. As massive auto fans ourselves, we’re pretty excited to bring you your very own Ultimate Guide to Auto-Flowering Marijuana Seeds.

We want you to be able to experience a cruisy growth process, no matter if it’s a hobby or something you see yourself getting into long-term. Auto-flowering seeds already streamline the process for you, producing fast yields with a low-maintenance growth pattern. Since they don’t rely on strict light cycles, autoflowers need less attention and work than other cannabis seeds.

Autoflowers come from the Cannabis Ruderalis family, alongside two of the other most popular strains – Cannabis Sativa and Cannabis Indica. It originated in Eastern Asia, closer to the extreme points of the northern hemisphere, making it a strong, resilient strain that had to survive in tough conditions.

This is what makes them so perfect for beginners. There’s plenty more room for error, as they’re not as sensitive as regular seeds. So if you’re still getting used to fostering that green thumb of yours, then autos are going to be your new best friends.

As part of this Ultimate Guide to Growing Auto-Flowering Marijuana Seeds, we’re going to break down everything you need to know. From an in-depth look at how to grow autoflowers, to the best auto-flowering varieties on the market, you’ll discover all the must-have info you need for successful harvests.

 

What are Auto-Flowering Cannabis Seeds?

While regular seeds grow at an average pace, think of autoflowers as their speedy counterpart. Like going through the drive-thru at your favourite fast-food place. Or using a new smartphone that’s instantly faster than your old one.

Autoflower Quick Facts

• Ideal for beginner growers
• Fast harvest period under 13 weeks
• Short and compact stature for easy indoor growing
• Non-reliant on light cycles
• Modern strains contain strong, potent genetics
• Resilient plants that survive in tough conditions

Auto-flowering seeds have been bred to produce fast-growing yields, which lets you fit in more harvests during one period. This is in comparison to those regular seeds that limit your harvests to a certain number each year.

Auto-flowering seeds grow rapidly and don’t rely on light cycles. This is quite different from other seeds, as they will only reach the flowering process if they receive a certain amount of light. In other words, they are photoperiod plants. Photoperiodism is the response to changes in daylength, which allows plants to adjust to seasonal environmental changes.

Since autos are not photoperiod plants, they flower once the plant reaches a certain age, instead of flowering dependent on particular light cycles. You still need to use some form of light while growing using autos, but they are not dependent like regular seeds.

It’s this autonomy that makes autoflowers so perfect for beginner growers. That intimidation-factor of constantly caring and tending to the plants is eliminated, so growing is instantly made easier.

Should I Grow with Auto-Flowering Seeds?

Choosing autos to grow in your garden is one of the best options, as they are low-maintenance, fast-yielding, and strong against exterior factors. Since they grow quicker, you can even get multiple harvests into the span of one regular harvest. Here are some other advantages of growing using autos:

• The plants they produce are short, which means they are easier to keep private from prying neighbours. This also prevents the need for constant trellising, so they are quite low maintenance.
• You can harvest larger amounts more often due to the fast flowering process.
• These plants are resistant to unstable temperatures, so you could even grow all year round. You should still keep them warm, but if a little cold gets in, they won’t be as affected as other types of seeds.
• They are resistant to mould and pests.
• A high CBD content within auto seeds makes them perfect for making products for medicinal users.

 

Differences Between Growing Auto-Flowering and Feminized Marijuana Seeds

Autoflowers aren’t the only seeds that steal the spotlight. Feminized marijuana seeds are hugely popular with cultivators, particularly with the pros.

Feminized marijuana seeds grow like regular seeds, relying on light cycles, and only contain female genetics that produce female buds. Female buds are the only buds that you can smoke, unlike their male counterpart, which you cannot consume. This directly compares to autoflowers, which do not rely on those light cycles to grow.

Feminized Seed Quick Facts

• Ideal for experienced growers
• Potent yield
• Stronger genetics
• Only produces female plants
• Cost-effective
• Ideal for cloning

Essentially, feminized seeds eliminate that 50/50 chance of having female or male plants. Male plants are undesirable because they grow pollen sacs instead of buds. It’s these pollen sacs that make the male plants unsuitable.

Not only can you not smoke male plants, but they can also pollinate the female plants. Once pollinated, the female plants will produce seeds, not buds, so you can’t harvest them to make them into the bud you know and love. This should be left to the real expert growers, as removing the males can be a delicate process.

Even though you can’t smoke from male plants, they do have some uses other than breeding with females when you need more seeds. Male plants can be utilized for:

• Hemp fiber—males produce a softer material, while females produce a coarser, stronger fiber. The soft fiber from males is more desirable for products like clothing, tablecloths, and other household items.
• Concentrate production—males do have some THC and can be psychoactive, but much less so than females. Small amounts of cannabinoids can be found in the leaves, stems, and sacs, which can be extracted to produce hash and other oils.

Are All Auto-Flowering Seeds Feminized?

One of the largest cause for confusion we’ve noticed for beginner growers is whether all autoflowers are feminized. Most feminized seeds are not autoflowers, so are all autoflowers feminized? A bit of a mind-twister, we know.

Well, we’re here to clear things up. These days, yes, most auto-flowering varieties are already feminized. Due to the existing user-friendly nature of auto-flowering seeds, it makes sense for most of them to already come feminized. This makes the growing process even easier, as you don’t need to potentially account time for removing male plants from the mix.

If you’re still unsure, we suggest always checking each individual strain to check if it’s labelled as “feminized” on the off-chance that it isn’t.

 

Ultimate Guide to Growing Auto-Flowering Marijuana Seeds

If we had to choose one of the best advantages of autos, other than the fast harvest period, then it would have to be its size that makes it perfect for indoor growing. Not only does its small stature make it perfect for smaller indoor spaces, but it also keeps out those nosy neighbours.

You can set up your indoor garden in privacy. With most other seed varieties (particularly Sativa strains) this isn’t as easy. They mostly have to be grown outdoors, growing quite tall, so you can’t keep it much of a secret.

Once your autos are planted, here’s what you can expect during the growth process:

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.

 

How to Grow Using Hydroponics

Growing using a hydroponic system is the most cost-effective in the long term, and saves the most space. Hydroponics involves the use of water to provide the plant with necessary nutrients and oxygen, rather than soil. This makes it more powerful and potent than using soil, but it’s a little trickier to maintain than growing with soil.

After planting the seeds in Rapid Rooters and on top of the pellets, you can follow these steps:

• Start by setting up the water reservoir. This will hold the water pump and air stone, as well as a drainage line.
• The grow bed or table is next, and this is where the plants will gain and return the leftover water to the reservoir.
• Each bucket for the grow table should be able to hold around 19L and need to have holes drained into the base to let the excess water drain out. Fill these buckets up with clay pellets after soaking them overnight.
• Use the plastic tubing from the water pump and place it across the table. Use the drip line gear to pierce holes into the buckets and attach the drip line emitters to the ends of the drip lines.
• Practice the system to make sure it’s working before putting the plants in. Water should be constantly moving from the air pump that helps it run and stay oxygenated.
• Now you can fill up the reservoir with the nutrient-rich water solution and place the germinated seeds inside the pellets.

 

How to Grow Using Soil

Growing with soil is certainly the easier option for beginners. You don’t need a bunch of fancy equipment, and you can still do it indoors. Planting autoflowers is not much different to planting regular seeds. Just make sure you’re using the best soil for auto-flowering seeds, as it’s different for other seeds, and you’re all set to go.

Here’s how it works:

• You can either dig a hole outside and fill it with fresh soil or fill some pots with soil. Use a soil with compost, peat moss, perlite and vermiculite. Keep acidity levels between 6.2 and 6.5.
• Consider soaking your marijuana seeds to help them germinate. You can soak them for up to 12 hours, and afterwards put them on a towel or paper towel and store them outside of direct sunlight, but still keep them warm.
• Continue spraying these seeds to keep them moist and wait for them to germinate. They should open up within 48 hours, but this will vary depending on the type of seed and surrounding conditions.
• Once germinated, fill up some pots of containers with soil. Delicately insert the seeds into some small holes, but don’t put them too deep or too close to the surface of the soil.

From here, you should provide the plants with anywhere from 18 to 24 hours of light each day. You could potentially give them 12 hours if you’re going them alongside regular seeds, but we don’t recommend this as it usually leads to smaller, less potent buds.

 

Final Thoughts

There’s a reason why autos are one of the most sought-after on the market (several reasons, actually), and we hope we’ve helped you gain a better understanding of what they’re all about with this Ultimate Guide to Auto-Flowering Marijuana Seeds. Autoflowers are ideal for beginners because they are low maintenance, fast growing, and take up less space. Remember to check if they’re feminized before buying if you want to avoid growing male plants, and use the best soil with enough aeration for those rapid roots to grow.