How to Maximize Autoflower Yield? (7 Steps to Success)
Buying autoflower seeds has become extremely popular as more and more areas are legalizing growing your own marijuana. Not everyone has a large growing area so turning to autoflower seeds only makes sense. Of course, you are in this to grow some bug buds to enjoy afterwards so the question must be asked. How can you maximize the autoflowers yield?
Planning your marijuana autoflower grow before you start is the best way to maximize yields. This includes selecting the right seeds, using properly sized containers and the best substrate, ensuring PH levels are good, having the best lighting you can afford and training the plant (LST) to maximize light exposure to the whole plant.
So, if you’re ready to learn more, then let’s begin!
Plan Your Grow Process Before You Start
It sounds straight forward and that’s because it’s straightforward. If you know ahead of time what you need to do to grow your own autoflower weed plant, you’ll have success. You’ll also greatly improve your chances of maximizing the plant’s yield.
I guarantee the tips below will help you get the most out of your plants.
The Right Strain Matters for Larger Yields
Because of the growth time, autoflower plants don’t get as big as regular weed plants. This means if you want as big of a harvest as possible, you need to start off right by selecting the best seeds to make this happen.
The best thing you can do is select autoflower seeds that’ll produce what you want. Here are a handful of popular types of autoflower that produce large buds for the size of plants.
Bruce banner, purple punch, northern light automatic, white widow, and royal ak are just a few of excellent choices.
It’s typically by nature as to how much bud you’ll get from your plants.
What I’d recommend doing is looking for regular weed plants that are not autoflower and that grow huge. Try and find an autoflower version of one of those species. If you can’t find one, try to get one from my list above.
Or better yet, check out these excellent options for autoflower seeds
Don’t Transplant Autoflower Plants
When growing autoflower, time is extremely important. Autoflowers grow quicker than traditional weed seeds. This means doing something that slows the growth of the plant will most likely hinder the yield.
With regular seeds, most growers start them in pods or cups, transfer to a small pot, and then to their final pot after that. Honestly, I don’t know why this ever started. Marijuana will grow just about anywhere, and I don’t believe that sequence helps in any way.
In the case of growing autoflower, I highly recommend you plant the seeds in the pot you want them to be harvested in – the final pot.
When you transplant, the roots need to reset into the newer portions of soil they are transferred to. This inevitably slows down the growth. It might be by just a few days but if you transplant twice, that’s approximately a week your plant’s growth has slowed down.
Use Proper Containers and Substrate
If you’re new to growing or maybe not, you need to learn about proper containers and substrate for growing weed. The following information applies to growing any type of marijuana seeds – autoflower or not.
Regarding containers, fabric pots are an excellent choice as air can get to the soil. This prevents water from building up in the pot. When you water as much as weed plants need to be watered, overwatering can become a problem quickly with pots made of plastic.
If a fabric pot is not an option, you can use a growing medium to help flow through the soil much easier. I like using organic potting soil with perlite. Another great growing medium is coco coir (fiber made from coconut shells). It’s not a soil so water flows easily through it. Coco is highly recommended in the growing marijuana world.
If you used a fabric pot with coco coir or soil heavily laced with perlite, your chance for higher yields increases drastically.
Use Fertilizer Made for Weed
The idea with watering weed is to water as often as possible without overwatering. When you add fertilizers to the water, the plants are getting a continuous dose of nutrition to help them grow as big as possible.
For some excellent marijuana fertilizers, check these ones out over on a website I use frequently called I Love Growing marijuana.
A word of caution, especially if you’re new to marijuana fertilizers – I recommend you opt on the side of adding a bit less fertilizer than recommended.
It is very easy to cause a nute burn. When this happens, if not dealt with immediately, your plant’s growth will be stunted.
Ensure PH levels are being Monitored
This tip is tied to the fertilizer one above. When PH levels aren’t where they should be, your weed plants wont’ be able to absorb fertilizers efficiently.
You can test your water’s PH level as well as the soils PH after watering. This way, you know how to adjust the water to correct.
The correct soil PH level for healthy marijuana plants is in the range of 6 – 7. PH levels being incorrect is typically a soil issue however, some water supplies can also be out of range.
Using an organic soil or coco coir is the safest way to grow. You’ll still want to check your water’s PH level just to make sure it’s okay as well.
Proper Lighting is Important
If you are growing outdoors, you have the best light setup available. If you’re growing indoors, you’ll want to invest in a good growing light if you want to maximize yields.
You could use a fluorescent bulb and your plants would still grow however, providing a proper grow light that uses the light spectrum your plants require will help grow those buds.
These grow lights over on Amazon are an excellent choice, especially for autoflower seeds.
Training Your Autoflower for Maximum Yields
Years ago, we used to just let our weed plants grow straight up and accept the yields we got. We now know that weed plants can be trimmed and bent to help maximize yields.
My favorite training method is called LST. There’s no trimming, just bending. I have an article HERE on the subject.
Essentially, what you’re doing is bending the plant horizontally as it grows and tying it down in that position. This allows the buds that are on the lower portion of your plants to grow just as big as the main colas (word for buds).
Should You Top Autoflowers?
Topping is a trimming method to increase the number of main stalks your weed plants have. I like the idea of doing this with regular plants that take much longer to grow.
The problem I see with topping an autoflower plant is it will slow down the growth process and ultimately affect the size of yield you get.
You also risk topping the plant too late. If your plant was just switching over from vegetative to the flowering stage, you could mess-up the plant and end up with little to no buds.
If you’re interested in topping, do yourself a favor and do it on regular weed plants.
How Much Does an Autoflower Yield?
You can expect to yield one to two ounces from an autoflower marijuana plant.
Some growers report that their auto-flowers only yielded 10 or so grams and I would expect those growers did something to stunt the plants growth. More experienced growers will typically yield higher amounts.
The best way to improve how much you yield is to document your process throughout the grow. Keep track of everything. Also, use the same seeds, if possible. If you keep using different types of seeds, how will you know if you’re improving or not?
Are Autoflowers Worth Growing?
So, the big question now is whether autoflowers are worth growing or not? I would say yes, if you’re limited for time and space, that is. If you have lots of space and can wait much longer, then go with regular seeds.
I hope this article has been of help. Thanks for reading and good luck with your grow!