Autoflowering seeds or also known as automatic seeds is taking the cannabis market by storm. Both old and highly-experienced cannabis growers are doing their research in order to maintain autoflowering cannabis seeds quality. And the good news is, taking care of your automatic seeds and making sure that you’ll get a healthy and abundant harvest is very easy.
This type of seeds is loved by many growers all around the world and this is due to the ease of growing them. They also have the ability to survive around the year – regardless of the weather or climate. But of course, you have to make sure that you provide the proper care and maintenance. Now, if you want to know how you can successfully maintain your autoflowering cannabis seeds quality, then this article is definitely just for you.
But before you give you tips and guidelines regarding autoflowering seeds maintenance, it’s essential that you keep in mind these pointers first when buying seeds.
Buy from Reputable Source
You should only buy autoflowering seeds from dependable online cannabis seed banks. Bear in mind that not all autoflowering seeds are created equal. Some are able to produce high yields, while some can give you nothing but disappointment. Always check whether or not the shop or dispensary is known to sell excellent quality automatic seeds.
Prepare Your Grow Room
Before you start planting automatic seeds, you have to make sure that you plan beforehand. You should already have an idea what kind of medium you’re going to use. Is it soil, soilless, or hydroponics? Be sure as well that you find the best nutrients for your plants. Keep in mind that light plays a very important role in growing these seeds.
Knowing how to properly set the ventilation is also critical. Of course, make sure that everything is ready inside your grow room before getting started. Always know your skills and experience. And if you think that you’re not ready yet, then don’t continue.
Here’s How to Properly Maintain Your Autoflowering Cannabis Seeds Quality:
Starting with the Right Soil
When it comes to growing automatic seeds, it’s important to note that the potting that you buy from the regular shop might not be suitable to grow them. What these seeds need is an environment that includes air soil. It should be light and low in nutrients. Fortunately, preparing this kind of soil is very easy and all you need are compost, pre-wet perlite, pre-wet vermiculite, and peat moss.
All you have to do is just mix one portion of vermiculite, two of the pre-wet perlite, and three each of compost and peat moss. This mixture should suffice and can positively enhance the quality of your seeds and plants.
Providing Adequate Nutrition
As mentioned earlier, it’s not necessary that you pour out too much nutrition on your automatic seeds. Unlike any other regular seeds, they do not require many nutrients. However, they need to be well-fed with water for the first two weeks of their growth. You can add a portion of high-quality nutrients to the seeds from the second week onwards.
As time passes, you should keep increasing the amount of nutrition. The only time you stop giving them nutrients is after the sixth week. Once the flowering stage beings, you should change the set of nutrients. According to experts, it’s recommended that you make a switch when the automatic seeds are already a week into the flowering stage.
Sufficient Lighting
Keep in mind that the growth of autoflowering seeds is defined not by the lighting condition but by their age. Therefore, you can cultivate them both indoors and outdoors. Indoor cultivation is more beneficial though since it ensures that the strain remains healthy and sturdy. Provide your plants a considerable amount of light about 18 to 24 hours a day. When they are yet seeds and are at the growing stage, it’s advisable that you use blue lights, whereas you should start providing them red lights when the flowering stage begins.
Proper Nutrition
The autoflowering seeds do not require many nutrients. All they need is water for the first 2 weeks of their growth. Start adding a portion of the nutrients to the seeds from the second week onwards. Keep increasing the amount as the time passes and halt at the sixth week. Change the set of nutrients you use once the flowering stage begins. It is ideal to make a switch when the seeds are a week into the flowering stage.
Lighting
As discussed above, the growth of autoflowering seeds is defined by their age and not by the lighting. Hence, you can keep them indoors and outdoors. Cultivating them indoor actually ensures that the strain remains healthy and sturdy. Just make sure you put them under considerable light for about 18-24 hours a day. The seeds require the use of blue lights while at the growing stage, whereas the red lights favor the flowering stage.
Avoid the Risk of Transplanting
One of the drawbacks of autoflowering seeds is that they sometimes suffer from transplant shock, which significantly stunts their growth. If you are new to growing cannabis, then make sure that you study and do research before you start transplanting them. It’s crucial to the only transplant after the roots have filled out the container – wait until the plant is a bit root bound.
Using proper training techniques is also advisable in order to maintain the quality of your autoflowering cannabis seeds. One of the best techniques that you can employ is Low-Stress Techniques or LST. You want to avoid employing High-Stress Techniques or HST since they only work well on photoperiod plants.
Be sure as well that you only train your plants during the vegetative stage only. Doing it during the flowering period can stunt their growth. But as you search on the web, you’ll discover that most growers simply stay away from training automatic plants because they can already produce high yields when they are not trained.
Final Thoughts
Now that you know how to maintain the quality of the autoflowering cannabis seeds, the next thing that you need to do is to conduct further research. Asking for tips and pieces of advice from your friends, families, or fellow enthusiasts who have cultivated these kinds of seeds before is also a brilliant idea.
