Cheeky Auto In The Garden

This year has seen some of the some of the weirdest weather in living memory! First of all we get the freezing cold, then came the rain and floods and now we've seen a heat wave that's lasted nearly a full month, interspersed with thunder and rainstorms and ending July with the hottest day on record for the last seven years! What the hell is going on?

This year has seen some of the some of the weirdest weather in living memory! First of all we get the freezing cold, then came the rain and floods and now we’ve seen a heat wave that’s lasted nearly a full month, interspersed with thunder and rainstorms and ending July with the hottest day on record for the last seven years! What the hell is going on?

This has meant that outdoor growers have missed that all important cool, sunny spring period that nourishes young plants and gives them the strong foundations needed for putting on some hefty weight during the warmer months of July and August. Sure, growers in certain areas have still done well, but many will have lost their outdoor crop in the soggy spring.

As June started up and the sun finally came out, I know a few growers – myself included – must have been sat in the back garden on a hot afternoon, contemplating a cheeky one plant grow. Watching the path of the sun track round the garden illuminating different spots and casting others into the shade, making mental notes of how many hours of sunlight a day each spot gets and wondering how well shielded the suitable spots are from the neighbours prying eyes!

Eyeing up grow spots is just an occupational hazard! How many of you walk into a house or flat for the first time and wonder how big the loft or cellar is? Or start measuring up the walk in wardrobes to see if you’d get a 600w in there? Exactly!

So, the spot has been selected; a nice corner of the garden that receives around 5 hours of direct sunlight, early in the day, perfect. Early sunlight will dry out the moisture trapped in your outdoor buds and will reduce the risk of bud rot.

The spot should also be home to a few veggies and ornamental plants that will give a nice bit of cover. Although the cheeky plant will have to fight for light with its vegetable producing neighbours, the trade-off is that the close proximity to the other plants will help to hide its silhouette and soften the shape of its familiar looking leaves.

As you probably know, these non-photoperiod sensitive plants will flower under any lighting conditions so you don’t have to rely on the days getting shorter in order to get them to flower. They’re a safe bet for planting out when the weather has already turned warm and you can rest safe in the knowledge that most of them will stay small and discreet and will be ready to harvest within 60 to 90 days.

So, the auto bean has been popped and goes into the propagator for the first week of its life, under a couple of T5’s to make sure that it doesn’t get too leggy. Remember, we need to keep this girl compact and covert.

Then, we start to harden her off by placing her outside in the sunshine and bringing her back inside at night. This’ll prevent her from getting shocked from any big fluctuations in day and night temperatures, which will also cause her to stretch.

This plant needs to get going fast, stay small and develop quickly. So a 5L pot filled with coco will do nicely, no need to start in a smaller pot as the shock of transplanting an auto can stunt their growth completely. It’s best to start them in the final pot.

Usually organic nutes would be the weapon of choice in an outdoor grow, but in this case it’s best to use the right tool for the job. In goes the Dutch Pro autoflower specific nutrient, tailor made for the fast paced growth of an autoflowering plant… remember with autos it’s a sprint, not a marathon.

As the auto approaches flowering, you’ll really start to notice her putting out some rather pungent odours. This is when you’ll find out if you’ll be able to keep her in the garden until harvest or move her indoors under lights, or even pack her away to a guerrilla spot. A nice tactic to try and mask the smell a little is to surround the plant with lovely, fragrant plants like lavender and basil. Obviously, this won’t mask the smell completely but agitating a lavender bush or basil plant every time you’re out in the garden will certain help.

If the smell does get a little too much and the lady needs to be moved to a new home outdoors, be cautious when you’re moving her. It is one thing to transport small seedlings to a guerrilla grow spot, all securely wrapped up in tubes of newspaper; it’s a little trickier to transport a two foot stinking attention magnet, sealed in a cardboard box!

Best to do it at night!

If you end up having to move your plant to the indoor room then, at the very least, you’ll have saved yourself a few weeks’ worth of electricity and will now have a nice natural looking, bushy plant to flower.

Now, with a bit of luck, she’ll be ready by the end of August.

Happy growing!