Just how did auto's get so good?

It’s a question that people keep asking.  Just how did automatic cannabis varieties get so good over the last 5 years?  After all, the first generation of automatics were limited to small harvests of half an ounce, or less.  And the strength of the first generation automatics was adequate rather than exceptional.  But all that has changed.  Today the best seedbanks have really cracked the breeding methods which allow them to produce very heavy yielding auto’s, and potency levels are now indistinguishable from traditional varieties.  So how did all this happen so quickly?

It’s a question that people keep asking.  Just how did automatic cannabis varieties get so good over the last 5 years?  After all, the first generation of automatics were limited to small harvests of half an ounce, or less.  And the strength of the first generation automatics was adequate rather than exceptional.  But all that has changed.  Today the best seedbanks have really cracked the breeding methods which allow them to produce very heavy yielding auto’s, and potency levels are now indistinguishable from traditional varieties.  So how did all this happen so quickly?

There are a few reasons for the performance surge in feminized automatics (often called ‘AutoFems’ or simply ‘autos’).  But it is also worth saying that any home-grower looking to grow automatics should do their homework before splashing the cash on the seeds.  Just like traditional ‘photoperiod’ varieties, some seedbanks offer better quality/consistency than others, some seedbanks really know what they are doing whilst others are still learning.  The better seedbanks are able to deliver seeds that have yield potential of 250g+ per plant, with THC levels in the same range as traditional varieties.  They best seedbanks use the strongest parent genetics available, and they understand the intricacies and fine points of the breeding process.

AutoFem’s are bred to allow them to bloom under 20 hours (or even 24) of daily light.  With a traditional photoperiod variety the cannabis genetics will grow vegetively under long hours of daylight and will only bloom when light is reduced to 12 hours per day.  This is logical, the cannabis plant has evolved to start blooming when it senses the onset of shorter days which signal the approach of Autumn.  The start of flowering is a sign that the cannabis plant is aiming to complete its lifecycle before winter arrives.  The indoor grower artificially mimics the natural life cycle by using his HPS (or LED) light for just 12 hours in each 24 hour cycle.  The traditional photoperiod cannabis plant responds to shorter daylight hours by starting to flower, producing the sticky buds that all home-growers dream of.  To many of us in the breeding community, it always seemed a shame that a flowering cannabis plant couldn’t be forced to bloom under longer daylight hours.  Just when a flowering photoperiod plant really needs all the energy it can get to produce cannabis, we have to hold it back to just 12 hours of light per day.

Then, a few years ago, some of the most talented breeders found that they could adjust the genetic foundation of the cannabis plant to allow it to do something which many said was impossible.  They were able to use genetics from the Ruderalis cannabis family to allow cannabis to bloom heavily even if the plant was grown under 20 hours of daily light.  At first many said this was impossible, but history tells us that rules are there to be broken, and cannabis growers are breaking rules all the time.  Perhaps that is one of the reasons why so many self-sufficient home-growers have taken a shine to auto’s.

But how did auto’s manage to evolve so quickly?  It took just 5 years or so for auto’s to go from being the ‘new kid on the block’ to being a firmly established part of the home grown scene.  Even the biggest fans of auto’s did not expect such a rapid rise to fame.  In Dutch Passion we see our customers are buying almost as many auto seeds as traditional seeds.  And other established seedbanks are seeing the same trend as auto’s become more and more popular.

There are a few key reasons why auto’s evolved so quickly

• •Some of the best cannabis breeders quickly embraced auto’s to see for themselves what they could do.  In any industry, if you can get the most talented and intelligent people involved in a new technology you will very quickly see one of two things.  The technology will either sink or swim.  In the case of auto’s, the attention of the best cannabis breeders has allowed auto’s to evolve at a rapid pace.
• The ‘photo’ gene has shown it can be manipulated to give a massive advantage to the home grower.  Being able to bloom cannabis under 20 (or 24) hours of light offers a dramatic increase in the photosynthetic potential for the yields of the average home grower.  Today, many of the most informed auto-experts feel that auto’s can now routinely out-yield a traditional variety in the same time period due to one key fact:  auto’s have almost twice as much light energy available during flowering, this equates to bigger yields.
• The challenge.  Many of us respond well to a challenge, whether it is a sporting challenge, an intellectual challenge or a personal challenge.  To the best breeders and seedbanks it is always a challenge to be able to improve the odds in favour of the home grower.  In the 1990’s it was Dutch Passion that first created feminized cannabis seeds when others said it was impossible.  Today we are watching auto’s become a mainstream choice for home growers.  
• The genetics.  As the fine-points of breeding automatic varieties became better understood, the best breeders were able to introduce some of the best connoisseur cannabis parent genetics into the gene pool being used to breed auto’s.  The result was a dream combination of the best breeders, with the best genetics, working with high levels of interest and motivation to push auto’s further and faster than anyone thought possible.  

But there are other benefits to automatics as well.  The average home grower tends to grow small numbers of cannabis plants, typically around 10-20 plants per year for their own use.  Medical growers may grow a few more plants especially if they are producing edibles, oils or concentrates.  Home growers tend to be cautious; they like to grow discreetly using the smallest, simplest set-up and the minimum number of plants.  The average home grower does not like to maintain separate grow tents for ‘veg’ and ‘bloom’, and with auto’s they don’t need to.  Many home growers now have the light regime in their tent on a fixed daily system of 20 hours lights-on, followed by 4 hours lights-off.  With automatics this will allow the tent to be used by auto seedlings as well as mature auto’s approaching harvest time. You can start new seeds whenever you wish and simply put them in the grow-room with the other auto’s regardless of the fact that they are all at different stages of growth.  Auto’s typically take 11 weeks or so from seed to harvest, they allow the home grower to use a single room on a fixed light cycle for all their plants.  The longer ‘lights-on’ period is also useful for home growers to keep their grow-room warm during cooler months.  

So where do auto’s go from here?  The short answer is watch this space.  More work continues on auto’s, a lot of what can be achieved (in terms of yields and potency) has already been achieved.  But there are still a few exciting new ideas in the pipeline which could become reality in the next 1-2 years.  With the right breeding we will see more and more CBD-rich auto’s appear.  We also expect to see continued improvements in quality and yield, although it is generally just a small fraction of the home-growers that can really push the auto genetics to their full potential. 

We don’t expect to see auto’s completely replace traditional varieties, nor do we think anyone wants to see that.   But some seedbanks, including Dutch Passion, are seeing the best automatics become more popular than many established traditional varieties.  Perhaps the market for seeds will reach an equilibrium where auto and traditional varieties co-exist in roughly equal parts.  In the meantime the best advice we can give to anyone wanting to grow auto’s themselves is this: find a seedbank you trust with a good reputation for automatics and try them for yourself.  You really will be surprised at how simple, convenient and devastatingly powerful the best of the modern auto’s have become.