Easy Auto in the Back Yard

After a hard season of indoor pot growing or when the weather just sucks, try a few autos in the yard

This year has seen some of the some of the weirdest weather in living memory! First of all we get the freezing cold and snow, then came the rain and floods and now we have seen a heat wave that is gripping the country, interspersed with thunder, rainstorms and some of the hottest days so far this year! What the hell is going on?

The result has been a bit of a tricky situation for planning outdoor marijuana grows.

This has meant that outdoor growers may 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 began to dry things out, I know that a few growers - myself included - must have sat in the back yard on a hot afternoon, contemplating a cheeky one-plant grow. I watched the path of the sun track around 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 neighbors' prying eyes!

Eying up grow spots is just an occupational hazard. How many of you walk into a house or apartment for the first time and wonder how big the attic or cellar is? Or start measuring up the walk-in wardrobes to see if you could fit a 600-watt lamp in there? Exactly!

So, the spot has been selected: a nice corner of the yard that receives around five 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 provide a nice bit of cover. Although the cheeky plant will have to fight for light with its vegetable-producing neighbors, the tradeoff is that the close proximity to the other plants will help to hide its silhouette and soften the shape of its familiar-looking leaves.

But what to grow? The dream, of course, would be an enormous California-style bush of Kush or a towering sativa. Unfortunately, this is not going to be practical in the back of a suburban or city home! We need something small, discreet and fast; auto-flowering Cannabis is the answer.

As you probably know, these non-photoperiod-sensitive plants will flower under any lighting conditions so that you do not have to rely on the days getting shorter in order to get them to flower. They are a safe bet for planting outside 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 be ready to harvest within sixty to ninety days.

So, the auto bean has been popped and goes into the propagator for the first week of its life, under a couple of T5s to make sure that it does not become 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 will prevent her from getting shocked by any big fluctuations in day- and nighttime temperatures, which would also cause her to stretch.

This plant needs to get going fast, stay small and develop quickly. So, a five-liter pot filled with cocos will do nicely - there is no need to start in a smaller pot, as the shock of transplanting an auto can stunt their growth completely. It is actually 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 is best to use the right tool for the job. In goes the Dutch Pro auto-flower specific nutrient, tailor made for the fast paced growth of an auto-flowering plant. Remember that, with autos, it is a sprint, not a marathon.

Unless you are living out in the sticks, you probably will not have too many wild rabbits and deer attacking your special lady. However, the frequent rain and thunderstorms in between the periods of hot weather have made some yards and gardens the perfect breeding ground for slugs. These pesky bastards can make light work of your little auto plant. Small pot saucers filled with beer and placed strategically around your plant will attract, then drown them - what a way to go!

Alternatively, a protective barrier of salt poured around the base of your pot will keep them away. Just make sure that the pot is sitting in a saucer, otherwise you run the risk of rain washing the salt towards the roots of your auto marijuana plant.

As the auto weed approaches flowering, you will really start to notice her putting out some rather pungent odors. This is when you will find out if you will 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 such as lavender and basil. Obviously, this will not mask the smell completely, but agitating a lavender bush or basil plant every time you are out in the garden will certain help.

If the smell does become a little too much and the lady needs to be moved to a new home outdoors, be cautious when you are moving her. It is one thing to transport small seedlings to a guerrilla grow spot, all securely wrapped up in tubes of newspaper; however, it is 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 will 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 will be ready by the end of August.

Happy growing!