While popular for their speed and ease of flowering, autoflower seeds do have some drawbacks compared to traditional photoperiod strains. Based on information from Volt Grow's comparison of autoflower and photoperiod cannabis strains, the main disadvantages of autoflowers are related to yield, potency, training limitations, and propagation.
Key Disadvantages of Autoflower Seeds
Here are the specific disadvantages associated with growing plants from autoflower seeds, as highlighted by the comparison:
- Lower yields: Autoflower plants typically produce a smaller quantity of harvestable material compared to photoperiod plants grown in the same conditions. This is often due to their shorter overall life cycle and smaller size.
- Slightly lower potency: While potency has increased significantly in newer autoflower genetics, they may still have a marginally lower cannabinoid potency on average when compared to high-quality photoperiod strains.
- Easier to overfeed: Autoflowers can be more sensitive to nutrient levels. They are more prone to nutrient burn or other issues if given too many nutrients, making feeding schedules require careful attention.
- Can't use high-stress training techniques: Due to their fixed and rapid life cycle, autoflowers do not have a long vegetative period to recover from high-stress training (HST) methods like topping, fimming, or super cropping. These techniques, often used on photoperiods to increase bud sites and yields, are generally not suitable for autoflowers.
- Cannot clone: Unlike photoperiod mother plants which can be kept in a vegetative state and cloned repeatedly, autoflowers are on a genetic timer to flower and finish. Cuttings taken from an autoflower will also follow this rapid life cycle and typically will not grow into viable, productive plants.
These factors are important considerations for growers when deciding between autoflower and photoperiod genetics based on their goals and growing environment.
