Tek has been requesting I write this up. So here it is, its not like I did a good job on them, I just didn't and still don't have the money to do it right and I totally lack the time to write a solid review, even though the subject matter is totally deserving of a serious and fully documented review.

When I First heard about these "Auto-Flowering seeds" I figured there was something crazy going on. Everything about it seems... I don't know, totally wrong at some if not all levels. This probably did more to prevent me from taking them serious and giving them what they deserve. A totally honest chance to prove themselves, plus its not like they are cheap either.

Well, this time in my case they were free, since someone totally gifted me a few and said, try them out, you'll be blown away. Damn, she was so right!

First off, a disclaimer:
I admit it, I totally didn't walk in with an open mind and I totally should have. I'd already pre-formed a somewhat negative opinion and that was way wrong. That being said if I do another batch, I would not only do everything totally different I would take it serious next time and document their progress better. I know technology never stops or sleeps and it's changing everything including us.
That being said, my pre-opinion was formed from some of the crazy shit some companies are doing. If the term franken-fish means anything to you perhaps you understand my point. I totally don't like all this genetic engineering shit that is taking place in the agricultural world (Monsanto) and I totally prefer the good old fashioned heirloom quality seeds for produce that we consume. I feel Medical Marijuana is no different in this respect, however here I am reminded how little I know about the things I assume I know anything about at all. This happens every day in life so, yeah I guess I'm a slow learner, duh. Now let me Grab my yellow helmet, wipe off the drool and lets get on with the show!

Here is what I can totally say.
A friend gave me 8 Fem auto flowering seeds of 4 different strains. Each of the 3 I have grown look distinctly different once fully grown and while I can not say I totally know which was which from the finished product since I didn't label them. Or take ANY notes, and I didn't document anything at all during the whole process. (which I won't do the same with the remaining few seeds) I can totally say I am over 98% sure which was which. Each is very impressive for something that literally in 9 weeks from popping a little sprout out of the ground, is totally flowered and ready to be dried and tried.

Sadly, each was grown under less than perfect yet 100% organic conditions. Each had their own little pot of organic potting soil, each of them way small. Strike 1.
I starting them out in a totally cheapo organic potting mix. In hindsight it's probably more suited for growing mushroom than anything else as apparent every morning when I tended to them. Strike 2.
So 2 or 3 weeks in I transplated the Onyx and Blue Himalaya into some fox farm soil. Much happier but possibly some stunting due to this. Strike 3
The Auto-Assassin strain started off in the better soil but the pot is stupid small and holds maybe 2 cups of soil. Again, wtf was I thinking? As I said, each one is in their own little pot, totally way to little, again less than perfect conditions. The largest pots are still under half gallon in size and the last one is small enough I am embarrased. No ferts were used at all and all the water that was given to them was about as organic as you can get since it was all captured rain-water from the winter rain.

The strains grown were 1 of Auto-Assassin or AA, 1 seed of Blue Himalaya or BH and 1 seed of Onyx which I have been calling Ohhh Yeah!
Each is nothing but a short little calyx except the Auto-Assassin, it is the only one that has a measurable inter-nodal length. Is this cause of the better soil or the total lack of enough soil? Not sure, perhaps genetics, perhaps my fault, totally not sure.

The Himalaya and Onyx however are one continuous bud on a tiny short stalk, it totally looks like a nice big bud on a tiny little stick. These were all grown outside and while getting decent sunlight, I'm sure they would be larger if I had done things way different, i'm sure. Like totally everything, again... what was I thinking?

When all is said and done though it comes back to this.

Q: Am I impressed?

A: Totally. But I am also left to wonder what they would look like if I had done everything... what is the opposite of wrong. yeah I did this way wrong but they look totally killer. Yeah, I way cheated myself though and I know it now.. gosh-darn-it!

Now knowing what I have learned how would I do things different?
To start with I would start by grabbing Tek and getting his help up front, then I know I would be doing everything totally different. WTF was I thinking!! No clue, really not even a single one.

First question is probably
What limitations do I see with these?
Other than the ones I totally created by doing it half assed by myself?
Quickly followed up by
What exactly could I have done different:
This is a tough call and probably part of why Tek told me to write this. For indoor growers, wow! I think this is a HUGE gamechanging opportunity, massive SOG's with an totally short turn around? I'd love to see how these perform when done under totally perfect conditions. Tek brought up a couple of interesting questions like what happens under a continuous light cycle, do they still do the same? At least I am getting to grow some of them before he does. Although I don't think he grows, but her sure knows a lot about it. Then again he knows a lot about a lot!

First thing Tek said was he'd want to make his own seeds. For me thats easier said than done so I cant say I would start there. While I wouldn't be ready to go there I do agree, then you wouldn't need to be buying seeds every 9 weeks! I like that these were fem seeds but he said he wouldnt want fems. For me it was way easy. Plus its hard to say no especially for free. However I get where he was coming from. It would be killer to have a totally controlled environment then you create your nanners and do all the totally controlled pollination of a few fems each time to guarantee a good supply of seeds some pure fems and others non-fem'd. Thats totally the way to do it. Pretty sure thats hard if not impossible with the limited numbers of plants 215 allows us to do though. So this would totally have to be done collectively to get the numbers required to make this feasible. That shouldn't be to hard if someone really wanted to though.

The Auto-Assassin is the only one of the 3 that has a measurable inter-nodal distance which varies from 3" at the base to less than 1" at the top. For clones that would be considered pretty tight inter-nodal distance so I was told. Growing from seed its incredibly tight spacing.

The other two are just one continuous bud. They are not massive either but given they are only 9 weeks old and basically under less than stellar conditions I wouldn't expect them to be. Then again knowing I didn't do it right, I'm impressed I am getting what I am. Stupidly I didn't provide the right environment which is totally my fault, like most things in life.

So in a wrap-up here is their final stats although the Auto-Assassin has another week or 2 to finish out as I started it after the other two.

Onyx:
From soil to top is a whopping 7 1/2 inches tall! Grown in a 1/2 gallon pot. Started them in some no-name organic potting soil that had totally sprouted mushrooms every morning till around week 2 or 3. At that point they were transplanted to Foxfarm soil, no ferts and fed only rainwater. Its fairly thick but has almost zero branching as the plant was never trimmed or topped to induce branching either. With a longer light cycle or planted where they would have gotten 100% of the full sun outdoors or even waiting for longer days before starting them, or larger pots or started in quality soil I would totally expect this to change. For doing everything wrong, I'm more than impressed. Its incredibly sticky and has a seriously beautiful fruity smell, although my neighbor says it smells slightly skunky, maybe even a hint of BO. If you cant tell they know less about it than me. Very much look forward to trying this one out.

Blue Himalaya:
From soil to top measures a whopping 6'1/2 inches, its not as thick as the Onyx but probably more because of growing conditions than genetics. It has a more pine'y fragrant smell than the Onyx. The neighbor described it as a piney skunky pot smell. Its quite sticky but again Onyx totally beats it there too. Still smells great and also grown in a small 1/2 gallon pot at best. Started with the shitty soil and transplanted around week 3.
Same growing conditions to the Onyx in other words.

Auto-Assassin: This one is double the height of the others. Still tiny though for a totally flowered plant. Pot size? can you say, fucking tiny? seriously maybe 2 cups worth of soil? I never planning on doing this, I was just wanting to grow some herbs and tomatoes. Don't ask me why but they got all the good pots, kind of funny cause these gals are totally done and my tomatoes have not even put out a single flower yet. My basil is still just a few inches tall. At least I will have something to smoke while I wait for my tomatoes, which are looking totally nice by the way! And just in case you wonder, yes all the other plants were started in the mushroom happy soil mix and transplanted around week 3 with the exception of 2 of my larger containers, they still are in the mushroom mix cause I ran out of the good soil before I finished transplanting everything.

Back to the Auto-assassin it is about 13" from soil to top, has some branching and measureable inter-nodal distances ranging from 3" at bottom to 1" at top. The smell is somewhat piney and in such a tiny pot I'm totally blown away that it looks as good as it does. Again SOG's of these would be quite interesting and if done correctly I would totally have solid expectations in regards to how much you would get out of them.

Limitations:
This is what started Tek and me talking and where it gets interesting and playing with various technique's he was talking about I totally agree, You'd be solidly rewarded. If I had done things totally different I would have way better results. The first thing we talked about playing with was cloning. He was serious and I think I agree, He's totally sure you can NOT clone these gals. Think about it, honestly the Onyx and Blue Himalaya I am way positive you can't. There really is no inter-nodal distance and almost zero real branching to speak of. I am almost tempted to give him the seeds to see he can do with them. At least with the Auto-Assassin you might be able to try cloning them BUT being a auto-flowering variety I am totally not sure if it would work at all. Tek questioned if maybe running them at a 18 hour cycle, then 36 hours of total dark as they start to switch and then move them to a 24 hour light cycle might force them out but he wasn't sure it would respond favorably. He has me now questioning if it can be done too. Other than to hard shock them really hard like that, probably not. If I had the space and equipment PLUS his brain, I totally would Love to play with it but like, thats not going to happen. Besides they are done. Might like to buy some more of them and try this out but for now Ill have to pass it on to someone else to find this bit out.

If cloning is in fact totally not an option as he expects might be the case, then you are left with a few choices.
A: Make your own fem seeds which Tek wrote about in the Growing Tips Group anyone wanting to go that route be aware you can NOT use fem seeds to start with.
B: Starting with non-fem seeds and producing your own seeds to guarantee an endless supply. This means growing enough to get at least one male each time and then sticking it and a few females into their own grow space and sacrificing a few females each round so you can produce your own seeds. I totally didnt see this but Tek mentioned if you do this right you'd have yourself a pretty cool business setup just selling seeds. Don't cut corners though.
And avoid the mushroom soil I got, Ill have to fish out the bag and share the name so nobody else goes that route by accident.
C: Setting up an account with a seed bank and totally accept the fact you are a customer for life or till you do B: and or A: yourself.

While I said the seeds are not cheap, they are also not totally expensive and if you shop some of the companies listed up here their are a few that are totally cheap. I have never really been one to buy seeds though, I have totally lucked out and picked them up at random times from friends but lacking space to do a real grow in, even though I'm totally legal too prevents me from doing this. If I had the space and If I had the right people to work with I might rethink this but as it stands today its totally not an option I have currently.

Once I do have these gals totally dried and cured though I will come back and give you the final review of the strains, I will say so far though that out of all three strains the Onyx is totally the most impressive of the three. I still have one other strain Super Cali Haze that I have not tried yet. Once I start getting some tomatoes and herbs kicking I might decide to give it a try, right now though my basil, peppers and other herbs and other plants are using up all my usable pots but then again, who knows, perhaps someone gifts me some more growing materials and I will pop in the last few seeds I have at some point in the near future.

Sadly being broke totally means I don't have the funds to do much.
And if anyone has any experience trying to clone any of these auto-flowering strains we would love to know what you have found out. I will say, that trying to clone these is totally the biggest question mark I have. I could see for doing this again, just cause Tek himself doesnt know yet either and it would be to cool to find out before he does.. That brain of his must hurt at times. I know he has made smoke come out of mine more than a few times, pun intended. For anyone who knows him, you totally know what I mean.
Till then,
Puff, Puff, then Pass it along.

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