As a new grower, the sheer amount of variety in cannabis can be daunting.

There's different strains, terpenes, flavors, effects and cannabinoid profiles. There's tall stretchy plants and short squatty plants. There's regs, and fems, and autos.

Your environment, needs, and experience will help guide you.

But what if you've never grown before?

Should you start with photos, regs, fems, or autos?

Quick, let's define the three before we get ahead of ourselves:

Photos (Photo Period Plants): Plants that transition from one growth stage to another based on light cycles.

There are two kinds of photo seeds:

Regs (regular seeds) are seeds produced using one male and one female.
Fems (feminized seeds) are produced using only females (sometimes two parents, sometimes bred with itself).

Autos (Autoflowering Plants): Plants that transition from one growth stage to another without encouragement.

Unlike photos, autos will move from vegetative to bloom based on internal signals from the plant, rather than external triggers like length of darkness and daylight.
Modern Autos are typically feminized as well (seeds made using females only)

While I may have only grown two autoflowers personally, I've been lucky enough to work with experienced growers and breeders who are intimately familiar with the nuances of these two plant families.

These are the 5 Reasons I recommend Autos to First Time Growers:

1. Perfectionism Controls

We all have a tendency to have control mindset when we try something new.

When growing a plant, you are caring for a living being, and you are never in complete control.

Autos remove elements of control (like lighting changes and extended veg cycles) from the equation.

You have to flower an auto when it wants to be flowered. Autos are more in control of their destiny than photos; they do the work for you.

Autos grow the way a plant is “supposed” to grow according to that plant, without feedback from you as a first time grower.

2. No Cuts to Keep

Your first seed planted will not be an award-winning cut.

Just like we think we “might” be a natural when it comes to a new skill (you’re most likely not), you’re also not likely to find a winner on your first seed.

Stressing about that potential (and having to keep it around through cloning, etc) is unnecessary burden for first time growing.

There are no cuts to maintain, moms to care for, or clones to take.

Your focus in your first grow should be on growing your first plant, not keeping it around forever because its "the one".

Autos make it so you can't stress about the potential of a "keeper."

3. Lighting is Easy

As mentioned, unlike photos, autos don't need a photo trigger to start flowering, which means you don't have to worry about changing any timers mid-cycle.

Because autos will flower regardless of light, you don't have to be as concerned about accidental light leaks that could send the wrong signals to a photo plant.

Autos love light and often want (and can tolerate) more, reducing your chances of a lighting-related issue in your first grow.

4. The Fastest Path From Seed to Harvest

Modern autoflowers can go from seedling to harvest in as little as 70 days.

Harvesting 70 days from seedling is not something even the fastest flowering photo can accomplish can from seed.

Photoperiod plants need a minimum of 5-6 weeks to start producing ethylene before you can even start flowering.

Even a photo that finished in 6-weeks (very rare) still puts you at 77-84 days assuming EVERYTHING happens as it should.

For first time growers, a faster timeline shortens the time commitment required to reap the benefits of trying something new.

5. No Dudes*

Most autos these days are fems.

Like their photoperiod relatives, feminized autos are nearly guaranteed to be female.

By working with fem seeds (autos or photos), you drastically reduce the chances of ending up with a male plant.

Males produce pollen and can turn a hopeful flower harvest into a seed machine if left unattended.

Imagine, 6 weeks into your first plant–including six weeks of time, nutrients, soil, utilities (water and power), etc. all going to waste because you ended up with a dude.

Feminized autos do not have to be sexed to determine gender, meaning less guesswork, and less wasted inputs.

*Obviously, if you are running regular autos, this benefit does not apply.

Autoflowers are a great way to get a firsthand understanding of what the grow cycle looks like without much of the guesswork involved in crop-steering and sexing photoperiod plants.

It’s why we are starting with autos for the first 2BY2 GrowHort in January.

5 Reasons Why I Recommend Autoflowers for First-Time Hobby Growers

Start growing without the guessworl

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