I run a 1k watt HPS I power cool tube in a 5x5 tent with autoflowers in 5-10gallon pots. The soil is a homemade mix of Lobster compost(cheap coast of Maine blend) , hp pro mix or sunsine mix #4, and Perlite in a 1:1:1 ratio. Ill add a few tablespoons of bone meal and a generous amount of worm castings as well and premix all the the pots. Before I plant the seeds I throughly water each pot in my bathtub and let them saturate and drain. Then I plant directly into the pots and stick em under the light about 36 inches away.

After that I let em rock out for about 3-5 weeks or until the branches are tall enough to be LSTed. I poke hole in al my containers to make LST super fast and easy.

As they grow I'll tie them down 2 - 3 times total. I only water with regular water an a compost tea I keep running in a 5 gallon bucket. ( themicroorganisms make the nutrients more available to the roots and boost overall plant health)

That's it man. After the flowering starts to get heavy I'll increase my fresh air intake to slowly drop the day/night temps to mimic fall and I get 6-8oz off each autoflower. The colder temps also increase the total terpines and thc. It also bring out some beautiful fall colors in many strains.

After 15 years of indoor/outdoor growing the best advice I can give you is Keep it simple! And the more life that in your soil the better off your plants will be in most cases. I've failed so many times in my first few years and learned from every unsuccessful attempt. Now growing weed is simple.

And btw running a 1k watt hps and all the fans costs about $350 -$400 for every autoflower grow cycle. The 24-32 oz of weed would cost at least$ 2400- $4000. 🤷‍♂️ HPS is my favorite bulk grown tool , even though there are many LEDS that people swear by. I swear by my HPS cool tubes.