5 Years of the American Autoflower Cup: Every Winner 2023–2026

If you want to know which autoflowers have actually won in the US, the American Autoflower Cup winners are all in one place. Four editions in, from the first one in downtown LA to a packed room at beTRUE, the format has barely changed. Growers send in real harvests and judges score them blind. Across four years, the best autoflower winners keep pointing back to a short list of breeders and genetics.

The categories changed over the years, which is a big part of autoflower cup history. The cup started as a straight sativa-versus-indica contest, then grew into a spread of flower, hash and lab categories as more growers entered.

2023: a breeder-led debut in downtown LA

The first cup, held at Green Street in downtown Los Angeles, ran on two flower categories plus a breeder vote.

• Best Sativa: Strawberry Gorilla Auto by Fast Buds, grown by Ryan Gageby, took first. Fast Buds also landed second with Gorilla Punch Auto, and Twenty20's Durban Sunrise placed third.
• Best Indica: Banana Purple Punch Auto by Fast Buds, grown by Dereck San Miguel, won the category, ahead of Master Sensei Genetics' Alien Smoothie and Night Owl's Marathon OG.
• Best Autoflower Breeder: Mephisto Genetics took the community vote.
  Even in year one the lab numbers stood out, with many entries clearing 20% THC and a handful pushing toward 30%.

2024: Fast Buds and Mephisto trade blows

The second edition kept the sativa and indica split and tightened the scoring, with top entries recorded by code (the highest sativa card hit 224, the highest indica 237).

Best Sativa: Ztrawberriez Auto by Fast Buds, grown by Dereck San Miguel, took first, followed by Mephisto Genetics' Old School Mango Haze and New Breed Seed's Lemon Lime Lithium.
Best Indica: Cali Bubba by Twenty20, grown by Fortuna, won the top spot, with Fast Buds' Banana Purple Punch second and Night Owl's Outlier Z third.
Best Autoflower Breeder: Mephisto Genetics repeated as the voted breeder.
By now two names were doing most of the winning. Fast Buds and Mephisto Genetics landed on nearly every podium, and that held in the years after.

2025: the categories multiply

By the third cup the single sativa-versus-indica contest had given way to a broader set of awards; two boxes no longer fit the number of entries coming in.

• Best Auto Hybrid: Sundae Thumper by Mephisto Genetics won with a 262 score, ahead of Fast Buds' Lemon Cherry Cookies (252) and Twenty20 Mendocino's Grape Gas (243).
• Best New Strain: Love Bomb Auto by Twenty20 Mendocino led a new-genetics category, with Atlas Seeds' Mendo Breath Auto and Mephisto's Mango Runtz behind it.
  Highest THC: Mendo Breath Auto by Atlas Seeds topped the lab that year.
• Best Auto Hash: Orange Sherbet Auto by Fast Buds.
  Best Autoflower Breeder: Fast Buds took the vote, ending Mephisto's run.

2026: records fall at beTRUE

The fourth cup, held at beTRUE in Los Angeles, was the biggest yet, and the best documented. The full top ten sits in the recap of the best overall autoflowers of 2026, drawn from 75 flower entries and 19 hash entries.

• Best Overall Auto: West Coast Whistle by Night Owl Seeds, grown by Kush Cat Grow, took the headline award. Atlas Seeds' Garlic Jam placed second and Fast Buds' Pound Cake Auto third.
• Highest THC: 505 Headbanger by Mephisto Genetics, grown by Farmer HatBeard, set a cup record at 33.88%.
• Best Terps: The Cheese by Twenty20, grown by Jeremy Summers.
• Best Smoking: Garlic Jam by Atlas Seeds.
• Best Looking: Dawg Snacks by Alebrije Genetics.
• Best Rosin: Apricot Auto by Fast Buds, grown by James Ziegler.
• Best Autoflower Breeder: Fast Buds, for the second year running.

These results come out of a blind judging process. The cup, founded by Jeremy Norrie in 2023, puts every entry in front of a panel that scores aroma, potency, appearance and overall smoke, with lab testing behind the THC figures. The 2026 edition, its fourth, ran at beTRUE in Los Angeles on January 31, and the awards night also carried an Education and Mental Health panel open to every ticket holder.

What four years of American Autoflower Cup winners reveal

A few patterns run through the whole record.

Two breeders set the pace. Mephisto Genetics owned the early breeder vote, then Fast Buds took Best Breeder back-to-back in 2025 and 2026, and both kept landing strains on podiums across categories. Potency climbed on the lab sheet as well, from entries flirting with 30% in 2023 to a tested 33.88% record in 2026. The award list kept widening too, from two flower categories out to overall, terps, smoke, looks, hash and rosin. By 2026, the question had moved on from whether autoflowers were any good to which one was best.

The American Autoflower Cup by the numbers

• 4 editions, from 2023 to 2026
• Founded by Jeremy Norrie, debuting at Green Street in downtown LA in January 2023
• Now hosted at beTRUE in Los Angeles
• 2026 field: 75 flower entries and 19 hash entries
• Highest THC result to date: 33.88% (505 Headbanger, 2026)

American Autoflower Cup winners: your questions

Who has won Best Autoflower Breeder at the American Autoflower Cup? Mephisto Genetics won the community vote in 2023 and 2024, and Fast Buds won it in 2025 and 2026.

What is the highest THC recorded at the cup? 505 Headbanger by Mephisto Genetics at 33.88% in 2026, the current cup record. Atlas Seeds' Mendo Breath Auto was the Highest THC winner in 2025.

How have the categories changed since 2023? The cup began with Best Sativa, Best Indica, and a breeder vote, then expanded to overall, new strain, terps, smoke, looks, hash, and rosin categories as the field grew.

Which breeders show up most across the winners? Fast Buds, Mephisto Genetics, Twenty20, Atlas Seeds and Night Owl appear repeatedly across the four editions.

Want to see the next names added to this list in person? Get tickets to the American Autoflower Cup 2027.