Behind the Scenes of the American Autoflower Cup 2026

It has been a few months since the last American Autoflower Cup. This year's event was amazing, but it was also more difficult to accomplish behind the scenes than people think.

Going into the event this year we had moved our dates back to the original cup dates. We think this was overwhelmingly a success so this will be the plan moving into next year as well. Starting early in the year seems to give everyone the right amount of time to get their entries prepared and that was really great to see, we almost had too many entries.

There were a total of 75 flower entries and 19 hash entries, along with very impressive testing results that showed almost all of the entries were on an elite competitive level. This year's judges were also on another level.

Returning judges were Jenn Doe, ICanTHC, MadManPlant, Maxwell Pharms and Stoney McBlaze Austin Kress. New judges were David Downs, Danny Danko and Kyle Kushman. I judge each year too, and this year’s entries were some of the best we have had yet. We had the judges house in Hollywood again, where everyone had a few days of non-stop cannabis testing. They each had their own preferences but the methods by which they examined the samples were both very similar and very unique.

Some rolled joints and had a group discussion on each sample, while others did their testing very independently. Some used glass and tried the samples in smaller tastings, but overall the flower testing went more smoothly than years previous. The concentrate portion went very similarly but our sponsor Dr.Dabber had provided their newest model the Switch2 so many of the judges did their testing with these devices. We had a number of great sponsors this year.

Elements and RAW Papers were a major sponsor this year and provided some amazing papers with rolling trays and all kinds of wonderful things for the judges and the winners as well. AC Infinity has been one of the best sponsors every year and they provide some incredible grow equipment for the winners to take home at the award ceremony. Dr.Dabber also provided Ghost 2 units for the winners to take home as well.

Grove Bags provided some of their excellent products for the awards, as did Neptune's Harvest and the Amazing Doctor Zymes. Haggard and Rosin Tech were sponsors again with small booths at the award ceremony as well. We also had Skilletools and RigRags from years previous that we provided to guests at the Pre-Party.

This year we decided the best way to do intake would be at a Pre-Party event where the competitors could drop off their samples and get to meet each other as well. The theme was a pizza party and everyone showed up on time with their samples ready. It was an overwhelming success and people really had a great experience with no problems and all positive attitudes. I wish that would have been the case for the packaging day, but thankfully my team, lead by my friend Jake, all pulled together and we got it all done despite the whirlwind of problems that arose.

To ease your mind, it was an issue with stickers and the solution was not simple but ultimately it exposed an issue that I had experienced in the past. This will lead to a return to previous packaging instructions but we will go over that in time. Let's talk more about the judging process and that started with the group grabbing some important items from our custom made merchandise.

The rolling trays and grinders got good use at the house. The papers were also used to the max. We also made content and the judges got to choose hats and hoodies, as well as Jerseys and all kinds of other branded merchandise that was also available at the award ceremony. We do a top notch job on all of our branded merchandise and judges boxes etc.

Ashlee handled the content creation again this year and she had a new photographer this time, they both did an excellent job. It is really fun to get into making these pictures and videos for the social media stuff. They do a huge amount of smoking in those days before the cup and we try to capture some of the best moments, food is some of the best parts too.

I lived in Hollywood for 10 years so I made some suggestions and we made a group decision that went spectacular every time. At night we let loose and hit the town.

Night three we hit another small lounge and I led what turned into a marathon of a walk to Sunset where we enjoyed good flavors of meat at the SaddleRanch Steakhouse. Then walked over to a bar where the local street people eyed us up as we waited for the robots to take us home. The next day was the award ceremony.

At the awards I arrived early so I could make sure to get everything done on time and maybe have a flawless event. We hit the ground running, everything was arriving on time and the setup had begun as planned. I got everything from our storage unit after a little confusion and we packed up everything from the house too. The booths were the last to arrive but that's totally normal. Outside we had Fast Buds with a double booth, and Mephisto, Maxwell Pharms, Humboldt Seed Co. and Mendo 20/20 all with single booths as well as one for Tacos.

Our inside booths were Z AutoFlower, Haggard Extracts, Rosin Tech and Teaching Bud. MadManPlant had his Mental Health Panel in the main room and we had Teaching Bud in the education room. Our stage was bigger than ever and looked very professional. Backstage interviews were also very good as our Highest Host Adam Ill handled stage duties and interviews behind the scenes. 

The show started with our DJ Linafornia and then progressed on to our educational talk where Nate from Teaching Bud spoke about the analytics that were provided by Purity Labs. The group had high testing averages at what I think was 26% but we had some really high numbers as quite a few tested OVER 30% this year.

After the discussion on the importance of analytics we moved over to Adam from Mendocino 20/20 who really spoke on the education portion and showed some great answers about Autoflower genetics. A favorite was the concept that they can get to an F7 auto in the same amount of time as they can get to an F2 photo. Will this lead to autoflower outpacing the photoperiod, only time will tell. 

As the show progressed we also had a performance from Austin Kress who is also Stoney McBlaze on the socials. He did great and all of the additional entertainment we had was really great, our Merch booth and entrance girls are handled by my friend Sara who always does a great job. I will also say that next year I plan to take the entertainment aspect of the show to the next level and really expand to another experience more like some from my past.

The fifth year of the American Autoflower Cup is going to really inspire me to do more & I hope to bring back some of the family. I also want to thank so many of my friends that came to the event and it was unfortunate that also many didn’t make it despite expressing interest to attend, a few for the first time.

My setup team of Jake and Angel really kill it with all the tables and the display cases as well as helping out people here and there just cuz they are good people. Bo handles the merch with his wife and they do a great job arranging all the awards for the winners. He goes way back with me and they even got married at Chalice, I heard there is a documentary in the works.

The award show came shortly after the comedy and we presented the winners with all of their awards.

People didn’t want to go home so we gave the booths more time to stay open and eventually I was able to get everything to wind down. I was quite overwhelmed behind the scenes with some things so I didn’t want to overextend myself and do an afterparty but from what I hear people ended up all over Hollywood. One of the best things about our event is the location and BeTrue studios is right in the heart of one of my favorite cities in the world.

My life there left fond fond memories for me so I really really love that we get to spend about a month hosting the event in my old stomping grounds. Next year is looking to be in the same location so we will see what I can come up with for the fifth year, stay checked into our discord and our website just in case our social media accounts have any problems but go follow those too.

If you want to learn more about me and my past there is a great documentary on Amazon and YouTube called THE SECRET CUP that tells a bit of my past as does my book JACK MOVES a memoir of the weed trade and dangerous living, available on Amazon and Barnes and Noble, is about my even earlier life and all the dangerous stories of troubles during the Secret Cup days.

I make all kinds of movies you can watch FREE on various streaming platforms too, go to my website for links to all of this stuff TheSkyIsland.com and I look forward to the next edition of the American Autoflower Cup in 2027, join the revolution.