Hi! I'm new at this so I don't have lots of knowledge on growing, so bare with me haha

I've been growing twice now on a island in the caribbean and though I succeeded in harvesting a rather nice product, I'm looking for a way to have a bigger plant. The thing is : the two first plants have been cultivating barely reached 30cm. After wandering through forums and stuff, I think that one of the main reason could be the exposure to sunlight (12/12) causing the plants to flower as early as 5 weeks in (that's what happened for the first one and even sooner for the second one). 

The plants are cultivated in exterior and they are autoflo. 

I also discovered that sativa strains were growing better on a tropical climate, and so far I had indica strains so it could be part of the reason why they would not be too developped. 

I'm planning on trying a sativa strain on my next try, so I'd like to know if you guys have any tips regarding the growth in a tropical climate, like on the lighting or else. Anything that could help. 

Thanks ^^