Hi grasscity! I'm starting after an extended hiatus....measured in years...in many ways I feel like an absolute beginner again; maybe another newbie can benefit from this thread. I grow to supply myself and one other family member, my total grow foot print takes up about 6 square feet, so I also think I qualify as a micro grow. It's done organically in dirt, and from seed each time. I bought a 400W lamp to get started because that's what I used in the past, and the plants performed beautifully under it. My new ballast will fire both 400 and 600 watt lamps, and a 600W HPS puts out almost twice as much light as a 400W. I've always heard more light = more buds, if I switched from 400W to 600W, am I likely to see a 50% increase in yield to offset the 50% increase in electricity costs? I want to run the first crop through as quickly as possible in order to produce some medicine for now as well as build a stash. To that end I'm thinking of a modified SOG. The space can hold 25 plants in 6" square containers. The plan is to start in 4" containers, and transplant into the 6" containers when the plants have 3 nodes. Once they have 6 nodes, I'll flip to 12/12. Doing this will save me 4 weeks or more on the crop cycle, as I would typically only plant 10 pots and veg for 8 weeks before flowering in 3 - 5 gallon containers. The 6" square pots hold just over a 1/2 gallon of medium. Is it reasonable to expect each pot will produce 1/4 oz? More importantly, is it reasonable to expect a 6" pot will sustain the plant for 10+ weeks? Does the root system continue to expand as the bud cycle progresses?
Lot of dicking around . Why not just grow some auto flowers in 3-4 gal containers ? They finish quick . I just don't buy into SOG method , waste a lot of plants for what ? 1/4 oz each ? Buy 25 4 " and the 25 6" pots . Buy 25 seeds . I could do better with 4-5 plants of autos , Just my opinion
I don't want to wait the time it takes for the plants to grow into 3 - 4 gal pots, and I don't grow auto flowering pot. My goal is to get from seed to harvest as quickly as possible, and still have a decent harvest. SOG fits that bill. Even if I get a shitty 50/50 male:female split and only 1/4 oz per pot, it would still produce a QP overall. I don't consider that a waste of plants or dicking around, but that's just me. My main concern is the pot size, I think a 1 gal pot would serve better, and provide enough root mass to ensure at least 1/4 oz from each pot.
It would be way better if you just had a mother plant to take clones from... only way I see sog effective. But from seed .... way to many seeds... and takes longer from seed to harvest then a clone to harvest
If you have been out of the growing game for a while you may have missed what auto flowering strains are doing these days. No longer are they weak THC and little bitty low rider strains. There are many many strains over 20% THC and 1 pound yields are common. My last auto plant went from sprout to harvest in 71 days total and had a yield of 353grams dry(12.47oz). This was grown in a cabinet that is about 35" long and 24" wide with 270w total of LED light. Granted it was in a 3.5 gallon DWC bubble bucket.
I've never done it myself, I thought there might be someone in the community who had some insight. And that's about where I left off. I'm a sustenance gardener, so one of my goals for the first crop of a newly acquired strain is to make more seeds. I have hundreds in the freezer, buying more hadn't even crossed my mind. The dicking around part is so much clearer. It's time to update my seed bank, but until that happens I'm stuck with these old school MJ seeds that take as long to flower as your auto took from sprout to harvest. I admit I'm clueless about modern auto flowering pot. Do you use an 18/6 light cycle from start to finish? How do you know when to time the last transplant...once males have shown? Dumb questions do exist.
Most autoflower growers run under a full 24/0 or 20/4 light schedule the entire grow. I run 24/0 myself with maybe a week of 20/4 at the end. In the autoflower world you plant in the pot you intend to grow the entire time in. Due to their limited life cycle most auto strains don't do well with transplanting. Some growers do well with transplanting but the general rule is you plant and don't repot. As for males, again autoflowering strains are mostly feminized and frankly it is hard to find a breeder that offers regular seeds. Given this males are a non issue. Now for a grower like yourself there is a way around this of course and you would just need to do a reversal on one plant for pollen, pollinate one female or part of one female and have a life times worth of seeds.
I may be back to "I don't grow autos". Is there a commercial product I can apply to affect the reversal?
Do you know what cloning is ? Grow a few plants , when you find a female you take cuttings that you can root and they will be an exact copy of the Mother plant ( female plant , female clones ) this is how many operate so they dont have to buy seeds and it can keep good genetics going Picture Guide to Cloning Marijuana | Grow Weed Easy
A shit load of 6 inch pots is a pain in the ass. I personally would put 2 10 gallon smart pots with promix and one plant in each. You'll get more from those two plants under that 600 than a bunch of 6 inch pots. The real thing that's gonna make a difference is how you train and FIM and top the plant , from the time I see a seed pop up out of the soil it's about 20 or so days 25 maybe before the plant shows definite sex. Keep em under 24 hours light , they won't stretch , and in 21 or so days you'll have a couple of nice little bushes. Then flower em under the 600 watt lamp and your golden brother. If your looking to cut down on time there's a really nice strain called maple leaf x black domina , or even just maple leaf. High thc content easy to grow , very resistant to pests. It only takes 45 days to flower. That's fucking awesome. I personally hate autos , ruderellis is junk if you ask me but that's just my opinion. I mean it is wild off the side of the road weed that pollenates itself usualy and a lot of the time SuCKS in the end. You have a 600 that's awesome. 1 promix 2 earthworm castings 3 grow 4 bloom 5 10 gallom smart pots. Its not more kight necessarily that brings more buds. It's a mix of light and roots. More roots more fruits. 600s are awesome because they are low heat , low energy use , and you can get em really close to the plants so the plants use all that light. Good to go. Meds are on the way. Keep us posted. I'm starting back up after a 2 year break. Id love to go through this one with ya and toss ideas back and forth.
I'm very familiar with all the aspects of growing MJ. Back in the day, I maintained a perpetual harvest garden for several years and completed a few breeding projects. That day ended in '03. Today, it's a one stage garden or no garden. Doing a 25 plant sog was only going to be a one-time deal to get some bud quickly and satisfy my greed. I planted 10 seeds this morning, I'll flower the best 4 girls in 5 gal containers. Kali Spice x C99 F2. I'm not opposed to buying seeds; it's just that they aren't cheap, but they are contraband, so the whole ordeal is nerve wracking until I know I haven't been ripped off.