Hey Guys, Been a lurker for a while, starting my first grow ever, and Im not coming into the game small. Have a budget set aside for a nice little perpetual grow setup. But at the moment, I'm running into some planning issues. I have a cabinet already built and ready for use to house a mother and Im thinking 6-8 clones. At the moment, I have 10 bagseed seedlings vegging in there while i build my flower box. Once the flower box is done, the bagseed will go in there to flower and I will begin growing the mother to start this perpetual with. at the moment, my mother plant is in seed form being shipped from the Ttude. Where Im running into problems is designing my flower box. Im looking to harvest 2 clones a week with maybe a 1/2 oz on each one. But I don't know how the actual perpetual plan is going to look, or how many plants Im going to have to have in the flower box at once. I'm going to custom build the flowering cabinet, and if some one could help me with planning the perpetual part, I'm all ears. I've been reading other perpetual grows, but they are just to big to base my setup on. I only really need to harvest about an ounce a week. So any ways, help me design my flower box and tell me how big it needs to be. here is a picture of the mother cabinet, that is at the moment housing random bag seed, The light setup is at the moment, *6 6500k 14wt bulbs, and 2 2700k 14wt bulbs.* It has changed since pic. Dimensions of the cab in the pic are 23.5 inches across, 17 inches high, 13.5 inches deep. I'm hoping the mixed spectrum while vegging will give the bag seed a little boost. i dunno, any idea's about that? So Im Thinking once i have the mother, I take 2 clippings off of her a week, root them some how, I still am not sure of the best way, and set them in the cabinet with the mother to veg on 18/6 to develope roots. After two weeks in there, the clones would go into the flower cab for 8 weeks, then the buds need to dry for 1 week. So I need to have all that time planned into the perptual grow. All you experienced perpetual growers, Tell me how the setup would look and what the steps would be to be able to harvest 2 clones a week?
The bagseed is just a little side project to get me started. Since I have at least a few weeks before i'll have a mother ready for cloning, I can have the bag seed already getting flowered in my new cab. I will not be transplanting or doing anything other to the bagseed plants than just watering and maybe some nutrients when they are flowering. Not expecting anything from them, so even a few grams would be awesome lol. A 150w HPS light has been ordered today, along with 4 fans for ventilation in the flowering cab. I plan on using mini hempy buckets, and if any one has any advice on what nutes I should go with, speak up I have almost figured out how the perpetual part would go, but i still wanna here your guy's ideas, as this is my first grow and i could really use the help.
14w bulbs are pretty weak for vegging you should at least have 100w for the first plant and 50w for each additional plant but for small clones it should be alright. Try and look for the 23w or 26w bulbs. I would take 2 clones a week wait till they root(about a week or two) then put them in the flower chamber. How many plants do you plan on flowering at a time? 150w is only good for a couple plants at once and probably wouldn't be able to get a ounce a week with more plants. heres a link for the two week harvest but it looks like your going to need a bigger set up for it http://forum.grasscity.com/advanced-growing-techniques/156593-get-harvest-every-2-weeks.html What seed did you pick as your mother?
Well Heres the thing. That cab is only for VEG. I am building a completely seperate cab for the 150w HPS light i ordered. That will be the flowering cab. I want to harvest 1 ounce a week, I was thinking 2 clones harvested each week would be able to produce that, But i don't know how many plants will have to be in flowering at one time to be able to harvest every week. Thats my main question. Gimme about 10 or 15 minutes i will take a new picture of the cab with more lights in there now I have settled on a design for the flowering box, which I think GC will approve of, and have a special surprise for you guys once you finally see it. The actual design will look very much like a desk, and will be about five foot long, 3 ft high, 2 ft deep, and my ps3 and tv will be setting on top of it :] construction on it is already coming along nicely and will have pics of it in 2-3 days. The 150w hps wont be here till next week, ordered off Amazon. So i have a week to construct my flower box, and its gonna be awesome can't wait for you guys to see it.
I will look into upgrading the CFLS. I don't plan on flowering with cfls though, so i think now that i have 6 6500k 14w, and 2 2700k 14, that should be enough to keep a mother alive in this cab. The flower cab will be much bigger. As promised here are more pics of the mother cab, which are housing the bag seed, and they are coming along nicely for only being out of soil 4 days. They come from some mexican brick weed, which by surprise turned out to be some bomb ass smoke, and since i bought a half pound of it, I ended up with many seeds and have about 50 left.
Doing the math to flower every two weeks you will need to have 8 plants flowering at once if it takes 8 weeks to flower. With each pair of clones two weeks behind the next. For lighting it should be at least 100w for first plant then 7x50w for the others so about 450w is what your looking to need but maybe not so much if its smaller clones. It might get kinda confusing with nutrients being different for each stage of development.
I'm no expert, but this plan seems really really ambitious. I definitely think you would need more space with more lighting. Maybe consider trying to harvest less often with bigger yields at each harvest? That sounds a lot more conceivable to me. You seem to have good building skills and at least some what of a budget to work with, so maybe think about going a little bit bigger?
I would rather have harvest two smaller clones with maybe a half ounce or less on them each week. I'm not looking for these plants to produce an ounce a clone. Just enough to get me through the week tilll i chop down the next two clones.I think the 150w hps supplemented by a couple 26w 2700k bulbs will be enough for the flowering room. And the reason why i can't do larger yeild is because of space, with only 3 ft of hieghth, and three feet of width in the flowering room,I could grow alot of real small plants, but only a couple larger ones. And Im looking to make a continous supply even if its just a small amount
Yo wom, nice veg box....okay 1st off a perpetual grow takes time to develop....you cant just say ima harvest every wk, how do u do it?......imo harvesting every week is gonna be tough w/ just a 150whps and a few cfls....remember to harvest every week youll have to have at least 8 plants, in varying stages, in your box. And 150wts isnt enough light for 8 1/2oz plants. Now iff yo go up to harvesting every 2 wks you'll probably have a better chance to succeed. Im not trying to be negative, im just being real. Start off w/ some realistic goals first to see how things r gonna proceed then you'll have a better idea of what to do to expand. Ive seen guys on here that have whole rooms to use and they struggle to get perptl harv down. It usually takes them a few harvest b4 its running smooth. So be patient and i believe you u can do it....but it'll take some time to get dialed in. Im def subbd...good luck bro....oh yeah i love me some white owls...thats what we started w/back in late 70's in nyc. Holla
I have enough space for way more than eight plants, in the Desk that I am building now. Just be patient GC, good things come in time. For now, an update. The 150w HPS arrived today. Came in two days. Pretty fast, huh? I plan to supplement the HPS with some 26 w 2700k CFLs for flowering the clones. Fans also arrived today. And guess what else. The seeds too. So now I have a LowryderxHaze auto and a Dinafem Blue Hash germinating paper towel method. I will be ordering more seeds very shortly, and I need your guys help choosing a mom! Only recomend a strain to me if you've grown it. As soon as the "WEEK DESK" is done, I will hang the 150w in it and take some pics for you's guys. The whole surprise about the desk is, ( i could wait for the pics to tell you) It will be housing the entire perpetual part of the grow. The cab that I already made and showed you guys, will probably now be used for autos, after i move bagseed into the desk, which will be done in the next couple days. I will post pics of the bagseed when there is anything new to show. PS. Some time in the future, will probably be upgrading the 150w to a 400. maybe in 3 to 4 weeks. I figure i can put enough CFLs in there with the 150 to get this whole thing going.
Some pics, to pass the time. One is drooping a little, but im sure she'll survive these are the badseed, btw. I think the are coming along fine. only been out of soil 5 days now i think
One more picture, because the setup of the cap has changed now that I've removed cups that didn't sprout. i've been growing the bagseed on 24/0 because i want to get as much vegging done in the two or so weeks before they go into the desk to flower under the 150w Hps. is this a good idea? I don't think doing 24/0 would cause me to get any less females, would it? can't wait for the auto haze and dinafem blue hash to sprout. Can any one tell me if the dinafem blue hash is a feminized seed? it was the freebie i got when i placed my order at attitude
lookin good imo, you'll see a bit more growth if you give them some dark time, maybe go 20/4 or 18/6. The nodes wont be as tight though...
looks good man, gettin going. i agree give them some more dark period. remember that when the lights are on your kids are awake and the energy it receives is transferred 90% to the roots. and when its dark that stored energy is put to the top of the plant for more growth. IMO the only benefit for a 24 hour light period is for rooting, regenerating moms, acclimation, and auto flower plants. a veg is just that; a veg a time period before you turn the lights back to get the plants to desired height. you havnt sexed those seedlings yet so until then keep the lights on for a good 18 to 20 hours on. (i perfer 20 hours on during sexing. the warmer/humid the more of a chance you will get a male cooler temps, dryer climate the better you have a chance of getting females.
Thanks, this is very good advice. I didn't know that when the lights are on, most of the energy goes to roots. I've decided to go ahead and start sexing the plants under 12/12, at noon today will turn the lights off. then, in a few days when the desk is done, I'll put em under the 150w with a bunch of 2700k cfls and just continue in 12/12. on a side note, I looked through the drainage hole on the bottom of one of the cups, and a single root tap was showing at the bottom. Its only been a week. Could they have already outgrown the 16 oz party cup? I seen a guy on here who finished a whole mini plant in a 16 oz party cup, so theres no way I already ran out of room in my cups. how do i keep it from growing out of my drainage hole? If nessecary, i guess i'll have to get some bigger pots. I'll be working on the desk for a while today, gonna post pictures soon.
Thaaats lookin sick. How many total watts and lumens do u got on them'? Im so pissed my grow was siezed and destroyed by my parents