---------------------------------------------------------------Summary---------------------------------------------------------- Hello everyone, long time reader, first time poster. Im in need of some advice before i start my grow. I will be growing in my garage which is a space of 12L x 8W x 8.5H feet. I live in California and will be doing a law compliant 6 mature or 12 immature grow. From what i understand, its 6 mature or 12 immature plant per patient per household, correct? I want to do an efficient perpetual grow. With this i decided that using my MMJ card for 6 mature and my roommates MMJ card for 12 immature would be the most efficient way for a perpetual grow while staying within legal limits. If anyone can think of a better way to utilize 2 MMJ cards to grow a perpetual grow, please let me know. Perhaps you can mix and match things to find a better formula? I plan to use 2 grow tents, one for vegging and one for flowering. -------------------------------------------------------------Question #1, Space?------------------------------------------------------------- How would you guys use this space? How much room would you take for the flowering room, how much room would you take for the vegging room? ----------------------------------------------------------Question #2, Method of grow?-------------------------------------------------------- What would be the best method of grow to get the fastest and most yield considering the space i have at my disposal? SCROG, SOG, FIM, Supercrop, LST, HST, Topping, etc? I'm leaning towards the SCROG at the moment. If its scrog, what is the best hydroponic system to use for a scrog grow? If not SCROG, then what method? ----------------------------------------------------Question #3, What hydroponic system?------------------------------------------------ What hydroponic system is best suited for the amount of space and plants i will be growing? DWC, NFT, Ebb and Flow, Drip system, Aeroponic, etc ? --------------------------------------------------------------My Plan-------------------------------------------------------------- Here is my plan for how to utilize the space but i think it is inefficient. I was going to buy one 8x4 tent for my flowering of 6 plants with one 1000W HPS ballast with all the supporting items such as ducting, carbon filters, fans, and hydroponic system of choice (undecided). Along with that i was going to purchase a 4x4 tent for my vegging and mother plants with 2 dual bulb CFLS and all supporting items. The tents equal to 12x8 which is the space i have. But now im thinking that perhaps an 8x4 flowering tent for only 6 plants is overkill? Is that tent too big for only 6 plants? -----------------------------------------------------Perpetual grow formula------------------------------------------------------ I seriously have no idea. From my knowledge this is what i can come up with but im not confident in it at all. Alright so 12 immature plants and 6 mature plants. Get 18 seeds (lets assume they are all female) and grow them out until they are of proper size (12 inches?) From there, pop 6 of them in the flowering room. Now from 18 total plants we have 6 in the flowering room and 12 in the vegging room. Take 2 of the bushiest ones and dedicate them as mothers to take 6 clones per cycle, 3 from each. Maybe 2 mothers is too much for 6 clones? Maybe 1 is enough? I dont know. I'll just say 2 incase 1 dies. Okay, so i have 6 in the flowering room, 12 in the vegging room, 2 of which are mothers. I have 10 left over clones. I don't need 10 i need 6. See this is what im talking about i cant put them all into play properly. Anyway, it takes 2 months to harvest the plants in the flowering room. After 1 month passes of the flowering plants, take 3 cuttings from each mother plant for a total of 6 clones. Once the plants in the flowering room are ready to be harvested (2 months) the fresh cuttings should have been growing for 1 month and have reached the proper size (12 inches?) so you can put the clones into the flowering room. Repeat process. I still have 10 plants sitting there for no reason growing into giant trees. Also that would mean i have 16 clones and 2 mothers = 18 plants in vegging and 6 in flowering. Idk wtf im doing. Okay maybe, do nothing to the vegging room for the first harvest besides let the mothers grow. After harvesting the first plants, push the 10 giant over-vegged plants into flowering. Fuck it, be illegal for 2 months. Once the 10 over-vegged plants are 1 month into flowering, THEN take 6 clones, 3 from each mother. And once harvest time comes for the over-vegged plants, the 6 new clones will get pushed into flowering. Repeat process. But i am still not utilizing all my plants and all my allowed limit. I will have 6 flowering and 8 vegging (6 clones and 2 mothers) at the most. I'm missing 4 plants that don't fit. Also, every other month i will only have 6 flowering and only 2 vegging (my mothers) because we are waiting for the 1 month of flowering to pass before taking clones. Thats WAY under my limit. It is not efficient!I need help! Hm, i just thought of another option to utilize all my 18 plants. If we could mix and match i could add 2 to my flowering room and subtract 2 from my vegging room. Instead of having 6 mature AND 12 immature (2 MMJ cards) i could have 8 mature and 10 immature. This way i could have 2 mothers, 8 clones, and 8 flowering at the peak. I will still have 1 month every other month where i will be down 8 plants. 8 flowering and only 2 vegging because we arent ready to take cuttings and make them into clones yet. I clearly need advice and guidance. I'm just trying to make the best moves and i need other opinions and inputs. Please help! THANK YOU! (this shit is so fuckin long i bet no ones going to read it)
I wouldn't get too hung up or waste too much mental energy on the "perpetual motion" part of the plan. That will come years later when you know more and have a consistent strain that always behaves the same each time. Starting out, things happen and you change your mind. Just let it happen naturally. Your idea of two tents, one for veg and one for flower is an excellent idea. Although depending on your garage, you don't really need a veg tent. Once you get the hang of it, some plants may need to veg a little longer, and some plants may need to flower a little longer. You don't need to move all six into and out of the flower tent at the same time. One at a time makes harvesting and trimming less of a job. Also, over time, you'll find new seeds you want to try, and those can be started anytime in your veg room, regardless of the size of your other plants. otherwise, 1000w hps in flower tent for six plants sounds good. No, that is not too much space, especially if you get into scrogging, or even any good bushy plant pruning. I don't know anything about hydro, not sure why you would want to complicate matters just starting out. You can grow plenty with nothing more than containers filled with a god mix.
I appreciate you taking the time to read my post, and thank you very much for the input! I'm glad my 2 tent idea is on the right track and that 8x4 is a good size. I might be able to get away without a vegging tent but there are a lot of contaminants in the garage and people will be going in and out of there often. It would just be a lot cleaner and more organized if the plants are enclosed in a room. I would like to dive straight into hydroponics because of the potentially increased yield, and also because I have already done most of my homework on it. It's something that I plan to stick with even after soil so might as well just get right into it. The hydroponic systems just seem crazy expensive for how simple they are. Ebb and flow tray set up 350+ dollars, that's nuts! Just a bunch of plastic, a couple of hoses, and a pump. The profit margine must be nice! Id probably need 3 of those if I went with that. 2 on each.
