I've had a number of inquiries about setting up a perpetual grow. Here's a few things that should help someone serious about maintaining a perp'.
I use 1 3/4 rooms for my growing. Two domes for cloning (1/4 room in a closet), half of my laundry room with a 400W bulb for vegging and an 8 X 8 room for flowering with a 1000W bulb. I've seen guys draping blankets in a room and other methods to conserve space, but using dedicated space works best for me.
I try to harvest 2 plants a week. When I remove those 2 plants from the flower room I need 2 veggers to replace them. After replacing those two I then have 2 holes in my veg room. Means I need 2 seedlings/rooted clones to move from the domes to the veg room. As you can see a perpetual grow is all about timing your various rooms so you have the replacement plants when you need them. Rather than work backwards I'll follow a plant through my system.
80+% of my finishing plants start as clones. I take my cuttings from plants that have been in dirt at least 5 weeks. Also, you can take clones from the flowering room if they have been at 12/12 less than 7 days. I usually take 2 cuttings from 2 plants each so I keep about 4 in my dome at any time. You need extra clones rooting in case of a problem popping up later. The rooted clones go to veg at 24/0 for about 5 weeks or until they get 20-24 inches tall. My veg room has 10-14 plants all in various stages of development. Remember, I need 2 plants a week to graduate to the next room.
The flowering room also has a dozen or so plants that entered the flowering room in stages, usually 2 at a time. I use a blackboard in the flowering room that shows when each plant went 12/12. At 6 weeks flowering I start to check that plant(s) for maturity and harvest when the tris are milky. Usually 7-8 weeks.
Most important insight I got while developing my system is that a perpetual grow needs lots of planning and choreography. It's easy to plan a grow and harvest everything at one time. It's not easy to harvest 2 plants today and have 2 more ready to harvest a week later. You can see that planning and consistency are paramount. So I use clones from plants that I know will root in 10 days or so to keep the line moving.
I would start a perpetual set-up by trying to clone more plants than you can use. Good to build up experience cloning and gives you a chance to judge various strains. I use short bushy indicas because they are fast and clone more consistently. When you are confident about being able to produce enough seedlings/clones for a perpetual grow you are well on your way to success. Move the oldest rooted clones into the veg area.
Count on needing about 4 times the floor space for flowering as for vegging. My indicas stretch about 100% while flowering so you have to keep in mind how much room you have between the top colas and the flowering bulb. I'm set up so that after 7-8 weeks the flowering gals are about 12 inches under my bulb. Right where I want them. Close enough to suck up the lumens but far enough to keep from getting crispy. I usually harvest one plant at a time and do 2 a week.
Good luck, BigSteve.
I use 1 3/4 rooms for my growing. Two domes for cloning (1/4 room in a closet), half of my laundry room with a 400W bulb for vegging and an 8 X 8 room for flowering with a 1000W bulb. I've seen guys draping blankets in a room and other methods to conserve space, but using dedicated space works best for me.
I try to harvest 2 plants a week. When I remove those 2 plants from the flower room I need 2 veggers to replace them. After replacing those two I then have 2 holes in my veg room. Means I need 2 seedlings/rooted clones to move from the domes to the veg room. As you can see a perpetual grow is all about timing your various rooms so you have the replacement plants when you need them. Rather than work backwards I'll follow a plant through my system.
80+% of my finishing plants start as clones. I take my cuttings from plants that have been in dirt at least 5 weeks. Also, you can take clones from the flowering room if they have been at 12/12 less than 7 days. I usually take 2 cuttings from 2 plants each so I keep about 4 in my dome at any time. You need extra clones rooting in case of a problem popping up later. The rooted clones go to veg at 24/0 for about 5 weeks or until they get 20-24 inches tall. My veg room has 10-14 plants all in various stages of development. Remember, I need 2 plants a week to graduate to the next room.
The flowering room also has a dozen or so plants that entered the flowering room in stages, usually 2 at a time. I use a blackboard in the flowering room that shows when each plant went 12/12. At 6 weeks flowering I start to check that plant(s) for maturity and harvest when the tris are milky. Usually 7-8 weeks.
Most important insight I got while developing my system is that a perpetual grow needs lots of planning and choreography. It's easy to plan a grow and harvest everything at one time. It's not easy to harvest 2 plants today and have 2 more ready to harvest a week later. You can see that planning and consistency are paramount. So I use clones from plants that I know will root in 10 days or so to keep the line moving.
I would start a perpetual set-up by trying to clone more plants than you can use. Good to build up experience cloning and gives you a chance to judge various strains. I use short bushy indicas because they are fast and clone more consistently. When you are confident about being able to produce enough seedlings/clones for a perpetual grow you are well on your way to success. Move the oldest rooted clones into the veg area.
Count on needing about 4 times the floor space for flowering as for vegging. My indicas stretch about 100% while flowering so you have to keep in mind how much room you have between the top colas and the flowering bulb. I'm set up so that after 7-8 weeks the flowering gals are about 12 inches under my bulb. Right where I want them. Close enough to suck up the lumens but far enough to keep from getting crispy. I usually harvest one plant at a time and do 2 a week.
Good luck, BigSteve.
