A harvest every 2 weeks in 1 small ebb & flow system, WILL IT WORK?

[iloveit]

Ive been using the "4 pot atami wilma" system for my first grow but now Id like to give the ebb & flow method a try.
My cab is pretty small (73 x 73cm) so I dont have much of a choice but to purchase a flood & drain ef120 (SEE PIC No. 1)

So heres the plan.

Ill be growing 16 plants in the flood & drain system (tight squeeze I know) which will be sitting in 1 or 2 litre square pots.
I plan on taking 4 clones from my mother plant & into the propagator to establish roots then vegging them in the propagator for a week or two then transferring them to the E+F system. Ill repeat this step every 2 weeks & eventually the E+F system will hold 16 plants, so Ill remove the first set of 4 plants (in a row) when they are ready for harvest & replace them with another 4 clones from the propagator. This step will follow every 2 weeks & as for lighting Im going to try to balance out the positioning of my 400W HPS (cooltube) so it doesnt burn the new clones but provides enough penetration for the older clones or maybe Ill have to move it up & down from time to time. Does this make sense so far? If it does then you may be thinking it sounds silly...this method has been on my mind since AL B FUCTS "Get a harvest every 2 weeks" so I just have to give it a try.

Ill be growing Blueberry dutch passion. As for the nutes Im going to use Ionic , PPM never exceed 1000 with my Blueberrys in my current system so thats taken care of.

When the time comes for flushing Ill have no choice but to do it by hand over the sink approx 3/4 times a day I dont mind though.

Thats it thats my plan can it be done all in 1 E+F system? I know it sounds super noobi but thats because I am a super noobi

Id like to hear your opinions Im sure there are some factors Ive not considered yet & please refrain from leaving rude comments.

The 2nd pic is just to give you a rough idea of what to expect, the pic belongs to "Heath Robinson" the person who inspired me to grow after viewing his cool setups. Hope its ok for me to use this pic.

 

[oldMcDonald]

i dont know how to answer your question, since im not an expert on this stuff, i guess im bumpin it sorta. and i just wanted u to know those babies are beautiful.

 

[iloveit]

i dont know how to answer your question, since im not an expert on this stuff, i guess im bumpin it sorta. and i just wanted u to know those babies are beautiful.

As mentioned that pic belongs to Heath Robinson.
Im not sure why no-one has given any opinions after 21 views Im beginning to think there are some factors beyond my knowledge.

 

[GreenThumbSucker]

One problem I see: Those plants will get somewhat bigger soon. It will be hella crowded. Any clones put in with big plants might just get crowded out of the light by the bigger plants.

The flowering plants should be tall enough by the time you put in new cuts that the light is high enough not to burn them. You could put them off to the side for a couple days to let them harden off (get used to the brighter light) before you put them into the system.

Having said that I would say go for it. See what happens. You may have so much crowding that you have to thin them out a bit down the road but who knows, in the end you may come up with a system that gives you a nice continual stash!

Go for it! Keep us posted

 

[iloveit]

One problem I see: Those plants will get somewhat bigger soon. It will be hella crowded. Any clones put in with big plants might just get crowded out of the light by the bigger plants.

The flowering plants should be tall enough by the time you put in new cuts that the light is high enough not to burn them. You could put them off to the side for a couple days to let them harden off (get used to the brighter light) before you put them into the system.

Having said that I would say go for it. See what happens. You may have so much crowding that you have to thin them out a bit down the road but who knows, in the end you may come up with a system that gives you a nice continual stash!

Go for it! Keep us posted

I was considering that issue so Im thinking maybe Ill lollipop them.

 

[monster383]

There might be a problem with ppm and rinsing at the end if all the plants are on same table getting same nutes at all stages of growth.

 

[orangeade5]

There might be a problem with ppm and rinsing at the end if all the plants are on same table getting same nutes at all stages of growth.

this, you need to up the nutes as the plants grow up, what you gonna do keep it the same all the time for all of them?

 

[Return of the Spork]

A lot of SoG'ers don't flush and use the same nute levels throughout. In this kind of situation, that is probably the easiest way to go about it. This isn't the place to debate flush/not flush. There is no problem not flushing if your setup doesn't allow for it. You may want to incorporate some sort of nute change flush in your system to remove accumulated salts. Just for the record, I flush. If you want to do it by hand then that is fine as well.

I am fairly sure you are already doing it, but just in case I suggest having individual pots for each plant. This in my opinion is not an option. If your grow footprint is in fact 73cm x 73cm, then 16 plants is fine. I do trays of 9, but if I had that footprint I would be able to do a tray of 16. I use square pots as well.

As far as the clones, how confident are you in your propagator? If you are very confident in it, then 4 clones for 4 plants is fine, but I always take more clones than I need. I as well as a few others have had finicky results with bubblers/aero cloners. If you have no problems with it, go for it. If you are new to it, I suggest rapid rooters.

The strain/nutes will really be dependant on your setup. People can give advice but it really comes down to what you choose to buy/use.

You will need to watch a few things though...

Veg time doing this kind of setup is not needed. If you veg you will have a problem. Give them enough time to develop roots, stick em in, and let them grow from there. Bigger clones you take the bigger then tend to get, but since you prune the lower branches, nothing really sidebranches out enough to cause problems with the other plants. If you let them veg, they will take over your area, and likely steal the light from the other plants. You will have overlapping fan leaves, and incredible humidity though. So if you have the space, use a dehumidifier. If you are in a cabinet style like I am, I just overdo the exhaust fan a bit.

Don't underestimate the ppm of tap water in your area.

I suggest preventative measures for mites and other pests. I can't really suggest much as I am still trying to figure out what works best, but incorporate that into your plans.

Also, cleanliness = good bud. I personally have a seperate tray and res for each cycle. I don't like the idea of some disease or pathogen to be constantly shared from old plant to new plant from harvest to harvest. But that is just me, no problem doing it the other way as long as you regularly clean and flush.

Can't think of anything else right now

 

[iloveit]

this, you need to up the nutes as the plants grow up, what you gonna do keep it the same all the time for all of them?

My current blueberry (dutch passion) dont seem to take in more than 1000PPM. Every time I check the PPM of the res it doesnt go below or above 1000PPM. Then again I have been told Blueberry is a light feeding strain.

 

[iloveit]

A lot of SoG'ers don't flush and use the same nute levels throughout. In this kind of situation, that is probably the easiest way to go about it. This isn't the place to debate flush/not flush. There is no problem not flushing if your setup doesn't allow for it. You may want to incorporate some sort of nute change flush in your system to remove accumulated salts. Just for the record, I flush. If you want to do it by hand then that is fine as well.

I am fairly sure you are already doing it, but just in case I suggest having individual pots for each plant. This in my opinion is not an option. If your grow footprint is in fact 73cm x 73cm, then 16 plants is fine. I do trays of 9, but if I had that footprint I would be able to do a tray of 16. I use square pots as well.

As far as the clones, how confident are you in your propagator? If you are very confident in it, then 4 clones for 4 plants is fine, but I always take more clones than I need. I as well as a few others have had finicky results with bubblers/aero cloners. If you have no problems with it, go for it. If you are new to it, I suggest rapid rooters.

The strain/nutes will really be dependant on your setup. People can give advice but it really comes down to what you choose to buy/use.

You will need to watch a few things though...

Veg time doing this kind of setup is not needed. If you veg you will have a problem. Give them enough time to develop roots, stick em in, and let them grow from there. Bigger clones you take the bigger then tend to get, but since you prune the lower branches, nothing really sidebranches out enough to cause problems with the other plants. If you let them veg, they will take over your area, and likely steal the light from the other plants. You will have overlapping fan leaves, and incredible humidity though. So if you have the space, use a dehumidifier. If you are in a cabinet style like I am, I just overdo the exhaust fan a bit.

Don't underestimate the ppm of tap water in your area.

I suggest preventative measures for mites and other pests. I can't really suggest much as I am still trying to figure out what works best, but incorporate that into your plans.

Also, cleanliness = good bud. I personally have a seperate tray and res for each cycle. I don't like the idea of some disease or pathogen to be constantly shared from old plant to new plant from harvest to harvest. But that is just me, no problem doing it the other way as long as you regularly clean and flush.

Can't think of anything else right now

Thanks mate, Ive seen your avatar here & there nice of you to comment. Ive considered the issues that youve mentioned & Im prepared incase it goes pear shaped (thats U.K. talk for "screws up"). The only thing I cant determine is how tall these Blueberry plants will reach in 1L or 2L square pots knowing me Ill eventually try a sativa plant Yep you read right a sativa in a teeny tiny pot, Im just curious to see the end results. I have so many silly ideas running through my mind this is just one of them. Ill create a journal when I begin the experiment & Ill post a link to it in this thread.

Thanks again for your words "The return of the spork" much appreciated.

 

[Return of the Spork]

No problem,

During the flowering stretch, 2 to 3x growth is about normal. I have never grown blueberry but I have smoked it and what I remember is that it was pretty indica and great for nighttime. This is a wild assumption, but if it holds true to the stigma, expect maybe 2x growth out of it. Since you will be going every 2 weeks, do smaller clones at first, and work your way up in size.

In this case, the volume of the pot isn't as important as the dimensions or footprint.

Since you have grown before it isn't really much different. The key idea is just that since a 400W can only penetrate so deep, we don't want big plants taking up lots of room. We just want lots of smaller, high quality ones. It is nice walking into a big garden, but there is something so nice and clean and pretty about a SoG garden with a complete cycle. Really makes you appreciate the plants.

I did an experiment by leaving the lower branches on and letting the plant get as big as it could. The yield on it was pretty much the same as the yields on the others. The difference was that this one had lots of smaller popcorn buds on the bottom, while the others had fuller denser top kola's. The latter is what you want.

 

[iloveit]

No problem,

During the flowering stretch, 2 to 3x growth is about normal. I have never grown blueberry but I have smoked it and what I remember is that it was pretty indica and great for nighttime. This is a wild assumption, but if it holds true to the stigma, expect maybe 2x growth out of it. Since you will be going every 2 weeks, do smaller clones at first, and work your way up in size.

In this case, the volume of the pot isn't as important as the dimensions or footprint.

Since you have grown before it isn't really much different. The key idea is just that since a 400W can only penetrate so deep, we don't want big plants taking up lots of room. We just want lots of smaller, high quality ones. It is nice walking into a big garden, but there is something so nice and clean and pretty about a SoG garden with a complete cycle. Really makes you appreciate the plants.

I did an experiment by leaving the lower branches on and letting the plant get as big as it could. The yield on it was pretty much the same as the yields on the others. The difference was that this one had lots of smaller popcorn buds on the bottom, while the others had fuller denser top kola's. The latter is what you want.

Cheers, I cant wait to get started its gonna be so much fun, I was even considering making a mini vertical system "Heath Robinson" style, yep in the 73 x 73cm cab but with some differences I think Ill leave that one for the future Im not an experienced grower. He he he.