The matter of internodal spacing matters a great deal. Close internodes make for fatter, heavier buds and longer cola buds in general.
Makes sense. So how to you get tight internode spacing during flowering? The stretch that happens during the first weeks of flowering is where you would need to minimize internode spacing... perhaps MH bulb during first two weeks of flowering?
The issue with non vegging is an issue of few things.
Sigh. It always is, isn't it
Is the plant that the clones come from old enough to bud (different strains have different requirements),
Yes, I'm talking mature moms here.
does it have an adequate enough leaf area to support adequate respiration/tranpiration and can it carry out enough photosyntheis based on leaf area
No idea. My clones usually have one or two internodes, and I keep the fan leaf on with it. Wouldn't the stretch that occurs during the first few weeks of flowering basically nullify this? I mean the plants are completely transformed after the stretch.
and does it have enough roots to support water and nutrient needs of the photosynthesis.
How would you determine this? I mean, if the clone roots after let's say a week, and then start showing new growth, then isn't it safe to assume that the roots are sufficient to support that new growth? Otherwise it wouldn't start growing would it? Unless by moving from cloning under fluorescents to flowering under 1000w HPS greatly increases photosynthesis, which throws things out of balance? If that is the case, I can see how some veg time in the flowering area would improve things.
Some auto cycle crosses really do not give the latitude to veg a little longer as they will bud with 16/8 lights.
Lol ya I'm not trying to do clone-fed SoG with autoflower strains !
Cloning can circumvent most of these problems with the exception of root area and leaf area.
Not sure what you mean there... can you elaborate?
In general though a plant that is left in the veg lighting long enough to build a bit more roots ends up performing better.
No doubt, but I'm just wondering whether it's possible to get 1oz+ main cola per plant without vegging.
Is it always necessary? Of course not. There are quite a few crosses that do quite well with a cut back to 12/12 lighting after developing only a few roots. However, even they do better usually with another week or more development under 16/8 lighting. I grow only SOS other than mother plants. My clones grow vegetaively for several weeks as I cut clones just before 12/12 change over meaning the new clones have the time to grow as I use a seperate clone/veg area. I have tried instaed doing shorter vegiing by cy utting later from mother plants but my yields for the same total kWh used was nearly always less for total kWh used and the turn around was no faster because the budding time was not significatly less.
So you veg your clones, then take a bunch of cuttings off them before flipping over to 12/12. You then root those cuttings, and veg them until the plants in flower are harvested, load up the flowering area again, and repeat? If so, that's a LONG veg time! I'm assuming you keep the sites in your cloner pretty close together, how do you stop the roots from knitting together? When you take the cuttings, do you take them off the top or the bottom? I can see this working if you take them off the top, but if you take them off the bottom that would be some badass stretch!!