any feedback, suggestions, tips, comments that would be beneficial will lead to +REP
Nice looking seedlings. Hey, I am about to begin my first grow in a week or two, and exactly like you, I plan on 12 plants under 600w, therefore, I am very interested in following your grow. The strains I selected for my first grow are 5-White Widow, 5-Outlaw, 1-Chemdawg, 1-OG KUSH. For soil I made up a blend of Fox Farm soils, a 50/50 blend of Ocean Forest and Happy Frog with 20% (volume) Perlite added. I don't plan on adding veg nutes for my first grow since the FF blend is already nutrient-dense and don't want to burn out my seedlings. I plan on using FF blooming nutes when I switch to flowering. I would love to use the Advance line, but my hydroponic store doesn't carry Advance.
My grow room will be small when complete, only 3'x6'. The goal on my first grow is to produce over a pound of great buds. Even 1.1 pounds would make me grin from ear to ear! Basically, My plan is to plant twelve plants in separate 3-gallon pots. 5-White Widow, 5-Outlaw, 1-Chemdawg and 1-OG Kush. The White Widow and the Outlaw strains are from Dutch Passion, so I know the quality of the final product will be top notch stuff. The Chemdawg and the OG Kush are freebies from Attitude seed bank, so who knows.
The reason why I chose the White Widow and the Outlaw for the vast majority of my crop is because both are potent strains and both are heavy yielders (apparently, according to the literature). They are both indica dominant strains with a compact, medium habit won't bush out unless you want them to. They both finish flowering late for maximum bud and trichome production, between 9-12 weeks, pushing the end of the flowering period to 12 weeks really increases the potency and yield. I researched the Chemdawg and the OG Kush, and believe that they have a similar habit. I added these two strains to my grow list just to make effective use of my grow space. Plus, wouldn't it be great to have an ounce of dried bud from each of these two strains? I love variety!
My growing strategy is germinate, plant, then veg all 12 plants until they are no more than 12 inches high, then go to 12/12 flowering mode. I would crop the plants sometime before flowering to try to induce growing an extra cola or two from each plant, keeping in mind that vertical growth resulting in a canopy is optimal for each plant, so my cropping would be kept to a bare minimum of one pinch per plant. I have read enough horror stories of grow rooms becoming inefficient, overgrown jungles, and that is something I want to avoid.
Just curious though, is it reasonable to think that I can yield a full pound of bud if I fill my grow room with these 12 plants? Or would I be better off with only 5 to 6 plants and allowing them to bush out a bit. Something tells me that either way I could get a full pound, but want to know what some of the experienced growers on this forum think of this. If anyone else has insight into what might work better, I would be interested in what you have to say.
On some (not all) of my future grows I would like to stick with only 2-3 plants with much more side growth and bud production throughout the entire plant and not just in the canopy. Weed is more than just a plant that is to be grown and smoked for it's medicinal and recreational purposes. It is a drop-dead gorgeous plant that is to be enjoyed throughout the entire growing and harvesting cycle. SOG is a great way to increase yield, but then you never get to see a particular strain grown to it's full potential in terms of beauty, size, and cola production.
BTW, I've read that some people grow one pound monsters, and that is something I would love to do in the future. Does anyone think it's possible to grow 1 or 2 one one pound monsters in my 3'X6' grow room? That would completely blow my mind!
Once I get my grow room up and running, my goal is to produce at least one pound of quality dried buds every 4-5 months, but I have much to learn, and will probably make some mistakes along the way. Hopefully my first grow will be as successful as I plan.