12/12 from seed - The beginnings of spek's perpetual grow

[spek9]

So, spek's back up to the plate. Needed to take some pics of my flower tent setup for a couple people, and figured I'd use that to start my 2nd indoor grow thread. A few silly pics first, then some documentation...

Filter connected directly to the fan. They are connected by a steel clamp, then electrical tape to seal the joint. Using a combination of nylon straps and velcro straps to hang it from the back horizontal bar at the top of the tent:



Fan directly ducted via 6" ducting to the cool tube. The fan sucks air through the filter, then out through the light:



Ducting then exits the other side of the tube, and exhausts outside of the tent:



Two White Widow seeds in organic compost, 12/12 from seed one day after they germinated:



My new 2L Coke bottle Hempy buckets, ready for action as soon as I get my perlite and new seeds:



- 400w HPS (might burst to 600)
- 12/12 from seed/clone
- 2L Coke bottles, 3/8" hole drilled 2" from the bottom, exterior of bottles spray painted with flat black rusto
- 90-100% perlite (might mix a tiny bit of vermiculite, but I'm not sure yet)
- temps 78-82 lights on, high-60s to low 70s lights off
- humidity is 'average'
- 6" 440 CFM inline fan pulling through carbon filter and out through the cooltube
- using this 2x4x5' tent for this 12/12 from seed test

I'm going 12/12 from seed, and this is how it will work:

- 2 x White Widow in organic compost (currently under 12/12, one day after germination)
- 3 x Super Sour Diesel
- 3 x Blueberry

I'm currently waiting for the new seeds (SSD and Blueberry), but they will be germ'd via the paper towel in a ziploc method, planted in 1.5" Rockwool cubes until they break surface, then put into 2L Hempy buckets (I'm going 100% perlite) made from Coke bottles I've cut, drilled and spray painted.

As I get going, I'll have four stages of growth at any one time... every two weeks I'll harvest six plants and replace that with six new clones, leaving me a cycle of 24 plants constantly (not including mothers in my veg area, of course).

-spek

 

[HeadieNugz]

Out of curio, what if anything does subjecting the plant to 12/12 throughout the entirety of its life cycle do to it?
Is this not a stressor?
Or does it just not provide optimal growth as a full 24/0 to 18/6 to 12/12 would?
I only ask because I've a recently started seedling vegging for 3 weeks now and with only 1 grow space, she has been on 12/12 since i flipped her sisters * E.G. all but 1 week of her life* and was curious as to weather or not i was stressing her into a potential herm with such an early photo period.

 

[spek9]

Out of curio, what if anything does subjecting the plant to 12/12 throughout the entirety of its life cycle do to it?
Is this not a stressor?
Or does it just not provide optimal growth as a full 24/0 to 18/6 to 12/12 would?
I only ask because I've a recently started seedling vegging for 3 weeks now and with only 1 grow space, she has been on 12/12 since i flipped her sisters * E.G. all but 1 week of her life* and was curious as to weather or not i was stressing her into a potential herm with such an early photo period.

There's no stress at all... essentially, they will go through a bit of a veg stage at the beginning, and they appear to grow as normal. The patterns are all the same; veg, stretch then flower. The only drawback is that without the veg period, the plant won't reach (or come close to) its full potential, ie. you'll experience lower yield.

I began typing out a benefits/drawbacks document about 12/12 earlier... I'll post it when I'm done it, here on this thread.

-spek

 

[HeadieNugz]

Cheers for the info mate, I was curious about this for a while bout found a lot of conflicting materials that made it hard to make an informed decision on matter.
Ill keep an eye out for that, im deff. stoked to see a comprehensive list of info compiled on the subject.

 

[spek9]

Quick update...

I had separated one plant from the other... the one on the left is still going 12/12 from seed. The one on the right I've pulled from the garden (on the 5th I think) and have her in a veg area 24/0, 3 x 23w 6500k and 1 x 23w 2700k for now. I transplanted her today. Once Mom gets bigger, I'll rig her up under my LED & CFL setup.

They are both in 100% organic compost (no soil), and that's how I'm going to keep them both (Mom particularly). Still don't have all of my supplies to get my hempy setup going, but "I'm impatiently waiting for patience" -spek9



-spek

ps. I know there's no sign of perlite or other mix in there, but I have done this on purpose. I'm going to grow these plants with no 'help' so I can perfect my watering.

 

[spek9]

Slowly making some headway. I met through a mutual friend a long-time grower who grows 100% organically, and he's sold me some clones:

Three Jack Herer and three Super Lemon Haze:



I'll keep one of each to grow into a mother, the rest will go into the tent under the 12/12 from seed/clone regimen.

Also, I just ordered this cloner:

http://cgi.ebay.ca/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=171096237061

Once the new mothers are used to their new home, I'll start cloning those two strains as well as my White Widow mom, and that'll be the start of my perpetual. All of the new clones I do will be Hempy.

-spek

 

[harley420]

Hey spek I'm tuned in I was looking forr you to PM the other day then figured out the electrical problemm myself check out my grow blue s.a.g.e joti genetics journal, looking nice man can't wait to see the bud porn.

 

[spek9]

"Relocated" a few Pepsico 2L bottle holders for my hempy grow today... it'll make moving plants around a hell of a lot easier than doing it individually. I'll have some planted Hempy buckets inside 12 days... I'm pretty excited!



-spek

 

[beeralot]

Sound great im looking foward to this. Im heading in this direction now. Trying to im using 1 gallon pots 4.5lt. going to try to put 4 in a month or every 2 weeks but my clones take like three weeks to a month to root good. Gl I will be watching.

 

[spek9]

Just did a pictorial how-to for gummy bears. My girl made them, as she's been using my first indoor crop to test cooking to the extreme. I'll create a new thread somewhere else for this howto, but am just excited to say that I'm expanding my operation and am about to start giving back to the growing community with knowledge and experience gained.

I'm *loving* the medibles.

-spek

ps. will take me until tomorrow to type out the step-by-step, so it'll be up tomorrow.

 

[blacksun]

Very awesome.

I myself recently switched to 2L soda bottle perlite passive hempys in a 2x4x5 with a 600w hps.

I have to say, those bottle holders are brilliant. I can't believe I have yet to see another person using those on here. They work perfectly...no cutting holes in tote lids, no uneven surface to sit on like with totes, very compact around the edges of the eight bottles/no wasted space, ect.



If you haven't yet, be sure to check out both the Drain to Waste subforum under the hydro section and the World of Hempy thread (link in my sig obv.).

 

[spek9]

Been a bit, but thankfully things are coming together.

I've got a couple of my new plants, and set up my new cloner. This is a temporary veg/clone area I'm quickly setting up.



...I'm a bit behind schedule on the 12/12 perpetual, but I promise it will turn out. Life's just affected the timeline a bit

-spek

 

[spek9]

Very awesome.

I myself recently switched to 2L soda bottle perlite passive hempys in a 2x4x5 with a 600w hps.

I have to say, those bottle holders are brilliant. I can't believe I have yet to see another person using those on here. They work perfectly...no cutting holes in tote lids, no uneven surface to sit on like with totes, very compact around the edges of the eight bottles/no wasted space, ect.



If you haven't yet, be sure to check out both the Drain to Waste subforum under the hydro section and the World of Hempy thread (link in my sig obv.).

Yeah, my buddy and I pulled over at a convenience store after stopping to grab something from my local grow shop so my new hempy setup was fresh on my mind. I saw those holders laying on the ground and it immediately clicked as to how useful those would be for draining and of course transportation. Since I'll be doing 6 plant harvest every two weeks, it's perfect just to remove 6, then put the six new clones in a bunch at a time. Very stable and efficient

-spek

 

[spek9]

My cloner is working very well. The plant at the right-back in the second pic is one I'm killing off... I've been taking branches off constantly and she isn't very healthy. The one up front I'm doing the same thing to. The Indica is my baby right now, and I have three brand new full-blown mothers coming tomorrow. Next week, I'll start putting the rooted clones into my Hempy buckets to get this grow underway.




-spek

 

[spek9]

I'm *finally* ready to get started here.

These are my first few babies in a controlled test. A single cloned strain in Hempy buckets consisting of Perlite-only, Hydroton-only and Hydroton above the drain hole, and pure Perlite in the rest of the bucket (I have another test in here, but that's irrelevant for the time being).

Bags of Perlite and Clay Pellets I bought... I have many tests to do:



Gearing up to move clones from the cloner in my living room.



Roots from a White Widow clone that's been in the cloner for ~14 days


Hempy buckets... consisting of pure perlite to pure hydroton and a mixture of both in between



...from clone to 12/12



-spek

 

[BCJohn]

Nice roots.
I have to start looking at building a cloner.
Very cool.

 

[spek9]

Here's a long awaited update. Having problems in the hydroton and perlite buckets, but they are finally coming around. In the meantime, I tried a couple of rounds with soil only. Don't know how this'll pan out in 2L buckets, but I am going immediately to 12/12, so we'll see.

Here's all my planted clones. The ones in perlite and hydroton are the oldest, but they seem to take a while to get used to the new system. There's mostly White Widow and one Jack Herer. They were moved from the cloner on the 16th of last month. The four tallest ones (front and back left) which are in a soil/perlite mix, are White Widow and were taken from the cloner on the 22nd. The ones in soil on the right were put from the cloner on the 29th, and are a mix of Widow, Herer and Chem Dog.



In the pic below, the two centre clones are the very last from my Widow mom who was getting unhealthy so I chopped her, and were put in the cloner on the 22nd. My mother Jack Herer is the bushy plant, and the Chem Dog is far right. The Herer grows exceptionally bushy and tight, so I try to clean out the middle and loosen her up when I cut from it. The Chem plant looks very sickly, but it grows at a *perfect* rate for me to take two clones every week to two, which is perfect.



Some roots of the Widow I cut and put in the cloner on the 22nd of last month. The smaller clones were from the 29th, and are all Jack Herer other than two Chem Dog snips.



-spek

ps. All four of my oldest Widow plants have beautiful pistils, and I expect them to be done stretch very soon. I expect them to be about 22-26" at peak.

 

[JohnNeedsMeds]

I'm very interested in what you are doing with your grow! If it's ok I would like to follow along. Subbed up!

 

[spek9]

My pleasure to have you along

I will probably put either two or four more in this weekend, then start on a two week schedule for new clones. This will allow me to start figuring out plant layouts in the tent, and the optimum time to put new clones in the cloner to get on an exact schedule with my space.

I'm hoping to have 24 plants in flowering at all times, harvesting six plants every two weeks and replacing those with six new rooted clones.

I've seen other people try these small tight grows (but not with soil) without a screen. The tightness of the plants keeps things clean and promotes one cola bud site, which is what I'm after.

-spek

 

[JohnNeedsMeds]

My pleasure to have you along

I will probably put either two or four more in this weekend, then start on a two week schedule for new clones. This will allow me to start figuring out plant layouts in the tent, and the optimum time to put new clones in the cloner to get on an exact schedule with my space.

I'm hoping to have 24 plants in flowering at all times, harvesting six plants every two weeks and replacing those with six new rooted clones.

I've seen other people try these small tight grows (but not with soil) without a screen. The tightness of the plants keeps things clean and promotes one cola bud site, which is what I'm after.

-spek

It sounds awesome! I wish you very good fortune with your perpetual grow and am looking forward to your results. I am unfamiliar with the term hempy but I will go look that up right now. Thank you Spek!