Colorado Legal Recreational Grow - 6 plants max

Hi everyone.

I was hoping to get some good input on what the best setups would be for a legal recreational grow in Colorado.
6 plants total, only 3 cant be flowering at a time.

The best perpetual plan I've seen so far suggested that one mother plant be kept for cloning. One clone would be taken every 3 weeks or 1/3 of the total flower time so you would have one plant vegging at a time, then it would be moved to the flowering room which would have 3 plants in it, all at different stages. So, as you move the vegging clone into the flower room, you would also be harvesting the oldest plant in there. Using this method would provide a harvest of one plant every, hopefully, 3-4 weeks. You would have a maximum of 5 plants at any given time and only 3 flowering, all at different maturity levels. Since the 3 flowering plants are all at different maturity levels, it will provide additional space for the most mature plant. Assuming this worked out and provided a harvest every 4 weeks, I would need at least an ounce off of every plant, and I would hope for 3-4. Not sure if that would be possible using this method though.

About 5 years ago I put together a room but had to move so never started the grow. All the stuff has been in storage, which is dry but not heated or cooled. I have a 600w bulb with hydrofarm 6" air cooled hood in there. I also have a fill and drain table that i believe is 2x4 or 2x3. I can't remember the exact size. I have hydroton and everything else. I would like to use the light and table for the flowering room, do you think I can pull a couple Zs off a plant using the method above and this hardware? Any suggestions on what medium to veg in so that I can move them to the table easily when ready? Any tips on keeping a mother plant? Any tips on dealing with 3 separate rooms, should I get rid of the hydro table and go soil, that would be a lot easier than dealing with two or three separate hydro systems. My biggest issue with soil would be bugs, I don't mind dealing with them but I don't want to end up smoking bugs instead of buds.

The site that had the perpetual method also suggested that if you have access to purchase clones, you should just buy 3 at a time, veg them, flower them, buy 3 more. I imagine in the long run your would end up producing the same numbers. I don't have access to clones though.

Oh yeah, do you think the bulb that has been in storage is still ok to use or should I just scrap it? Do you think there could be any issues with the ballast being in storage for so long? I'm sure the nutes are toast.

First thing is first....Buy a new ballast, and a new bulb!!!! This is NOT an area you want to cut corners!!!! HID lighting is serious business, and should be treated as such.

As far as how to "stagger" your grow most efficiently.....To be perfectly honest, I just simply wouldn't follow the recommendation of only 3 girls vegging.

Colorado has a huge task on its hand, and is unsure how even the federal government will respond to the newly passed laws. To simply put it, I HIGHLY doubt that they are going to be kicking doors down because you have 10 vegging plants instead of 3. Just be smart about what you do, and respect the flowering and production numbers. Don't set up a 4000 watt, 5 pound yielding room. Respect the law and and I'm sure they will respect you back.

That's my .02....

Oh, and F you for living in such an awesome state!!!!

bamacheese said:

First thing is first....Buy a new ballast, and a new bulb!!!! This is NOT an area you want to cut corners!!!! HID lighting is serious business, and should be treated as such.

Click to expand...

What he said, just send me your old ballast and bulb

bamacheese said:

First thing is first....Buy a new ballast, and a new bulb!!!! This is NOT an area you want to cut corners!!!! HID lighting is serious business, and should be treated as such.

As far as how to "stagger" your grow most efficiently.....To be perfectly honest, I just simply wouldn't follow the recommendation of only 3 girls vegging.

Colorado has a huge task on its hand, and is unsure how even the federal government will respond to the newly passed laws. To simply put it, I HIGHLY doubt that they are going to be kicking doors down because you have 10 vegging plants instead of 3. Just be smart about what you do, and respect the flowering and production numbers. Don't set up a 4000 watt, 5 pound yielding room. Respect the law and and I'm sure they will respect you back.

That's my .02....

Oh, and F you for living in such an awesome state!!!!

Click to expand...

Haha, thanks for the advice, I'll see how things play out. The bulb and ballast were brand new, I only ran them for about 12 hours. You really think the ballast needs to be replaced just because it was in storage for 4-5 years? It's in the original packaging still. I don't remember the brand but it was definitely not on the cheap end of the scale either...