How do I manage a perpetual SOG

GreenMeter

Well-Known Member
I'm currently growing 3 plants in 7 1/2 inch ceramic pots under a 400W hps light. Two of the three plant strains were from some Cali bud and other remaining two were from some Gorilla Glue bud. I originally had them under 2 26W Cfls that were built into a glorified aerograden set up. I set these up under the lights but removed the original aerogarden holder and just placed a couple books on the base of the aerogarden and started the plants in solo cups. Their growing medium consisted of 2/3 Miracle-Gro Potting Soil and 1/3 pearlite. They have been vegging under those light for 24 hours consistenly since October 17th.

I switched the plants over to larger pots (7 1/2 inch ceramic) 2 days ago. The plants were about 2 1/2 inches before they were put under the 400W. They currently stand about 5 inches each. I plan to start using bloom fertilizers in my next watering.

I have two seperate growing rooms currently (Flowering room with the 400W hps and 2 26W Cfls operating from the aerogarden set). I recently started 4 more seeds that just so happened to come from banging bud i purchased and there about 2 inches or so under the cfls. All seeds are regular and the sex is to be determined still.

I'm going to be gettting 3 female sour diesel clones and 3 unknown headie female clones in the next week or so.

My question is, whats the best way to do a perpetual SOG? Will adding additional plants to the three that are in flowering now affect the other plant's yield, quality, and size if the other plants are taller then the smaller ones put in after? How many plants can i grow effectively and be of the best quality and size with the given light i have?

Space is not an issue. The room is 8' x 4' and i plant to section off a part of the closet and cover it with mylar.

Pictures will be up very shortly but both the plants in flowering and in the vegetative stage are looking very healthy so far. Any help would be greatly appreciated regarding SOG (perpetual), how many plants i can grow under the lighting i have, if adding additional plants to the flowering chamber will alter the growth time and quality of the incoming plants,etc.

Any questions regarding supplies, materials, or anything that will help give you a better picture let me know. Thanks!
 

wonderblunder

Well-Known Member
Ok you need a veg area and a flower area, maybe even a seperate space for your clone area (aerogarden cfl hood deal). You are definitely want to get your cloning supplies and a technique down. How big is your flower room going to be. Probably 4 X4 at the most for that 400w. I would probably go with 1 gallon pots, (i like squares, and bags in a sog) but it doesnt matter. You could probably get away with 16 plants. 4 rows of 4. Maybe adding 4 plants from the veg room ever 2 weeks. Flower them when they are a little less than a foot, maybe even 6-7 inches. Figure your cloning technique out. I am doing a fairly perpetual grow right now.

I have some shelves with 10 plants, adding 8 more Sunday! and some larger flowering plants in the area. I am planning on throwing 12-15 clones in some ebb and flo tables I just build. The flowering room will be full after 5 weeks of packing it full, which means at least 5 weeks of harvest probably more like 2 monthes, but I will be adding more in from the veg room of course as they get chopped.. Take a look at my grow in sig. Start a journal and give me the link
 

wonderblunder

Well-Known Member
aaaaawith my described idea above you would need more lights for the veg. Bunch of CFLs or tubes. maybe a 100w MH?
 

PainWrek

Active Member
i have a 4x4 tent for mother plants, 4 t-8s for the moms, second tent is 2.5x5 ft, used for vegging and new clones. flower tent is roughly 8x8 with 2 1000watts. right now i have about 30 plants in my flower room in 3 gal bags vegging under 2000watts metal halide.

after i select a mother from each strain (5 strains total) i'll take approximately 15 clones a month from the different strains, root clones, and veg for about a month in my second tent.

after a month or so vegging, i'll throw the 15 clones in the flower room on 12/12 hps.

when putting the original clones into flower i'll take another 15 or so clones to veg.

after a month of the second set of clones vegging, they are thrown into flower with the original 15 clones, which have been flowering for a month.

a new set of 15 or so clones taken to veg.

i think you get the idea.... this way i can harvest about 15 plants every month. hope this helped.
 

GreenMeter

Well-Known Member
Alright i have one pic up to give you an idea of what im working with currently. I've decided to sex the plants...place them back in veg...and THEN take clones from them after the plant grows a bit. Is that a good idea? Or is there a better method?

A pic of the veggeig chamber will be up shortly (Aerogarden with 2 26w cfls). Sorry for the poor quality picture at the moment, pics from a real camera will be up shortly.
 

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GreenMeter

Well-Known Member
Oh and this isn't the permanent grow room. I'm operating in a closet briefly until tomorrow when they"ll get moved to a much larger closet eight ft by four ft
 

wonderblunder

Well-Known Member
I wouldn't sex the plants personally. I have been waiting for about 3 weeks to kick one back to veg after flowering for one week. I pulled out of flower, at the first sign of female, and then back to veg. The buds still swelled up to about marble size. They are now shrinking and I have been removing the calyxes one by one. I still haven 't taken clones off her because she isn't ready, then she can go back to flower once I have confirmed roots. Im thinking that in another week or so I will top her, and then use the piece as a clone. I will let you know how it works.
I wouldn't reccomend ceramic pots, they are heavy and a pain to transplant.
 

GreenMeter

Well-Known Member
I was thinking about sexing them right now...determining the sex...then continue to flower any of the females to see what the final product will turn out like. Do you think thats a good idea? By determining the quality of the bud i can always take a clone or two later in the flowering phase or once there is a an available stem with nodes. Remember i have 4 other unknown quality seeds in veg and they roughly stand about 2-3 inches each. I was thinking once the other plants in veg are about 6 inches or so i will move them to the flowering chamber with the (should be sexed at this point) already sexed females to determine their sex and continue with the same process. Is this a good or bad idea? I'm looking to get things started as quick as possible but being able to harvest some goodies asap. And if i do decide to continue to flower the small plants...how much do you think i could harvest off of a plant thats only been vegged up to 6 inches? And if i were to do that i will most definitely be moving to taller plastic pots when it comes time to transplant.
 

past times

Well-Known Member
hey dude, i just put togeher a little perpetual grow that seems to be working pretty well. i have a 250 and 150 hps for flower. I have been doing an alternating cycle with clones and seed. I think one of the keys is having a decent veg room to have space for a mother or 2, cloning area, and room for clones to be transplanted for about a week. My qarters are pretty tight so i try to maximize the area by using tall square pots.

To stay on schedule i give my clones 3 weeks to root in rockwool and be transplanted and get established for flower (Usually in pots for a week give or take a couple days). Plants from seed need about 6weeks to veg (topping and cloning 1 week prior to flower). Right now i have my 2 mothers, cloning chamber with 2 clippings that haven't rooted yet, 4 clones just transplanted yesturday, and 2 BB 3 weeks from seed.

hope this helps. I am only on week 3 of flowering of the first rotation so no expert.
 

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DubRules

Well-Known Member
use a tier system.
the canopy will stay even.
then as the plants get larger, you take the tier out from under them to make the canopy even again.
 

past times

Well-Known Member
dont flower then reveg. take a clone and keep it in veg while you flower the mother. That clone can be your mother if you like the product of the plant from seed or you can just flower it if you dont want to kep it is a mother...
 

GreenMeter

Well-Known Member
DubRules. Do you think it would be alright to position the larger flowering plants in the middle to be the base and the other plants i move to flower that i am trying to determine their sex while under 12/12 be raised up closer (with some kind of raisable base underneath the pots) to the light to even out the canopy? Would that work? I'm new to this whole SOG and tier system thing and want to keep the canopy at an even level.
 

wonderblunder

Well-Known Member
You have the right idea there. I have shelves in my flowering room that take up very a little space and I can fit 24 1 gallon pots on them, and one more row in front for a total of 36. take a look at my grow in sig. I move them down the shelves so the canopys stay even.
 

GreenMeter

Well-Known Member
Day 6 of flowering/vegetative

Here are some new pics and of somewhat better quality.

The plant thats in the back right stands 5 1/2 inches, the plant in the back left is 4 1/2 inches, and the plant in the front is just shy of 4 inches.

I'm currently using Oxygen Plus Liquid Plant Food (1-2-1) and Orchid Bloom Booster (11-35-15). I started with 1/2 concentration on the blooming fertilizer and am going by what the oxygen liquid food recommends. I water with the oxygen food mixed with distilled water every other water and use 1/2 concentration bloom fertilizer and oxygen liquid food combined every other water.
 

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GreenMeter

Well-Known Member
WonderBlunder. I've already diluted the bloom solution to about 1/8, despite how well the plants seemed to be taking it.

I've noticed that the stalks seem to be fairly weak, except the plant in the front that had a minor injury when it was just sprouting that seemed to build and strengthen the stalk since that time. I realized i didn't keep those 3 plants in veg long enough and as a result have to deal with a weaker root base system at the moment. Should i apply some stresst techiniques to help build up the stalks strength? Or should i leave it go and manage the plant as it grows with stakes and other forms of support?
 

wonderblunder

Well-Known Member
Give your self a few more days for LST, your leaves should alwyas be moving on your plants to get those nice thick stems. Sometimes i pinch my stems and then that creates a big swell, helping deliver nutrient to the very top of the plant
 
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