I used two seperate small closets for my grow, which consisted of 6 plants, cloned 3 weeks apart.
For my veg closet (doubled as a cloning space) I used a small desktop fan blowing away from the plants, a humidifier (we had a dry winter), 4 seperate 2500 lumen daylight CFL bulbs from hanging shop fixtures with reflector hoods, aluminum foil around the walls to spread light to lower regions of the plants, and a simple $4 temp/humidity gauge. I grew in 5 gallon pots full of miracle grow potting soil. For veg period I used no additional nutrients and watered with tap water ~ every 3rd day. When I would move in a freshly clipped clone it would be planted directly into its 5 gallon pot, placed in the veg room and the humidity would be raised to about 70%. The high output CFLs run relatively cool, but were able to maintain aprox. 80 degrees F during the daylight cycle and the temps dropped to about 70 throughout the night cycle.
For my flower closet I used 4-6 of the same 2500 lumen CFLs that I used in the veg closet. This room was outfitted with a simple hepa air filter machine that was about $75 at Walmart. I didn't have much trouble with humidity in this room I think because the height of the plant was already about 4 feet (indicas, fairly bushy), the leaf mass alone was enough to keep the room moist through regular respiration. The extra couple of CFLs caused temps to hover a few degrees higher in the flowering room, which the plants did not seem to mind at all. For flowering stage I added a heavily dilluted miracle grow bloombooster nutrient to the regular watering cycle.
My first plant reached a height of over 4 feet before I transitioned it to flowering stage. Once in flower it gained about an additional foot and a lot of weight obviously from the heavy buds.
My second one I transitioned to flowering much earlier, while the plant was around 28" tall. This shortened the clone-to-smokable bud timeframe but also ended up costing me in the yield department by quite a bit. Just judging from this one experiment I would definitely say that the extra 6 weeks in veg are more than worth the wait.
My third one I transitioned even earlier than the second, simply because I was about to move and couldn't take full plants with me. To continue the experiment after the move I simply cloned my last plant in veg and held it in veg until the move (it ended up being less than a foot tall and was therefore easy to conceal). This third plant upon moving into flowering has been the most interesting of the three so far. It has developed some of the best looking buds of the three. I haven't harvested it yet but have very high hopes for when I do.
As to the quality of what I grew, I couldn't be happier. I simply found a type of weed from my local dealer that I really liked, grew a few seeds to select a female to be the mother and did everything I said above. Not only did the weed I grew end up being a hundred times smoother and tastier than its parent, it also ended up being so strong that a single heavy bong rip puts me into a state of near catatonia. My friends who have tried it have all said that it is right up there with the best they've ever smoked. So it must not be too bad for a rookie attempt.
For my veg closet (doubled as a cloning space) I used a small desktop fan blowing away from the plants, a humidifier (we had a dry winter), 4 seperate 2500 lumen daylight CFL bulbs from hanging shop fixtures with reflector hoods, aluminum foil around the walls to spread light to lower regions of the plants, and a simple $4 temp/humidity gauge. I grew in 5 gallon pots full of miracle grow potting soil. For veg period I used no additional nutrients and watered with tap water ~ every 3rd day. When I would move in a freshly clipped clone it would be planted directly into its 5 gallon pot, placed in the veg room and the humidity would be raised to about 70%. The high output CFLs run relatively cool, but were able to maintain aprox. 80 degrees F during the daylight cycle and the temps dropped to about 70 throughout the night cycle.
For my flower closet I used 4-6 of the same 2500 lumen CFLs that I used in the veg closet. This room was outfitted with a simple hepa air filter machine that was about $75 at Walmart. I didn't have much trouble with humidity in this room I think because the height of the plant was already about 4 feet (indicas, fairly bushy), the leaf mass alone was enough to keep the room moist through regular respiration. The extra couple of CFLs caused temps to hover a few degrees higher in the flowering room, which the plants did not seem to mind at all. For flowering stage I added a heavily dilluted miracle grow bloombooster nutrient to the regular watering cycle.
My first plant reached a height of over 4 feet before I transitioned it to flowering stage. Once in flower it gained about an additional foot and a lot of weight obviously from the heavy buds.
My second one I transitioned to flowering much earlier, while the plant was around 28" tall. This shortened the clone-to-smokable bud timeframe but also ended up costing me in the yield department by quite a bit. Just judging from this one experiment I would definitely say that the extra 6 weeks in veg are more than worth the wait.
My third one I transitioned even earlier than the second, simply because I was about to move and couldn't take full plants with me. To continue the experiment after the move I simply cloned my last plant in veg and held it in veg until the move (it ended up being less than a foot tall and was therefore easy to conceal). This third plant upon moving into flowering has been the most interesting of the three so far. It has developed some of the best looking buds of the three. I haven't harvested it yet but have very high hopes for when I do.
As to the quality of what I grew, I couldn't be happier. I simply found a type of weed from my local dealer that I really liked, grew a few seeds to select a female to be the mother and did everything I said above. Not only did the weed I grew end up being a hundred times smoother and tastier than its parent, it also ended up being so strong that a single heavy bong rip puts me into a state of near catatonia. My friends who have tried it have all said that it is right up there with the best they've ever smoked. So it must not be too bad for a rookie attempt.
