I'm brand new to growing, but I've been smoking a long time. I finally decided to move to a state where it's legal. I'm allowed to grow 6 plants for my own use and I can sell off whatever I don't use to a dispensory. Since I smoke a lot I'm looking to max the yeild.

First off, does anyone know what it means when you're allowed to grow 6 plants? (6 all together, 6 flowering at a time, 6 clones at a time, etc...?)

I can easily smoke an ounce a week, so 6 ounces every 2 months just aint gonna cut it. But growing up I've seen huge plants in Cheech & Chong movies and in Hi Times Mag, plants over 6 ft. Which leads me to ask these questions...

When it comes time to harvest does the whole plant have to be destroyed? What would happen if you harvested the buds leaving as many leaves on the plant as possible? Will it flower again? (either right away or after another growth cycle) Will the quality of the second batch equal the quality of the first if the conditions are kept exactly the same?

I've heard that topping your plant regularly will help it to grow more bushy (more brances) is this true? If true, how often should a plant be topped during growth cycles?

Can a branch grow from a branch, or only from the stem?

I've heard that plants grown in dirt can get bigger than plants grown by Hydro? Is this true? Is it because the plant can grow a bigger root system in dirt? (indoor)

Anyone other ideas on increasing yield?

P.S. I've seen some spiders in my apartment. Hunters, not web builders. Kinda looked like small wood spiders. Do I have to worry about them damaging the plants?

I think 6 means 6, dude.

6 oz won't last you 2 months? You would have to seriously try to waste your weed to smoke an oz of good shit in a week, but ok. .......my god.

I would have a mother, take three clones. veg'em for at least 6 weeks, put them in to flowering, take 2 more clones , eventually harvest the first 3, so the 2nd two clones should be decent sized by that time . Put the 2nd batch in flowering, take 3 more clones, flower the 2nd batch, put the 2nd set of 3 in flowering, take 2 more clones...........and so on.

you would be alternating between 2, and 3 plant harvest every 60 to 80 days depending on the strain. You should get between 4 to 6 oz on the 2 plant run, and 6-8 oz on the 3 plant run with any decent yeilding strain. That should keep you enough for your high level of consumption.

I don't think there is a limit to how big the plants can be.

Thanks for replying.

I know an ounce a week sounds like a lot, but there are no "super strains" in this state for some reason. There are some decent ones like various varieties of Kush, Blueberry, AK 47, or Maui Wowie (not the real strain, but not bad). But nothing like NY Diesel or real Maui Wowie. If I had access to a super strain I'd smoke less, but I'm starting with seedlings/clippings from a dispensory so I'm limited to what's here.

Also, a lot of the strains in the dispensories smell like hay, what causes that? The strain?

Is there no way to salvage the plant after harvest? In other words, grow it for 4 weeks, flower it for 4 weeks, harvest the buds only, then start the cyle over again so the plant grows bigger each time with a higher yield. Is there any reason this would be a bad idea? I'm sure the plants in Hi Times that are over 6 foot have to be well over a year old, and the ones that are outdoors have to flower. How do you accomplish that?

the hay smell is bc the weed hasn't been cured properly. that sucks.

First off what state are you in? I ask because the laws are different in each state. Second I am not sure who has been filling your head with that dirt nonsense but you can totally grow plans bigger and faster in Hydro. Also if you have a problem with hydro you can fix it quick. If you have a problem in dirt it takes forever to fix. Also bugs love dirt!!!!!!!!!!! If you set up a perpetual harvest system you can harvest a plant every 10 days with 6 plants if you have a strain that flowers in around 60 days. I am not sure where you figured you would be able to flower your plants in 4 week but most strains are not ready to harvest in 28 days. Stick with it and don't get discouraged when your first couple of grow suck and they probably will. Gratz on moving to a civilised state. You can order Super Strains online and have the best weed in town. It is pretty safe to do.

__________________
http://www.rollitup.org/grow-journals/256532-thc-bomb-super-silver-haze.html

http://www.rollitup.org/grow-journals/258893-oregon-medical-out-door-09-a.html

I recently moved to CO from the east coast.

I'm glad to hear that I don't have to use dirt to get the plants big since I've heard that hydroponics can grow stronger buds.

I've never heard of a perpetual harvesting system before, but I assume you would start flowering another plant every 10 days which would eventually lead to a plant being harvested every 10 days. Would this increase the ammount being harvested in a given month/quarter?

The reason that maxing the yeild is so important is because it's a legal business here and due to recent health problems, I have to find a new way to make money Growing plants fits my current needs.

I'll start selling the overage to the local dispensories for around half the retail. But once I get a system set up and I know what my yield is, I can become a caregiver and start taking on....... patients for lack of a better term. See everyone who gets a marijuana license has to be sponsored by a "caregiver". Each person who signs up with me gives me the ability to grow more plants and they also become a possible customer that would pay more than the half of retail that dispensories pay.

The third and final level of course would be opening a dispensory myself, but that's way down the road.

I still have to figure out the exact grow/flower cycle, I was just saying 4 weeks per as a current estimate. The first thing I have to do though is to design the grow room, and I need to know about the yield to do that.

The idea that I had in my head was to grow 6 plants of the same strain so they'd have identical grow/flower cycles. I'll be starting with clones if I use local sources. I put them through a grow cyle, then without moving them rearrange the room and put them in a flowering cycle. Once ready I would clip the buds off carefully, top the plants, then put them back into another grow cycle. This way after 3 or 4 cycles the plants would be big enough for me to take on a few patients and take care of their immediate needs while I start growing the extra plants that they just gave me the ability to grow legally.

Don't worry too much about my first batch though. I'm good at planning things out before hand so there's little chance for mistakes. It will take me a week or two minimum to get all the info and plan out the room, the gowing methods, and the growing cycles, but there's a better than average chance that my first batch will be good.

I assumed that the local growers were either getting their seeds from on line, or that it wasn't legal to get them that way for some reason. I don't see why they wouldn't grow better stuff if they had access to it. But the best I've had from a dispensory here doesn't even start to compare to some of the herb I've had on the E Coast. I know that bringing back seedlings/clippings from the E. Coast wouldn't be legal, so I just figured I'd get started with the best local strains and try to figure out how to get a better strain later.

you can lose months of hard work in just a few hours in hydro. failed air pump, wild ph swing and so many other variables. hydro is not for all new growers. if he is a new gardner, soil and organic nutes are a better bet. he should do 3 plants in dirt and 3 hydro, see what he likes most.

If you like to baby plants and have total control and be a bit of a mad scientist - go hydro.

__________________
http://www.rollitup.org/showthread.p...bubbles+ponics

Yeah, I'm leaning toward Hydro and will probably go that way unless some info comes to light that changes my mind. But that really wasn't my main 1st question. No one seems to want to answer it for some reason. This is the question...

When when it comes time to harvest the plants, if I just clipped off the buds instead of destroying the plant then put the plant into another grow cycle, will the plant survive?

It it's possible for the plant to survive, will it flower again after the following growth cycle?

If it will flower again, are the buds going to be the same quality as the first batch, or will it change in any way?

Getting the answer to these questions might allow me to increase my yeild considerably over time if it can be done. Then again there's a good possibility that it just can't be done for some reason. But I need to know before I begin to plan out my room(s).

Thanks for any help you can give.

You can't harvest a plant every 10 days with a limit of 6 plants. The mother has to be one of them if you want to do SOG. You would have to have at least 8 plants to do what you're talking about. A mother, a fresh clone, a new rooted clone in flower, and then the next 5 stages. It would be better to have the plants in veg longer before they flower, so those plants can produce more bud. It takes at LEAST a month or more to dial a SOG in properly unless you already know exactly how that particular strain grows. Plants usually don't conform to your schedule, or exactly what you've read. Alternating 2 and 3 plant harvest is going to provide you with the most bud per plant in this situation. You also don't have to get your rhythm down like in a SOG.