Need some yield planning help, MMP

Hello experienced indoor growers… I'm 3 weeks into my first grow, and appreciate your experience and wisdom.

I have an OMMP (Oregon Medical Marijuana Patient) who I'm growing for, who pretty consistently burns through an ounce every three weeks. I'm thinking/guestimating (?!) my indoor closet spaces will max out in about 12 weeks of growth (height limitations, possibly even with a SCROG). Currently, I'm set up to grow with a flat array of small CFL's hung closely over a SCROG -- in two separate closet spaces. Eventually I'll move to LED's, the closet spaces are difficult enough to manage the heat with CFL's, I can't go to anything bigger or hotter. I plan to continue growing in organic soil.

One closet is taller with a smaller footprint, but can handle longer grow times with its height. The other closet is shorter but wider. Neither is more than one plant deep, the tall one can probably handle two, the shorter one four if I short cycle it. Since with this first grow I started with four plants, I'm going to change to 12/12 with two, and move the other two to the taller space and let them veg longer, and see how much more I can get from them. That will also stagger the yields. In the future I can use one for veg and one for flower, if that is the most efficient use of them.

So, given my set up, how many plants do you think I should anticipate needing to meet the patients volume of consumption, and what would be the best method in terms of time and turn-over? Bottom line, is that I need 4 oz. of dry bud every 12 weeks -- or 2 oz. every six weeks in staggered grows (theoretically). I'm open to all kinds of suggestions. By law I can have six (I think it is over twelve inches tall, i.e. "mature" at any given time), so that's the other limiting factor.

I will say that this summer we are going to attempt some outdoor plants. Assuming we have enough sun, can keep them alive all summer and mold free in the fall, the streetlights surrounding the house (we're on a corner) don't hermie them, that they don't get stolen, etc. -- if we can get a halfway decent yield from two or three it will supplement the rest of the year… I hope. But since there are so many variables, I'm not counting on that.

What do you think? easy / difficult but doable / highly unlikely / nearly impossible ?
And sorry for the long post, and I do appreciate it if you made it all the way through!

In case pictures help, here are the spaces…

The shorter wider room, with the young girls currently packed together in the middle, since they are still in smaller pots.



And the taller room, waiting for two to move over.

In the past 10 years I've experienced very good yeilds and some very disappointing yields. You can only expect so much when growing in two small spaces. Some varietys have super heavy buds and some are much lighter than they appear. I've used CFL's for vegging for 3 yrs. with good luck. With heat being a concern... I guess you plan on going to LED to flower... Your on the path of discovery my friend. Keep on Growin!

Final Phase said:

In the past 10 years I've experienced very good yeilds and some very disappointing yields. You can only expect so much when growing in two small spaces. Some varietys have super heavy buds and some are much lighter than they appear. I've used CFL's for vegging for 3 yrs. with good luck. With heat being a concern... I guess you plan on going to LED to flower... Your on the path of discovery my friend. Keep on Growin!

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Thanks for the response. When no one replied after a few days, I figured there are just too many variables to accurately answer the questions I asked.

When I said "Eventually I'll move to LED's…" I was actually referring to future grows. I have this one set up to go CFL's straight through flowering. I understand that the CFL's will be a limiting factor in output, and may add to the time in veg and flower, but hopefully what I get in the end will be healthy and potent. I just can't afford the LED's right now, but down the road I'll go for it.

The biggest judgement call will probably be deciding how long to veg for. It seems like most people try to flip them to 12/12 as soon as possible, and I can't tell if its because they are impatient to get some bud, or if there are either diminishing returns or actual risks in letting them veg longer?

My current plan is to veg them until the screen is as full as I can reasonably get, and/or I can't LST them anymore. My goal -- admittedly possibly not the smartest approach for a first grow -- is to try and find out what the maximum yield of the space and the method is. I just want to know.

Just an after-thought, but perhaps I should mention that the "patient" is my wife. I did not -- without any experience or knowledge -- wake up one day and decide to take on providing medicine for a person in need. We had a designated grower, he flaked out on us, we've been buying at dispensaries, and I've decided to see if we can meet her needs "in house". So that's the experiment I'm participating in.

Your well on your way

Tim Fox said:

Your well on your way

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Thanks Tim

Friday I'm moving them to bigger pots which will be their final move. That's another lesson learned -- since I'm going to be training them aggressively -- next time I'll just put them into bigger pots from the beginning. Everything is set to go, both rooms are in great shape, I've got my soil and everything ready… I'm kind of psyched to get them into the next phase!

I guestimate the short room pair will veg for another 2-4 weeks, the tall room may go twice that. If the tall room doesn't start flowering until May, I'll switch to the lights being on at night for 12/12, since by June that room will become harder to cool (gets full afternoon sun).

I'll be playing around with side lighting in addition to the top lighting, and seeing how many bulbs I can get in each space before heat overwhelms the airflow capacity (I'm pretty sure I'll be upgrading the exhaust fan b4 too long). As the light shelf moves up the air moves more freely in the space, so I may be able to get away with adding more bulbs as I go.

CFL's are an interesting beast, and I won't bother with regrets, but I look forward to having a light source with better penetration.

You are sure haveing a good time with this, way to go,Just remember the "Stretch" really is just that, they will sometimes double in size after you flip the lights, it can be very easy to over Veg in the beginning,,So good to see an Oregon neighbor doing well.