Newer and need help with space design

Greetings,

I am not 100% new but I have completed only a single of grow before moving places. I plan on mostly replicating what was done before (it was mostly a success other than needing to figure out they needed a CalMag supplement a bit late and sitting the girls back a bit) but it was about 7 years ago so a lot of specifics are fuzzy. However, I wanted to expand and plan for a perpetual type grow.

Currently:
I have a 2x4x7 tent with a 2x4 t5ho set up with a mix of bulbs mostly favoring the 4k range since I plan on keeping this tent as purely a veg chamber.

I plan on ordering a 4x4x6 tent and I have already ordered four qb288v2 boards that will be placed on two slate 2 heatsinks and driven by a 240H-C2100A on each heatsink. (so two separate light fixtures of two boards)

So I have a few questions however that are nagging at me before I even begin.

I would like to take three fem seeds and take them all to veg hopefully (they're my only three of these strain and all the seeds I have really while being tapped on cash currently, so not able to buy more). I would like to split the 2x4 chamber into an upper and lower chamber so that I can keep the strongest of the three females in there forever and have a clone chamber on top.

I would then move the clones down to where the mother is but this presents problem #1 to me. The lighting solution for the bottom is t5ho and so how could I ever get it close enough to the clone babies without burning the mother? Can the mother basically sit against the light? Is there a way to stunt the growth on the mother? Should I just rely on LST for her?

I will be moving the other two females over to the 4x4 chamber and be using the two 2xHLGqb288v2-Slate 2's. With only 2 plants I think this is a great amount of light but as I move up to 3 or 4 I would like to add more. Should I first supplement the blues, reds, and uvs? Or should I just buy two more lighting rigs? Also, I have a carbon filter for only the flowering chamber since I don't think the veg chamber will give off any sort of really unpleasant odors, am I correct in this thinking?


Sorry for being OCD and asking a million questions but I want this to be the start of a long term hobby since I found the previous endeavor to be one of the most therapeutic experiences of my life. I would really like to get this right from the start. Thank you so much for taking the time to read all this even if you don't respond rofl!

TLR- Tell me how retarded I am, thanks

I predict too many heat and air flow issues for your veg/clone tent the way you are thinking about.

First why 3 mothers of the same strain? If you have zero seed money and these are feminized plant one, clone the hell out of it and before you get root issues flower it. Make a new mother from a clone. Save the other 2 seeds so when you screw up you have something in reserve. You don't need a dedicated cloning operation with one 4' X 4' tent really.

Grow your plants. Take clones from each and label. Flower the mothers in the flower tent.
Veg all the clones. Keep the ones from the mum that flowers best, flavour or time scale or whatever.

Once you know which clones you want to keep then take clones from those. Veg till ready to flower, take clones, repeat.
No need to keep a dedicated mother.

As far as lighting in the flower tent, you already have enough light. If im understanding correctly you essentially have 2x HLG 260w kits. That's plenty for a 4x4.

If you were to keep a dedicated mother then it can be really close to the t5s. You can raise the clones to the light. You don't need to lower the light to the clones.
If you need to manipulate the mother you can super crop her. Of hack her down to a size and shape you want.
Like I say though, no real need to keep a mother once you know which clones you want to keep.

Veg plants still smell. But its not over powering like flowering plants.

The biggest problem I see is lack of genetics.. 3 seeds?? But I also understand using fems to get the ball rolling.. but ya just clone the clones of your favorite.

Get a couple "donations" for the end product and buy some more genetics..

I get bored as hell smoking the same shit..

Thank you guys for all the wonderful replies and I now realize that I was really fixated on the idea of a perpetual grow for no real reason.

Corey thank you so much for laying out the exact process for me though! That reply answered so many questions and snapped so many things together in my head that more and more is making sense and I feel more confident. Thank you for taking the time to really analyze my problems!

I think I will still be doing some cloning but I will be moving on to buying some more seeds since it's not like I will need a second round of girls going any time soon anyway and can wait a paycheck or two no problem.

Any recommendations on seeds? I was thinking of getting Girl Scout Cookies from Nirvana along with some other things for the future