With a lot of spare time I decided a perpetual grow is the way to go. I liked the idea of not having to wait
"forever" for a crop to mature. The only answer I saw was a grow where you are continuosly harvesting.
There is quite a bit to consider when deciding if a perpetual grow is for you. I thought I'd jot down some of
my experiences in hope others can use the info.
We can propogate reef 2 ways, cloning or by seed. I went the cloning route as I could see the expense of buying
new beans weekly was costly. My first mistake here was thinking that a cloning operation meant I was done buying seeds.
Wrong. Even if your cloning is aces, there will be times when you need or want to introduce a new strain into your mix.
It could be a bad run with the clone domes, a catastrophic disease epidemic or just an electrical outage that affects your grow.
You cannot depend 100% on a cloning operation to fully supply all the new plants you need to feed a perpetual grow. Freebies
from Attitude come in handy to supplement my cloning.
Space is a major consideration. You have to have 2 rooms going at the minimum. I know there are guys out there with everything
stuffed in one room with blankets and timers and cords all over the place. Those guys wish they were using more than one room.
I've discovered that I need about 4 square feet of floorspace for flowering for every square foot of veg space. My veg room is actually half a closet
and 24 square feet. Flowering room is 8 x 8 feet with a 1000W bulb. My 3 clone domes sit on shelves in another closet. I am averaging about 2+
plants a week to harvest, so look at my square footage and you can judge how much room you need for your grow.
Timing is one of the biggest hassles with a perpetual grow. The clone room feeds the veg room which feeds the flowering room. Not only
do I have to have rooted clones or started seedlings every week, I have to have a place to put them in the veg room. Same dynamic
going from veg to flower. Eventually I came to see the constant moving of pots as a sort of choreography. Movement has to flow from
room to room in a planned maneuver. So I keep a log book in each room documenting what happens every day. I note plant height through the veg time
so I know how much they will stretch during flowering. Notes are also necessary if you like to experiment like me. With 4 clones coming into the veg room
I might decide to FIM 2 of them and not the others. A great way to see which strains benefit from manipulation. Of course that means that each plant
needs to be individualted. That means an individual number for each plant so you can keep them straight. A trio of clones going into dirt today might be
noted as GB 11-11 B. Tells me the strain is GigaBud, went into dirt on 11-11 and is the second plant in that series. I'm always trying some new nute or
tweaking my grow and good record keeping is essential. The last think I'll mention about time is -- you'll need a lot of it. I usually transplant each plant twice
and there is always some TP'ing or rearranging needed. Trust me there is more time required than you would guess. Plan accordingly.
Typing is not my strong suit so I'll sign off here. There's a ton more stuff to consider when pondering to perpetual or not. PM me if you have any specific
questions about doing a perpetual grow in dirt.
Good luck, BigSteve.
"forever" for a crop to mature. The only answer I saw was a grow where you are continuosly harvesting.
There is quite a bit to consider when deciding if a perpetual grow is for you. I thought I'd jot down some of
my experiences in hope others can use the info.
We can propogate reef 2 ways, cloning or by seed. I went the cloning route as I could see the expense of buying
new beans weekly was costly. My first mistake here was thinking that a cloning operation meant I was done buying seeds.
Wrong. Even if your cloning is aces, there will be times when you need or want to introduce a new strain into your mix.
It could be a bad run with the clone domes, a catastrophic disease epidemic or just an electrical outage that affects your grow.
You cannot depend 100% on a cloning operation to fully supply all the new plants you need to feed a perpetual grow. Freebies
from Attitude come in handy to supplement my cloning.
Space is a major consideration. You have to have 2 rooms going at the minimum. I know there are guys out there with everything
stuffed in one room with blankets and timers and cords all over the place. Those guys wish they were using more than one room.
I've discovered that I need about 4 square feet of floorspace for flowering for every square foot of veg space. My veg room is actually half a closet
and 24 square feet. Flowering room is 8 x 8 feet with a 1000W bulb. My 3 clone domes sit on shelves in another closet. I am averaging about 2+
plants a week to harvest, so look at my square footage and you can judge how much room you need for your grow.
Timing is one of the biggest hassles with a perpetual grow. The clone room feeds the veg room which feeds the flowering room. Not only
do I have to have rooted clones or started seedlings every week, I have to have a place to put them in the veg room. Same dynamic
going from veg to flower. Eventually I came to see the constant moving of pots as a sort of choreography. Movement has to flow from
room to room in a planned maneuver. So I keep a log book in each room documenting what happens every day. I note plant height through the veg time
so I know how much they will stretch during flowering. Notes are also necessary if you like to experiment like me. With 4 clones coming into the veg room
I might decide to FIM 2 of them and not the others. A great way to see which strains benefit from manipulation. Of course that means that each plant
needs to be individualted. That means an individual number for each plant so you can keep them straight. A trio of clones going into dirt today might be
noted as GB 11-11 B. Tells me the strain is GigaBud, went into dirt on 11-11 and is the second plant in that series. I'm always trying some new nute or
tweaking my grow and good record keeping is essential. The last think I'll mention about time is -- you'll need a lot of it. I usually transplant each plant twice
and there is always some TP'ing or rearranging needed. Trust me there is more time required than you would guess. Plan accordingly.
Typing is not my strong suit so I'll sign off here. There's a ton more stuff to consider when pondering to perpetual or not. PM me if you have any specific
questions about doing a perpetual grow in dirt.
Good luck, BigSteve.
