I have been fine tuning this 3 room system for almost 7 years straight with one change and that’s the addition of the 400 for males instead of just some flos.
Clones and seedlings grow under a 18/6 light cycle until I can see roots in the lower drain holes. They then get transplanted again into large 7 gallon lowboy pots, using my super soil in bottom 2/3 of pot and straight premium potting soil in the top 1/3 and placed back in 18/6 under the same 1000 watt MH. Once the plants have been in veg for almost 60 days almost everything is finishing up in the bud room and harvest is approaching. One everything is trimmed up and the old pots moved out and the soil recycled it’s time to clean everything well, washing the floor and tarps with bleach and making sure everything is mold free. At this time I clean off the glass in the vented hoods with glass cleaner. A clean room is the sign of a good grower! The plants are now placed in main bud room that measures 10x5 with 2- 1000 Watt HPS Hortilux bulbs.
This is the time when we clean up our plants removing any smaller shoots that are shaded still so that this energy that would have gone to produce fluff and added time to trimming can instead go to the upper buds that are actually in the light. This also allows more air to circulate under the canopy so that O2 doesn’t stratify. This in it self will increase the yields and make your trimming a bit easier. I am not sure everyone will get this analogy but the plant looking up should kinds look like broccoli with everything up top.
Night temps run around 72 the A/C is set just to dehumidify mainly. Do not let humidity rise above 50% for long. It cooler climates this can invite mildew and mold. BTW I remove and wash my window unit well inside with disinfectant and anti microbal wash to prevent mold slime a grow room A/C gets way funky.
It may take some time before you perfect this method and you will make mistakes but each time you do you will learn from it! Day 45 here and as the bud room swells to completion over the next 15 days it’s time to take clones from the plants that are still vegging. The plants in veg have been under 18/6 since this same task was done on the last crop basically for the entire 45 days.
If you follow my 3 area set up you know that by some manual labor and lots of close attention I am able to load a crop every 50 days. It is going to be real hard this time as I have some monster plants that finish late that are not going to fit into the shorter veg room so I will have to work it out.
The Bud room is completely packed with wall to wall towering colas in the rear and shorter sticky bushes in the front.
Time to take clones! Even though I don’t keep mother plants I make sure we take clones while plants are super healthy and in full vegetive state this is very important. If you take cutting from sick or un healthy plants they can be damaged and never grow like the original plant.This is also a the time to clean up the canopy and perform your bondage. Trim off sucker shoots and make sure everything is right for entering the flowering phase.
To recap
Day 45 veg room is healthy and the plants 24-30” tall with numerous growing shoots. IT is time for your tallest varieties to be budded, this is done my manual caring the plants into a dark area when 12 hours of light has passed. The shorter finishing are given at least another week of 18/6 and some varieties like Purple Urkle can be left in 18/6 for three to four months before they are large enough to place into flower and get decent yields.
I will start harvesting Saturday taking Tiny Bomb first. Just a bit longer and day 56 chop Space Queen, this will allow me to spread out the monsters you see in the back to finish and have less shading and crowding.
What’s cool is this is when some varieties really pack on the weight and hopefully so will the other late finishing varieties in your garden. This extra weak can mean a huge difference in many plants.
Quality is what counts to me.
In 35 years of growing I have done ebb and flo, NFT, DWC, aero misters and many other contraptions. My organic soil produces the best buds I have ever smoked!
If your plants bud for 10-14 days before even entering the bud room then there ready to finish 2 weeks faster its all in the text
I am just a workaholic and this works for me if I didn't have my garden i'd loose my mind.
Last edited by subcool; 06-30-2009 at 02:42 PM.
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