New City Grower 3.5 - Our Perpetual Grow - Continued

[SweetSue]

Love all the experiments and refinements. I ran fabric 3 gal perpetual for almost 2 years, and found it to be a great compromise of size, convenience, cost and production. With the proper soil structure, you could feed/water every 2-3 days in peak flower, and have a great amount of control over how much O2, nutes, and water the plant got. DonPaulP style.

Peace and pot Reg.

CareStaker, may I ask what your typical yields were during that time and what height was most common in your grows? I'm getting ready to start up again and I'd like to do a small recreational garden aside from my main plants designated for other needs and I'd been considering going with 3 gal.

 

[Light Addict]

Or 1 gal cloth pot swick monsters its more of a challenge with a 1 gal

Best of buds BAR

 

[CareStaker]

CareStaker, may I ask what your typical yields were during that time and what height was most common in your grows? I'm getting ready to start up again and I'd like to do a small recreational garden aside from my main plants designated for other needs and I'd been considering going with 3 gal.

Of course! When I had good RH for a short <6wk Veg, and didn't have to meet a flower room deadline - I was running ~36" tall plants with 4 main colas, and getting about 3-4oz per plant. Figuring I had almost 24" of penetration, I would prune up from the floor about a foot if needed, and try to keep the top 2' of the plant in the light's best light/heat ratio with HPS and in the sweet spot for LED mix. Best I've had in a 3gal dirt pot was 230g, with a 4 wk veg.

 

[B A R]

Love all the experiments and refinements. I ran fabric 3 gal perpetual for almost 2 years, and found it to be a great compromise of size, convenience, cost and production. With the proper soil structure, you could feed/water every 2-3 days in peak flower, and have a great amount of control over how much O2, nutes, and water the plant got. DonPaulP style.

Peace and pot Reg.

Ahh!! Don P, one of the best that ever did it! I miss him. And he was so willing to help any member who asked.

Carestaker, I ran 2lt Soda Pop Pots for the last 2yrs so 3gals are a step up for me. Also we plan on doing this perpetual grow the same way; at least 4 plants coming down every month (around and about one a wk). The only difference is we'll be going from 18/6 to 12/12 to 11/13 in the rotation with the Veg Tent (18/6), the Bloom Tent (12/12), and the Big Tent (11/13). So basically I'll be able to keep the quantity of plants going as I did in the 2lt grow with the 3gal pots now that we have the Big Tent as the finisher.

Remember, I'm trying to max out our limited real estate and if I get this whole thing where I know which strains perform best with what type of training and which ones are better left alone then watch out. My goal is not only to grow the best weed I can but to give back to the 420mag community by creating maximum output of good weed in small quarters so that others with limited real estate can have some idea of how to go about it. The 5gal Pots just took up too much space per plant.

Starting with the first chop of this year which will also be the first finisher of the 3gal Perpetual Grow that's coming down this week, I'll keep a running record of our weights to compare to folks growing with more space.

What's my dream? To have an acre of land and perfect weather.
What's my reality? To grow enough to never run out of weed.

 

[CareStaker]

DonPaulP was all that. I gotta rep him every chance I get. Reading his stuff leaped me ahead of where I was.

Granted, I wasn't in the best place to start with haha. I'm a city guy.

Still so much to learn.

 

[B A R]

Still so much to learn.

You & I both.

 

[CareStaker]

Speaking of learning. I'm playing with this organic coco mix, at the garden I help at, by mixing it at a high (33%) ratio into the soil recipe, and so far it's working out nicely. They have about a dozen different strains sprouted in it, and they are growing thick and fast, and not one is deficient in any way. The same mix will be used in flower to see if the effect is similar. For now, it's like a buffer to the buffer that soil is, with some speed advantage. Thought it might be something you'd like to consider. I'm smoking some killer Fruit Punch Reg... Haze makes everything better.

 

[SweetSue]

Thanks for the answer Carestalker. To keep up with the need I'll be challenged to get 3-4 oz per plant, on average. I know I'm capable of it. It's a matter of focus and environment control. Not to mention surrounding the plants with light.

Ahh!! Don P, one of the best that ever did it! I miss him. And he was so willing to help any member who asked.

Carestaker, I ran 2lt Soda Pop Pots for the last 2yrs so 3gals are a step up for me. Also we plan on doing this perpetual grow the same way; at least 4 plants coming down every month (around and about one a wk). The only difference is we'll be going from 18/6 to 12/12 to 11/13 in the rotation with the Veg Tent (18/6), the Bloom Tent (12/12), and the Big Tent (11/13). So basically I'll be able to keep the quantity of plants going as I did in the 2lt grow with the 3gal pots now that we have the Big Tent as the finisher.

This inspires me. I keep thinking that if I invest in smaller tents like you have it'd be easier to keep stealthy and easy to pack up and take with me when I relocate. That lovely filtration system I have should handle two small tents and my closet with no trouble. I just know I'm going to get a perpetual running smoothly again and it'll be time to move. Change is good.


Remember, I'm trying to max out our limited real estate and if I get this whole thing where I know which strains perform best with what type of training and which ones are better left alone then watch out. My goal is not only to grow the best weed I can but to give back to the 420mag community by creating maximum output of good weed in small quarters so that others with limited real estate can have some idea of how to go about it. The 5gal Pots just took up too much space per plant.

Starting with the first chop of this year which will also be the first finisher of the 3gal Perpetual Grow that's coming down this week, I'll keep a running record of our weights to compare to folks growing with more space.

You're my hero Reg. Pure and simple. I'd love to sit and read through your grow notes. I know you have to have some type of hard copy system going to keep track of so much, or do you do it all on computer? I need the paper copy.

I've already identified a couple sativa strains I plan to keep in the rotation (gotta grow a regular Jack Herer) and the trick now is to find the method that gets me the highest yield and the frostiest buds. I still need to find a couple consistent CBD indica strains. Cajun has me interested in Darkstar, so I'll start with that. I also have a wealth of seeds to pull from that I haven't tried yet, some very interesting private breeder stuff. It's going to be a fun year.

What's my dream? To have an acre of land and perfect weather.
What's my reality? To grow enough to never run out of weed.

Amen!

As always, so sweet to stop and see what's up. You never cease to amaze me. I better get busy planning my particulars. Only 25 more days until I'm home and I want to hit the ground running, starting with some brownies. My daughter's going to have everything ready to go so I can walk through the door and have them in the oven within 15 minutes.

 

[Light Addict]

Soil coco blends are indeed awesome, my soil which is somewhere in its 20's cycle wise has always been heavily coco'd up. It just aids in aeration, drainage all sorts and makes life very easy! by now my mix must be over 60% coco, yet with the live environment kept by my soil microbes

 

[kelticBlue]

. . . My goal is not only to grow the best weed I can but to give back to the 420mag community by creating maximum output of good weed in small quarters so that others with limited real estate can have some idea of how to go about it. . . .

As an inner city studio apt. dweller, I thank you wholeheartedly for this. I have read through most of your grows. I was just running numbers with the Mrs kBlue this morning, I figure 12 grams per month will be an endless supply for her. She likes to burn to ease her pain and I use a rolling machine to create smokes of beauty. This has really worked out great for us.

I want her to never have to worry about running out.
I can do that in my little tent behind my couch. {which is in my living room/dining room/bedroom/everything room}

Thanks & Cheerioz!

 

[CareStaker]

Soil coco blends are indeed awesome, my soil which is somewhere in its 20's cycle wise has always been heavily coco'd up. It just aids in aeration, drainage all sorts and makes life very easy! by now my mix must be over 60% coco, yet with the live environment kept by my soil microbes

Great info LA. I like that there is still a living soil there too. The coco I'm using is amended with organics (mendo mix & basement mix). I don't know if anyone here is using it, but it doesn't even look like coco. For a time I was adding in about 10-20% of straight coco, for structure and moisture, and this seems so much better, while not clashing with my feeding schedule at all. At 60% have you changed your watering and feeding schedule much?

 

[Light Addict]

Yeah it has now with that ratio I water and feed every single day once the plant is of a certain size. Although at the same time my feeding levels have dropped, this is just due to a living environment
Also though as said before I leave most of the previous runs roots in the mix, this to me just makes sense to help repopulation of the bennies! Why waste material already charged full of the microbes we want to promote

 

[B A R]

Speaking of learning. I'm playing with this organic coco mix, at the garden I help at, by mixing it at a high (33%) ratio into the soil recipe, and so far it's working out nicely. They have about a dozen different strains sprouted in it, and they are growing thick and fast, and not one is deficient in any way. The same mix will be used in flower to see if the effect is similar. For now, it's like a buffer to the buffer that soil is, with some speed advantage. Thought it might be something you'd like to consider.

You've got my attention Carestaker.

You're my hero Reg. Pure and simple. I'd love to sit and read through your grow notes. I know you have to have some type of hard copy system going to keep track of so much, or do you do it all on computer?

My journals & blogs are our only records Sue. That's why I try to be thorough.

As an inner city studio apt. dweller, I thank you wholeheartedly for this

Ah shucks Mr. Blue, it's statements like that that insure me "paying it forward" is in full effect.

HARVEST​

BLUE BLOOD CLONE Day 116 / Day 54 under 11/13

Nice solid hard buds...

Ok, so with the first plant down of the new grow I realized a couple weeks ago that in these 3gal pots as opposed to the few 5gals we ran we'll need to give these plants extra veg time after the training's complete; let them get some vert. This should boost up yield.
I've already started this on a JH clone & Bub's Papaya.

 

[Pigeons420]

Beautiful as to be expected, BAR!

I've come across the same issue with yield and vertical growth. They certainly seem to be dependent upon one another. I'm currently running a PineApple Express that I'm using as an experiment to determine if maximum vertical growth and nodes are what I've been missing. Now I'm having enough problems of other sorts I've noticed but that's to be expected I suppose.
Such as internode bud sites are very sparse. And limbs are weak and thin. I need to figure out what it's going to take to get this growth to take off.
I just want a haul for the books and I need to unlock the answers to release the potential!!


Oh the joys!

Best of luck to you my man! And +Reps for another wonderful harvest!

 

[b.real]

looks yummy

 

[Light Addict]

When going vert for colas building, use the simple opening up of the growng tips of each colas site. Done regularly it will shorten the internodal spacing giving better stacked co!as I've done a quick guide in my sig!
Also with vert depending on the style your growing to training wise, you need to remember that given to long for vert will mean your secondary sites low down will grow out and wreck your colas structure! Finding the timeframe where you've gone vert but not let secondaries stretch out is the key unless you manage the secondaries through fairly brutal means

 

[brightlight]

Speaking of learning. I'm playing with this organic coco mix, at the garden I help at, by mixing it at a high (33%) ratio into the soil recipe, and so far it's working out nicely. They have about a dozen different strains sprouted in it, and they are growing thick and fast, and not one is deficient in any way. The same mix will be used in flower to see if the effect is similar. For now, it's like a buffer to the buffer that soil is, with some speed advantage. Thought it might be something you'd like to consider. I'm smoking some killer Fruit Punch Reg... Haze makes everything better.

Mendo & Basement are my 2 favorites, but I've only used Mendo outside & Basement inside. Had to switch to Sanctuary Empire Builder last 2 grows because my Royal Gold source (a 30 mi. drive but cheap at $10/bag) was adding too many gnats to it from its warehouse. The EB looks very close to The M & B so I've stuck with it for now. My only difficulty w/ organic coco mixes is I have to watch pH. My dirt or peat based mixes are around 6.5 or slightly higher but w/ coco I get a Fe deficiency if I don't keep the pH in low 6's. But overall I like organic coco mixes indoors. Too hot around here for straight coco outdoors. My extremely green sister always reminds me how coco is sustainable too.

 

[CareStaker]

Yeah it has now with that ratio I water and feed every single day once the plant is of a certain size. Although at the same time my feeding levels have dropped, this is just due to a living environment
Also though as said before I leave most of the previous runs roots in the mix, this to me just makes sense to help repopulation of the bennies! Why waste material already charged full of the microbes we want to promote

Thanks for confirming LA. I figured you were watering every day in peak flower. These girls are currently being watered by hand DTW, and need to fert on a more soil-like schedule. If I up the coco/soil ratio, they would have to be ferting more frequently, so at reduced ppms. They will have to start a soil recycling program too. I don't recycle, so someone is going to have to figure that out. I've been looking at adding some amendments and enzymes to help the process along, especially those old roots
BAR I see that you're looking to up the speed and yield in your space, so this might be a nice thing to incorporate. You could mix it into PJs or any other soil base. I'm mixing into a pretty hot FFOF, which I further amend, and it's been trouble free so far. If you're not wanting to feed 2x everyday, like you would 100% coco, you can feed at your normal intervals, and yet still get some hydro-like benefits. I don't know if it's appropriate to post the coco I'm using, but it's Royal Gold, Mendo Mix, or Basement Mix, from Humboldt in CA. Met a rep at some weed thing, and I fell in love with the look and feel of it. It is built like a soil, with organic amendments, but is soil-less coco. I'm currently using it at 33%, and I'm really just getting my feet wet with it, so I don't know how the final product will turn out yet, but so far the whole garden looks great. I thought that you might be interesting in playing with it, as it aligns with your current style, schedule, and goals.

 

[420Brother]

wow she's a real beauty

grats on the chops

 

[Jaga]

Sweet buds Reg