Hotwired
~
Hiya folks! After reading jesse's post on growing I bet you are all ready to grow "about" a pound right? Well let's get to it. I wanted something to do that would be a non stop operation of buds in the smallest amount of space I could use. I knew people were getting a pound using a 600 watt hps and a 4 x 4 tent so I went that route. I did a few different things but long story short I finally got there. These are the things that I use now to keep my perpetual forever flowing:
Before you ask let me add this *****I don't like moms!!*****
Four 4 x 4 tents. A side closet for babies and another small closet for clones. Each 4 x 4 tent has a 600 watt hps in it. Closet for babies has a 200 watt 4 foot T5. Clones get 25 watt bars over each dome.
Tents:
One tent for veg and two for flower (and 1 spare tent or closet). I run all the tents with dimmable Nanolux OG 600 Super Lux ballasts. All bulbs are Hortilux. Veg rooms run at 75% and flower rooms at 110%. 24 plants in each veg tent. After 25 days 16 plants will remain and be up potted from 1 to 2 gallons. The other 8 plants get sent off for a week to fill up another spare tent under 600 watts. Those 8 plants will then become my new clones. I will take 32 clones from them. The 600 watt makes 'em fat and strong.
Lights:
Your own choice. I use Blockbuster 6 inch (25 x 25 footprint) hoods and 600 watt hortilux hps
Soil and food:
B'cuzz mix and Dyna-Gro. Was using Foliage Pro as a soil wash, not foliar spray. Changing to Grow because of a boron deficiency in some strains. Also use Protekt and Bloom, plus Mag-Pro 1 or 2 times at 6 to 7 weeks.
Pots and saucers:
Minimum 50 one gallon pots and saucers. Minimum 35 two gallons pots and saucers
Ventilation fans and small interior fans:
One strong ventilation fan for each tent required. I use Panasonic Whisperquiet 6 inch fans. The 340 cfm I use for the flower rooms and the 240 cfm for the veg. Two 6 inch Hurricane fans for each tent for the interior air movement.
Carbon Filters:
Phresh 400 cfm for flower and Phresh 200 cfm for veg
Ducting:
Max-Duct triple layered white vinyl 25 foot of duct.
Applying it all:
Put your tents/room together. Drop in the hood. Connect ducting to one side of hood and pull ducting out thru side of tent. Attach duct to Whisperquiet fan. Drop Whisperquiet fan right on top of 400 cfm Phresh filter. Foil tape for perfect tight close. Make sure the air is pulling from the tent and outside thru the fan and into the filter. You now have your vacuum created. If using Gorilla tents they make a great kit to keep your sides from pushing in. So easy to just keep the filter standing up on the floor.
Add your lights, fans and ballasts and you are ready
How do I make this work as a perpetual? Hrmmmm...add 3 more tents in another room? Why not!! You can add as many as you want as long as you follow this method. That 1 veg tent can handle 2 flower tents at once. So always use a ratio of 2 flower tents to 1 veg tent and it will work. Also, the spare tent can still hold another 8 plants so if you doubled your effort...wink wink.....you only need 3 extra tents. This is how I do it....
Let's say you are just starting out and want to do a pound a month. So with my ratio above you will need 3 tents, plus a spare tent for the future clone plants, plus a small closet for clones. The T5 for the babies is just something I do when I want to start off seeds early. They never interfere with my perpetual.
Ok, your rooms are set up by now and you want to start your perpetual. You can start in many ways but the EASIEST way is to grow out a few moms and choose the ones you want to take clones from. I personally do NOT use this method because I like to make things hard on myself and grow out each individual seed before making my choice. Otherwise for those who like it easy, that is the best way. Once your chosen moms are developed you will need to take about 30 clones from her/them. 24 clones will be needed so you better be good at clones. (24 will be needed because 8 plants will become the new clone givers. This only works with my "no moms" method)
Now let the moms go for one last time and in 4 weeks, once the other clones are done, take 30 more! Then toss the moms if you like. Now you will have 24 new veg plants and 30 clones. See where this is going? In 4 weeks those veg plants will be done and if you topped them right will have 4 colas each ONLY. It's all you need for my method. Hopefully you had good growth and were able to up pot at 23 to 25 days. I like to do it at 23 days and then veg in the flower room under 660 watts for a week. They really fatten up. So now you have 16 plants and 64 colas in your first flower tent. The other 8 plants moved to the "spare" tent for a week and are ready for cloning. With 4 clones each plant that will be good enough for your next round.
Now you are really started but this is when you start timing everything. To make my perpetual work I do everything in 4 weeks or 8/9 weeks. Clones = 4 weeks. Veg = 30 days. Flower = 56 to 62 days ( I can make 9 week plants finish fast by shortening hours).
Day 1:
You took your clones. Whatever method you use just keep them alive for 4 weeks. I can easily. Or if they are really fully ready in 3 weeks you can throw them in that spare tent I talked about having. Your "cloning" plants will be gone way before that so the space will be there. Or I use my 4 foot T5 spare closet. It's good to have space in a perpetual.
Day 30:
You now have your first flower room filled and your next set of clones just moved into the veg tent. In 4 weeks you will rinse and repeat every step here and have 2 tents pumping out a pound a month.
Day 60:
Flower tent is at 4 weeks. Next flower tent just got filled with your second round of veg plants. Clones were taken. 4 week old clones put in veg tent. Rinse and repeat.
90days:
Your first harvest is here. Second flower tent is now 4 weeks. Veg done and put in recently harvest tent. Clones taken right before that. Finished clones into veg tent. Rise and repeat.
120 days:
Second harvest in 30 days etc etc etc...................
ow my hands are tired lol, as well as my brain. BBl to finish. Will talk about why 4 colas
Before you ask let me add this *****I don't like moms!!*****
Four 4 x 4 tents. A side closet for babies and another small closet for clones. Each 4 x 4 tent has a 600 watt hps in it. Closet for babies has a 200 watt 4 foot T5. Clones get 25 watt bars over each dome.
Tents:
One tent for veg and two for flower (and 1 spare tent or closet). I run all the tents with dimmable Nanolux OG 600 Super Lux ballasts. All bulbs are Hortilux. Veg rooms run at 75% and flower rooms at 110%. 24 plants in each veg tent. After 25 days 16 plants will remain and be up potted from 1 to 2 gallons. The other 8 plants get sent off for a week to fill up another spare tent under 600 watts. Those 8 plants will then become my new clones. I will take 32 clones from them. The 600 watt makes 'em fat and strong.
Lights:
Your own choice. I use Blockbuster 6 inch (25 x 25 footprint) hoods and 600 watt hortilux hps
Soil and food:
B'cuzz mix and Dyna-Gro. Was using Foliage Pro as a soil wash, not foliar spray. Changing to Grow because of a boron deficiency in some strains. Also use Protekt and Bloom, plus Mag-Pro 1 or 2 times at 6 to 7 weeks.
Pots and saucers:
Minimum 50 one gallon pots and saucers. Minimum 35 two gallons pots and saucers
Ventilation fans and small interior fans:
One strong ventilation fan for each tent required. I use Panasonic Whisperquiet 6 inch fans. The 340 cfm I use for the flower rooms and the 240 cfm for the veg. Two 6 inch Hurricane fans for each tent for the interior air movement.
Carbon Filters:
Phresh 400 cfm for flower and Phresh 200 cfm for veg
Ducting:
Max-Duct triple layered white vinyl 25 foot of duct.
Applying it all:
Put your tents/room together. Drop in the hood. Connect ducting to one side of hood and pull ducting out thru side of tent. Attach duct to Whisperquiet fan. Drop Whisperquiet fan right on top of 400 cfm Phresh filter. Foil tape for perfect tight close. Make sure the air is pulling from the tent and outside thru the fan and into the filter. You now have your vacuum created. If using Gorilla tents they make a great kit to keep your sides from pushing in. So easy to just keep the filter standing up on the floor.
Add your lights, fans and ballasts and you are ready
How do I make this work as a perpetual? Hrmmmm...add 3 more tents in another room? Why not!! You can add as many as you want as long as you follow this method. That 1 veg tent can handle 2 flower tents at once. So always use a ratio of 2 flower tents to 1 veg tent and it will work. Also, the spare tent can still hold another 8 plants so if you doubled your effort...wink wink.....you only need 3 extra tents. This is how I do it....
Let's say you are just starting out and want to do a pound a month. So with my ratio above you will need 3 tents, plus a spare tent for the future clone plants, plus a small closet for clones. The T5 for the babies is just something I do when I want to start off seeds early. They never interfere with my perpetual.
Ok, your rooms are set up by now and you want to start your perpetual. You can start in many ways but the EASIEST way is to grow out a few moms and choose the ones you want to take clones from. I personally do NOT use this method because I like to make things hard on myself and grow out each individual seed before making my choice. Otherwise for those who like it easy, that is the best way. Once your chosen moms are developed you will need to take about 30 clones from her/them. 24 clones will be needed so you better be good at clones. (24 will be needed because 8 plants will become the new clone givers. This only works with my "no moms" method)
Now let the moms go for one last time and in 4 weeks, once the other clones are done, take 30 more! Then toss the moms if you like. Now you will have 24 new veg plants and 30 clones. See where this is going? In 4 weeks those veg plants will be done and if you topped them right will have 4 colas each ONLY. It's all you need for my method. Hopefully you had good growth and were able to up pot at 23 to 25 days. I like to do it at 23 days and then veg in the flower room under 660 watts for a week. They really fatten up. So now you have 16 plants and 64 colas in your first flower tent. The other 8 plants moved to the "spare" tent for a week and are ready for cloning. With 4 clones each plant that will be good enough for your next round.
Now you are really started but this is when you start timing everything. To make my perpetual work I do everything in 4 weeks or 8/9 weeks. Clones = 4 weeks. Veg = 30 days. Flower = 56 to 62 days ( I can make 9 week plants finish fast by shortening hours).
Day 1:
You took your clones. Whatever method you use just keep them alive for 4 weeks. I can easily. Or if they are really fully ready in 3 weeks you can throw them in that spare tent I talked about having. Your "cloning" plants will be gone way before that so the space will be there. Or I use my 4 foot T5 spare closet. It's good to have space in a perpetual.
Day 30:
You now have your first flower room filled and your next set of clones just moved into the veg tent. In 4 weeks you will rinse and repeat every step here and have 2 tents pumping out a pound a month.
Day 60:
Flower tent is at 4 weeks. Next flower tent just got filled with your second round of veg plants. Clones were taken. 4 week old clones put in veg tent. Rinse and repeat.
90days:
Your first harvest is here. Second flower tent is now 4 weeks. Veg done and put in recently harvest tent. Clones taken right before that. Finished clones into veg tent. Rise and repeat.
120 days:
Second harvest in 30 days etc etc etc...................
ow my hands are tired lol, as well as my brain. BBl to finish. Will talk about why 4 colas
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