Get a Harvest Every 2 Weeks

[Al B. Fuct]

The flowchart diagram in post #1 is only a rough guide- it doesn't accurately depict the numbers of plants. Each tray in the flowering area actually holds 24 plants. The clonebox holds 30 cuttings and the mother tray usually has 8-10 plants in it.

When I wrote the first post, I hadn't measured the trays in the flowering area. They are not quite 4' square- they are actually 820mm x 820mm (about 2'8" square).

The pots are labelled "175mm" on their bases. That's the diameter of the bottom part of the pots; the tops are closer to 200mm dia.

 

[trenton]

Hello Al B. Fuct. I am the person doing the journal for 60 plant grow room setup in the indoor growing section. I have been really inspired by your method and wish to try it. I have a couple questions for you first. With only 8 weeks (56 days) total production time what strains do you reccomend using?? Also you mentioned that you use 4 trays. Is it always the same # of plants in each tray? How many? Finnaly, What size pots are you using? I hope to get a reply back from you. Your thread has been very inspiring to me. Thanks.

 

[Al B. Fuct]

Hello Al B. Fuct. I am the person doing the journal for 60 plant grow room setup in the indoor growing section. I have been really inspired by your method and wish to try it. I have a couple questions for you first. With only 8 weeks (56 days) total production time what strains do you reccomend using?? Also you mentioned that you use 4 trays. Is it always the same # of plants in each tray? How many? Finnaly, What size pots are you using? I hope to get a reply back from you. Your thread has been very inspiring to me. Thanks.

I don't mean to be snippy, but every one of your queries can be answered by reading this thread in entirety, notably the immediately preceding post.

 

[Al B. Fuct]

After making a few tweaks and corrections, things are looking up.


Much better plant development- this is tray#1, for plants in wk0-2. These are at about 2 weeks. Nice early bud development.


Mucho improvement in this shot of tray#2, for plants in wks2-4. These are at about 4 wks.


The weight is starting to pile on in this batch in tray#3, wks4-6. Plants shown are in wk6.


A couple of plants from tray 4, wks6-8. These are in wk8, ready to harvest. Nice, dense, hard, clumpy nugs, now yielding about 1oz per plant.

I think that reintroducing aeration probably made the biggest difference, improving vigor across all trays. Correcting the PK13-14 dose to 0.5ml/l in tank2 during wk3 for the plants in that tray has stopped the cooking of leaves in wk4-6. I'm a bit mixed on the Fytocell; it's a bit messy to use. I'm going to run a couple of batches side by side with plain floc and with Fytocell now that I have some other issues sorted.

 

[butterflykisses]

hey did u mention what seed bank u use? if not would u mind leting me know?

 

[GoodFriend]

A couple of plants from tray 4, wks6-8. These are in wk8, ready to harvest. Nice, dense, hard, clumpy nugs, now yielding about 1oz per plant.

those plants are each a zip???

those must be some dense nuggies... haha

 

[mendOG]

why do you recommend such frequent replacement of mothers?

 

[Al B. Fuct]

hey did u mention what seed bank u use? if not would u mind leting me know?

I bought these neans from Gypsy Nirvana, many, MANY years ago.

those plants are each a zip???

those must be some dense nuggies... haha

The pictured plants, about 42" tall, made about 40g (1.4oz) each. Admittedly, they don't all do quite that well, but not far from it. When dry, the buds are rock stiff, like a wad of fabric dipped in glue. Nothing but Sweet Tooth #4's fabulous DNA at work here.

why do you recommend such frequent replacement of mothers?

After about 6-8 weeks, having donated several batches of cuttings, they're getting pretty gnarly and may have picked up some gnats in the rootmasses, etc. I have the spare clones to replace the mums frequently, so I do.

 

[GoodFriend]

I bought these neans from Gypsy Nirvana, many, MANY years ago.

i've heard some not so nice things about gypsy...

those plants speak for themselves though...
do you ever test out different strains to put in the mix? or are you pretty set on the ST?

 

[Al B. Fuct]

I've heard lots of bad stuff about Gypsy over the years as well... not sure how much is true- I suspect not much. I got my beans in reasonable time for the price I expected to pay. The breeder of Sweet Tooth #4 is (was?) Spice of Life Seeds. They may or may not still be producing ST4.

I've tried many, many strains; ST4 is the killer app. High productivity, wonderful smoking characters, great resistance to mould, etc. If I had to replace ST4, I might use LUI, Skunk #1, Power Plant or some other indica dominant hybrid.

 

[Al B. Fuct]

FYI, Sweet Tooth #4 may also be known as Blockhead. Also available here.

 

[Al B. Fuct]

Fytocell seems to be at least as good as rockwool floc in the flowering plants, but I'm finding that floc is the preferred medium for mums. Mums pull much more water and nutrient than do even the most vigorous flowering plants (wk5-7). Even with a 50mm plug of floc in the bottoms of pots of Fytocell, mainly to keep the Fytocell crumbs escaping, neighbouring mum plants in 100% floc were more vigorous. Weird.

 

[swishrsplitr]

first of all I would like to say great post; this system seems to be incredibly efficient and I would like to try it. I was wondering what kind of water pump you use to flood your tables and do you pump air into the reserviors as well? thanks for any info you can give me

 

[Al B. Fuct]

Thanks for the compliments, swish.

The water pumps are ordinary centrifugal aquarium powerhead types, 600-800L/hr. They fill the trays when powered up but allow water to run backward through them to drain the trays.

Yes, I aerate all tanks with common aquarium air pumps and ~14" bubble curtains.

 

[philli007]

Hey Al,
Finally finished reading all the posts of this 32 page thread and gonna start it over again, immediately. Just wanted to take a moment to give you mad props. Awesome thread, fantastic info!
Stay well,
Philli

 

[Scotland]

I have to agree with the above post - a fantastic system.

One quick question - what size are your rockwool cubes? I have looked throughout the thread and don't think you have mentioned this! (Unless 40mm is the width and not the height as I assumed)

 

[weed13]

great treadt and lots of good info. i hust got done with my grow area and im using the same method but i will be starting of in 4x4 rockwell cubes then goin to use hydroton. how many time should i water them im one day? im thinking flooding the table 4 times a during 18/6. how that sound?

 

[oneyearorange]

great thread

 

[TheGardenMan]

those plants are each a zip???

those must be some dense nuggies... haha

looks nice keep it up.

 

[Al B. Fuct]

Hey Al,
Finally finished reading all the posts of this 32 page thread and gonna start it over again, immediately. Just wanted to take a moment to give you mad props. Awesome thread, fantastic info!
Stay well,
Philli

Thanks.

I have to agree with the above post - a fantastic system.

One quick question - what size are your rockwool cubes? I have looked throughout the thread and don't think you have mentioned this! (Unless 40mm is the width and not the height as I assumed)

Cubes are the same dimension on all sides. That's why we call 'em 'cubes.' Of course, the ones I use are L 40mm x W 40mm x H 40mm.

great treadt and lots of good info. i hust got done with my grow area and im using the same method but i will be starting of in 4x4 rockwell cubes then goin to use hydroton. how many time should i water them im one day? im thinking flooding the table 4 times a during 18/6. how that sound?

4" (100mm) cubes are too big. They hold water for too long for seedlings and clones. The water goes stagnant (loses all dissoved oxygen) before the plant can soak it up or the water can naturally evaporate from the cube. 100mm cubes are intended for intermediate planting in some crops. After a seedling or clone has been established in a smaller cube (usually 40mm), the smaller cube is placed on top of the 100mm cube and roots are allowed to bite into the 100mm cube, before the 100mm cube itself is nested into rockwool floc or onto a rockwool slab.This intermediate planting isn't really necessary for our purposes. Once the clone has set root adequately in a 40mm cube, it can be nested in a pot of rockwool floc or Fytocell, as I am presently doing.

great thread

looks nice keep it up.

Thanks and thanks.