Anyone up for Reverse Engineering an Optimal Grow?

LBCroll

Member
Hey there everyone! I'm new here with only a few posts in my tote. I wanted to start this thread to reverse engineer a grow by gathering everyone's ideas on what would make it BEST!!!... and then run a journal from setup to dry weigh with everyone's collective input! :weed:

Since joining, I haven't posted really anything, but have spent the time reading through journals, getting product reviews, figuring out my grow space and goals, etc... I've been reading through thousands of posts, and want to put together a GROW JOURNEY... not just an ordinary journal, but a journey from setup to grow 1, 2, 3, 4 etc... with links to quick facts like setup specs/changes, strains used, cycle specs/changes, nutes used/changes, yield apres curing with all the pics... that way people can get quickly through the journal and then go back to the journey thread for more of the riff raff and for suggesting changes to enhance the next grow in line.

Anyone up for helping out on this project?

Just a little background on my growing experience... My last grow was in a basement 10 years ago. I had a nice ebb & flow tray setup with segregated mother, vegetate, and clone cabinets away from the main flowering area. The mother & clone cabs were running on cool HO Fluoros with the veg runnning on 400W MH and additional warm HO flouros for a little more vertical coaxing. For flowering we were running dual air cooled 600W HPS, automated with linear light movers on rails above the trays. Since the basement potentially had larger than optimal temperature swings, we actually had two methods of exhaust/cooling dependent on the external ambient temperature. We had the exhaust fan from the lighting connected to a temperature power controller where if the temps dipped below optimal the light fan would shut off, generating extra heat in the flower room. If the room got hotter than I wanted it, the fan kicked back on. Stale, odored hot air was constantly being recharged with fresh cooler air with the stink and heat running through the MountainAir system, through the faux wall into the larger unused portion of the basement via circulation and heat diffusion methods. That air was then redirected back out of the house by tying into the external dryer vent. To combat odors, we had a MountainAir filtration system pulling the hot air from the lights and odors through it, dissipated into the larger portion of the basement and then re filtered to the dryer ducting using the MacStoner fabric softener sheet filter method. (basically makes the secondary filtered air smell like you're doing laundry to anyone passing by.

A couple of other little trinkets we added were a CO2 injection system and a selective UVB lighting system to increase trichome production. All In All... a pretty good setup.

...bongsmilie...

Now to start the Journey... Reverse Engineering the most Optimal Grow

I don't have a basement anymore, but I do have a dedicated room that will accomodate 12 mature flowering plants. As for Clones and Veging... that will be done in an opposing area of the house, with both heat sources being dissipated with an air circulated, insulated attic to displace any positive heat signature.

Here is the goal that I would like to Reverse Engineer an Optimal Grow from:

-Take 12 female plants to flower with a goal of getting 4 main colas per plant.

- I want to keep the plants no higher than 3.5 ft tall.

- The highest yield possible in the fastest finishing time.

-Heavy dense bud production that'll want to make the volcano plug in itself!

-Combo lighting schemes to cut down on the electrical draw and/or increase in flower/trichome production.

-I'd also like to add more beneficial elements like extra CO2 production, and nutrient fogs for the roots.


Does anyone have suggestions on how they think that I could obtain these goals?

I'd like to hear opinions on:

1. The best fastest finishing, highest yielding strains to use for this (I have a few that I'm tinkering with... PPP, Blueberry, White Rhino, AK-48, Big Bud to name a few...) I want to have all the plants the same strain, so that there are fewer inconsistancies in getting to harvest after making a final selection. I'd like to begin to harvest no later than 9 weeks in flower.

2. I'd like to use some advance cultivation techniques or combinations thereof like FIM/Topping, SCROG, etc... to increase yield, and get optimal bud production.

3. Lighting recommendations for the best bud production while drawing the least amount of power with inclusions of additional side lighting like T5's or CFL's to promote increased sub canopy branch production.

4. I'd be interested in additional growth enhancement/potency enhancement advice/recommendations in the areas of additional UVB lighting, CO2 injection, nutrient fogs, flowering additives, etc... (I've been tinkering with some lighting alternatives to increase production where light less likely finds its way to the lower branches--- stuff that isn't out on the market yet as it pertains to compact reflective light sources/housing designs based on calculated triple axis light reflection models).

***All of the lighting or nutrient experiments that I'll be conducting will be posted with pictures and results in tandem with the grows that they are part of.***

In short: I want to flower 12 plants to get the highest amount of yield per plant and in the shortest amount of time. We have carte blanch for all of your suggestions and input. I'm confident that with the RIU knowledge base that I've already read through, that we should get some pretty good suggestions on the setup and grow for this one. I'm open to all suggestions ranging from topping to LST, LED to HID, drips to bubblers, and Ebb Flow/ rockwool to aeroponic setups, nute recommendations, etc...

Does anyone want to take the challenge of the journey with me? I bet we could make a kicka$$ grow with each one getting better and better!
 
OK, since I want to keep the vegging away from the flowering room, I've dedicated 15 sqft for the 12 plants...

I know that this doesn't sound like much, but I'd like to FIM them to produce 4 colas per plant and then train with SCROG method... Underneath I'd like to run a combination of HO/HE lighting to increase bud production below the canopy where penetration can become a problem.

Any suggestions?
 
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