In The Closet...My perpetual grow. Maximum numbers from minimum space.

When I first ventured into cultivation, my first thought was, of course, to not get caught. My first rule was to never tell. I don't speak to anyone about it. My friends just think I know someone with a "hook-up". This is the first time I have ever shared my grow information. Living in a large multi-family complex, I had lots to consider and plan for. All of our buildings are two-story, and have between 10-16 units per building. With over 140 buildings, it's big and there's always people around.

After much research along with careful consideration of the limited space available, I opted for an ebb & flow system.

Currently I utilize two closets in an upstairs spare bedroom. One closet (cloning and vegetation) is 76" wide, 27" deep and the standard 96" in height. Inside is a 15 gallon solution tank that feeds (3) 2'x2' Botanicare trays. One tray is for the mothers and the remaining two trays are for vegging. I veg the clones for two weeks in each tray for a total of four weeks. My cloner is also located in this closet. Lighting is supplied by a 24" 4-bulb T5 along with a 48" 4-bulb T5 for the 2'x2' trays and a single 24" fluorescent cheapie from home depot lights up the clones.

The other closet (flowering) is a small 5'x7' walk-in. Here I have two flowering areas. Starting at the ceiling, is a 1000W HPS. 42.75" below is a platform. This platform holds (1) 4'x4' tray on top, and holds an additional 1000W HPS underneath. Another 42.75" below is a second platform that holds (2) 2'x4' Botanicare trays. The last 10" under this platform holds (2) low profile 20 gallon reservoirs. A six-inch inline fan exhausts from each light and is tee'd into the attic. An under-sink cabinet in the bathroom opposite one of the closet walls houses a four-filter RO that is fed into a 55 gallon food-grade storage drum which also is in the flowering room. I use a standard float valve inside the drum to keep the RO water filled without fear of overflowing. Only took a couple of minor floods to install that one!!

Here is how it all works:
I have a total of six mothers. A mother will be used for a total of twelve cycles. Afterwards, the mother is discarded and replaced by one of the clones that was vegged for four weeks.
I cut clones from the mothers and allow a two-week rooting period in the cloner. I call this a "batch". After the "batch" has rooted for two weeks, I transfer them into 5.5" pots filled with Hydroton. This begins the first two-week veg cycle. Now that the mothers have had two weeks to re-grow, I cut more clones to start the rooting cycle again. This never ends. Every two weeks, each cycle moves on and another replaces it. I chose a two week cycle, since it was the simplest math that worked well with all phases of growing.

Two weeks for clones to develop roots, and for mothers to recover.
Four weeks for vegetative growth. (2) two-week cycles.
Eight weeks for flowering (4) two-week cycles.

I harvest sixteen plants every two weeks. I average 25 grams (dried) per plant for an average of 400 grams. Keep in mind, these are small plants. I use what is referred to as "lolipopping", in which I cut most of the lower flowering branches off and focus the growth into a single cola. The plants average between 26-28" in height.

It is a modest and simple operation that supplies me every two weeks, twelve months a year.
REMEMBER.... This is accomplished with a total of 47 square feet of floor space!

I thank my nameless friend for the well designed grow areas and most importantly, WONDERFUL plant genetics. This strain is not commercially available as it was bred by a long time grower in (I believe) the St Augustine, Florida area. I provide a product that is used by a handful of cancer patients (I wouldn't joke about this), so along with high quality, I need to be CONSISTENT with the supply. Which as we all know, is the hardest thing to find... consistency. So after countless different methods that were tried, I settled with this method and set-up. It has worked well for many years.

I have included some pictures to share what I have done. I hope you enjoy. Please let me know if you have any questions or comments
.

Very nice well thought out operation you have there!!! Does the strain u are growing have a name?

He called it Ghost Pecker

nice rotation bro, im trying to fig out how i can do sumn similar, doin it n soil tho. any suggestions?

dirty11 said:

nice rotation bro, im trying to fig out how i can do sumn similar, doin it n soil tho. any suggestions?

Click to expand...

It's really going to depend on what strain you choose. While there are many factors that directly affect how a plant will grow, none is as important as genetics. What we as growers do, is provide the optimum conditions that allow a plant to flourish. But no matter how and where you grow, you only end up with the same genetics you start with. If you are lucky enough to know another grower, get a clone. If you do not have access to a clone, your best bet is seeds from a REPUTABLE seed bank/dealer. No matter how good you think that cheap bag of pot is, you really shouldn't try with "bagseed". You're better off trying the lottery.
You may benefit more from NON-FEMINIZED seeds. I have known too many fem seeds that hermie with the slightest problem.

When you pick your strain, I recommend at least 20 seeds. There are several methods used to germinate seeds. Choose what you are comfortable with. I choose the "wet paper towel method". I recommend that you plant all seeds that start to grow. Once they are reach their eighth node in growth, switch to 12/12 lighting and WATCH CAREFULLY!! Obviously you will eliminate any males upon discovery. But keep an eye on all of the girls through about the fourth week of 12/12 lighting. By this point, you should start to see which plants have the better looking buds, frostier, etc. Even though they come from the same plant. Every seed is different. Quite often there will be one plant that is frostier and better looking than the rest. This is the one you should choose for your mother plant. Again...it's all in the genes! Your mother will start to veg again after a couple of weeks under 18/6 light. Then you can start cutting clones.

To answer your question, once you pick the strain and have vegged a mother for a few weeks, you will need to cut and root your clones. Using a soil medium will add some time to your cycles. You will need to run a batch from cloning through vegetation and into flowering until the end to get an idea of how you will need to divide your cycles. While hydroponics can yield a mature plant in as little as 7 weeks, it can take 9-11 weeks for the same plant to mature in a soil medium. Also, clone rooting can be slower into soil, so you will need to monitor everything closely throughout this time. Flowering is the most important stage to time correctly and it is the reference for your cycle division.

Example: If flowering your plant in soil takes 9 weeks, then you can let clones root for 3 weeks, veg them for 6 weeks (2) three-week cycles, then flower for 9 weeks (3) three-week cycles. You will harvest a batch every three weeks!