Starting over, kind of...

Hello everyone. New to the boards. I'm kind of in an odd situation. I have a friend who received his green card mid-summer. Due to mobility problems he can't grow himself. His sister had started a "system" for growing for him, but the plants suffered. A month ago I showed him some polaroids of some plants I'd grown for fun outdoors. Well, now I'm in charge. I had never done any hydro, so I've been in hyper-learn mode ever since. Everything is going good now. The water chemistry is finally up to par and stable and new growth has been phenomenal.

Now I'm debating on a cycle system to go with. I know there are several things that need to change(mh to hps, etc.), but those will change as funds become available. First, I'll give you the basic setup as of now.

General Hydroponics 10 bucket DTW Bubble-Bucket System (Split into two systems, veg and bloom)
General Hydroponics Lucas Formula
4'x8'x8' Mylar Tent (for blooming)
4 - 150 watt MH 6500K
Various 4' T8 fl

Plants:
Ready to Bloom-
3 - Permafrost
1 - White Russian
1 - Original OG Kush
Vegging-
3 - White Rhino
2 - Permafrost
1 - White Russian
1 - Purple Nepal Hash

I'm looking at getting a continuous cycle going. What is the best way to get the most out of a legal maximum of 15 plants. I see people who do two groups, taking clones off the adults that are going into bloom for the next cycle, harvesting about every 9 weeks depending on strain. I also see people who do three groups, mothers, vegging, and bloom, who also harvest every 9 weeks or so.

I guess my question is this, is it better to reduce the number of plants in production by having three or more mother plants, or to have all plants in production and clone off of adult clones generation after generation? I'm worried about weakening the strains by cloning off of clones over and over. Or is there even a better cycle system?

I'm sorry if any of this is confusing, or if this post is in the wrong area. Any response is appreciated. I'll post some pics a little latter.

~ CrystalizedHairs

No recommended cycling method for small continuous grows?
Here are some pics. Note how the biggest are quite bushy. I had to cut out alot of decaying growth when I first took over, making them branchy. Some of them have over 15 dominate tops. The clones I've started will hopefully produce 3 or 4 dominate tops(bigger colas right?).


Permafrost 10 wks (this is a four foot wide tent!)


Permafrost 6 wks


Original OG Kush 9 wks.


White Russian 9 wks


Permafrost 10 wks in soil.


White Rhino 10 wks in soil.


Purple Nepal Hash 10 wks in soil.


White Rhino 10 wks in soil.


Permafrost 3 wks


White Russian 3 wks

I plan on blooming the four potted plants and the four biggest hydro plants. During that time I'll veg out six more plants(I want to stick with just the buckets) and look at getting five more buckets for a total of fifteen. I figure I'll see how long the various strains take me to bloom in the conditions their in and plan a 3-4 week cycle. Comments welcomed.

... bump ...

Thought I'd post an update. I've been following the Lucas Formula w/ GH.

Potted plant side: Front to back, left to right.
Permafrost, White Rhino, Purple Nepal Hash, White Rhino


Hydroponic plant side: Front to back, left to right.
Permafrost, White Russian, OG Kush, Permafrost


And finally a "bud" shot. The earliest bloomer, Purple Nepal Hash Plant.

Here's a pic of my permafrost about 4 weeks into flowering. She was a small clone that I put in the flower area to free up space in my veg area. PF is my personal favorite out of the strains I've grown so far (Permafrost, Blackjack, White Rhino, White Widow). PF gets chrystally as a Mo-Fo. Here's a couple of pics of some PF buds from my most recent harvest. Did you get your PF started as a seed or clone? OUT!

Very nice! I got the PF as two well started soil clones. One was small enough that I transplanted it into the hydro. It has be far been the hardiest plant I've seen yet. Had a few pest and humidity problems when I first took over this grow, and the PF were the only ones unaffected.

Budding has seemed slightly delayed, but that's to be expected from mh from what I've read. I've also had trouble keeping temps above 70(cold basement, 71-74 heated), which I believe has also slowed blooming.

Day 25 in Bloom using MH: A few bud shots from last night, right after the lights turned off.

White Rhino


Permafrost (these are buds farthest from the light)


Purple Nepal Hash (next two pics)



Enjoy.

CrystalizedHairs said:

Day 25 in Bloom using MH: A few bud shots from last night, right after the lights turned off.

White Rhino

Permafrost (these are buds farthest from the light)

Purple Nepal Hash (next two pics)

Enjoy.

Click to expand...

Correction: They were 25 days into 12/12 and 11 days into flower, on the 18th. Not too bad I guess.

Here's a couple pics from today. Crappy cell phone pics though.

White Rhino and Purple Nepal Hash


Permafrost, White Russian, and OG Kush. Burnt a couple leaves, no bud damage though.

Thought I'd post an update, 37 days into preflower.

Permafrost.



OG Kush



White Rhino in foreground and background, Purple Nepal Hash in the middle.


I've started noticing some small amounts of what I guess is powdery mildew(looks like blotches of powder on fan leaves). This is frustrating as my digital hygrometer (Exo-Terra PT2477) says the RH ranges from 34-42%(day-night) in the flower tent, with temps stable now at about 74F. The curious thing is the veg/clone area has no signs at all of PM and the RH is 38-46%(d-n) with temps 1-2F cooler. I am running ozone in this area though. I use SM-90 in my water. Will this help to control/eliminate as a foliar spray, as it is oil based?

Any response is appreciated, and enjoy the pics.

BTW: Sounds like I'll have three, 600 watt HPS coming in the next week or two, as my patients' family needs the MHs for some reef tanks in their petstore. Hell Yeah!