Homer's Legal 4-Plant Max Perpetual Minimalist Garden In Ontario

[Dutchman1990]

I'd run several of the same strain, clone every plant. If you find a keeper your clone is your new mother.

Like what I’m doing! Pheno Hunt time Homer!!

And clone clone clone, and be prepared to throw out the clones of the ones you're not keeping. This is something I am now learning .

I feel I may struggle at that part lol! I never want to toss a plant

 

[Homer Simpson]

I guess I have been thinking about it all wrong maybe. My best plant was my WW and I bought a pack of five seeds with it so I have four left and I assumed they would all be pretty much the same because variability had been breed out of them?

I am wondering how much variety there is in a typical seed pack of say five from a good bank? I guess a lot more than I figured?

 

[Homer Simpson]

Looking good Homer. You've found the autopilot button which makes your job so much easier as a grower. Nice job all around.

That is an excellent way to put it Sauga!! And accurate. Things seem to be under control. Knock on wood though. Whenever I grew in the past spider mites were a pain so I know things can go catastrophic real fast.

 

[Homer Simpson]

It's damn hard to do if you can have no more than four plants in any stage of growth. Normally you would take a clone before you flip and then toss it if you don't like the mother plant when you harvest. That would mean two of every plant though.

I figured people were taking clones and tossing and yes four makes that difficult. As I said my WW was my best and I have four more seeds from the same purchase. From your experience would not the rest be pretty close in performance? Or is there really so much variety in phenotypes the rest could be terrible or just totally different? I am trying to decide if I should just make female seeds from it or clone it first to make sure it is good?

 

[Pennywise]

It depends on the breeder and if the line is inbred. F1 and F2 have tons of variability

 

[Dutchman1990]

I guess I have been thinking about it all wrong maybe. My best plant was my WW and I bought a pack of five seeds with it so I have four left and I assumed they would all be pretty much the same because variability had been breed out of them?

I am wondering how much variety there is in a typical seed pack of say five from a good bank? I guess a lot more than I figured?

Put it this way!!

I popped a full pack of BadAzz Kush Seeds 2 Phenos are growing normally one with better branching and one with better bud structure the other is a Triploid.

3/3 seeds were different! That’s not to say every pack is like that or a few seeds aren’t the same but there will definitely be variations in the seed packs!

 

[Homer Simpson]

Like what I’m doing! Pheno Hunt time Homer!!

I feel I may struggle at that part lol! I never want to toss a plant

I would love to go Pheno Hunting with ya Dutch but I can't grow a whole forest like you!! I think you are on the right track.

 

[Dutchman1990]

I would love to go Pheno Hunting with ya Dutch but I can't grow a whole forest like you!! I think you are on the right track.

Lol well I guess that may be true but the process is there!! Find a winning Pheno in a 3-4 plant grow then run her a few times then move on!

 

[Pennywise]

You just don’t won’t to run 1 plant and hope you get a special one.

 

[Homer Simpson]

It depends on the breeder and if the line is inbred. F1 and F2 have tons of variability

That is interesting. So being inbred reduces variability?

 

[Homer Simpson]

Put it this way!!

I popped a full pack of BadAzz Kush Seeds 2 Phenos are growing normally one with better branching and one with better bud structure the other is a Triploid.

3/3 seeds were different! That’s not to say every pack is like that or a few seeds aren’t the same but there will definitely be variations in the seed packs!

That is very interesting Dutch. I saw the triploid and am glad you kept it. I wonder more how much they will vary in flavor and yield too. I am sure I will forget to check but I would love to know. Just can't keep up with everything out here. Thanks for the input. I am going to try and figure out a four plant Pheno hunt system.

 

[Pennywise]

Yes because you select the traits you want each generation and toss the traits you don’t want.

 

[Homer Simpson]

You just don’t won’t to run 1 plant and hope you get a special one.

Ok. Live and learn. I thought there was a lot less variety in strains. I thought over time they were somehow bred to be pretty consistent like carrots, lol. My bad and good to know. I just assumed all my WW seeds would be killer so I hope I didn't let the best go.

 

[Pennywise]

A lot of the Dutch genetics are inbred and show less variation than American genetics.

 

[Homer Simpson]

Yes because you select the traits you want each generation and toss the traits you don’t want.

I see. That makes a lot of sense. Limited to four plants makes that challenging but I know your solution.

 

[Homer Simpson]

A lot of the Dutch genetics are inbred and show less variation than American genetics.

Sounds like a good reason to stick to the classics? You are a treasure trove of info...

 

[Homer Simpson]

Lol well I guess that may be true but the process is there!! Find a winning Pheno in a 3-4 plant grow then run her a few times then move on!

No making seeds of your winning phenos? I would love to do what you are doing.

 

[Pennywise]

Hey JD Short started breeding in a walk-in closet, where there's a will there's a way.

 

[Homer Simpson]

I like that can-do spirit!! I am growing more than I need so if I toss a few now and then it's ok and if I get better seeds I probably won't have to toss many even if I don't make seeds from the cutting but just let it bud out if it is decent but not seed worthy. Yes, I think there is a way!!

 

[onewarmguy]

This fall it became legal for each household in Ontario to grow a maximum of four cannabis plants. Since then I have had one crop completed and harvested and a second in the final weeks of flowering right now but this journal will concentrate on my newest and third generation of plants.

Growing like many hobbies is an endeavour where there is always a new doodad or toy to buy to improve your garden and a person can spend a small fortune if they don’t draw the line somewhere. But my journal will take the minimalist approach as I am going to try to grow the most bud I can with the least amount of equipment and expense and effort sacrificing as little in quantity and quality as possible.

The truth is I already know from my previous crops I can grow way more than I consume so I don’t really have an incentive to spend time money and effort on massive crops when I can grow way more than I need so let’s see how much I can streamline the process and make it as easy and affordable as possible and still have lot’s of bud.

My first crop produced about 9.7 ounces but that was with four plants so my aim now is to produce that much or more with only two plants budding at a time and the other two in the vegetative room. So the challenge is to make two plants as large as four with an equal canopy by training and vegging longer. I will be doing a quadlining on all my plants with probably some variation. So my goal is to be able to produce about 10 ounces every 10 weeks averaging about 1 ounce of week and since I go through 1 ounce in about eight weeks I should have plenty, LOL.

Originally I grew four plants under one 600 W LED light which actually only draws about 275 W of power. So I took them from seedling to the end of their life cycle under one light. But since then I have bought a second 300 W LED that I am using now for the veg cycle and will use the 600 W LED for the flowering cycle. I am going to do a double grow room for two reasons. Firstly, I think I can grow more because I will have my two young plants vegetating getting as big as I want while the flowering two are under the budding light. And secondly, this way I get a crop finished twice as often so it’s more fun but I also think with two lights I can produce more bud with four plants that if I had all four plants just under one 600 W light the whole time.

I will be using Mega Crop alone as my only fertilizer. A lot of members on this site have had a lot of success with it as have I and it is very cheap and very simple as it is a one part fertilizer. I have been using their Bud Explosion on my current budding plants but on this new grow I will just be using the Mega Crop. I am thinking on my next future grow I will try an experiment with identical clones using the mega crop only on one plant and Mega Crop and all their additives on the other but I can’t do that currently because I have different strains going.

Against conventional wisdom, I will also NOT be adjusting my pH as I am takings InTheSheds advice that alkalinity is what matters and not pH.

My soil is coco with some worm castings and vermiculite but I will be switching to Pro-Mix because the mixture I have been using is almost $20 per 5-gallon container and the Promix is apparently about four dollars per 5-gallon container.

So that is my plan and let’s get started. I started my two plants February 14 so there will be a little catch up. My first plant is a cutting of Cannatonic from Resin seeds which hopefully is a high CBD strain for my knees and the other strain is a White Widow seedling from Dinafem for my head, lol.

Hey Homer, wish I'd come across this sooner. First, Ph is a measure of alkalinity and acidity with alkaline materials at a Ph of 8 or higher, whereas acid is up to 5. Here's a chart

If you're not going to bother with Ph than you might want to have a look at the Ph Perfect line from Advanced Nutrients they claim that because their nutrients are specially chelated, Ph isn't an concern anymore as long as your water is in a neutal Ph range of 5 - 8. The comments I've been getting on site seem to bear that out.