Input needed!

[DSXJ]

Hey Guys and Gals of 420!

I have been growing approximately 7-8 years on and off now and consider my self to be in a novice level but no where near perfect.

I have to make a quota of 5-6lbs/month. Must be recurring for the dispensary I will be providing for

Specifics :

2x 5'x8' rooms.
3x 1000w Aircooled hoods ( Direct vent to carbon filter > outside )
I can obtain more wattage if needed
Strain will be a variety of heavy yielding strains. ( Will be getting picky with mothers for specific phenos etc )
Full soil grow, will be using 5gal buckets per plant with drill holes for aeration.

I have what's considerd a CGE(Closed grow environment) with exhausts and intakes so temperature will not be of an issue running that much wattage.

I can run atleast 20 plants per room but I feel this is not enough to churn out the 5lbs needed a month ( Depending on factors ). I want each room to put out 5 lbs so I can cycle between both rooms. Each room being done once a month. I plan on harboring clones in another area getting ready for cycle. I need to guestimate on how big the clones should be before I flip flower to safely reach my minimum. It will be a SCROG style grow so I can pull the most out of each plant. I was thinking 3 weeks veg time each clone.
-Two weeks under MH lighting and one week under HPS in a screen.


Nutrient line TBD along with additives.

If theres more I forgot to list it's probably because I'm over whelmed so please just ask.

Any advice/comments/criticisms entirely open.

Thank you for your time to read.

 

[Antics]

I'm a bit new, and still learning but I have a few questions, comments, and suggestions that might either help, or give you an idea to solve the problem at hand.

First, does it have to be soil? One of the growers here averages about 1lb. per plant in hydro: Nwgrower's Medical 10k Grow

Next, Capn made a nice guide on various techniques on how to get a 1lb plant: How To: Bend and top your way to a 1 pound monster

With a quota of 5-6lbs/month, that's a lot higher than what I've yielded, my best being a little over 3 ounces from 2 plants in a CFL grow. And I've upgraded to coco, with an LED panel, and am hoping to see 3 ounces, MAYBE 4 from a single plant.

But with a large setup like yours, do you have plans, or the means to set up something automated? If so, a coco, hempy, aero, or hydro grow might be easier to manage with the number of plants you're working with.

Now with a goal of 6lbs, and 20 plants possible per room, if you run 8 week Veg/Flower cycles (Longer Veg will increase yield, and of course assuming the strain has an 8 week flower time), you'll only need 4.8 ounces per plant, which is totally feasible for someone of your experience!

I would personally increase Veg time to at least 6 weeks for each clone, preferably 8 weeks.

 

[DSXJ]

I'm a bit new, and still learning but I have a few questions, comments, and suggestions that might either help, or give you an idea to solve the problem at hand.

First, does it have to be soil? One of the growers here averages about 1lb. per plant in hydro: Nwgrower's Medical 10k Grow

Next, Capn made a nice guide on various techniques on how to get a 1lb plant: How To: Bend and top your way to a 1 pound monster

With a quota of 5-6lbs/month, that's a lot higher than what I've yielded, my best being a little over 3 ounces from 2 plants in a CFL grow. And I've upgraded to coco, with an LED panel, and am hoping to see 3 ounces, MAYBE 4 from a single plant.

But with a large setup like yours, do you have plans, or the means to set up something automated? If so, a coco, hempy, aero, or hydro grow might be easier to manage with the number of plants you're working with.

Now with a goal of 6lbs, and 20 plants possible per room, if you run 8 week Veg/Flower cycles (Longer Veg will increase yield, and of course assuming the strain has an 8 week flower time), you'll only need 4.8 ounces per plant, which is totally feasible for someone of your experience!

I would personally increase Veg time to at least 6 weeks for each clone, preferably 8 weeks.

Thank you very much for your response.

I'm on the fence between soil and hydro. Hydro mainly because I'm a little unexperienced with on a large scale and I understand running a hydro op is almost as easy as following a 1-2-3 ppm chart. Hydro does have its advantages but I am just too unfamiliar with it too feel comfortable that I will pull the entire thing off.

I've done about 3-4ozs per plant under a 600w in soil but never have I tried out a 3000 watt setup.

Your veg-time I believe to be an accurate reflection of what I would want per plant, I think 6 weeks would be able to pull 4+ oz off a plant in hydro.

So in my rotation I would need clones that are six weeks of age prior flowering phase.
-Both rooms flower every 8 weeks I would need to cut clones on week1 flower for six weeks of growth to re-start the rotation again.

I'd need two veg tents and a mother tent to accomplish that, what do you think?

 

[lushgreen]

Grow in coco, drain to waste. Best of both worlds.

 

[Antics]

Well you have soil and hydro...

But within hydro, you have Hydro, DWC, Aero, Hempy, and Coco.

I switched from soil to coco recently, and aside from watering 1-2 times a day, it's been really quite easy. Watering schedule has been the only thing I've really needed to change.

And since it's being watered like soil, there's no need for air pumps like true hydro or dwc. No need to worry about reservoir temps either. And, you can still set it up to water 1-3 times a day using a timer, pump, and a tote filled with nute mix, as long as you have a drain system in place.

You're also looking at 5-6 lbs per month. But you can also look at it like 10-12lbs every 2 months. Harvest once in 2 months, and you have enough for the next month too. There's a ton of ways to do this, but I do think a form of hydro would produce the highest yields, with the least effort.

Depending on tent size, and how you plan to cycle them you can use 1, or 2 Veg tents.

 

[Dutty Panty]

Take a look at my gardens I yield 10-14lbs per month with plants producing anywhere from 8 -24 ozs per plant. Most being around 10 oz per plant.
Take a look you may get ideas from it.

 

[wheelz]

Im defiantly not a master grower but have had a lot of trial an error.I have a clone tent with blackstar led,2 4x4x6.5 veg tents and a 6.5x6.5x6.5 flower.I run 600watt cooltubes in veg an 2 1000 watt HP's in flower.I clone but Dnt waste space on mothers.one veg tent is 4 weeks(now I start topping soon as there's 3 sets of leaves an continue topping till flower) at beg of 5th week I lollipop half way up plant an use those as clones.after a month of veg an continuous topping they get moved to other 4x4 where I continue to top so there's 7-8 cola spots.I leave them in second tent another month.before they are moved to flower tent I lollipop again use for clones.I have my flower tent separated all girls on right are roughly month behind ones on left.wen colas start showing I use long Velcro straps from Menard's an tie all the colas an foliage close together that way I can fit extra 3 plants into flower.I grow white widow,707 headband,strawberry cough and original NYC sour d.I easily average between 1/4lb an 1/2lb per plant every month.but I don't do fox farm soil or nutes.any comments ?s hit me up