Perpetual WITHOUT clones? Need brainpower

Can I set up a perpetual harvest without the use of clones?
I am planning to set up an organic soil grow in a 3x3 dual chamber tent. I will use a 600 watt hps for flowering with an air cooled reflector and plenty of ventilation and a SCROG of 2 big plants in each chamber. I will have 2 separate chambers, but I was wondering if I can set it up so that I can run a perpetual harvest WITHOUT the use of clones. If I use a strain with a flowering time of about 8-9 weeks, couldn't I just veg some fem seeds for 8-9 weeks (CFLs, LEDs, and possibly some T5s). Since the growth rate will be a bit slow with organic soil compared to hyrdo, and I am trying to fill 9 square feet of screen with just 2 plants, wouldn't I be able to veg for 8-9 weeks? How long would it take to fill a 3x3 screen (at 8 inches) ~75% with just 2 plants in organic soil using 300-500 watts of CFL/LED/T5? Or, if this doesn't sound right, what could I do to make it happen? Raise the screen to 12''? Veg for 24/7 instead of 18/6 or somewhere in between? Or will I need to plant a few more plants? Vegging that long, what size buckets will I need? I am trying to reach an 8 or 9 week veg time with a 2 plant scrog so I can run perpetual without cloning. Any suggestions?

" the growth rate will be a bit slow." Speed is the friend of a perpetual grow. Anything slow is an enemy.

I could run my perpetual grow without clones, but it would require a radical change in my operation. I'm sure you
realize the benefits of cloning. Especially with a perpetual grow;

* Clones are much cheaper than continuously buying beans. If you can run with free seeds you can ignore this one.
* Clones will veg, flower and finish at a known rate. I can't emphasize enough that the most difficult part of keeping
a perpetual grow going is timing all your moves. Before I move plants from the veg room to the flower room I have
to make sure I have room for them. With 3 rooms going; dome room for clones, veg room at 400W and a flowering
room at 1000W, I have to choreograph each move if I am to keep all 3 rooms operating at maximum capacity. Using
clones lets you KNOW when the plants will be ready to be moved.
* Clones have the same phenotype as their mother. That means if mom is tall and rangy you know ahead of time that
you will want to top the plant to keep it the right size. That can be really important when you are trying to decide how
many pots will fit under your light. Again, this advantage allows you to be as efficient as possible.


FYI -- From seed most of my indicas need 5-6 weeks in dirt to reach the 18-inch size I want them to be to go to flower.
Clones will typically reach the same size in 3-4 weeks. Big difference.

Finally, perpetual growing means regularly harvesting plants, not having the whole grow the same age. It would be impossible
for your space to support even one plant every 2 weeks. I mentioned speed. You want to veg for 8-9 weeks and flower the same?
That means each plant would take 17 weeks to cycle through once in dirt. My clones average 8-9 weeks from the time they go into
dirt and the time I harvest. My plants from seed take 10-11 weeks total. So, get better lights, learn to clone and re-think your whole
set-up thinking. Maybe drop the idea of a perpetual grow and concentrate on finding at least 2 varieties that you can get comfortable with.
Indicas are faster and easier to grow.

Good luck and keep us posted, BigSteve.

you would just have to sprout seeds every 2 weeks or so, right?

on subject,

i bet i could take a seed grow it, clone it, then wait while clone roots, then flower the seed plant, it at the same time veg the clone for a week or 2 and flower it, i bet i could get the clone to finish first and have and equal yield.

polyarcturus said:

on subject,

i bet i could take a seed grow it, clone it, then wait while clone roots, then flower the seed plant, it at the same time veg the clone for a week or 2 and flower it, i bet i could get the clone to finish first and have and equal yield.

Click to expand...

i'm from the show me state.

clones are the way to go imo you'll notice a few plants that stick out from a pack of seeds and a few not so great but with clones you can grow them really nice plants consitently with clones. but from seed some will be better then others but you wan't variety so you can keep a few mothers of all the top notch weed you come across. you can also keep that same mother for 20+ years.
but you can deffenitly do a perpetual grow from seed but every plants going to be different some great and some not so great.

Consider using autoflowering strains as well as photoperiod strains.

ilovethegreen said:

you would just have to sprout seeds every 2 weeks or so, right?

Click to expand...

i LOVE that avatar! conifer but i cant tell, not a sequioa. hmmmm got me wondering.

i dont wana seem like a dick but. dude clones are ur friends with perpetual.. thats the only REAL way to guarentee Consistency.. like seed.. ur going to have variation.. and not to mention.. what happens if u have a seed plant going.. and since u have 2 plants.. 1 plant decides to hermi.. now u got a cut down 1 plant.. and half ur room is wasted space .. i say.. if ur going to do 2 plants.. do 2 seperate screens.. and if u want perpetual.. then make sure u have 4 screens.. all the same size. so u can fit 2 next to eachother in ur flower area and veg area.. and just flower 2 while 2 veg.. and so on .. u could do it without clones.. but u will only be kicking urself in the ass wen a hermi pops up. or anything like that..

Alright thanks y'all... I figured there was a good reason that everybody uses clones, I guess I just haven't wrapped my head around the whole process yet. And maybe I should do a grow or two more before I even decide to go perpetual. What I don't get is how to stop the mother from getting out of control huge... especially if you kept her for 20 years? That's wild. And also if the mother has some slight deficiencies, how much does this hurt the clone if you treat the clone nicely?

ilovethegreen said:

you would just have to sprout seeds every 2 weeks or so, right?

Click to expand...

If a plant yields one ounce, how long does it take to use that ounce up? One every 2 weeks, up grow properly, will yield more smoke than most use in 2 weeks. You know your own usage and requirements. One White Widow Auto in DWC under 12/12 (far from ideal with an auto) still yielded 2.15 ounces of damned good weed. All who have smoked it have liked it. Fruity smooth taste with a killer head high that let's the creative side out.