If you’re growing indoors, have you tried staggered flowering?
What’s the advantage? what are the downsides?
Since I’m growing indoors, I thought that I would try using a staggered schedule for flowering. I saw something like it for lettuce (or cabbage) in a documentary and I wanted to try it for my plants I’ve been doing it this way for over 2 years and I’m curious if there’s anyone else doing something similar.
I found that having a calendar handy while planning my schedule to be essential. I’m also using clones of strains I’ve been working with for a while, so I’m not guessing how long a plant will be in flowering.
You’ll need to set up your flowering area so that you can adjust the amount of light as the plants get bigger; so either you’ll need to be able to move the plants or the lights.
I’m limited to 8 plants flowering at one time, so I stick with strains that are have a 7-9 week flowering time. My goal is to harvest a plant about once a week, skipping a week when needed, but avoided having 2 ready in the same week; so with that in mind, I tend to focus on my target harvest dates and work backward to figure out when to start a new one.
For me, this works great; I’m not harvesting a bunch of plants all at once and I have a steady supply ready each week.
One of the major drawbacks is that I’m pretty much harvesting a plant a week so that’s always on my todo list… and if something wipes out the entire crop, it’ll take a while to get back up and running at full.
So what do you all think? Am I just eccentric or am I on to something (at least from a hobbyist/personal grower point of view)?
Hi. I use the staggered approach myself. Have had my setup running now for going on 6 yrs and that turned out to be the most manageable way to handle my plants. I typically harvest 2-3 plants at a time after staggering start times in flower cycle and using strains that finish at around the 2 month mark. It’s worked out great.
SOG with ebb and flow is ideal for a staggered flower grow - you can introduce new clones in groups a week apart, harvest several small plants every week.
If you had a 3x3 tray you could potentially grow 6 rows of 5 or 6 plants in it with 6"x6" square pots and just introduce each row a week or two apart - start new clones every week to refill.
I haven’t done this yet myself - I am set up to do it and am planning on doing it at some point. I’m sidetracked right now with breeding stuff.
I would, yes. I would likely just run straight Lucas type schedule (in my case Jacks 3-2-1) the whole grow and not try to introduce PK boosters, etc. This will be something I’d have to experiment with to determine the best nutrient schedule for all stages of flower. There are people who run multiple trays or segmented trays with different reservoirs to address this.
Not for the clones. The clones need to be in a reduced nutrient state for 3-4 weeks until fully rooted and growth of 3-4 nodes, then they are mature enough for the tray. The tray can only contain mature plants, but they can be at varying stages of growth.
Bingo. I tried cloning using the same solution as my flower tent and that was no bueno. Got mushy stems on 90% of the clones and only 10% rooted. That was in a bubble cloner.
The set I have in the flower tray right now I took out of the cloner around two weeks after they rooted - but there was some variance, so I have a couple that were only rooted for a few days before I put them in flower. I am still trying to figure out this whole SOG thing and how established the clones need to be to fill my 4x4 properly… I missed the mark on this round. Wish you would’ve posted this sooner, I could’ve let my clones go another week and I’d be much happier.
I clone in straight r/o water nothing else, in aero cloners. Roots in 7 to 10 days. Straight to 12/12 after 17 days. Plants avg. 24" to 30" tall at harvest. All in the sea of green. I grow everything in lpa except my mothers are in soil.
To answer what you asked themonkeycant. It depends on how many units and how long between each harvest. I do a 2 week perpetual with 50 units per. Its a lot of work. Taking 50 clones, transferring 50 clones to 12/12, harvesting 50 units, trimming said units, trying and curing. All at the same time.
Its a lot of work. But the best part is the INDULGING in your finished product with all your bros.
I love it.
Anyway bro good luck on what ever you do.
LATER…
If just learning the indoor grow process, might I suggest a simple soil grow to start. IMO, the easiest to pull off with succesd, and it gives you the opportunity to learn your plant/strain (s). Just learning to take a plant from clone to harvest is an education in itself. Once you understand your plant, your strain (s) & what is normal and cycle related, will then give you the confidence & knowledge to try out different methods of growing, cloning, etc. It took me a good year to reach a point where I was comfortable with the process and really knew what my process was. I use a basic plastic cloning tray w/10" dome, antibacterial cloning cubes and Clonex gel & solution. Takes me max 2 weeks to root out a batch of Clones with.a 98-99% success rate. So if it ain’t broke… Be patient. Never forget it’s a weed and it’s job is to grow. All you’re really needed for is to help it along. But it’s a process that you figure out in time. Best of luck!
Hi. I joined this forum because of your post…then it was months before I got back to you. LOL Yes you can. I’ve been running mine that way for 5 yrs. It’s easier to manage and it spreads out your harvests…and bud. I have a setup and can manage max 20 plants. But I get great bud size, lessens crowding from canopy growth and works best for my situation. Hope all is well!
I’ve been doing it this way for over 2 years and I’m curious if there’s anyone else doing something similar.