Help preparing/timing clones for summer outdoor

[sweetgreen]

Hey all...Just trying to prepare for my first outdoor party this coming summer, and I'm not sure how to properly time and set up my mother plants so I can get the right amount of clones at the right time to plant outside.

Ideally I'm thinking of having 5 different sites with 10 plants each. So I'm going to need 50 clones. I'm going to start from seeds for my mothers.

How will this go down? How many initial seeds should I start? How many mothers will I need to be able to cut 50 clones at the same time?

I haven't decided on strain yet and there are 2 potential different climates. I'll be preferably utilizing both climates. One will be Pacific Northwest coastal area(wetter), and the other will be the interior(dryer).

Any tips or thoughts?

Thanks

 

[Seamaiden]

Start double the number of seeds as you plan on making mothers, and start them NOW because you only have a little bit of time left til spring. Since it's after Christmas, if it were me I'd start with at least 10-15 moms, in case they don't grow as quickly as I need in order to get that number of cuts.

Put them on a 20/4 photoperiod to veg them out as quickly as possible, also they should be under HID lighting so as to get the most growth. Triacontanol will also speed up vegetative growth (make an alfalfa tea then feed that).

Then for the clones, use a photoperiod that's closest to the day you plan on putting them out. You can interrupt that photoperiod to manipulate and control flowering, too. This way, when you do put them out they won't start flowering immediately. Your goal is to put out small trees 3'-4' in height, if you can get them that big indoors in preparation, then you'll be that much closer to having serious trees by August.

 

[sweetgreen]

Hey thanks for the tips! I knew time might be an issue, so I'm going to try as soon as I can to get some mothers going indoors.

Only problem is my indoor source needs to be stealth, so I don't have much room for many grow tents. I was hoping to use at most, 2 Secret Jardin DR80's (31.5" x 31.5" x 63"). Apparently they can grow 4 nice plants, and I'm really hoping 4 mothers is all I'll need for 50 clones at once. But if that's not going to work, then I can probably do another DR80, but that'll be about it.

As for numbers, I think shooting for 50 is the most I'd want, and that IS taking into consideration that I might not get all 50 planted, or that not all 50 will give me bud, or not every site is going to work out. Plus I figure each site is it's own trip to plant, and 10 plants per trip isn't too much stress. Also my vehicle may only have a 3' height restriction on my plants for transport, I still need to measure.

I was hoping to buy 1 bag of seeds(10seeds), pick the best females from what sprouts, then depending on how many females I get, turn those into mothers and/or clone those to make more mothers. From one bag of 10 seeds, I'd hope for 4-6 females, and hopefully those could work as my mothers?

As for lighting I was hoping to put HTG's Tek 4 T5(220w 20,000lumen, 24"x24"x4") per tent. Apparently people love them for veg, and it's a great fit for the tent I think.

I have none of the equipment yet, so I'm all open to suggestions.

Thanks again for your help!

 

[Seamaiden]

For transport I'd wrap the plants up and lay them on their sides. Hell, I've carried cuts in my motorcycle saddlebags, though it's not recommended, especially in summer.

I'm a seriously cheap bitch (my husband appreciates this) and I use a combination of $10 shop lights and CFLs for vegging. However, using that kind of light means that you won't be able to grow them out very tall, 2' or so at most, and the big OD growers I'm familiar with use HID lighting for preparing girls for the next season.

I also own my own home, so I'm able to use whatever space we have in any manner I like, so I've never been forced into the tent restriction thing. I have a room built in the basement, with a vegging-table that hopefully might be replaced in the next year or two with another room.

I'm hoping others with experience doing large OD grows will chime in here, I've only done small, SMALL areas, nothing like 50 girls. OD I've done a dozen at a time, that's it.

 

[Mogrow]

instead of buying everything, maybe you could just start the seed indoors and then transfer to your sites when needed, wanted. You would have to put more than 10 plants in per site due to the male ratios, but other than that you won't gain much. How if you had a proven mother plant or plants then clones would be the only way to go. But you can still get a good harvest the old fashioned way, stick the seeds in the ground and let em rip.. Good karma to yer grow bro, whatever you decide to do.
peace mogrow