Suggestions for perpetual personal stash micro cab?

[wellage]

Never gone micro or perpetual so I'm a little out of touch here. Been reading but figure a thread will help tie up some loose ends.

I just need an ounce a month for personal stash. No solid strain choice yet, but I will probably choose a hybrid that goes around 11 weeks. Would anyone care to help me wrap my head around this?

What size lamp do you think would be sufficient? Would a 150w hps be sufficient or would I have to go 250?

Also are there any micro solutions to c02 besides a yeast rig? I would run LED but would probably need a sealed environment to keep the heat up, and I dont know that would be efficient in such a small grow?

Thanks.

 

[thehappyguy]

you're really really opening up a can of worms here my friend.
how big of a space will you use? are you set on hps or are you willing to go CFL for smaller size? are you going to just do a sog? if so, where will you keep the mothers? will you flower from when the clone roots? perpetual grows are a lot of work. have you looked at the doc's thread? check it out, it will definitely help you out in planning. don't forget that he has a lot of logic behind the way he does his plants and it's a very honed technique...people talk shit about it but it looks like it could work and Thunderkel has tried to prove it and done very well. but i digress.

a 150 would maybe be enough....but in order to get an ounce every month (this is where perpetual gets tricky imo) you would also need to plan ahead. say you plant on the first week of march, 11 weeks later you will (theoretically) have an ounce. you have to know exactly how much/many plant(s) it will take you to get an ounce. chances are you will have no idea how your plant yields the first grow, and that's part of the fun. but in order to get your results honed in to what you want, much like the doc does, then you need lots of trials. also you can't forget that you would need enough room for putting another group of plants that would equal an ounce in while other plants are also flowering, every four weeks. this means that you could have up to three GROUPS of plants ~= an ounce at one time. i don't think a 150w hps would cover that.

co2 (carbon-oxygen, not carbon-0 ) tanks can be found in way smaller sizes, but i have no idea how quick a 16, 20, or 24 oz tank would last, and i also don't know if it would be worth it since the co2 is leaving the area so quick. if it was a CGE (closed grow environment) it would only make sense, but the co2 will be leaving your grow space almost as soon as it is released, right? i don't know much about the co2 part, but that's what i gather.


don't forget....this is just my opinion. i'm sure information that will be posted will go against what i say, so just decide what works for you by trying what sounds best. best of luck.

 

[mad librettist]

yeah you need 2 cabs or a subdivided cab. I'm getting there after close to a year (with some breaks for work) using cfl's and scrog. But I'm burning close to 700w all told. HPS would have been wiser...

 

[Toyot4]

10x10 SOG of shotglasses under a 150w hps

100 plants x 1.5-2g each = 150g-200g

footprint of 100 shotglasses would be maybe 16"x16"

that would be micro

 

[Green Smoke]

happyguy asks some good questions. Another one you should ask youself is "how much time and money do I have to spend on a cab?"

The going rate for light that I learned here at icmag is 50 watts per square foot of area. Most people go higher, some go much higher. Pl-l is fast becoming the popular choice. It's worth taking a look at some of the pl-l grows going on in here.

 

[facelift]

I'm not a micro-grower, but my heart is in the right place.

I suggest 1000 watts for flowering in a 12 foot footprint 5 feet tall. That's 3-6 plants with room to move. The veg area can be done in 6 feet of floor space at 3 feet tall with 50 watts of light per plant. Veg plants for 3-4 weeks. Transplant into bigger containers. Move to flowering area. Flower for suggested flowering times.

Look at growing Indica or mostly indica strains. The can do well with less light and are easier to keep short versus sativa. The high is pretty good if you can grab a CC winner. Can't speak of totally random bag seeds, but I've heard a few goodies can be found.

For your first harvest out of the breeder pack, plan to propagate seeds. This isn't something I say to hurt seed bank sales. I make seeds every pack I start and still order more seeds. I like looking at my small seed collection. I should be the only person in the county with so many strains available.

Now if they would only change the laws., I could cash them in at 5 bucks a pop.