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What's the best way to start a large amount of plants, seeds or clones?

Purple Jungle

Purple Jungle

Member
I've been trying to find good info on this for awhile now...

How do you guys that do big runs start your plants?

I want to have ~100 plants out in the end of May.
(yes, even though I am not a pro I am from the country and I know plants)


I see two hard-to-chose-from options...:
1) clones - seems to be quite a task? (btw. here's my thread trying to get advice for a growroom for that)
2) seeds - sex on preflowers - seems easier to do however, some people say preflowers are not reliable

So how do you do it?
 
B

BAKED_BEANZ

seeds, sex on pre flower . it is reliable if your genetics are solid, however you constantly monitor each and every plant every week anyway . surprises can pop up . right till the very end till you pull that sucker .

i have in planter tubes for a month /or till they have good roots then they go in the hole , then 2 weeks later they will pre flower normally /strain dependant (so roughly 6 weeks till pre flower ). more the sativa in them the longer they take to pre flower . some you may only get the shortest glimpse of a pre flower . this is where i keep banging on about testing several strains . and knowing what you grow .

i normally plant 3 to a hole . if there all girls i keep the strongest . if there all males well you luck out on that hole . if your staggering your germination you will have spare to drop in that hole a week or so later .

length of days is going to be critical to some strains. too earlier they will flower too hard and slow you down. too late and they may not pre flower at all till bud season .

hope this helps .
 
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C

CosmicCharlie

Member
^ yeah but unless you are making your own seeds then it's going to be cost prohibitive...

I'd choose a good mother then make a ton of clones. Sure it takes time to cut and root but you can easily get a bunch of clones and they will all be consistently good if done right.
 
B

BAKED_BEANZ

any grower of large numbers , always make there seeds . thought that was a given ? i,ve actually told him to test strains and f2 ones that suit him in another thread . rome wasn't build in a day .

purple j , the longer you do outdoor grows the more you will learn . sounds like your just starting . so good luck . i,m still learning and i,ve been at it loooooong time . try to talk to outdoor growers in your area . regarding timing of planting if you don't already know . that is prob the most important of all .
 
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D

dickcorn

Active member
My complaint with clones is if your mother isn't proven all those plants could suck. With seeds there's usually enough variation that at least some will come in good. It's all up to genetics but I'm not sure there's much easier way then popping seeds.
 
Purple Jungle

Purple Jungle

Member
Yeah man, being my first season makes things a bit harder, but I love this place because of input like that and I have to do this right, cause there's no alternative, I am going to be doing it full time.

Would you trust the genetics I went with for your approach?

Bodhi Blueberry Hashplant
TGA Subcool Qrazy Train
Serious AK47
Grand Daddy Purple
 
Purple Jungle

Purple Jungle

Member
Shit, what about this:
Start seeds even earlier in the greenhouse. Clone, put clones on 12/12, sex, cull dads & plant moms? Not sure about time here though.
 
C

CosmicCharlie

Member
Well I did say to choose a good mother first, then clone.

Plus that way you know the product should be good and will be all female.

In order to have enough seeds he would have to pollinate a chosen mother, then let the seeds mature, then hope the seeds turn out decent and produce decent plants.

Also he'd either have to make fem seeds or check the garden a lot to get rid of any males.

Sure there are advantages to both, just seems to me that clones would be better.
 
Tripsick

Tripsick

Experienced?
Veteran
Do both pop a bunch of seeds.. grab some clones from a friend and go for it.

Get started now and you can do the leaf test for sex if you want to spend some money..
or sex them yourself.. take cuts of the seedlings that popped as soon as they are ready and start to flower them and see what they are.. kill your males if that is your plan and hope your females are good.
 
MrBungle

MrBungle

Active member
You want good clone stock.... seeds are a crapshoot.. no matter how good they are.... clones are uniform in growth and guaranteed to be female... if you want a large uniform garden thats easily replicable.. clones are the ticket... introduce seed plants once you are established if you want to do a pheno hunt
 
Purple Jungle

Purple Jungle

Member
Let me bring more perspective on how my plan was before I started doubting it and posted this thread. It seems that some of you think I was on the right track.

btw. I have grown outdoors a lot, but not in a professional manner and indoors I have zero experience.

Purple Jungle said:
I am receiving 20 seeds - 5 seeds from each of the following strains: Granddaddy Purp, Bodhi's Blueberry Hashplant, TGA's Qrazy Train and Serious' AK47 (+ some HSO freebies).

The plan is:
- start all 20 seeds in December
- take clones from all plants (4 each, then choose the 2 most vigorous ones?)
- flower & sex
- cull male clones & veg females meanwhile
- put fathers in the greenhouse for pollen
- make seeds reg & fem (insurance)
- harvest (in March?)
- have big enough clones by April
- take more cuttings from them
- veg them in the greenhouse
- put 100+ girls out ~ 20th of May.


I have 12 square meters or 40 square feet that can be used. Please scroll down to check the room plan.
I need one growing area for the mothers and another for the clones that I am trying to grow big.

Not sure how to use my space in an optimal way?
View Image
Click to expand...
 
gorilla ganja

gorilla ganja

Well-known member
The plan is:
- start all 20 seeds in December
- take clones from all plants (4 each, than choosing the 2 most vigorous ones?)
- flower the plants
- select phenos (hopefully) and fathers
- cull male clones & veg females meanwhile
- put fathers in the greenhouse for pollen
- make seeds reg & fem (insurance)
- harvest (in March?)
- have big enough clones by April
- take more cuttings from them
- veg them in the greenhouse
- put 100+ girls out ~ 20th of May.


Your plan looks great to me. Once sexed pick your most vigorous females and take as many clones as possible. Then grow out your best clones for the move outside. Timing will be important to maximize clones size before the move outside.
Best of luck
Peace GG
 
Purple Jungle

Purple Jungle

Member
Thanks for the valuable input!

So, the dilemma continues... :)

I am not sure if would be able to pull the clone route off in 8 sq.m. x 1m height (my kitchenette done on two levels) or if I would need to convert my living room into a growroom too...
If I have to I will, no issues.

As for the seeds, I will have to start twice as many seeds in the greenhouse and might have to move a ton of males to my growing location - even if I start them 2 months earlier, I don't have prior experience preflower sexing or they might not show sex early on, all of them being sativa dom.

Clones make sense for 100% girls that are tested, but I could make the wrong choice for outdoor hardiness, seeds make sense for live testing my environment with all the genetics (meaning f2's & crosses) I have and selecting good phenos for 2017...

:ying:
 
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CoCoSativas

CoCoSativas

Active member
Purple Jungle said:
I've been trying to find good info on this for awhile now...

How do you guys that do big runs start your plants?

I want to have ~100 plants out in the end of May.
(yes, even though I am not a pro I am from the country and I know plants)


I see two hard-to-chose-from options...:
1) clones - seems to be quite a task? (btw. here's my thread trying to get advice for a growroom for that)
2) seeds - sex on preflowers - seems easier to do however, some people say preflowers are not reliable

So how do you do it?
Click to expand...

Depends on where your skills lie. I used to only pop seeds, now I do clones and seeds.

I'd use seeds. Less labour, plus you can way over plant and garentee you have at least 100. Doing 100 cuts is labour intensive and takes one big mom or several smaller...

Though I have a collection of deadly cuts I'd probably put 10 of each outside... haha that would be some serious cheddar!
 
CoCoSativas

CoCoSativas

Active member
Purple Jungle said:
Thanks for the valuable input!

So, the dilemma continues... :)

I am not sure if would be able to pull the clone route off in 8 sq.m. x 1m height (my kitchenette done on two levels) or if I would need to convert my living room into a growroom too...
If I have to I will, no issues.

As for the seeds, I will have to start twice as many seeds in the greenhouse and might have to move a ton of males to my growing location - even if I start them 2 months earlier, I don't have prior experience preflower sexing or they might not show sex early on, all of them being sativa dom.

Clones make sense for 100% girls that are tested, but I could make the wrong choice for outdoor hardiness, seeds make sense for live testing my environment with all the genetics I have and selecting good phenos for 2017...

:ying:
Click to expand...

Buy or make fem seed
 
B

BAKED_BEANZ

Purple Jungle said:
Thanks for the valuable input!

So, the dilemma continues... :)

I am not sure if would be able to pull the clone route off in 8 sq.m. x 1m height (my kitchenette done on two levels) or if I would need to convert my living room into a growroom too...
If I have to I will, no issues.

As for the seeds, I will have to start twice as many seeds in the greenhouse and might have to move a ton of males to my growing location - even if I start them 2 months earlier, I don't have prior experience preflower sexing or they might not show sex early on, all of them being sativa dom.

Clones make sense for 100% girls that are tested, but I could make the wrong choice for outdoor hardiness, seeds make sense for live testing my environment with all the genetics I have and selecting good phenos for 2017...

:ying:
Click to expand...

is it possible to have them started at your growing location . seems like you limited for space ? are you able to access daily to water seedlings i trays ? how long is the grow season ? do you need to start indoors? can you start outside perhaps have smaller plants but more off ?
 
L

Lochinvar

Member
i find that if you start seeds the 3rd week in march under 16 hrs of light, they will have 9 plus weeks to show pre flowers. anything not showing by then should prolly not be planted outside because of how late it might ripen. good seeds will most often yield more than clones, especially in big holes or pots. you just never know how it will turn out till its done. id do seeds if i was just starting out, unless you have no market for anything but lame-ass overpopularized, clone only strains. your yield from seed should compensate you for the potentially less popular quality. best bet is to put the time in to find your super-awesome mama and clone it. that may take a while to see how it does though. good luck and dont forget about bodhi:tiphat:
 
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