Pre-flower for an extra crop per year

Hello icmag community!

A little background about my growing experience before the questions I have. For 15 years I've been growing cannabis in Alaska, where it has been legal for residents to grow three plants in veg and three plants in flower since the mid 1970's. Mainly indoors but also forced flowering in a greenhouse. For years my growing style was to use bottled nutrients and a bunch of myth-based procedures. I have come full circle and am back to organic (hopefully I can start a new thread about this later that is dear to my heart).

I had three small rooms in Alaska, I am in the process of moving to the prohibition state of South Dakota and will not be growing cannabis until I am somewhere legal again. I had a mother room (1) for the mother and cutting/pre-veg/veg plant, this room was rarely full of three plants, only a mother and/or cutting/pre-veg/veg plant (my pre-veg is just keeping the plant in a smallish container to get a good root system established with myc before final transplant into a more biological soil). The next room (2) was for the veg/pre-flower plant, usually one plant (I call the first 10-14 days after switch, before flowers start showing, pre-flower). The third and largest room (3) was for the three flowering plans.

In the veg/pre-flower room (2) I would start that plant on a 12/12 light cycle ten days to two weeks before I harvest one plant out of the flower room (3). Then move the new flowering plant, from the veg/pre-flower room (2) to the flower room (3) after harvesting the plant from that flower room (3), to finish with the other two full flowering plants under more light. Pre-flowering under less but adequate light did not hurt my per-plant harvest weight nor did it cause the plants to stretch more than usual, may be strain dependant. This technique works with small gardens that rotate harvest one plant at a time like mine, all the way to large full crop harvests of indoor retail gardens.

In essence you can cut 10 days to two weeks off every harvest by starting the veg/pre-flower room (2) 12/12 early. You can also look at it as an extra crop or two per year if you full room harvest. If you are restricted by plant numbers (medical growers) in flower remember to harvest from the flower room (3) before the new plants in the veg/pre-flower room (2) start showing flowers, usually 10 days to two weeks.

A 56 day, 8 week, flowering strain full room harvested every 46 days: 10 or so days to root cuttings in mother room (1), 10 or so days to pre-veg in a smallish containers in mother room (1), 10 or so days in final containers under 18-24 hrs light in the veg/pre-flower room (2), or skip the pre-veg and go 20 or so days in final containers under 18-24 hrs light, 10 days in the veg/pre-flower room (2) under 12/12 ligh cycle, 46 more days of flower in the flower room (3). Harvest a mature 56 day strain every 46 days
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With an 8 week strain you get 6.5 crops a year with three rooms, implementing this technique you would get 8 crops per year. With a 9 week strain you get 5.8 crops per year, with this technique you would get 6.8 crops per year. With a 10 week strain you get 5.2 crops per year, with this technique you would get 6.5 crops per year. A rotational harvest is a bit trickier but the same outcome.

Here are the questions. Is this legal under the new laws and does anyone do this?

I ask if it is legal because I dont know if the law states "begining of flower when you switch to 12/12 or flower set/showing flowers". I imagine "flower set/showing flowers" for outdoor purposes, plus how can a person tell a plant is in flower unless it shows flowers.

Hopefully this technique will help people, not only small medical gardens but large retail grows as well.

Welcome to IC!

Can't answer your questions, sorry. Kinda baked.

Welcome to IC!

Can't answer your questions, sorry. Kinda baked. Also, Australian.

i like math and that shit was still hard to follow

but yah you can pull several crops per year if you got yer shit dialed in. As for legality you should probably ask a lawyer. Or even better, a cop.

Ya, sorry. That is hard to read and follow.

But by starting the veg room on 12/12 light cycle 10-14 days before you harvest your flower room you can get an extra crop or more per year than you would without starting the veg room early.

A mature 8 week strain would be harvested every 6 weeks, 25% time reduction on each crop adds up over time.

Its just a simple (but hard to explain) management technique.

Baked Alaskan said:

Ya, sorry. That is hard to read and follow.

But by starting the veg room on 12/12 light cycle 10-14 days before you harvest your flower room you can get an extra crop or more per year than you would without starting the veg room early.

A mature 8 week strain would be harvested every 6 weeks, 25% time reduction on each crop adds up over time.

Its just a simple (but hard to explain) management technique.

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I get it, I guess if your grow is the classic veg room and budding room setup that might work well. You lose on veg time so probably better with hybrids that are sativa dominant.

I for myself grow multiple strains and have much more space in my bud room than my veg tent. Also my veg tent always has cuttings and what not.

But yeah if you source your clones from elsewhere or have them in a separate space that system could work very well and maybe save on power?

Gr33nSanta said:

I get it, I guess if your grow is the classic veg room and budding room setup that might work well. You lose on veg time so probably better with hybrids that are sativa dominant.

I for myself grow multiple strains and have much more space in my bud room than my veg tent. Also my veg tent always has cuttings and what not.

But yeah if you source your clones from elsewhere or have them in a separate space that system could work very well and maybe save on power?

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Oh good, somebody understands.

Ya, it works best with a separate mother/cuttings room plus veg and flower rooms. If you need more veg time just take cuttings earlier.

It's all a simple management technique of having veg plants ready to flower two weeks before flowering plants are harvested.

25% time reduction and still harvest a matured crop. To me this is a big deal and upped my yields significantly.

You didnt really reduce the time, you simply sectioned your growing areas off in a modular fashion, moving them from one area to the next. I see what you are saying, but your wording makes it sound like an 8 week strain will finish in 6 weeks.

InjectTruth said:

You didnt really reduce the time, you simply sectioned your growing areas off in a modular fashion, moving them from one area to the next. I see what you are saying, but your wording makes it sound like an 8 week strain will finish in 6 weeks.

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With an 8 week strain you get 6.5 crops per year. With my technique you get 8.5 crops per year out of the same space. All fully matured.

But the plants all spend 8 weeks in flowering, you just move them from one area where they are flowering for 2 weeks, into another area where they flower for an additional 6 weeks. 2 + 6 = 8. Not rocket science.

You can put a plant in every day and have 365 harvests a year!

Grams per watt or grams per square foot/meter is a much more accurate measure of garden efficiency than 'harvests per year'.

InjectTruth said:

Grams per watt or grams per square foot/meter is a much more accurate measure of garden efficiency than 'harvests per year'.

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Your correct it is a better way. But getting 8.5 harvests is better than 6.5 harvests no matter how you look at it. Same amount of floor space and same amount of lights same gpw just more crops.

1gpw per watt 8.5 times is more than 1gpw 6.5 times. I use 1gpw just as a guide.

like I said my yields per year went up significantly.Same space and lights and keeping within the 3 plant law.

Its not the same amt of floor space because you are using a veg space as a veg space and a 'pre-flower' space as well using a separate flower room. While you are using the veg space as a preflower space, you cant use it as a veg space. Anything in it will flower. This is why you also have a separate mom/clone area. You are simply using more space and wattage to accomplish your blooming in a perpetual fashion.

As I said, you could add a plant to your room daily and harvest one daily for 365 harvests a year. This doesnt mean your plants flower in one day. This is pretty basic stuff.

I wish I could explain it better.

I had 3 rooms and would get 1 gpw per harvest from my big room 6.5 times a year. By starting my veg room on 12/12, 2 weeks before I harvest from the big room I would get 1 gpw 8.5 times per year. Same floor space, lights, gpw but 2 more crops per year.

I noticed my plants did not need as much light in the first 10-14 days of flower and that got me thinking. I decided to try and cut the time my plants were under my big light by starting them 12/12 under my less powerful light. This worked well as they did not stretch more than under the big light and my yield was the same. But my big light was not used for two weeks. I was getting 6.5 harvests of 1 gpw at this time. So I decided to start my veg plants, under my less powerful light, on their 12/12 while my flowering plants under the big light had two weeks to go.

So I was still maxed on plants using the exact same space and exact same lights but was getting 2 more full, mature, 1gpw crops. Just a simple management technique of starting veg plants two weeks before the flower plants are harvested. So every 6 weeks I would harvest 1gpw from my big room instead of every 8 weeks.

I hope this explains it better. I use 1 gpw just for this explanation.

I try to do much the same in 2 areas when I'm growing batches of fem seeds. I plant a month before harvest in area 1, hold the plants in veg. When I harvest area 2, the new seedlings get up-potted & moved into the #2 flowering area. Time between harvests is reduced by 1 month.

When growing regular seeds, I can't do that while maintaining good chances of having 6 flowering females, our Colorado limit. I plant 12 when harvest occurs, the max number permissible for 2 people.

Going for max yield over time, I wouldn't grow anything but fems. Switching over to a continuous harvest method w/ mums & clones would probably increase that even more.

Jhhnn said:

I try to do much the same in 2 areas when I'm growing batches of fem seeds. I plant a month before harvest in area 1, hold the plants in veg. When I harvest area 2, the new seedlings get up-potted & moved into the #2 flowering area. Time between harvests is reduced by 1 month.

When growing regular seeds, I can't do that while maintaining good chances of having 6 flowering females, our Colorado limit. I plant 12 when harvest occurs, the max number permissible for 2 people.

Going for max yield over time, I wouldn't grow anything but fems. Switching over to a continuous harvest method w/ mums & clones would probably increase that even more.

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Ya, kinda the same.

If your plants go directly into flower when you put them in room 2, you could use my technique. All you would have to do is start room 1 on a 12/12 light cycle two weeks brfore you harvest room 2. This way you would harvest two weeks earlier than normal. Same number of plants, same lights, same floor space but harvest two weeks early, which means your entire garden is two weeks ahead of schedule. Crop after crop this relly adds up.

If you veg your plants a bit longer in room 2 it won't work.

Cool idea

beakermuppet said:

Cool idea

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Thanks.

When I started this I had a seven week flowering strain and was getting 7 full crops per year. Using my technique I got 10 full crops per year. Same space, lights and number of plants each time (faster cycle but never go over the 3 plant law).

This works best with 3 rooms and keeping your plant count maxed out. Give it a try, 25% or so increase in production with a simple management technique is a good deal.

InjectTruth said:

Its not the same amt of floor space because you are using a veg space as a veg space and a 'pre-flower' space as well using a separate flower room. While you are using the veg space as a preflower space, you cant use it as a veg space. Anything in it will flower. This is why you also have a separate mom/clone area. You are simply using more space and wattage to accomplish your blooming in a perpetual fashion.

As I said, you could add a plant to your room daily and harvest one daily for 365 harvests a year. This doesnt mean your plants flower in one day. This is pretty basic stuff.

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Ya, I realize it "pretty basic stuff", a simple management technique to get a 25% increase in yearly harvest totals.

It wont work by putting a plant in daily. But if you had 4 rooms it would. I dont want to get into it but you have to think of it as each plant taking up 1 unit of floor space. Then it makes total sense, two weeks off each harvest of one unit of floor space, but you will need a 4th room. The only reason to do it this way is to keep within your restricted plant count, even then it doesn't make much sense. So its best to not even try this technique with daily harvesting of one plant.

But if you have 3 rooms and/or are restricted by plant count this technique will add upwards of 25% to your total yearly harvest.

seems like it might be required here in WA if this fucking bill gets passed. right now at 15 i still have over the limit everywhere. i cant throw cuttings away! we never have to worry about cops tho. i have 10 in one main place i could show them if they look. but they would have to stay out of a certain closet with a false wall!!

what size light are you using for veg? 1000? i take it you have a 4 or 600 in semi, and a 1000 in bloom yeah?