Which would YOU choose - 1 large system OR several smaller?

[Random user 8282737373]

Choices, choices....

So would you choose 1 larger state of the art system (Superponics) for bigger yields but trading off for longer harvest intervals ?

OR

Would you choose to have multiple smaller systems for early,mid, late flowering and flush stages trading off for lesser yield (SOG/SCROG like lollipops) but shorter harvest intervals ?

I want to see where the consensus is for preference of one large yield vs smaller yields in shorter intervals.

 

[CalcioErba2004]

A lot of different factors are going to come into play for this choice. Space is probably the biggest factor. If someone does not have the space to have veg and flower separate then getting 1 big harvest is going to be more practical.

Me personally, I would much rather have constant production on a perpetual cycle where I am harvesting every 2-3 weeks. This way I can dial in the strain that I am running and keep a constant flow of flowers coming in. Eventually I will have bud stacked up and still producing. If I get too much, I will stop flowering for a bit and pick back up when I start to run out. Honestly, with doing extractions, it's hard to run into this problem.

 

[Random user 8282737373]

Agreed Cal! Space is a factor when choosing perpetual or single large crop, and if it’s practical for said individual, however let’s just remove this factor, now it’s a matter of preference, which I should’ve added, but you provided insight on why perpetual is your preference by keeping your supply going and if it’s sizable, you can take a break. That break is much harder to do in a single crop unless it’s 1/2 to 1lb dry weight, even so, the time it takes around 3 months to cycle back at even 1/2 1b on a lower end of yield cuts it close to being all out. I posted this to gain insight to pros and cons of both styles of growing in hydro, using one single large system and multiple. Time is a factor when daily usage accounts for X days to harvesting to be resupplied. I average at least 2 per mo. Thanks for sharing

 

[f-e]

At one extreme, we have the grower that could crop a plant everyday. He would also need to move a plant from veg to flower. Pot up a couple. Root three cuttings. Bag the plant that dried that day, and would they sell it?
It might be easier to do all that, every second day. It's moving stuff around half as often.
This stretches out, to where 7 plants, once a week, is a solid days work. The other 6 days is easier maintenance, and a weeks worth of bud might be worth shipping out.
Enter the trimming machine. Now we might want to go monthly. So it's worth turning the thing on. Your shipping frequency is nice batches. As are the cuttings. So it's getting lazy enough to start with two operations, one coming down each month. Rather than the initial extreme example, where every job needs doing, every day. Leaving you with space occupied by 5 or 6 different tanks of feed. Constant rubbish production. Constant sales.

A lot depends on your mental state. If I were trimming every week, that would have a groundhog day effect. I have had enough of scissors. A full day on the scissors leads to people wanting a day off. Deserving a day off, in fact. Right in the middle of change-over. It's costly on that calendar.

 

[Random user 8282737373]

At one extreme, we have the grower that could crop a plant everyday. He would also need to move a plant from veg to flower. Pot up a couple. Root three cuttings. Bag the plant that dried that day, and would they sell it?
It might be easier to do all that, every second day. It's moving stuff around half as often.
This stretches out, to where 7 plants, once a week, is a solid days work. The other 6 days is easier maintenance, and a weeks worth of bud might be worth shipping out.
Enter the trimming machine. Now we might want to go monthly. So it's worth turning the thing on. Your shipping frequency is nice batches. As are the cuttings. So it's getting lazy enough to start with two operations, one coming down each month. Rather than the initial extreme example, where every job needs doing, every day. Leaving you with space occupied by 5 or 6 different tanks of feed. Constant rubbish production. Constant sales.

A lot depends on your mental state. If I were trimming every week, that would have a groundhog day effect. I have had enough of scissors. A full day on the scissors leads to people wanting a day off. Deserving a day off, in fact. Right in the middle of change-over. It's costly on that calendar.

Oh the monotony of it all You delivered that well. I found the reference quite apt...

 

[HempKat]

It really all depends, for me I had enough room to have one area for flowering and another area for vegging from clones or seeds. So when the flower area was ready to harvest I always had another batch ready to go. Some don't like having a bunch of plants to trim all at once so they do more what people call a perpetual grow where they have flowing plants at different stages. You can still work that with one flower area by elevating smaller plants to even out the canopy as long as each plant is in it's own pot. If however you're running a hydro system where all the roots are at the same level regardless of how far along the plant is, then I would think you would have to have multiple systems to handle the plants needs at their various stages if doing a staggered grow. Although you could also do a hydro system where each plant had it's own container which would allow you to adjust the elevation as needed.

I only grew for myself and could yield enough from one harvest to last at least until the next harvest and cure so I really had no need to have more then just the veg area and the flower area with all plants being at the same point of growth in their respective areas.

 

[Roadblock]

Ive run a room where they have all been connected via the same reservoir and I'm now just converting it into 3 smaller independent units, Ive been caught a couple of times where having all your eggs in one basket is no good, I like the idea of a group of smaller systems so that I can move things around, experiment with different things in the different groups, and not lose the lot if something fails just way more versatile.

 

[Mithridate]

It's all about work load - mostly one man show with occasional trimmers, I'd go smaller more frequent harvests

If you are staffed up the ass, one big flower room + veg room and keep em busy



*is that a saying idk lol

 

[TychoMonolyth]

I'm moving indoor this winter for the first time and have thought long and hard about it. I usually bite off more than I can chew so I have to be careful. Personally, I'd go with a quarterly crop and try to peak in July, October is a bust because the outdoor is hitting the market, January is good, and April is good. So July and April crops are bank, October and January pays the bills.

It's easy to over do it sometimes. I had to watch a friend fail miserably because all he saw was poundage. Make sure your plan isn't based on a perfect world.

 

[star crash]

A lot depends on your mental state. If I were trimming every week, that would have a groundhog day effect. I have had enough of scissors. A full day on the scissors leads to people wanting a day off. Deserving a day off, in fact. Right in the middle of change-over. It's costly on that calendar.

that’s great