Get a Harvest Every 2 Weeks

Scotland said:

Stop worrying. Lop the mainstem at the 2nd or 3rd node. Don't trim the side shoots, let them grow out- those will be your first batch of cuts in about 2 weeks if your plants are under an HID light, ~3wks under fluoros. When you do your batches of clones in future, that will be all the pruning they need.

Thanks for the advice Al. I lopped two mainstems out of the four plants I have (Still a little nervous!) and they seem to be responding well. I will do the other two plants tomorrow when I have convinced myself that they will not die!

Now I have the confidence to trim, is there any further trimming I should do? Should I nip out the side shoots of the stems I will be using for clones or is there a better way of ensuring that the plants energy goes in to making thick strong and long branches for me to use for clones?

This is my first grow and I'm still not 100% as to how the plant grows. The 'goblet' shape which I now have by cutting out the main stem is a good start - but I am not sure how to maintain this shape and which shoots to use and concentrate on for clones. Having trawled the internet - the only article I could find that showed how to care for mothers was the one I linked on a previous post - and the outline you give on the clones thread.

Perhaps I am just being stupid - but as clones are going to be vital to copy your technique - I want to make sure I am treating the Mothers correctly and preparing them well to ensure perfect clonable branches!

Thanks

Click to expand...

notice the middle plant. when lopping the mainstem this is what you will get. after this youl notice the sprouts below where you cut the mainstem. when cutting the clone leave a sprout below the cut point so they will grow out afterwards. and these will be your first clones. then where you left the sprouts under where you cut your clones those will be your clones next time around. and so on. as long as there is sprouts to sprout they will. look at als clone pics and notice the moms how they are split all over the place from 1stem to 2 stems, this is the cause of clone cutting

Thanks for the response on the O3 gens. That is a really good point about the eucalyptus leaves. I could just get something that smells really strong and see if I can smell it. I didn't really want to ask anyone if they could smell weed lol. I'm not telling a soul about this, and asking someone if they smell weed would be kind of weird.

LoudBlunts said:

al, what about the hole from the saddle valve?

Click to expand...

dunno, what about it?

What's a saddle valve?

If you can't fix it with a brick and small calibre firearms, I'm not going to be very helpful!

Sherry said:

I will be taking clones from the outdoor plants - first I'm topping and then I'm getting 3 cloning from one branch a week or two later - from only the best looking/performing plants in each strain.

all told I plan on having 350 plants, with hopefully at least 250 females (I have feminized seeds but I know some will go hermie on me - they'll be ripped up ASAP and their plant number/strain will then determine which of my clones came from those hermi plants - I'll discard them asap - or my clones will tell me which outdoor plants are hermie.. whatever way - doesn't matter).

Click to expand...

Why plant 350 seeds and risk 50% (175) males? Why not plant 10 beans and clone from the statistical 50% which come up female?

Bringing plant material indoors that has been raised outdoors is a recipe for utter disaster. Please don't do this. Your next stop here on RIU will be for help getting all the spider mites and other nonsense out of your grow op.

Enigma said:

As far as conspiracy theories go I know nothing is impossible. With GREED as motivation people will do anything.

Click to expand...

Yes, but GREED also makes people commit incredibly stupid mistakes which usually unravel Ye Olde Conspiracie.

Enigma said:

As far as government goes.. I'm an Anarchist.

[...]

I'd love to see you in office AL!

Click to expand...

Hey now, which is it? Anarchy or elected office? Make up yer mind, man!

Of course, I'm also very fond of anarchy. However, I've worked out that I can do a lot more to dismantle the system from within than without.

Even if one does not do that dismantling by running for office in a party with which one generally agrees, there's still lots of phun to be had. It's impossibly great entertainment to join an authoritarian/conservative party... and then nick/divert/corrupt their mailing lists and create other general mayhem when no one is looking. Try it sometime.

Scotland said:

Should I nip out the side shoots of the stems I will be using for clones or is there a better way of ensuring that the plants energy goes in to making thick strong and long branches for me to use for clones?

Click to expand...

No, don't nip out the side shoots. That's what will be developing into material you will use for cuttings. All you need do is lop the mainstem and wait. Resist the urge to fiddle with stuff. This is all a lot simpler than you fear!

This is my first grow and I'm still not 100% as to how the plant grows. The 'goblet' shape which I now have by cutting out the main stem is a good start - but I am not sure how to maintain this shape and which shoots to use and concentrate on for clones.

Click to expand...

In terms of maintaining the mum, taking batches of clones should be sufficient pruning. If you don't take off enough material in cloning to get the mum nice and short, just cut the mum back more.

When I cut back mums, they might be 3' tall when I start but 8-10" when I'm done. Cannabis plants in veg can be cut back severely- and they absolutely love it. You can cut a healthy mother plant down to just a stem and a few leaves- and it will grow back, usually thicker than it was before pruning.

cmak40 said:

anyone know how to doensize a pic please pm me thanx. i have pix i have questions about and cant get them on here...............

Click to expand...

While it's klunky as hell, you can resize pix with MS Paint, as included with Winblows. You can also download freeware/shareware applications like PaintShopPro which you can use to resize imgs. Just Google for image editing applications.

hornedfrog2000 said:

Thanks for the response on the O3 gens. That is a really good point about the eucalyptus leaves. I could just get something that smells really strong and see if I can smell it. I didn't really want to ask anyone if they could smell weed lol. I'm not telling a soul about this, and asking someone if they smell weed would be kind of weird.

Click to expand...

I took a wick-type air freshener whose scented goo had run out and filled it with eucalyptus oil. It now hangs right by the exhaust blower intake. It is only used as a marker scent- I don't expect even highly pungent gum tree oil to mask the scent of buds. All I expect if the ozonator is working correctly is to NOT smell any gum tree oil out of the exhaust line.

LoudBlunts said:

Click to expand...

oh, OK, now I see what you're doing.

I last used one of these in 1981 or so when I was connecting a fridge's icemaker to a water line.

It leaked like a sieve from the point where it pierces the water line.

I wound up cutting out the pierced piece of copper tube with a tubing cutter and soldered in a T. Connected that to a standard valve.

Soldering copper tube is a piece of cake as long as there's no water in the tubing. Just need a propane torch, sandpaper, flux & pipe solder. Clean the work to be soldered with 250 or 400 grit sandpaper, flux it, warm it up a bit so the acid flux cleans off any copper oxide, fit the bits together, heat the work and flow the solder into the joint. Easy.

Like I said before, the brass ferrule compression fitting used to connect the plastic tubing to the valve is a one-shot. If you don't have it lined up perfectly straight when you tighten it down, it'll leak. If you have to re-do one of these fittings, you'll need a new brass ferrule and will have to cut the end of the plastic tube off.

However easy it is to do this sort of job, knowing what I know about tapwater and growing plants, it's a lot of work for no benefit.

Al B. Fuct said:

Why plant 350 seeds and risk 50% (175) males? Why not plant 10 beans and clone from the statistical 50% which come up female?

Bringing plant material indoors that has been raised outdoors is a recipe for utter disaster. Please don't do this. Your next stop here on RIU will be for help getting all the spider mites and other nonsense out of your grow op.

Click to expand...

I'm not Planting 350 seeds, Mr. Man - I am planting 16 day old's next week and 28 about 2 1/2 weeks from now. I AM cloning - from feminizied seeds - 38 - 48 of them.
I will get clones from my feminized Plants - up to 3 clones from each plant (I have 7 strains currently). I will then top all the clones ("clonelings" for want of a better term) for cloning and repeat the process - I'll have 350- 400 plants.

After I reach the magic number of plants outside, then I'll start with 30 or so cuttings and begin the "Harvest every 2 weeks" Plan inside.

Man, I get to sample each strain before my first harvest - then figure out my needs for the indoor winter/spring plan.

As for the spider mites and many other bugs - I have lady bugs - but before the ladybugs I cleaned out the 1/2 room I'm using for seedlings and cuttings and used some DE. I will keep an eye on my girls (the percentage of females I hope for is 75-80%). I prepped the soil outside with DE as well - that shit really works...

Besides, by mid-june the only plants indoors will be the 30- 35 cuttings I'll be using for the Every 2 week harvest - I can keep it bug-free!!

I want to thank you, I repped ya, this topic - took me a few weeks to zero in on it. I love the idea of utilizing all available assets - I may not have a boatload of $$$ but I've got land - about 3 acres - and some spare room inside.
what more could I ask for - except more topics like this to maximize yield, buzz, space and time?

It sounds sorta einsteinian.
peace, sherry

Sherry said:

I'm not Planting 350 seeds, Mr. Man - I am planting 16 day old's next week and 28 about 2 1/2 weeks from now. I AM cloning - from feminizied seeds - 38 - 48 of them.
I will get clones from my feminized Plants - up to 3 clones from each plant (I have 7 strains currently). I will then top all the clones ("clonelings" for want of a better term) for cloning and repeat the process - I'll have 350- 400 plants.

Click to expand...

Originally Posted by Sherry

all told I plan on having 350 plants, with hopefully at least 250 females (I have feminized seeds but I know some will go hermie on me -

Click to expand...

right- I was trying to work out what relationship feminised seeds had to plants going herm...

I don't think I'd start taking cuttings until I had known female donors.

Doesn't matter whether your clones come from plants grown from feminised seeds or not- if the donor plant is female, the clones will stay female, unless you introduce some conditions to trigger hermaphrodism. Interrupting dark periods, pH probs, nute strength inconsistencies all can induce hermaphrodism. Feminised seeds will not stop a plant from going herm if you treat it badly enough. Hermaphrodism is an evolved response to the plant encountering poor conditions, where it may not survive to be pollinated by a nearby male and so makes a few male florets on its own to self-pollinate and attempt to assure reproduction.

Feminised seeds are helpful to some applications but by no means are a sure thing. They come up about 80% female as opposed to the 50% average for ordinary seeds (which is why they are sold as 'feminised' seeds, not 'female' seeds). I don't think I'd spend any dough on feminised seeds if I just needed to establish a few females and start doing cuts off them. If I buy 10 regular old beans, I'll get 5 females just on average. If I get even one female, I have a going concern.

As for the spider mites and many other bugs - I have lady bugs - but before the ladybugs I cleaned out the 1/2 room I'm using for seedlings and cuttings and used some DE.

Click to expand...

What's 'DE'?

Gee, I hope the ladybugs do their thing for ya... rotsaruck.

I want to thank you, I repped ya, this topic - took me a few weeks to zero in on it. I love the idea of utilizing all available assets - I may not have a boatload of $$$ but I've got land - about 3 acres - and some spare room inside.

Click to expand...

Well, you're most welcome- but I do think that if you're going to do indoor, do indoor. If you start with a clean grow op and grow fully indoors from seed, you have the best chance for uninterrupted success. Bugs will eventually find their way in (notably gnats), but they don't need any help! Keep in mind that it's incredibly difficult to get bugs out of a continuous harvest op once they have established, no matter how many ladybugs you throw at them.

Al B. Fuct said:

Hey now, which is it? Anarchy or elected office? Make up yer mind, man!

Of course, I'm also very fond of anarchy. However, I've worked out that I can do a lot more to dismantle the system from within than without.

Click to expand...

Well, just one Anarchist standing on the top of the hill yelling at the establishment won't make a difference.

Now, an Anarchist working in the valley with the sheeple will.

I'd also like to know how well Linux would work with being able to jump ip's and further my techno-security.





Enigma

Enigma said:

I'd also like to know how well Linux would work with being able to jump ip's and further my techno-security.

Click to expand...

jump IPs? Huh? Do you want to hide your real IP?

If you want to conceal your IP, use Tor. It's available for Linux, but would do the same job on a Winblows machine or a Mac.

DE = diatomous (sp) earth

al, do you use proxies? think we should use proxies?

Al B. Fuct said:

jump IPs? Huh? Do you want to hide your real IP?

If you want to conceal your IP, use Tor. It's available for Linux, but would do the same job on a Winblows machine or a Mac.

Click to expand...

That is wxactly what I wanted!

Thanks!





Enigma

lol, heres one for you al

YouTube - FREE ENERGY Home Generator -Zero Point Energy - Off the Grid

your an EE, what do you think about this? would solve some problems

LoudBlunts said:

al, do you use proxies? think we should use proxies?

Click to expand...

Proxies are good and bad. If you use one, don't use a free one, pay for the service. Free proxies are often honeypots, designed to surveil and intercept passwords, etc. If you do use a free proxy, use it for browsing but don't run a password (or any other sensitive data) through it, i.e. logging in on RIU. Secure web pages may save your traffic from being surveilled by the proxy but many free proxies don't allow https:// just for the reason that they can't surveil the traffic and thus have no benefit from maintaining the facility. There's no such thing as a free lunch.

We TaRdED said:

lol, heres one for you al

YouTube - FREE ENERGY Home Generator -Zero Point Energy - Off the Grid

your an EE, what do you think about this? would solve some problems

Click to expand...

Soon as the con artist... err... fuckknuckle... err... 'inventor' behind this one rewrites the rules of physics, it'll solve lots of problems.

There's no such thing as 'free energy' because you can't get more energy out of a system than you put in it. There's... um... no such thing as a free lunch.

'Free energy' is a tax on people stupid enough to believe in conspiracies and lazy enough not to understand basic science.

Hey Al, you're the man. I'm following up pretty well though. By next year, I may become a guru. LoL. I am going to borrow a friends digi cam, you have to see my wikidness. I need even more space. I can't imagine what your space looks like and I'm sure you want more. My space went from a stealth veg box to a rubbermaid shed (oversized closet) for my flowering and I have every inch pretty much fulled. Talk to you later.

Al B. Fuct said:

There's no such thing as 'free energy' because you can't get more energy out of a system than you put in it. There's... um... no such thing as a free lunch.

'Free energy' is a tax on people stupid enough to believe in conspiracies and lazy enough not to understand basic science.

Click to expand...

DAMN RIGHT!

The Law of Energy Conservation

Energy in is energy out. It can niether be created nor destroyed, only transformed.

One question: I know Windows sucks ass.. but how much more difficult is it to use Linux?

I've been wanting to build a monster mobile PC with Linux so I can access WLAN connections where they are available and keep my connection hidden.

Much thanks Guru!





Enigma

Dude the best thing is to go with Mac OSX, I use a mac at my home and you can go private right from the desktop. Everything at the click of a button. Mac OSX is based on Linux, but more user friendly. I have no exp. with Linux. Other than I had a friend who I knew that booted linux and then can chose Windows or OSX. Let me know your choice. Dude you would be surprised how far a little mac mini will go. Go to apple.com 10 reasons to buy a Mac. Might change your mind.

Kaosisglobal said:

Dude the best thing is to go with Mac OSX, I use a mac at my home and you can go private right from the desktop. Everything at the click of a button. Mac OSX is based on Linux, but more user friendly. I have no exp. with Linux. Other than I had a friend who I knew that booted linux and then can chose Windows or OSX. Let me know your choice. Dude you would be surprised how far a little mac mini will go. Go to apple.com 10 reasons to buy a Mac. Might change your mind.

Click to expand...

I use windows because it is what I know. I'd rather learn the programming and program my own.. but shit.. that takes time I could be smoking.. and loving my favourite female

Al B. Fuct said:

Doesn't matter whether your clones come from plants grown from feminised seeds or not- if the donor plant is female, the clones will stay female, unless you introduce some conditions to trigger hermaphrodism. Interrupting dark periods, pH probs, nute strength inconsistencies all can induce hermaphrodism. Feminised seeds will not stop a plant from going herm if you treat it badly enough. Hermaphrodism is an evolved response to the plant encountering poor conditions, where it may not survive to be pollinated by a nearby male and so makes a few male florets on its own to self-pollinate and attempt to assure reproduction.

Feminised seeds are helpful to some applications but by no means are a sure thing. They come up about 80% female as opposed to the 50% average for ordinary seeds (which is why they are sold as 'feminised' seeds, not 'female' seeds). I don't think I'd spend any dough on feminised seeds if I just needed to establish a few females and start doing cuts off them. If I buy 10 regular old beans, I'll get 5 females just on average. If I get even one female, I have a going concern.

What's 'DE'?

Gee, I hope the ladybugs do their thing for ya... rotsaruck.

Well, you're most welcome- but I do think that if you're going to do indoor, do indoor. If you start with a clean grow op and grow fully indoors from seed, you have the best chance for uninterrupted success. Bugs will eventually find their way in (notably gnats), but they don't need any help! Keep in mind that it's incredibly difficult to get bugs out of a continuous harvest op once they have established, no matter how many ladybugs you throw at them.

Click to expand...

Hey Al B,

You do raise some valid points, especially with the 'Feminized seeds' - I am naturally assuming 80% female and 20% hermi/male. Those aren't bad odds -

This year it's important for me to weed em out - NEXT YEAR's grow will be purer - that's my plan - it's a 5 Year Plan (not like russia or china's 5 Yr. Plan - mine will be successful

About feminized seeds: I'm hoping they all stay female but I'm a realist - I have been working hard so far not to introduce any environmentally-adverse conditions or stressors that would 'change' sex for my plants - however no one's perfect - but I try (Ph, daytime/night-time temp, light schedule, nutes, any other stressing factors that would influence the big sex switch, etc.

I don't wanna turn that switch on man....

Not to try for a harvest indoors while waiting for my outdoor harvest in september/october to dry and cure - is insanity to me; even though I only have a half of a spare room to grow indoors- your 'harvest every 2 weeks' plan is PERFECT for my limited space and my lack of smokeable bud. In fact, it's really the only way I'll get any bud - I don't have that many lights because I am OUTDOORS - I do have 4 lights that's it. all my resources are mostly Outside except my rockwool and Fox Farms and Nutes and my whole half of a room - whoopee!!..

I don't plan on doing a uninterrupible harvest either - around mid-to-late August I should have enough of the indoor bud to 'tide me over' to October - in September/Oct I'll get my starter clones (for next years outdoor grow) from all 7 strains & in February '09 I will be cloning from those plants - that's their only purpose - I'll know for sure the ones with the best yield, best high, and of course - ALL FEMALE.. And by April/May 09 I'll be able to start a fresh batch of clones for the harvest every 2 weeks; or if I do have a bug problem I'll grow & bud two batches, then leave the room empty - I'll collect my ladybugs (you'd be surprised how insatiable their appetites are - I love em) exterminate the room (the outdoor plants and soil will also be as bug-free as possible) and start over - I should get at least 6 indoor harvests. I'd be really happy with that. Some bud is better than no bud at all...

I'm sure something will 'screw up' between now and next february 09 but hey, that's life. I've screwed up so many times in life I've lost track - I should get a trophy or a plaque for "Best Screw-Up" - all the way back to 1974!! But then I wouldn't have ANY room for indoors..

However, from August this year until I start harvesting in late sept/oct - the 1/2 room will be as bug-free as I can get it - 'cause I need as much drying space as I can get - I only have 1/2 extra room and 1 extra closet for drying (if I need extra drying space I'll throw all my clothes away if I have to!! & use my personal walk-in (HUGE) closet - I don't mind suffering - I've done it before.. - not the throwing my clothes away, I'll bomb the Hell out of this place if I have to.

It's been 20+ years since I grew - I am finding I didn't forget a lot of stuff - of course it's much better growing NOW - I'm in a small town in the East coast USA - they don't have anything here - MH or HPS - I had to go 60 miles just to buy the fox farm - can't afford to have it shipped here. I remember starting from bagseed ('cause that's all there was - no online seedbanks, no possibility of getting 80%+ female seeds) and in 18 months I had all female afghani clones for indoor growing - but I had 2 rooms to grow. I didn't grow anything outdoors - nada. I had the occasional hermaphrodite I had to kill. Nature is like that - in order for any plant to evolve it must reproduce - that's another variable with all female plants - sooner or later they're gonna want to breed...

Your plan is pure genius - hell, it's made for people like me, Al; I document everything (some of it in my head) strains and have my number/letter ID system w/other variables - those tiny indoor grows will let me know what plants outside are truly female - if I only have 48 -50 plant outside (along with their clones taken and documented) I'lll rip em up long before they even flower outside. ...

So that serves 2 purposes - I get some bud to tide me over & I know which outdoor plants/clones aren't female...

I'd like to thank ya for replying - but I do know the risks - but if you don't take a risk you don't benefit, you don't learn anything. I'm willing to take a chance. I'll take some pics as soon as I get a decent camera..

Oh, and the DE is Diatomaceous Earth; I've got the 2 1/2 acres I'll be utilizing - I'm clumping plants in 6+ hours direct sun and 4+ hourse direct sun - lots of trees and bushes and shit but it's my property and no one (LEO) even flies over and NO Foot traffic - I applied the DE in January and again in early april and the results are better than I ever expected..
have a peacful mellow day, Sherry