If growing a selection in a smallish space like a 4x4 best to keep veg real short (2-3weeks) pop like 20 in 1 gallon pots. Once you’ve culled the males you should still have a pretty full canopy. just keep the rest of it simple and you should be fine.
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Thanks for the reply and input Madd. What you say is similar to what I’ve been thinking, pretty much pop half of each pack since these are all 10-12 per bag for good chance of 2 females each strain.
I do think it will be a little tight in a 4 x 4 but doable. Is SOG or SCROG even applicable in such a small space? I was thinking of managing canopy by just topping/dimming at the right time and pruning leaf pulling as needed at later stages. Also maybe gently tie back some branches for overall light dispersion.
As for what to do with males, yes def. cloning an option and just keep them going in veg state and healthy though of course limitations over the long term.
And if I follow, was the idea pollinating a few sites just to pollinate say a few lower branches of a female to get a small amount of seeds? Wouldn’t that still need to be done in isolation away from the other females, or is the limited application the means by which pollination can be done in such tight space?
Great to hear folks are willing to offer advice along the way. Reading the stuff here have been great sources for genetics and the current basis of my knowledge about growing. I’m dialed in as far as equipment and I’m going to be all-organic, still getting nutrients (whole other potential long discussion!) dialed in but getting close!
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Thanks Eugene. Straightforward approach like that best fits the limited space and scale I’m operating under. I’ve enjoyed your posts/replies on lots of topics on OG, now including mine here.
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If you go with a bunch of small plants in small pots best bet for feeding is synthetics in a 50/50 peat perlite(or vermiculite) blend with 1/4cup lime per cuft and the same amount of diatomaceous earth if going with perlite instead of vermiculite(both de and vermiculite are good sources of silica)
From there you just mix up you base nutrients, ph to 6.5 and dilute to whatever ppm is appropriate for the stage of growth they’re and water with it, make adjustments as necessary.
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One thing you might consider before popping expensive seeds, is making sure you have a seed starting method that gets the vast majority of your seeds turning into healthy sprouts.
Try out your planned method using some cheap/bulk/free seeds first.
It can get expensive fast if you fail to get pricy seeds to the seedling stage, and it’s not all that hard to mess up in my opinion.
Good luck dude!
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Never too much! You’ll just learn the subtle difference of each seed(all seeds should be considered an individual). Some will want 2x more feed than others, some recoil quicker from too much light or wind while others cannot get enough. Treat them all the same unless they give you reason to mix them a heavier feed(one getting hungry before others) or extreme tucking in to avoid wind(rare but it happens). They’ll develop their own personality if you’re observant.
Many ways to run them, You can easily do 2 of each females in (8)3 gallons or 2 each sharing a 10 gal, so then you’d only need (4)10 gals in a 4x4. You’ll want to flip them sooner rather than later either way cause they’re going to fill it up quick. You can get more yield from less plants but you’ll need to veg longer.
You’ll have slightly different finish times, The hazes tend to run long but it’s nothing to worry about just don’t expect them to finish the same day or even week without some steering by using smaller pots, introducing bloom nutes etc.
Any questions just ask some of us crazy ones are running 30+ different kinds in various stages at any given time 
haha
Good luck and Welcome to THUNDERDOME! I mean overgrow 
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Too much? I started 12 strains this year. Kinda overwhelming but I supply my friends and brother w/ my overflow. I run 2- 2 x 4 closets and outdoor in the summer. The only thing is your watering and feeding, not every strain likes the same thing. But I’m sure you will figure out what is best for you. Good luck with your grow. If you find out you have too many, put some outside gorilla style if need be. Thats how I roll.
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try to keep this perspective in mind.
IMHO cannabis is often a “less is more” plant grown by “more is more” humans. I’m happy to be the lone dissenter, and strongly recommend fewer plants. perhaps even a monocrop of say, four plants in big containers. being a winemaker, and describing particular flavors you like makes me think you should try growing organically. 
I think it would reduce your workload and flatten your learning curve substantially.
if you find something you really like, keep it and run it again a second time. then maybe add a strain or two and go from there.
in general, grow strong genetics of something you like, keep it simple, and plan ahead for harvest…it will come at you faster than you think. 
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I agree, being expensive seeds I would be prudent with numbers and wouldn’t mix a sativa haze with indica predominant, they have different feed needs.
You will have time to acquire experience and learn from possible errors, qui va piano va lontano … 
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Appreciate everyone’s continued input!
Thanks Eugene and THRESH for the advice on grow area strategy and soil/nutrient advice. I was thinking 8 - 3 gallons myself.
Great idea about germinating the seeds mumen. Thought about either water in a container or paper towels methods. Build-a-Soil has a video on YT showing how to germinate seeds directly in soil I haven’t seen yet that looks interesting. Even if practicing with bulk seeds still gotta sow them somewhere!
Appreciate the less is more perspective nok. And organic is what I’m going to do, recalling interviews I’ve seen with growers and breeders I like who all seem to grow organic.
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My belief is that is you are going to have 8 plants in a 4x4 It will naturally be a SOG that you are going to have to be on top of it as it is going to fill out awfully quick.
No worries though, just have to watch veg growth so it doesn’t get to crazy. I typically tie my plants down very early to form the plants shape. I tie them down as early as 5th node. When the plants have the shape I am looking for I grow them vertically from that point forward. (Old pic but you get the point)
Air Movement/Flow/Circulation is going to be your best friend.
You can’t tell from the pic but I have Fans Moving Air at pot level, Canopy level and above my lights.
Yes! I would experiment with all of this. Best way to learn IMHO is by doing it and experiencing the results 1st hand.
Take a ton of pictures of your grows as well as a bunch of notes . As you grow you will learn and what a better way to learn than going back through a ton of pictures/notes of your grows and seeing things. You will see things your remember and a few things you may had missed…
Yes! I would not worry to much about pollinating as this is your 1st run with the genetics. I would take clones and after you grow is cured and you have time to smoke a bit of your labor you will have a better idea of what you want to concentrate on.
You may want to run a search on the OG to assist you with organics.
I would recommend a few for you.
Oh ya!
I am a soil gardener and absolutely love what I have been able to do in a Sub Irrigation Planter (SIP) using Natural Inputs.
There are a bunch of other posts but the ones above will lead you to many more OGers running Natural inputs.
Can’t wait to see how your grow progresses… 
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The answer is always: Too many… 
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Thanks for the warm welcomes everyone.
Not quite yet @highminwin. My lights took forever to source, I placed orders with 2 dealers only to be informed after the fact that they didn’t have any in stock. Finally found them and now getting up to speed on how everything will operate in the tent tech-wise. And yeah, I get the feeling grows unwind faster than you think for sure. I hope it’s acceptable to ask folks in more or less real time about issues I may encounter as they pop up. Looking to start by end of the month.
My biggest concern remains how to manage a canopy of 8 plants in a 4x4 tent. Some folks said doable though it will be tight. I don’t want branches growing into the sides of the tent and am pretty sure branches from one plant growing into another’s is wrong and will inhibit growth/flowering, invite mold issues etc. Canopy management is going to be the biggest concern. Apologies for digressing from the subject of the thread!
Thanks @Maddawg. I plan to post detailed weekly reports to chart progress. And yeah, excited about Crickets and Cicadas’ gear being a part of it!
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Very doable scrog net is your best bet
Lst and super cropping will be your best chances to manage
I mainline the lot
I enjoy the challenge
Paps
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Depends on what your trying to achieve. I grow in a 4x4 myself and found using a net works but becomes a nightmare later into flower.
I veg until the leafs cover the bucket lids. Usually 4 to 5 weeks. I then flip the lights and just let them go. If they get close to the lights I work the stem so they lie sideways if I can raise the lights then raise them BUT some strains grow faster than others and moving the lights up deprives the shorter plants of light.
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it is more than acceptable to ask us right as you’re having issues. that’s how we’re helping one another and overgrowing together. a few weeks back i had a bug issue that freaked me out. i posted about it on my grow thread and right away some overgrowers got back to me. it was so nice to have that immediate response and support.
ultimately i don’t know if i would have done anything differently if i didn’t have people to ask questions about (i just ended up smashing the bugs that were rooting around in my neem bag and life moved on), but the community and camaraderie are absolutely something that makes overgrow a very special place.
it’s totally good to have concerns like this. i think it shows you’re thinking about things and considering your plants’ well-being. but at a certain point, it’s just time to dive into the water and swim. i’m guessing that no matter how well researched you are going into it, things will still pop up out of nowhere that you weren’t anticipating. that’s actually been part of the fun of the grow. you might think one thing, but then have to re-adjust because something happened or didn’t happen. it’s very organic and not hard or linear.
here are two cases in point with my grow. i didn’t think i would be seeding for my first grow, but things were growing along pretty nicely and i had a really nice male and i was able to collect pollen from him. so i’m now happily going to try my hand at seeding. the other thing was i thought i would only grow my plants into 1 gallon containers at most, but some overgrowers convinced me to put my plants into larger pots. it’s been really nice to see my plants grow out bigger, but i’m considering for myself how i want to move forward for my next grow. do i go back to smaller containers, or do i like the big plants?
i can’t wait until you pop some beans! i’ll be there watching along.
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Just checking into to see if you started your 4x4 grow yet?
Hope all is well my friend
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I like starting more strains than I plan to use. Sometimes one strain refuses to get along with my inputs and gets binned.
Re: males - if you have a separate space to keep them in it’s pretty easy to collect pollen and selectively pollinate what you want.
I don’t think it sounds too ambitious.
Oops is this thread old? Shows what I know 
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Hi @Maddawg, unfortunately some family stuff popped up that requires 2 weeks of travel. The trip will happen at what would have been about middle-end of flowering had I started last month as originally. planned. The folks who would have likely taken care of the plants during the trip are not exactly the most detail-oriented let’s say LOL.
So I had to postpone the grow until mid-October. Still planning on it for sure, just delayed.
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