I’m in a newly green state and looking to set up a small commercial operation. Luckily for for me, the floor space is all that is taken into account for the tier level, so with a high enough ceiling, I should be able to rack and grow two levels as SOG. Thing is, I have come to an impasse in terms of methodology. Already decided to use a Dutch bucket type of array to grow them and as Sea of Green to maximize my turnover and output in a very limited space. I have limited experience with SOG, mostly when I first started and had a 5’ high 8*4 space to grow in. I was still using dirt which I also haven’t worked with (and won’t again) since 2003, but I do know that if I want to keep my density high and my output fast between harvests, SOG is the way to go. The problem I gave now is this:
Do I dedicate an entire space to mothering, and an entire space to cloning, which would eat into my profitable space? Or…
Spend the extra on bulk fem beans and go straight from seed to flower, keeping my entire space profitable?
Granted the second option would definitely lead to my breeding, but that would be off-site in a separate op, because beans are expensive and free beans plus waste I can profit off of by sending it to extraction is a positive in my book.
Typically, given the legality I would grow eight big ole donkey dicks per plant mainlining in ~20gal RDWC, but that’s a lot of trimming and training, but since I want to keep my personnel roster to just me, I feel it would become a job, and I fuckin hate jobs. But I’m not growing for personal use, it’s about supplying a pair of dispensaries and eventually opening my own so I’m not getting gutted by low-ball bulk pricing.
So, is there any advantage to clones over seed aside from upfront price to roll?
Clones would shave a couple weeks off the turn around time. But you would definitely have a loss of canopy space.
It’s hard to say for sure, I think you are gonna have to sit down and calculate if a shorter turn around or more flowering space would be more profitable
Most seeds aren’t mature enough to flower for the first 3 week so you wouldn’t even have the first flowers till 5 ish weeks, that’s why I was thinking clone
I’m not a hydro guy tho so my input may not be the best
Something I never thought of also is every seed is different, so the consistency won’t be there like it would be with a clone. Just a thought if your supplying a dispensary.
It sounds like your pretty set on seeds tho. Either way it’s your call
I’m just thinking about pure turnover. The facility is very…compartmentalized. I have a 8.5’ ceiling, giving me about 3 feet and some change for two levels of growth. It’s also 2400 square feet floorplan wise, meaning that adding a fuckload of 4*4 mothers, and another big space for clones would be seriously eating into profitable canopy. If I didn’t want to do this for a living, I’d just do it how I have for 15 years, only on a bigger scale. I have to get output though if I want to stay profitable, and not paying someone to work for me is just that much more for me to take home.
Gotta level with you, I hate my fuckin job…I hate every fuckin job. I’m doing this for money. If mothering and cloning didn’t eat into profits, I’d do that. If it wasn’t literally an extra week of growing, but +40% canopy space to just do it from seed, I would do otherwise. I’m not set on anything, I’m just not seeing the not-so-largescale advantage to cloning.
@ifish I mean, genetics are genetics and buds is buds homie. I only fuck with Barney’s and Canuk because the consistency is always on point in my experience, so I don’t think I am going to get a bum batch in bulk. If mothering/cloning didn’t take so much space and extra labor and attention, I’d do it, but it does, so I’m very much on the fence.
Yeah, a steady supply of 2400 clones every other month isn’t happening where I’m at. I’ve moved to the wastelands, and my only choice is to grow from seed or mothered clones for a year, then use my savings to open a breeding operation for a year and a half while still going fullbore on stabilizing strains, then I have a seed factory, a brand, and hopefully a cup win of some sort. Five years. In and out. 400 acres, my kid goes to literally any school for life, there’s 180 acres of trees and rocks between me and people, and I am surrounded by nothing but serenity, homegrown everything (including grapes and coffee) and guns. That’s my fuckin five year plan.
You can keep quite a decent amount or a few bigger moms, (depending on how many clones you need and how much variety you want) in a
2 x 4 or even a 2 x 2 tent.
Clones hands down.
With clones,
already mature
Same flowering times
Uniform canopy
Cheaper
Same quality
Same tolerances
Easy to dial in after a couple grows.
Sounds like a nice 5 year plant! Enjoy nature, and live off your own work!
Now for the nitty-gritty…
32sqft will not scale up to 2400sqft the way one would imagine - there’s a huge learning curve. And it will be a lot of work, especially for one person! (and investment).
Breeding with fems is not as great as breeding with regs. And it can take years to create a true stable (ibl) strain of your own. (A very minimum of 4-5 cycles and that’s being generous.)
^side note: why not use this second space you mentioned as a place to hold your moms and clones?
With fem seeds, you are not going to get a stable roster - there will be some genetic variability. And with that, variability in yield and potency.
Clones won’t take up that much space - you can get a few thousand on a rack or two…so a small room will work. Most space will go to your mothers.
Not trying to be a downer, but I’d hate to see someone jump in with both feed and be neck deep in water. Make no mistake, at that scale it WILL become a job. Hope you love farming!
On a side note, if you have access to anyone already doing something similar to what you’re looking to setup… I would try to model them or ask them for advice/consulting. (It might cost, but it will save you a lot of headaches.)