Building perpetual garden stage 1

This is my first attemp at growing. Did quite a bit of research, but so many different ways to grow apparently. After way too long thinking about it i finally started.

Veg room 2×5×8 closet grow
Light- T5 216 watt 4/4ft bulbs running 18/6
1-4" exhaust fan in ceiling that blows warm air back into house
2-6" passive air that come into bottom of closet from another room inside house. Regulated air!
Temp is steady during day at 75° at plant level. Night has fluctuated down to 55°. I put heater inside with a sensor timer so autommatically comes on at night. Not sure what temp I should keep at night. I’ve kept it at 68° last couple nights. Humidity is a bit low at 35% during day and 45% at night. Not using a humidifier.

Germination was
3 northern lights
2 Manderin haze

Put in solo cup with distilled water. I have well water and isn’t idea for this with all the other particals in the water. 2 days with all of them cracking, then transferred to paper towels. At the time I couldn’t keep them warm so it was slow and only 4 made it to soil.
Like I said, this is my first time and am really excited, maybe a bit too much cause I kept messing with them and 2 didn’t sprout out of the soil. It was all my own fault for not having patience. 1 of each made it.
Anyway, soil is light warrior seed starter. I have fox farm for after seedling stage.
I gave them about 4 days before I dropped 6 more in water
2 more northern lights
2 Carnival
2 ulter white amnesia
This time I put them on top of water heater. 4 cracked in 1 day, transferred to paper towel. And kept them covered with a bowl to keep in moisture. Must have worked because 2 days later they were at least half inch or longer. Transferred to smaller solo cups and covered with saran wrap with holes in it for some air an more humidity. This has been 3 days ago and they 3 have already sprouted out of soil.
The 2 carnival seeds are still in water and haven’t cracked. Maybe I should take them out and put him in paper towels. I’m not sure they might be dead. I’ll keep an eye on them for a bit longer. Not using mylar but will be using white paint on walls. Just waiting on weekend when I have time.

It been 1 week for blue cups and 4 days for Brown cups.
I notice their is some yellowing of the lower round leaves. How bad is this?

Some questions…

  1. In the veg room is 8ft but only 7ft usable. Would I be able to stack another level to grow more. Right now im looking at keeping 3 with topping when things get crowded.
  2. Will humidity mess me up if it’s too low?
    It’s steady at 35% day and 40ish at night.
  3. Anything im missing? I just found this forum so happy with any help. Much appreciated!
  4. He does everything look or the timeline
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Strain; Type, Bag seed, ILGM… name of strain:
3 northern lights
1 Manderin haze
2 ultra white amnesia.
I’d like to clone and build perpetual garden.

Age from Sprout: 5-9 days

Soil in pots, Hydroponic, or Coco / Brand and type of Soil & Size of Pots: soil in solo cups.

How often do you water and how do you determine when to do so? I was just putting water in every other day till it ran out the bottom. Got nervous about over watering so just cut back to 60ml every other day. I use my finger to tell wetness of soil.

PH of water and runoff or solution in reservoir:
6.8 water PH. Haven’t checked runoff.

What is strength of nutrient mix? EC, or TDS: N/A
No nutrients till couple weeks.

Indoor or Outdoor: indoor. Closet veg room. 2×5×7

Light system, size and height from plants:
216 watt T5 4-4ft bulbs. 4-5 inches from top of plants. Running 18/6

Temps; Day, Night: 77° day, 68° night

Humidity; Day, Night: 35% day, 40-45 night

Ventilation system; Yes, No, Size:yes 4" exhaust fan 190 cmf. 2- 6 inch passive intakes coming from another room that’s stays around 68° year round. Also have a small fan pointed upwards toward light to bounce off and somewhat hit the plants.

AC, Humidifier, De-humidifier: heater only. The heater is hooked up to a light sensor and turns on when lights out.

Co2; Yes, No: no

Welcome @Budtastic. Looks like you know what you’re doing amigo. I couldn’t really see any yellow leavess but I was told by some of the grow pro’s here your top leaves will sometimes drain the lower leaves nutrients when they grow real quick. Perhaps some of the old timers can their two cents to the mix. I’m a short timer mainly familiar with outside grows. You’ll get a ton of advice from a lot of good people here. Again Welcome.

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Welcome @Budtastic!
It looks like you’re off to a good start! I like how how you think ‘out of the box’ by putting seeds on top of the water heater to germinate. Being creative in solving problems is a big plus for growers.
As a first time grower, I’d caution you against growing too many plants, especially of differing strains. Different strains like (and have) different requirements. You’re going to have your hands full just figuring out how to grow and what the plants are doing without having to find tune things for several strains.
You also have to look ahead a bit. You’ve got a closet to grow in. Do you have any idea how big these girls will get?! You didn’t say if they were autos or photos, but I have one auto now that’s about thirty inches tall, and photos can easily hit five feet indoors! And it’s not just height, it’s also how bushy they are. It’s tough to be patient and take things slow on your first grow—been there, done that. But right now, for a closet grow, you’ve reached your limit on the number of plants you can grow. Water to runoff (put a catch basin under them), give them light, warmth and time and you’ll have a good harvest.

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The key to a good consistent perpetual grow is to find strains that are routinely finishing in a consistent time. Then you want to offset your plants. I would veg for 6 to 8 weeks then move thise info flower then start another set of plants. Generally by the time the flower ones are finishing you put the veg in there and keep rotating like that

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I get the seed casings off as soon as possible. Delays the starting leaves. (from experience).
Looks like my typical start up, but I have been liking the good COB LED’s. What your using should be great for newbies. Also the humidity levels should be good for no fungus or gnats. You may want to boost it a tad, as below 60% is usually pretty safe. GOOD LUCK BUD!

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I let the seed fall off on it’s own unless it wont. Better to let it do it naturally then to try and force it off, could damage the plant by forcing it off. I’ve only had 1 that I had to help off, it was stuck in there for 3 days. I usually try to keep around the shell damp to help it release itself from the leaves

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I agree with Dieslgrower. Mother Nature has a way of taking care of her babies. Plus I end up damaging the plant during the removal procedure.

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Hey thanks for the replies. Out of all I germinated so far.
5 northern lights only 2 look good
2 Manderin haze, 1 survived
2 ultra white haze. I did have to help crack open the seed a bit. It was barely open enough to let stem out and had been 3 days already. other seed isn’t looking very good. Probably won’t make it. The reasons for doing this are…
Experience, inpatients, and I already assumed I’ll dwindle down to 3 plants
2 Carnival soaked for like 4 days and never cracked. I put them in paper towel. Not very hopeful with them.
So out of 11 seeds, im more then likely to only keep 4 for now
2 northern lights
1 Manderin haze
1 ultra white amnesia
So basically 2 Indica, 2 sativa
I didnt read about it till after I had already bought seeds. I did do lots of research with most things.
I do know max in the small veg room will be 3 plants. Also it will serve as clone room towards top.
I could have probably waited some more to drop the same strain but I have been wanting to do this for so long and didn’t want to make any more excuses.

The northern lights have a flower of 8 weeks
Ultra white amnesia is 9 weeks
Manderin haze is 10 weeks
All are Feminized and NOT auto
Lol, sounds like it’s gonna be a challenge but I’ll figure it out as I go. Better then just sitting thinking about it.
In super hyped and that is why they won’t all make it. I actually did take my impatients into consideration. So if 3 make it in still happy.
Being my first grow. I’d be happy to if any live to harvest.

@Flyr @Dieselgrower @Ozzimotosan1 @Onlythebest79 @Loneviking
Thanks for all the interest guys. Look forward to keeping this journal.


This is the stem I removed the seed pod from. The 2nd leave were trying to poke out of the small space it had between the shell

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Thanks bro, glad to be here

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The best advice I could give a new grower would be “don’t love your plants to death” too much attention to them will lead to death. If that makes sense

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With my veg room being so small would it be better to just try to keep 3 mother plants and clone them. Wait a month in clone domes. Then straight to flower? That way I could flower 20 or so at a time in SOG? Then I would be able to flower 1 strain at a time.
Just thoughts!

Totally makes sense. I have to stop myself from opening door to watch them grow. Im doing better everyday thou. Lol

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We all do it haha. I plan to have w maybe 3 small mothers in my 3x3 then take cuttings and move them into the 4x4 to veg for a little while then flower them. That is my future plan. As of now I’m just playing around training photos in the 4x4 and autos in the 3x3 and 2x2 when it’s not drying

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Cool, you gotta love a perpetual grow lol.

Not sure if I missed it, or you didn’t post anything about the flowering space? How and what you do moving forward should be determined by a couple of things. Amount of space and harvest frequency really. And then there’s going to be multiple ways going about making the most out of both.

Sog grows offer quick turn around on very little veg time. But you’re also looking at a large harvest all at once under most circumstances. Could be a very good option for a lot of people. In some circumstances, harvesting a plant and starting a plant on a shorter frequency is a better option. Like having 8 plants all one week apart in flower room at the same time, and 8 plants all in the veg room at the same time. You harvest one, move one from veg to flower, and start a new plant in veg room to replace the one you removed. From this level, the amount of plants or frequency you start, flip, and harvest can all be adjusted. My count was just an example.

There’s literally hundreds of ways you could do it, you just have to find the one that fits your goals the best.

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Wish I had the space to do just that. Running out of last May’s harvest. Gave too much away.
Hopefully the folks will treat me in kind! LOL!

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What did you pay for that heater? Oil filled radiator, right? I have a 30 year old one that is starting to rust.

Yeah it’s super exciting to build and experience. I have to stay covert so that is reason my veg room is so small. My flower room on the other hand is not set up yet. Haven’t even bought anything. So yeah, lots of excitement to come. The flower room will also be a closet.
4’10"×5’7"×8 It already has cutouts for intake and exhaust.
I travel for work. I have another month before I go back. My usual work schedule is 8 days work and 6 days off. This will be tricky but my ladies friend will help with watering. I’ll try my best to keep her duties to a minimum while im gone.
My original plan was to cut flower room in half and have a harvest every month. Im looking for about 6oz dry monthly or close to it. Just not sure how to go about different levels in flower room.
The reason I was talking about SOG is because of how small veg room is. I’d be lucky to keep 3 mother in bottom. If I could do that, I’d be able to clone above mothers for a month before moving to flower. Then clone mothers again every month. This way i could pick just 1 mother at a time to clone and then she can heal for 2 months while i clone others. Have 3 different strains with 3 different flowering times.
I think your way could work for me but just downsized to doing it monthly. Weekly seems like way more time then I’d be available to do.
So perhaps I could try to fill half of flower room with first set of clones after a month then introduce next batch to fill in other half of room a month later. Then that way I could harvest once monthly.
This is what I need to figure out before I buy lights for flower room.

So I could do monthly like described above
Or…
Would it be better to do bi-monthly and just fill the room? Which one will produce more?

We bought heater couple years back at Wal-Mart for like 50-60 bucks. Takes a lot of space but it has a thermostat and as soon as lights out the sensor it’s hooked to turns it on. I’ve bought 2 on Amazon that were a bit misleading an couldn’t use in the room. Even with timer I would have to turn them on. Said screw it and took it from the bathroom. Haha, now my girls butts cold cause I returned those others. Haha @Ozzimotosan1

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Harvesting your room in bigger portions is fine. Personally, I’m a proponent of sog style too, but I know it’s not for everyone. How big of a space have you harvested before? Your fingers will be sore lol!

Have you picked strains yet? I’m not aware of anything worth growing that will flower in less than 8 weeks. When you add a week of transition and the potential for a strain to go longer, having 3 stages in flower may be a better option. But that’s up to you. All you’re really doing is pulling plants out of flower room and putting new plants in. So it doesn’t really matter how many you do at one time, so long as they fit.

As far as your veg room goes, put a shelf up top with a small fluorescent above for your clone domes or whatever and call it done. Put two shelves in there if you need to. You should be using control methods to keep your moms small right? I had two mother plants and a small clone dome in a 2x2x4. When the moms got to big, I replaced with a clone from her and either threw her on the flower table or just ditched them.

This is actually my first grow ever. I’ve never been a part of any of the process so it’s all going to be a big learning curve for me.
I’ll probably keep 1 of each strain as mother and do just like you said with the shelves and if mom gets too big trade her out. All 3 strains have different flower times so a 3rd cycle would actually be idea.
My plan for keeping moms small still being researches. But clone an topping would be good for a bit…I hope.
I’ll start with whichever one is looking best I imagine.