BEFORE actually trying this hands-on, I thought I understood the strategy to do this efficiently:
Use seeds to grow the first plants
Take clones along the way for the 2nd crop. Saves both cost and time
Then the clones become the next crop
Repeat the cycle indefinitely
Now that I’m actually doing this, I realize that plan never made sense if you only have one tent. So far as I can tell, you have to cut clones while the mother is still in veg, before she goes into flower.
So if you cut the clones off, what do you do with them for 10-12 weeks while the tent is busy flowering the prior crop? Is that why many of the youtubers seem to have multiple tents? So they can grow the clones thru veg in one tent while the other tent is flowering?
With a single tent, I don’t see what good it would do me to cut clones. By the time the tent was free from the prior crop, the clones would be dead unless I had a 2nd tent and light for them, no?
You are correct. It doesn’t make sense to clone if you can’t maintain two differing light environments unless you maintain a 12/12 for your veg plants too (some people do.)
This is what I did. It is also my first trying to keep clones going for a cycle. Got a small good quality veg light. Kept the clones small by using small pots and feeding as little as possible.
After thinking more about it, I’ve realized that I’m eager to experiment with more strains anyway, so I think my 2nd crop is going to be fresh from seeds again.
It’s funny how as you learn about all this stuff you want to try it, even if you don’t really need the benefit of a particular technique. Cloning just seems cool, so I will probably try it just to see how it goes, even if I wind up throwing the clones out for lack of a place to grow them.
Actually, some of young plants in the tray are second generation clones. The first time I just took cuttings to see what would happen. I made it tough on myself, not knowing what I was doing, I took the cuttings when it was flowering. Anyway, one survived. Grew it out and took some cuttings and those cuttings are in the SOG and tent. Out of clones and will be dropping seeds. Cherry Pie to replace the SOG and GDP in the tent. Such fun…
If u have a spare light to veg with you dont really need a tent yo veg in just leave a small low powered light on 24 7. Should keep the plants vegging good and u can keepnur whole tent for flower purposes. If u need a closed area just hang a good thick tarp to enclose the area some.
