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Perpetual Grow & Harvest

Perpetual Grow, Cannabis Growing Indoor, Grow Manual

The idea of perpetual growing is simple and at the same time one of the best ways to ensure that medical cannabis that is needed is always available. It therefore allows for a continuous supply when growing on your own.

In perpetual cultivation, growers use different growrooms/growboxes: at least one for the vegetative phase and at least one for the flowering phase of the cannabis plants. This way, plants are always and simultaneously present in the growing phase as well as in the flowering phase.

What are the advantages of perpetual growth?

1. damage delimitation

If there is a problem or insect infestation in one grow area/tent, the other grow area is not affected and you do not run the risk of all plants being infested or damaged.

2. you never run out

When growing your own cannabis, it can sometimes be a real challenge to ensure a steady supply of weed for yourself. It can happen that the buds run out before the next harvest is ready. Sure, you can harvest some plants in the grow box earlier and also grow them at different times or different strains at the same time, but in various ways it is always better to finish a grow completely and then harvest it at relatively the same time (with a few days delay maybe).

Additional effort and equipment for perpetual growth?

With perpetual growing, you can be prepared to harvest constantly and again. Of course, this also involves a certain amount of effort.

In addition, more equipment is needed than if only a regular cultivation is carried out. After all, two growboxes have to be operated, 2x ventilation and 2x lighting is needed plus the other accessories like hygrometers, fans, etc. Also, 2 growboxes or growrooms (growareas) are needed to ensure that there are two separate areas: one for the flowering phase and one for the growing phase.

The different lighting in the two grow rooms

Both growing areas need their own lighting adapted to their cycle. So two grow lights are needed. The light for the grow room can be weaker than in the flower room because small cannabis plants need even less light. Example:

  • a "growth tent" with energy-saving lamps, fluorescent tubes or 400W MH lamp and
  • a flowering room with 600W NDL

Of course, this takes up more space, you have almost twice the number of plants running and the electricity costs will increase accordingly. This method requires a little more work and planning than a regular grow every 3-5 months. Perpetual cultivation is especially suitable for patients and users with a high demand and / or special interest in different genetics.

This is how the Perpetual Grow works

Perpetual-Grow, continuous cultivation

Step 1: Your safe garden

Perpetual growing and perpetual harvesting means that one always has marijuana plants at home. This brings some risk for some growers, in those countries where free growing for (medicinal) home cultivation is not yet allowed. For this reason, the first and most important step is to make the cannabis garden safe and to follow some important safety standards.

Safety standards at Grow:

  1. Privacy first: It is best not to tell anyone about your grow. Many growers think they are safe and comply with everything. However, telling others is still the main reason why grows become known and can then lead to problems with authorities. You can't trust anyone as much as you trust yourself 😉 You can't trust anyone as much as you trust yourself.
  2. Avoid odours and noticeable noises: And even if you want to grow sparingly and don't have a lot of money at your disposal, never spare the Activated carbon filterthat takes away the smells from the exhaust air of the grow box. Cannabis emits an intoxicating, incredibly strong and unmistakable smell. With an activated carbon filter, you are safe and avoid the whole neighbourhood finding out about your green thumb. The same applies to noticeable noises and light. Fan noise can be reduced to an absolute minimum or completely by using an extra-quiet fan, insulating the fan and/or using a silencer. Walk around the outside of your house and make sure that no light is shining from either box and is somehow identifiable from the street. So if it's shining 400W (or even more) out of your kitchen window, that's all wrong. But seriously, sometimes the NDL light bores through the smallest crack and shows up very conspicuously. Make sure it doesn't shine through a window onto the street every time you enter the grow room. The NDL light is so bright that it can always be a sign from outside that you are growing here. Especially if you share a wall with your neighbour, you should opt for somewhat more expensive but very quiet equipment and possibly insulate the wall additionally.
  3. People are curious: you should bear that in mind. It is therefore not a good idea to carry plant pots, fertiliser or other equipment around the garden or to present them on your doorstep when your neighbour can see everything from the window. Sending a neutral package seems to be the most discreet and inconspicuous way for many growers to get their grow equipment.
  4. Hoops: Avoid visitors to your house or flat accidentally or randomly entering the grow room or otherwise witnessing anything about the grow.
  5. Becoming careless: It can easily happen, especially to long-time growers, that they suddenly stop taking safety precautions so seriously over the years or become too careless for the sake of simplicity. One should keep in mind that the medicinal plant cannabis is increasingly being legalised for medical purposes and even for consumption in many parts of the world, but there are still many countries where cultivation for personal use is not or not yet permitted.

Step 2: Set up 2 grow areas

Each individual grow area must be adapted differently and equipped accordingly, depending on the respective requirements of the development phase. The goal is to have two separate grow rooms. One is configured for the flowering phase, the other for the growing phase. These two separate and synchronous growing rooms are of fundamental importance for perpetual growing. It makes most sense to plan and equip both with each other and already before the grow. It makes sense that the two growing areas should not be too far apart so that plants can be easily switched back and forth.

Perpetual-Grow, continuous cultivation

The vegetative grow area / grow box for growth

  • In the grow area for the growth phase, a weaker light with less wattage and lower power consumption can be used: for example CFL lamps, 400W MH lamp or ESL lamp (100-250W).
  • In any case, we recommend sufficient ventilation in the grow box and the use of a small ACF for the good development of the plants and a safe grow. The fan output can normally be throttled in the growing phase and does not have to be as high as in the flowering room, where the heat development is also higher. Fans should be used in both grow areas and are important and indispensable at all stages of plant development.

The Gow area for flowering / flowering box

  • The grow box for flowering must be light-proof so that no light can shine in during the dark phase and thus stress the plants. "Light pollution during the dark phase can cause hermaphroditism.
  • Temperature control plays an even greater role in the flowering grow box: on the one hand, because of the ideal development of the flowers and, on the other hand, because higher temperatures occur when (higher) NDL lighting is used. With a sufficiently powerful fan and a thermostat, the temperature in the flower-grow box can be kept at the desired level. Temperatures that are too high or too cool in this grow area will lead to yield losses in particular.
  • In any case, a sufficiently and appropriately designed activated carbon filter should be used for the exhaust air to avoid noticeable odours. There are other methods and systems to prevent odours, but the AKFs have proven to be the most effective and powerful helpers in this area.

Step 3: The right timing

An important and crucial factor in planning your Perpetula grow is knowing the strain you are growing. The different cannabis strains sometimes have very different flowering cycles and flowering durations.

The easiest and fastest way to grow Perpetula is with short flowering strains, i.e. Indicas and Indica dominant strains. These usually only need an average of 8 weeks flowering time until they are ready for harvest. There are many excellent strains with 8 weeks flowering time.

Perpetual growing with Haze varieties, on the other hand, is more difficult to do, mainly because of the usually long flowering period of Haze varieties.

Example of a pepetual grow rhythm with an Indica (flowering time 8 weeks):

  1. Start growing plants from seeds in the grow box. About as many as will be needed to fill the grow box later on, but tend to grow a little more. Grow them up and give them a growing time of 8 weeks.
  2. In the 8th week the plants are moved into the flowering tent (12h lighting per day) and on the same day you start germinating new seeds again.
  3. In about 8 weeks the flowering plants will be ready for harvesting and the plants in the growth box will be ready to start flowering and go into the flowering box.
  4. The buds are harvested and the plants from the grow box go into the flower box.
  5. New seeds are germinated and placed in the grow box.
  6. Continue this cycle as long as you want to harvest buds every 8 weeks.

Don't worry if the cannabis plants are not ready to harvest after 8 weeks, as expected. Cannabis plants can be kept in the vegetative phase for as long as necessary (with the exception of autoflowering varieties). The plants will only get bigger and bigger and additional light may be necessary.

Problem: Some fast growing strains or especially cannabis plants in DWC bubble systems or other hydroponic systems can often grow rapidly and become huge and way too big in a growing time of 8 weeks. A growing time of 8 weeks is by no means mandatory or a basic requirement for perpetula growing.

The duration of the growing time varies depending on the planting medium used, the desired final size of the plants and the respective environmental conditions. If you want to prevent the cannabis plants from getting too big, the rhythm can also be to wait between 2-4 weeks after harvesting until you germinate and grow new seeds in the growing space.

Accessories for the Perpetual Grow

For the smooth running of the Perpetual Grow, the right equipment is worth a lot and saves time and money in the long run.

NDL lamp kit with 600W or 400W (for the blooming chamber)

Pro Gear Sodium vapour lamp kit 400W

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High-power plant LEDs from 120W (for the flowering box or the growth box)

LED Orion 8, 360W LED Luminaria 120W from Hortilight

>> to our plant LEDs

CFL fitting (growth room)

CFL propagator

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Reflector T-Neon (growing space)

CFl-Prpagator, lighting for the growing phase of cannabis

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Energy-saving lamp (growing space / possibly flower box)

Energy-saving lamp for the growing phase Energy-saving lamp for the growing phase

>> to the energy saving lamps

Growboxes/grow tents

Growboxes and grow tents for cannabis cultivation 13

>> to the grow tents

Fan for the growbox

Growrooom fan

 

 

 

>> to the fans

 

Fans

Pivot fans for the growFans for the grow box

 

 

 

 

 >> to the fans

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