What's the best way to start a large amount of plants, seeds or clones?

[Purple Jungle]

Yeah, my spots are easily accessible to me. I am also considering starting my seeds on site, my concern is that if I have them covered in a little 'greenhouse' it would get too hot during the day when the sun is out, and it will.
I think I would rather start them in the greenhouse in the second half of April, I guess, where I could also supplement light, and bring em out in May.

I am somewhat limited in space, but I have no problem whatsoever living in my bedroom for awhile if necessary. The thing is, no matter which route I take, I still need to make seeds anyway... and I need grow space for that. I guess I will end up doing both seeds and clones.

Regular people around me plant their tomatoes etc. by the 6th of May. We receive 14:20 of daylight on that date. The weather could remain good well into October and even November sometimes like this year.

 

[gorilla ganja]

Stick to your plan of not putting them out till late May. You probably want a minimum of 14.5 - 15 hrs including twilight of daylight to prevent early flowering problems, especially with early flowering strains.
I wouldn't over think it to much. You will learn a lot this season. Once you have a few strains picked that you like and that work well at your location the rest is easy. Well except for the preparing for a 100 holes.


Peace GG

 

[HorseMouth]

Agreed. I spend all winter flowering clones of different strains to get a feel. Root out hermies/males/easily stressed plants.
Gives you an idea for feeding schedule, ph of water the plant likes, etc....
Since we have a strict plant count policy, you have to make each and every plant that goes out the best possible plant.
I will take 400 clones to put 40 plants outside. I know it sounds ridiculous but it works, and I'm a Light Depper, so everything I do is 2 months earlier than normal OD full season peeps.

Clones of seeds you have determined to be worthy.
NEVER a clone from a dispensary that they claim is the Cron-Cron.

Peace

 

[SooperSmurph]

I would do a small closet to acquire mothers, then clone the living daylights out of them, 100 clones initially only need 1'x4' of space, and if you were to set up using adjustable shelves, you could spread them out and add more lighting as they got larger, transplant them into party cups, then once things were just a bit too much to manage it'd be just about time to get them outside.

You'll want to start your clones in March / April, depending on how fast rooting is in your setup, leaving you 2-4 weeks for time to root, then another few weeks for them to get solid enough to move outside.

 

[ceausescu]

If you have large amounts of seeds its clearly easier and faster than clones.

 

[Reformist]

The answer here is taking clones. Popping hundreds of seeds is for amateurs who don't know any better and want to be on vacation come November. Aside from the cost of purchasing so many seeds, the variation within the grow can be detrimental. There's more to a strain than just the final outcome. Especially if you're growing outdoor, you have to consider factors like the plant's immune system and it's resistence to boitritis or PM. Or the plant's life cycle in regards to when it will begin to flower naturally and it's flowering period so you'll know when the plant is truly at it's peak of ripeness.

The best growers I know keep proven mothers and focus on improving their ability to grow those strains. Cannabis seeds are like dog litters, even if the breeding stock is sublime, there will still be runts in the mix. And if it's about investing 6 months and at least $500 per bed, why would you not go with the alpha dog?

 

[ceausescu]

The answer here is taking clones. Popping hundreds of seeds is for amateurs who don't know any better and want to be on vacation come November. Aside from the cost of purchasing so many seeds, the variation within the grow can be detrimental. There's more to a strain than just the final outcome. Especially if you're growing outdoor, you have to consider factors like the plant's immune system and it's resistence to boitritis or PM. Or the plant's life cycle in regards to when it will begin to flower naturally and it's flowering period so you'll know when the plant is truly at it's peak of ripeness.

The best growers I know keep proven mothers and focus on improving their ability to grow those strains. Cannabis seeds are like dog litters, even if the breeding stock is sublime, there will still be runts in the mix. And if it's about investing 6 months and at least $500 per bed, why would you not go with the alpha dog?

No doubt man.It`s best to test the strains you work and select the best and clone the shit out of them but it takes a lot of time.
With good fem seeds there is little variation and it only takes 4-5 weeks to get them ready to go out.If cost of seeds is the problem just make your own seeds

 

[stoned-trout]

easy as hell....yeehaw..I don't mess with seeds for outside.. I pick moms in advance and cut clones...seeds waste space unless doing fems which I don't usually do

 

[Purple Jungle]

Different posters have mentioned Feminized seeds.
What about out the whole stress = hermie thing?
Outdoors in the wild anything could 'stress' them, be it even heavy rains which are almost a given.
Is that the case or am I mistaken?

I haven't encountered any info about serious growers using fem seeds and I assume there must be a good reason for that.

I'd love for someone to share more about growing fem seeds outdoors?

 

[ceausescu]

Different posters have mentioned Feminized seeds.
What about out the whole stress = hermie thing?
Outdoors in the wild anything could 'stress' them, be it even heavy rains which are almost a given.
Is that the case or am I mistaken?

I haven't encountered any info about serious growers using fem seeds and I assume there must be a good reason for that.

I'd love for someone to share more about growing fem seeds outdoors?

In my experience plants outside are less stressed.Its nature man its where they are supposed to be.

 

[ceausescu]

I have grown fem seeds outdoors for many years.Its the easiest way in my opinion.
But you must watch out because you might get some hermies or straight up males but if you have experience you can handle it.
I have only taken clones for the hack of it and breeding,i like hit and run grows and guerilla so i dont take clones for that purpose.Now i grow my own seeds and have no problems little pheno variation.And i can start 500 plants fast and keep the best 300.
But what suits your situation best is the best for you.

 

[BAKED_BEANZ]

fem seed is the way to go, i fought long and hard not to use fems . but after many years the sexing, is getting to be a pain in the seat. i,m going to just run some s1 next round if i get my arse organised to make them.

but starting out fems arnt going to be on option if your not making your own . unless you have the ticket money to buy several hundred .

i,ve test run many many many fems for testing outside . no issues . it comes down to who,s made them off course . like any beans . i even have a theory there,s less hermies in nature . its a plants natural environment . most of a GH i,m doing is fem , as i,m busy elsewhere . you do get the odd male or hermi . mainly early at pre flower . haven't had a one herm late in flower yet . doesn't say i,m not always on the lookout . but now fems have been around for a long time . my findings are less and less if any . when i first tested when they first came on the seen they were crap unpredictable . guys know what there doing now .

you start locking them up in rooms giving them what you think is the very best . well its still not nature . people say oh must have had a light leak in there room if they get a hermi . or is it the plants been stuck in a unnatural environment with everything run like clock work . thats another debate anyway and not a problem for me . i,m sure it would spark huge debate . but as i say i don't need too debate it as its not a concern for me . and off course there are plenty of guys running indoor that don't have issues too.

 

[ceausescu]

fem seed is the way to go, i fought long and hard not to use fems . but after many years the sexing, is getting to be a pain in the seat. i,m going to just run some s1 next round if i get my arse organised to make them .

but starting out fems arnt going to be on option if your not making your own . unless you have the ticket money to buy several hundred .

Several hundred or like 50 big ones vegged for at least 8 weeks,still faster than clones.
50 or 100 seeds is not a big invesment.Yeah its not money spent its money invested.They are worth the price making stable seeds is not an easy thing.
If you want to grow 500-1000 your best bet is to make your own its not hard just try it.

 

[Purple Jungle]

They are worth the price making stable seeds is not an easy thing.

How come?
I am yet to find anything on the topic, it should be simple genetics? I'd appreciate some additional info on that.

edit:

if we're selfing something, we have THE EXACT same genes we are "crossing"...

+
https://youtu.be/8QBVvmk1Fi4?t=50

The way things look, I will clone and self all of the good phenos I get. Or rather, self everything, test and select.


I was thinking of adding this earlier and I'll say it now:
To anyone who has grown weed and have been active on forums pre-2010 and earlier - do not assume your knowledge is still valid, things change, biggest example being fem seeds, they're considered safe now done with silver, reliable and easy to make.

I simply assumed that fem seeds are as they were and that's why feminized seeds were not even included in my original post. For the past month since I decided to start growing again, I was simply dismissing any information on fem seeds anytime I encountered anything related to that. I was quite pissed initially that half of the strains I wanted to get are only offered in fem variant and now I am trying to hold back that anger coming back, this time because of my ignorance.
Oh well...

 

[stoned-trout]

making a cs generator is easy...got pics in my gallery of mine....yeehaw

 

[BAKED_BEANZ]

keep it simple man ,

your starting to talk selfing now pheno hunting . lol that shit takes lots of time . its great to do something like that as a side project . in my eye,s its one or the other . theres all sorts of prep to be done sorting breeding projects, pollen collection , timing pollination the actual pheno,s you want to use . hahaha to reverse a plant to make sure your fem seeds are going to be stable . you need to stress test the pheno you want to reverse . it needs to have no hermi tendencies under heavy stress .

you could always hope for the best off course . and pollen chuck . but thats a lot of time wasted if your fems seed isn't up to scratch after you done .

grow this crop your talking about or breed the stock and the fem beans .

 

[Jellyfish]

fem seed is the way to go, i fought long and hard not to use fems . but after many years the sexing, is getting to be a pain in the seat. i,m going to just run some s1 next round if i get my arse organised to make them.

but starting out fems arnt going to be on option if your not making your own . unless you have the ticket money to buy several hundred .

i,ve test run many many many fems for testing outside . no issues . it comes down to who,s made them off course . like any beans . i even have a theory there,s less hermies in nature . its a plants natural environment . most of a GH i,m doing is fem , as i,m busy elsewhere . you do get the odd male or hermi . mainly early at pre flower . haven't had a one herm late in flower yet . doesn't say i,m not always on the lookout . but now fems have been around for a long time . my findings are less and less if any . when i first tested when they first came on the seen they were crap unpredictable . guys know what there doing now .

you start locking them up in rooms giving them what you think is the very best . well its still not nature . people say oh must have had a light leak in there room if they get a hermi . or is it the plants been stuck in a unnatural environment with everything run like clock work . thats another debate anyway and not a problem for me . i,m sure it would spark huge debate . but as i say i don't need too debate it as its not a concern for me . and off course there are plenty of guys running indoor that don't have issues too.

I also have fought and hard not to use fem. seeds, but you may have convinced me.

I run indoors and don't have issues, at least with regular beans.

It sure makes economical sense, buying packs of 10 guaranteed female beans, rather than the 50/50 shot you take with regular beanies.

Thinking out loud, hope it helps. peace, puff puff pass...

 

[BAKED_BEANZ]

i,m not out to convince anyone , lol i will always stand behind what i always say . test what you want to grow , if your happy grow more of it . seeing a fantastic bud picture of it somewhere doesn't mean its going to do that for you

 

[Purple Jungle]

I am basically just gonna self all females, if I like some then others I will use them instead.
I am still going to keep my clones in case it doesn't work out as planned and seeds are always an option thanks to some good people of the forums.

The thing is, my spot that I used last time some years ago (first of all - has became even greater, no traces of human activity at all) and it has huge potential, used to be a vineyard, I am even going there with a plower (not the tractor type, but the type that you push/"drive" like a motorbike kind of, don't know the precise word).
Now, this one is not easily accessible and I cannot be messing with males there. I can visit rarely, even though I am going to be driving there in the vicinity regularly watering thru a 300m underground hose. It's gonna take a lot of plants, I don't know if I can clone enough for it.
This place is my backup plan, cause the other spots are not far by each other and if the forest service somehow ends up there, I am fucked.

If I do clones instead, getting them all there's gonna be crazy. And we're starting to talk really hundreds of clones now, in total, that I need to veg in big enough containers so they don't get rootbound...
Seeds are better as people said and I could just start them on site earlier than clones.

So that's the case... If everything goes well, I am probably gonna tumble what I get from there cause I wouldn't be able to handle it otherwise.

Still in the process of planning obviously and I am open to ideas.

 

[NewAgeGenetics]

problem with seeds is that you will get different results on every plant even in the same strain.

grow from clones is harder but the buds will be the same from the same clone.

the best way to grow from seed than from clone the very best phenos.