What is a Perpetual Harvest?

The Perpetual Harvest is a technique in which growers utilize multiple grow tents/areas to ensure that there are always plants in both the flowering stage and in the vegetative stage. Vegetative areas should have higher relative humidity (around 60%) and a 18/6 light cycle with a blue light spectrum, while flowering areas should have around 45% relative humidity and a 12/12 light cycle with a red light spectrum.

For example, we need to have about 90 plants harvested a month. In this scenario, the grower needs three areas: one for vegetation, and two for flowering areas:

  • Area 1: Vegetative area
  • Area 2: Flowering area
  • Area 3: Flowering area

You will need one more area if you plan to grow with clones. The following example allows you to harvest every month:

  1. We plant first 100 plants and let them vegetate for a total of 8 weeks in the vegetative area (or 4 weeks if you start with clones).
  2. We plant second 100 plants and let them vegetate for a total of 8 weeks in the vegetative area (or 4 weeks if you start with clones).
  3. At week 9, we move first 100 plants to flowering area and start new seeds or clones on the same day (at week 4 for clones).
  4. At week 13, first 100 flowering plants will be ready to harvest and second 100 to move to flowering area, and so on.

Perpetual Cannabis Harvest Pros and Cons

Perpetual Harvest Pros:

  1. Disaster Recovery. If you lose your flowering or vegetating plants to some unforeseen cause, you still have another set of plants who are already mid-growth.
  2. Employee costs reducing and temporary workforce avoiding.
  3. Harvests every month for a sale or processing and dispensing in the vertical integrated business.

Perpetual Harvest Cons:

  1. The process is more time consuming.
  2. More space required for rotation.
  3. Increase in electricity and supplies.

Perpetual Cannabis Harvest Schedule Sample

Perpetual cannabis harvest is essentially the practice of having all stages of your plants ready exactly when you need them. On the day of harvest, vegetative plants must be ready to install in the flowering room, and your clones must be ready to be moved to the vegetative room.

Cannabis Grow Room Calculator

To plan your growing schedule for each room individually, use our “grow room calculator” spreadsheet that we offer for all templates with cultivation. You can then use the results to calculate grow room costs and profits with our pre-populated cannabis cultivation financial model.

Perpetual Cannabis Harvest. Grow Room Calculator.

Cannabis Cultivation Financial Model Sample (New Jersey)

All you have to do to get started is enter the size of your grow room or rooms and the number of harvests per year. The model will help you estimate how much it costs to start and operate your own cannabis growing business, build all revenue and cost line-items monthly over a flexible seven year period, and then total the monthly results into quarters and years for an easy view into the various time periods.

How Much Does It Cost to Grow Cannabis Indoor?

In our cannabis cultivation financial models, we offer the option of perpetual harvesting and you can also choose one, two, three, four, six or more rounds per year depending on the size and design of your facility. For the perpetual harvest method, enter 12 or more harvests per year, depending on the design of your space.

cannabis cultivation financial model

Perpetual Cannabis Harvest FAQs

How long does it take to grow cannabis from clone to harvest?

Depending on the specific strain or cultivar, growing a cannabis plant from clones to harvest takes anywhere from 8 to 30 weeks, or about 2 to 7 months. Strains with a shorter flowering time are ideal for the perpetual harvest method.

How does perpetual harvesting work with autoflowering strains?

Because autoflowering strains can be grown under the same 18/6 light cycle during the seedling, vegetative and flowering stages, multiple areas are not required for perpetual harvesting. The two main disadvantages of using autoflowers are that they have lower cannabinoid levels and cannot be cloned.

'70% ready to go' business plan templates

We also offer Word document and PowerPoint pitch deck templates for your cannabis growing business.

Should you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact us


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