I have a problem with consistently small yields. I have been doing this for a long time now and have had many quality crops come in, but they are always very small. I'm lucky to get 100 grams from a 1000w bulb. I know that is way too low. It's becoming barely worth my time and money to continue this. Growing is my passion and I would hate to have to stop. Please help me out if this has happened to any of u out there. -I am growing in a soiless mix and sparingly use the synthetic brand Advanced Nutrients. I know others who yield decent crops with the same feeding program as me. The weed tastes like shit sometimes but is usually good. -I keep my temps and humidity optimal. Many fans also circulate air well. -I flush regularly. Tap water is my primary water source, but I always let my water sit a long time and add some peroxide to help chlorine evaporate. - My PH levels are optimal in both my water and soil. -I constantly have an air intake pumping in fresh air for the plants. -My air outtake is a little small but it cost 150 bucks and moves a decent amount of air. I leave it on 24/7. Sometimes I worry it may be too small but can't afford a new one. -I haven't had a serious bug problem lately, as I now take precautions. -These are not sick plants. I tend to them every day and even though I am a little messy and get the occasional salt build up, they appear to be healthy and turn out good usually. - I have tried many strains which I have acquired through several sources. I have noticed massive differences in bud-weight but still nothing any where near what it should be. -These are not sick plants. I tend to them every day and even though I am a little messy and get the occasional salt build up, they appear to be healthy and turn out good usually. I did a hydro grow once and noticed a slight increase but it was a pain in the ass to take care of the huge reservoir. In the winter I use a propane heater as a Co2 source which I notice helps a little, but not enough for me to keep explaining empty propane bottles. -Do i need more Co2? My 1000w HPS bulb is getting very very old (1 year+). I never got big crops when it was new anyway. -Do I need new bulbs? What are the leading causes of small buds? What are the main factors which contribute to Bud-weight? Anything u can suggest would be a huge help. If u had this problem in the past, what did u do?
Definitely replace the bulbs. Those bulbs should be replaced every year of usage. Try getting one of the better HPS bulbs. How far do you keep your light from the plants? Are the plants grown in a grow room with reflective material to utilize all of thge light? What size bucket/pots do you bud your plants out in? This is gonna bother me cuz you shouldn't be getting shitty yields with the setup you described.
How many plants do you flower under the light? Try to get like 10 under that bad chicken How long do you veg? How big are your containers? Maybe switch up something in the way you grow, like your soil, maybe try SOG, I dont know but 80g is definitely unacceptable for a 1000w. Dont give up man, keep working at it. Maybe try a strain known for producing weight?
yeh curious too, how long do you veg for mate? & pot size is important for bigger yields, put plants into 7 litre pots will diminish yields, put into 15 litre pots a good veg period ,do all the above stuff you mentioned & you should get a bit more than what your getting for sure,quite a bit more. how long are you vegging for mate?
Hey Bigg, I run a 400w and get better yeilds than that. I think you need to ask yourself a couple questions, and I hate to state them: 1: What medium you are using and method Personally, I tried drip, waterfarm, E&F and lastly found that DWC gave me the best control and yield for my watts. 2: What are you doing wrong This can be environmental conditions such as heat, or frequency of monitoring your plants. 3: What strains are you using Personally I started with Blueberry cause 'it sounded good'... I have since switched to Serious Seeds Chronic due to the heavy feeding/yield these ladies provide. I shy away from sativa's for the most part due to the long flower and lower yields. Good luck bro - but whatever you do - don't quit.
Klutter, have you had a harvest of "Chronic" yet? Im gonna be getting that strain from Serious and I also use a 400w. Kind of curious how much you like the strain? Do tell. Sorry for the little hijack.
hey dude.. when you say your exhaust is a "little small" what does that mean exactly? Air exchange is absolutely key to good yields man. don't quit dude.. it's a great hobby, you already have the gear so let's get it worked out for you man.
I am growing in a soiless mix and sparingly use the synthetic brand Advanced Nutrients. (until you figure out your problem, i'd use a less expensive brand. no sense spending big bucks on small yields.) I know others who yield decent crops with the same feeding program as me. The weed tastes like shit sometimes but is usually good. (if your end product tastes bad, then you need to look at your flushing program. properly flushed weed tastes awesome.) I keep my temps and humidity optimal. Many fans also circulate air well. (you don't get specific with you ph/feed info. simply saying "optimal" values. optimal ph hydro is 5.8. soil ph 6.5. air circulation is very important.) I flush regularly. Tap water is my primary water source, but I always let my water sit a long time and add some peroxide to help chlorine evaporate. (after 24 hrs. of sitting uncovered, chlorine is evaporated. you don't need to add h2o2. this will kill any beneficials that are in the mix.) My PH levels are optimal in both my water and soil. I constantly have an air intake pumping in fresh air for the plants. My air outtake is a little small but it cost 150 bucks and moves a decent amount of air. I leave it on 24/7. Sometimes I worry it may be too small but can't afford a new one. I tend to them every day and even though I am a little messy and get the occasional salt build up, they appear to be healthy and turn out good usually. (you say your ph is fine, and that you flush regularly. how do you know you have salt build-up sometimes?) In the winter I use a propane heater as a Co2 source which I notice helps a little, but not enough for me to keep explaining empty propane bottles. Do i need more Co2? (unless you're in a sealed room, don't bother with co2. a good exchange of your growroom air, provides plenty of co2.) My 1000w HPS bulb is getting very very old (1 year+). I never got big crops when it was new anyway. Do I need new bulbs? (regularly replacing bulbs is a must. they only way to tell about bulb performance is to use a light meter. i'd say replace bulbs after 3 grows.) What are the leading causes of small buds? What are the main factors which contribute to Bud-weight? Anything u can suggest would be a huge help. If u had this problem in the past, what did u do? (are your buds small or just not weighing much? i usually grow 6 plants in 5 gallon buckets under 1000 watts. i always get over a pound. you should be in this range too. what are your temps. and rh? high temps. are notorious for harvest of light airy/fluffy buds. they look fine, but when cured, the weight just isn't there. there's a cause in there somewhere. good luck finding it.)
I have had high temps contribute to a really fluffy light crop before, so now I keep the teperature low. that is a good suggestion though. I usually veg them for a few weeks and they seem really healthy with big leaves. By the time i start flowering i usually have them in two gallon pots and depending on size will switch to a 3 gallon pot. I'm not getting binded roots. I have seen it before and know this is not the prob. I know its not my medium because I tried a hyrdo grow once with similar reults. I tried a few sog arrangements but they usually turn out worse. I'm talking like a 6 gram plant or some shit. It was awful. I tried blueberry once and found it to be fairly difficult to grow. Once I got some Super-duper nugs but the clones never turned out great. I have tried high yielding strains before but ended up with like say 40% more but it was nowhere near what I should be getting. As for my exaust I feel like it's a little small. I spent like 150$ on it and it's supposed to move 240 cubic feet per something? I can't afford to buy the next model up it's like 200 bucks. I don't even get that much $ from a crop when I'm done smoking. Besides, the room is fairly large and I go in it several times a day. Lots and Lots of fresh air is also being brought in 24/7. Could a build up of what the plants give off be so bad that it diminishes my crop by 9/10ths? I don't think it would? My first course of action will be to try a new brand of nutrients. I have always used the same one except for one time when I used advanced hydroponics and had worse results. Then, hopefully I'll get a good deal on a new bulb, but I doubt that will give me more than and extra 20% of what I'm getting now. If this doesnt work I'm gonna man up and spend like 400 bucks on a serious outtake exaust fan. Fuck that will suck. Any other suggetions would be greatly appreciated guys. keep 'em coming. Do any of u grow without Co2?
Personally, I only use co2 during the 2nd half of flowering. Ex: Flower period is 10 weeks, start using co2 on the start of week 6. (However, I do have a constant supply of air coming in) Interpret how you want. IM ASSUMING YOU ONLY HAVE 1 PLANT BECAUSE 100g under a 1000w with more than 1 plant is ABSURD AND YES A WASTE OF TIME/MONEY!!!! So im going to give you some good advice here that im sure many will agree with that: Will give you GOOD RESULTS, will be VERY SIMPLE to maintain, and will be CHEAP. Nutes: GH micro and GH bloom. (Can even throw in some Bcuzz Grow & Bloom) Feeding Program: Lucas Formula (search for it). System: Bubble Buckets (search rumpleforeskins tutorial) or use slabs with a top feeding recirculating reservoir system. Plants: Work with like 3 plants under that 1000w (1 slab with 3 plants or 3 buckets with 1 in each). BUT HONESTLY, 1 PLANT SHOULD BANG OUT A LOT MORE THAN 100g under a 1000w. There is so much light hitting the plant and reaching the bottom parts of the plant, it should be budding all over the place. GOOD LUCK and I hope this helps !!!!
Shit ur right. I havent checked in a really long time for light leaks. I'm gonna do that tonight as soon as my lights are about to come on. I hope that has somethign to do with it.
light leaks cause hermies which cause seedie bud and lower yield. dude your problem sounds to me like its mostly in your pots, they need way way more root space than 1-3 gallons, when they go into flower they have around 5 gallons. you say temps are optimal, what are they? what is the exact ph? whats the ph of the run off water exactly, what style of exhaust fan do you have, just a fan? an inline blower fan? squirel cage fan? hit us with the exact readings and we can help you much much more, pics would help a lot too
Im convinced you have light leaks. Everything else can fluctuate quite a bit before leading to absurd numbers like 6 grams a plant!! Thats fucking ridiculous.... As long as temps stay between 65 and 90, your fine. The humidity between 35-70% is fine... more towards 50% if possible and temps more so near mid 70s... tap water usually has acceptable pH. Try using a water filter also to remove impurities... Probably get a new fan before you decide to do that.... Again its definetly light leaks... The bulbs age will vary yield but I cant see a 1000 watt bulb only yielding 100 grams... about the size of your container... as long as your plants arent rootbound going into flowering, than you are in the clear... If they are, transplant, give them about 10 days to recover and get roots into new parts of medium, than proceed to flowering.... I find 45 days from seed is the perfect time to bring into flowering... Brings my plants to 4 ft tall each...
I'm thinking the same thing - sounds like light leaks. You say you used your nutes sparingly... what's that mean? What kind of feeding schedule do you run? If you underfeed the plants they'll give crap yields. I'm not saying that's the problem, they'd look probably like crap if you were, but let's rule that out.
hey bro, as AugustWest and others have stated here, stay with us until we can help you figure this out. how many plants are you growing under this 1000w? how far above the plant tops is this light hanging? Is it in a horizontal reflector? a 1000w hps should easily yield 400g+ in a 4' x 4' space. as a newb on my 1st grow in a closet, I pulled 14oz off 4 bag seed plants under a 1000w hps so I know it can be done. we just need to get your setup dialed in. something is definately not right. let us know about the light leaks issue. any chance you can show us some pics of your grow space, equipment, nutes, setup etc. that will help us better to help you. linedrivr