I'm looking for opinions/suggestions on this small closet setup. The closet's main floor space is 3x3, with an additional raised side area that provides another 2x3. The main area (for flowering) is powered by a single dual ballast 400w, and the raised side area has a 24" Sun Blaze T5 (for clones and starters). There is an additional shelf above the raised area that is perfect for the ballast and carbon filter. The entire room is lined with double sided (black/white) plastic sheeting. These plants (Original Cheese and The Church) were started from fem seeds, and were at 23 days from surface break when the pics were taken. They spent the first 10 days under the fluorescents, and the last 2 weeks under the 400w. I use a 400w metal halide for veg, and will change that over to a 400w HPS when I start 12/12. They are in 3gal containers filled with Foxfarm Ocean Forest, and all nutrients are from the General Organics line from General Hydroponics. Although I almost always use Supercropping, these plants are not topped, except for one that I topped to keep its height in line with the others. They are approximately 8" right now, but quite bushy for their height. I would love to hear some opinions on my set up, and I am always open to suggestions that will help me maximize yield. I thought about doing 9 plants, with each one receiving a square foot of floor space, but decided to play it safe for the first cycle to get a better idea of what kind of canopy spread I can expect from these strains under a 400w. So, do you think these are ready to start 12/12, or should I give it a bit longer? Because of the reduced number of plants, I know I have plenty of room to stretch, but I prefer my plants to not be too leggy. I will install a screen down the road, when it becomes necessary, and I plan use the Sun Blaze T5 tubes to get some extra light under the canopy. I would appreciate any suggestions for maximizing yield in this area without increasing the wattage.
Very clean setup you got there. It looks like youve pretty much done all you can with that space. You might try putting white plastic on the floor to reflect wasted light back up under the canopy, you could even try painting the pots white. Ive even made reflective discs with a slot for the stem that goes under the base of the plant using white poly. other than that id say CO2 would be your next step.
Thanks tsharp. I thought about CO2, but with that space being as small as it is, I have to vent too often for CO2 to be much of a benefit. I think I have enough plastic left to cut a piece for the floor. I was planning to flip those T5s over and point them up under the canopy to also help the lower stuff. That's a good idea about cutting circular patches to cover the soil. I've done that in the past with rockwool to keep it from forming algae on it, but never thought about doing for reflective purposes. Thanks for the suggestions, and Ill keep updates posted on this thread.
I look forward to seeing your results! Id give those babies around a month for veg, youve got plenty of room and adequate light, especially if you plan to put the T5s below. Also you should look into Ceramic Metal Halide lamps for vegging, ive been using a 400w CMH in a mag HPS ballast for 4 plants with great results. My plants are a very healthy deep green and have been growing almost an inch a day! definitely worth looking into.
Thanks for the info. I've been doing some research on the CMH lamps, and I really like what I've read so far. The only problem is that they have to run on a mag HPS ballast, and I'm currently running a digital ballast so I can switch between MH and HPS during the cycles. When this current cycle is over, I will definitely be looking to get a mag ballast.
Four plants would be really crowded in this space, with nine you will get stunted small colas. Give the plants more veg and fewer plants for increased harvests. PW
Thanks for the suggestions poinstwest. Do you really think I can increase my overall yield by doing fewer plants (like 2 or 3?) and letting them go longer? The 400 does well in that space. It's chamber-like so there's great reflection going on, and I am planning to side mount 2 Sun Blaze 24" T5 units for extra lighting under the canopy. What do you suggest as far as number of plants, and pruning technique (should I top them or not, I've usually supercropped)? I appreciate any advice you have for me. And thanks again for the reply. Those girls of yours look awesome!
Since you have four in the grow room now, I would finish the four and see how well they fill out and the length and width of the colas in this configuration. When plants start touching each other the outward growth will stop. I always top once or twice to bush up the plants when in veg. I can't comment on the supper cropping, the only time I do this is by accident when I kink a limb tying it down. You should have plenty of light in the room with your setup. The smaller the pots, the smaller the colas size up. You could try two 5 gal pots one plant each, and grow the same amount of foliage as your four would produce, and the colas would be fatter and longer than the larger number of smaller pots. Any training technique will increase harvest also. You will have to experiment to see what fills one- third to one-half of the available height in the grow area the quickest. Don't rush to flower if you still have more veg space available. Your plants are looking nice at this stage. PW
You should check out Rumples single plant grow, he was able to harvest i think 12 zips from one plant in a 2x4' room! It definitely inspired me to make the most out of a small space. Rumpleforeskin's Single Plant Grow
Thanks again. I'm planning to use my existing hardware for a while, so some good training tips are exactly what I'm looking for. Based on your comments, I will definitely let them veg a while longer before flowering. I topped them yesterday, so I thought I'd give them another 10 days or so in veg before going to 12/12. I'll post some more pics right before I turn the lights back.
WOW! Thanks for the link to Rump's single plant grow journal. Now that's the kind of yields I'm looking for (aren't we all LOL). I got 8 o's from a single Big Bud plant before, but it was under a 1000w HPS, and in a Quantum hydro system. To think that Rump got that off a 400w blows my mind. I'll definitely be keeping an eye on his journals. Thanks again.
Here is a quick update. It has only been a few days since the last pics, but they are filling out quite nicely. I'm particularly impressed with how dense the internodes are on these. The pic I attached below is a 10" plant that had 10 internodes! I trimmed the bottom-most two, and took one off the top when I just recently topped them. I'm really hoping that those tight nodes leads to some dense fruit.
looking good im a late subscriber ill be watching to see how they turn out good job so far . i am 6 days into flower i cant wait to see buds.
Sorry I haven't been posting regularly. Things are looking good, though. I just took these pics today. They have been on 12/12 for exactly 28 days. They're starting to resin up nicely for being this early. I hate to guess about yields this early, and I'm not familiar with the growth characteristics of these strains, but I don't think I'll have a problem pulling around 2oz per plant (although I hope for a little more). At this point, my only real regret is not using bigger pots. I don't think they're root-bound, but next time I will go from the 3 gal. to 5 gal. tsharp - I just noticed your post requesting help with the girls. I'll post a reply later this evening.
Thats one beautiful canopy man! are you just using a single 400w? if so, what distance is your light from the canopy? Btw thanks for the input about my ladies, i hope the perk back up!
Thanks man. Yep, I'm using a single 400 watt ONLY. Its a digital ballast, so I am able to use both HPS and MH lamps. I started with the MH to keep them from stretching too much, then switched over to the HPS about 10 days into flowering (once they had finished most of the stretching that always comes after the switch to 12/12). The 400s don't get that hot, so its possible to keep them as close as 8 to 12 inches from the tops without burning, but at that range I noticed that the plants directly under the lamp were getting massive amounts of light, but the tops around the edges looked shaded. You have to find the sweet spot with your particular reflector. I found that when I place the reflector about 15 inches from the tops, the light is much more uniform across the rest of the canopy. I'd like to keep it closer, but it is important to keep it uniform so that the plants directly under the lamp don't outpace the others. After this cycle I will probably find a better reflector that will let me get a few inches closer without making the edges of the canopy suffer too much. Good luck, bro. Keep me posted.