growing in minimal space, I decided to go with SOG. I have one box, so I can run only 1 light cycle at a time, and I though I'd try SCROG in order to up my yeild. right now I can run 14 1 gallon bags vegged for max 30 days, but I think I might do better with 2-4 3 gallon pots vegged out longer. My strains are supposed to be good for SOG and cloning, but I'm not really seeing it. It seems like the bigger the plant the better so far. Any thoughts? I know SOG will put out more bud per year, but that's with a perpetual harvest and 3 grow rooms. Should I switch?
1 gallon bags are suitable for plants that are about 1 foot high. If they are any bigger you are going to want to give the plant a gallon of medium volume per foot of plant height. part of your yield problem may be here. Sog and Scrog are methods used to achieve the same result, an evenly distributed dense canopy. Your correct that SOG's primary benefit is to get more harvests in a year, since you are using plant numbers to make up for a lengthy veg cycle. What size light are you using? How big is the grow space? is it square or rectangular in shape? Keep in mind that if you switch to scrog then you are going to need to cut the number of plants down to a fraction of what its at, and you are going to end up making up for this plant number with a longer vegetation cycle. In my opinion, both techniques should yield equally well, its more a matter of preference, and what works best for your situation. A strategy you could try using is to top every plant so that each plant has two main stalks, then top those two so that you have four main stalks growing up. Once you are into flowering, cut most of whats under these four branches off and focus the plants energy to the 4 top colas. this is a good way to improve a traditional SOG.
I'm in a square box 4 ft tall with a 250w cool tube and 24 watt t5ho's in 3 of the 4 corners. it's roughly 3.5 x 4 the temp stays at 78-80 I know I should use more light, but that's not really possible for the space. It seems like I have a lot of space being wasted in between the main stalks at 70% completion they only have 2-2.5" diameter colas. It also seems like the most potent dense plants also have the worst overall yield. It just doesn't make sense. Maybe a bigger sturdier pot, and a more even canopy will help.
If u use square containers u can get 2 gal for jus about same space a 1 gal.Veg clones till bout 12" or so.Also having a aircooled 250 u should b able get it super close to the canopy 6-8in.Also a 400 watt should fit in your cool tube so ur dimensions should work.
if I had money, I might upgrade, but isn't there a significant heat difference off the bulb? I'm maxed out on heat right now. I can drop 2 degrees by loosing the t5's, but I don't want to buy a ballast and bulb if it's going to be to hot to use. I'm pushing 10 inches right now. I have it pulled up a few because I get a better spread. Of course the tall ones are on the sides by the cfl's and the short ones are in the middle all the girls are 10-14 inches, so maybe it is the pot size that's limiting me... I know I can't use 2 gallon bags and expect to keep SOG. I'm maxed out on space too. I'm pushing the limits the box can hold. I already had to cut seed trays to get everything to fit right. wall to wall. lol