Hey guys. I have 17 plants under a sunblaze 48, three sunblaze 21's and 120 watts of CFLs, all adding up to a total wattage of about 650 watts of fluorescent light on a schedule of 24/7 in foxfarm ocean forest soil, and forgot to use perlite though, but drainage seems extraordinary for not adding any airy mixture. They all sprouted about 10 days ago, and all my plants are 5" to 6.5" and have 4 to 5 nodes. About half of my plants already have side flowers as well. I'm looking to get about two ounces per plant, but hopefully more. When do you guys think I should flower? I'm thinking in 3 weeks, assuming my plants are going to slow their growth about 20% and I will start feeding them nutes on 8/10/12, about three weeks after they've sprouted. I'm fairly new to this, and just got my medical card and am also a caregiver for my buddy, so what I'm doing is perfectly legal. Do you guys think that switching the lights to 12 on / 12 off on the 28th would allow each plant to yield about two ounces or so? By the way, three of the plants are autoflowers, but they won't yield much anyways and the 12/12 switch won't hurt them from what I've read. PS: I won't be topping my plants, but will super crop them one week before flowering to allow ample time for recovery.
Yield varies so much since its dependent on everthing from you, lights, what kind of nutes everything actually. I would just focus on the grow do the best you can and you will figure out based on your set up what your yielding. Improve from there. Usually for most of us who grow regularly thats basically what we do.
That's the thing. This is my first grow. I have 650 watts of fluoros, adding to 52,000 lumens spread across 17 plants. 24-8-16 for veg nutes starting 1/4th strength in about a week, and foxfarm big bloom(.01-.3-.7) + tiger bloom (2-8-4) for flowering. I'm not looking for an exact, very definitive answer, just wondering if I'll make the cut for 2 ounces per plant? No chance in hell, possibly, most likely, or definitely will I get atleast 2 ounces each plant in your opinion. Assuming that the plants will each be a minimum of 10" tall when I start flowering. I know it's vague, but if possible can you give me a rough estimate? Thanks
Possibly lol. 7. Growing is not a exact science bro. It varies. Best answer I can give. I'm sure others will chime in. Usually though the common trait with 1st time growers is yield. You will have 1000 different things to go through over come between start and finish. Focus on a good grow and you will get a good yield. Be crazy and not provide your plant with a ideal growing enviroment and you will get a shitty yield. When you finally go to harvest cannabis is like making beef jerky you get like 3/4's weight loss from water evaporating to get your final dry yield.
In the Agricultural world they know precise numbers. Say Corn Farmers. They all get the same seeds from the same vendor..usually Monsato. They know if they water X amount a week, feed with X amount of nutes, and let it grow X amount of time they get 100-150 bussels per acre. We cant do that as there are 5 billion strains most no where near as stable as what that industry uses, then we all have crazy indoor set ups that all vary night and day. Thats why after your 1st run you'll have a reference for what you can do in that set up and improve change it based on that. When I started out was getting about 3/4s a ounce to ounce dry. Now Im getting about 2 to 31/2 ozs dry. That still varies though since like a dumb ass I keep trying new strains lol. Then Ive changed my lighting set up several times. Went from HPS to LED, then bought expensive LEDs. Ive also changed my nutes that I was using. Right now though for myself my set up is pretty stable in the gear and nutes I am using and I should be able to start accurately predicting my yield. The biggest impediment though to a grow is the person you see in the mirror to be honest. Look around on the forums and you see some nutty growers.
That is a lot of plants for 650w. When those things get big your light might not cover them all. Of course if you are growing from regular seed you will have some males that get tossed... The gold standard for Experienced growers is 1g/watt. As a rookie you would be lucky to get half that. I'm pulling for you, but I think expecting 2 zips per plant in your situation might be too optimistic. Just remember, bigger plants in bigger pots give bigger yields. Veg until your grow room is half full. That way when you flip, the room will be maxed out without being overfull and restricting airflow. And don't top the autos.
Alright thanks, how many plants do you think would be most proficient / efficient for the light setup I have?
Another really variable question. On average, for the average strain, with my grow setup that I previously described, how much bud would one get per plant if they were to go 12/12 from seed? I'm guessing a quarter or so, would I be correct?
4-6 probably closer to the 4 side depending on size. Every light has a area that it covers. 2x2 3x3 4x4 5x5. Even a 1000 watt HPS as big as that might seem has a limited grow area. Then as you raise it to accommodate plants you decrease the area that it can grow in. Higher the wattage the more heat you generate and have to add cooling. Its a game thats played with lights.
Okay. So, would I be able to successfully grow these 17 plants if I put them into flowering right now to limit growth, and next harvest I grow 4-6 full size plants, or maybe perpetually harvest 10 in a SCRoG?
I dont think you would be able to do 17 plants with that set up but you can try. You sound really anxious to grow. Your best bet would be to grow 3-4 so you can see a whole cycle. You sound like you read up alot but the best way to learn is to do. All sorts of things will come up you never thought about. From curling leaves, to nute issues etc. The goal is to dial into your grow so you know that this set up can produce this using that. Then go from there. If your satisfied with the outcome then you scale it up. If not change it. Alot of stuff dramatically effects stuff. I used to use Fox Farm nutes but found when I switched to Advanced nutes I had a dramatic boost in size. Used to use regular pots now Airpots to grow in. Etc.
Well, I semi-successfully grew one bagseed of northern lights with a single sunblaze 21. It just grew pretty slowly, so I thought that since the 48 is 20x more lumens I'd be able to grow much more, plus I have three sunblaze 21's now as well as 120 watts of CFL's.
So I bought quite a few seeds, and had 4 bag seeds of some bomb ass kush from before I had my med card, and they're already all just over 5 inches tall so I don't want to just trash them, and can't set them outside since I live in an apartment
T5s which is is what a Sunblaze is is good but probably the reason for slow growth. Light intensity which is a factor is much higher in HPS/MH and high end LED systems.
The sunblaze 48 is working pretty damn well for me. I couldn't imagine how much better an HID would be then haha. But are there special types of MH/HPS you must buy? I found MH and HPS bulbs at lowes for 15$ a piece and can most likely find a ballast there as well for around 20$ as opposed to buying a setup for 100$ at a hydro shop. Would there be any difference if the wattage is the same and spectrum isn't different?