I'm trying to determine what yield limiting factors there are in my garage shelf setup. Here's what I have: Flower: 1 (x) 600w HPS cranked down to 50% (I presume 300w) in a 5' x 3.5' x 6.5'(tall) Veg: 3 (x) 125W CFL + 6 60w CFL in a 4' x 2' x 3.5'(tall) workbench lined with aluminum foil Temp control through power adapter for fan circulation = 75 – 80 at the tops of the plants 10 inch/2 gallon soil pots with FoxFarm organic General Organics BioThrive Bloom and BioBud booster (water suppliment at 3/4 strength) Also used BioThrive Grow during 4 weeks of veg My plants all started from seeds and cloned a few times from one mother which is now flowering…her daughters are now pregnant J with many cola candidates The pics below show week 4 flower of my original mother which we affectionately call “Betty” as her origin is currently unknown but damn, she’s strong and lemony potent. I feel like my main remaining issue is the distance between the monster 600w HPS at half power and the tops of my plants which is currently about 2 feet. If I crank up to 75% power (450w I presume) it yellows the tops of all new growth. If I crank it up to 100% which I did one time, it kills the plant in under a week – no new growth – all yellow leaves, like solid yellow but no crumbling or cracking, not hard to the touch – just jaundiced yellow. Can anyone or everyone please confirm the distance required between the tops of the plants and a high power HPS bulb with glass shield and plenty of heat dissipation? I feel like if I can get 600watts out of that bad boy my yield will considerably improve. Right now I’m averaging maybe 0.25oz per plant dried. It’s really good quality, just pathetic yield. I gotta be close to the promise land of poundage per 10 square feet indoors right? Right now I have 10 of these Bettys in various stages, all from the same mother, and 3 from a bag that's decent quality but the cloning has left it kind of puny so I'm discontinuing her strain.
I don't think the light is your problem . Your plant you show is Nitrogen Toxic from to much fertilizer . The random downward curling (clawing) leaves , twisted deformed leaves , burnt leaf tips and ruffling along the leaf sides are indicators . This affects your growth . You have a great soil that should not need any thing but water for weeks or months . Flushing the soil will help get excess nutes out Then water only for a cycle or two. Then 14 -1/2 the nutes you were giving it . I 'd grow no more than 6 in your flower area let them veg to about 1 1/2 - 2 feet tall , then switch to flower . . I'd use 3.5 to 5 gallon pots . Show pics of your babies in normal light
Thanks very much for the feedback. I can't get natural light but here are a few pics with normal CFL tube bulbs without discoloration. A little more history on this one, it is the original clone mother which is nearly 8 months old now and was looking kind of rough so I flowered her. Given the length of time in the soil her nutes were long gone so I have been using the BT Bloom at 1/2 and 3/4 strength with no discoloration. I'll take your advice and flush this weekend then mix the nutes at 1/4 this time...after all I need the boost for the yield or I'm still just whistling dixie. Do you think I should crank up the lights again and cut the nutes out - maybe that discoloration I got before was too much nitrogen as you said? I literally saw the leaves turn yellow in a few days and the plants were gone at 100% light @ 600watts with 2 feet between the plant tips. I also do flower at about 1.5 feet or 18 inches, maybe I can go a bit higher if I don't have to deal with light burn.
I ended up increasing the lights to 75% (450w) and flushed several times with unaltered H20. Here is a final pic of her bud. Cheers