2400 Watts How Many Plants?

[malik]

I've finally come to the conclusion that less is better. My yields have gone down enough that I finally came back to ICM to re-read my old threads and figure why my yields suck. I switched over to dwc 24/7 last Fall. I'm running a perpetual garden. (I'm starting to think that's part the problem. Every week I take 1 or 2 out and replace. So the flower room stays packed. I guess ICM'er have been saying for years is starting to sink in: LESS is more. Here's the room with 1800 watts pre dwc. (The good ole days!)

today it's packed with 2400 watt's with different strains and uneven tops. the temps get up to 94 in the day and drop to 80 at night. don't know ppm and temps gotta be above 70. so i believe i'm 'cooking' the roots to certain extent which is causing the yellowing leaves and poor root development and finally root rot.

So that's why I'm thinking about going back to soil until I build a chiller with reservoir. Soon I'd like to take a 5 day vacation and don't what to expect when I get back without a reservoir or helping hand.

I gotta get out of this slump. I used to grow ok, now my yields are lacking. Plus my electric bill is getting higher as the summer get hotter. So that I've figured things out I still got one problem (good one I think) all the cutting.

Need advise on how many plants max I should put in the room with 2400w? I've got 14 in buckets and 12 in bags. Way too much. Advise please.

I've got some cool air on the lights, but not much.




I've got a closet upstairs (600w) that's up and running too. Much cooler. Temps reach 84-87. Leaves green. I figure no more than 6 per 600 in 5g buckets.

 

[milehighmedical]

I wouldn't do more than 4 on a 600. Four girls will fill in the 3x3 beautifully. I'm putting 6 girls under one 1k and 2 girls under the other 2k... Could definitely fill out an entire 1k with one girl.

Check out SwampyNZ's grow, 4x 600's and I believe 16 Jack Herer's? Either way, great setup, great yield in that thread. Simple and cheap.

If you can't chill the water down to under 70F then don't bother with DWC. Till then soil it up with some 5 gallon buckets.

 

[malik]

Milehigh, I think I will soil it up. After looking at my flower room and how many cutting I still have my best option right now is to soil up. Don't have the $ or time to connect all the buckets. I know I need a recirculating system with chiller.
So I'll keep 4 upstairs dwc maybe 6 well see. The basement will be dwc till end of sept or oct. I'll soil it out till I correct the flowering room. I guess I should get some moms and not keep so many clones.

 

[twistednut]

I switched to flood tables about a year ago and run 24 plants per 3x3 under 3 sixes and getting just under 600g per light f and d seems a lot less temp sensitive as far as roots are concerend but 90 degrees is way hot for an ambiant temp. I love my sog and as long as I have genetics that grow good and yield this good with no veg I will never go back to dwc. I had major troubles with dwc and root rot due to res temps. I'm definatly not trying to dis dwc (it can produce awsome plants but it just wasn't for me.

 

[Lazyman]

Well, mathematically:

2400 watts at 50 watts per square foot gives you 48 square feet of illuminated room, or roughly a 7'X7' patch. I'm becoming a big bel;iever in short/no veg runs and SOG type grows, as you'll end up producing more actual bud per year due to increased harvest frequency. But, with buckets and bags, not an ideal situation.

I would put 15-20 2-3 foot tall girls under those lights, vegged probably 2 weeks, maybe 3 to get there. I used 3KW on a circular light mover over a 49 square foot are with r25 and it was really crowded, but I was vegging them a month in 3 gallon buckets and they finished at ~4' tall..

Hope that helps!

 

[milehighmedical]

Lazyman - The argument for SOG/shorter veg times is irrelevant if you can devote a small portion of your resources to a sufficient vegging room... of course where you are it goes by canopy. So any argument is irrelevant. Most places where plant count is an issue doing SOG is some risky business.

 

[FunkBomb]

Malik - I think you should look at your performance/plant and try to maximize that first. The best way to do that is to start with genes and the environment they grow in. Get those right and you'll be swimming in a green-sea.

I grow in a tent so I can get the environment near perfect. Once that happens, the genetics do the rest.

Good luck to you

-Funk

 

[Lazyman]

Lazyman - The argument for SOG/shorter veg times is irrelevant if you can devote a small portion of your resources to a sufficient vegging room... of course where you are it goes by canopy. So any argument is irrelevant. Most places where plant count is an issue doing SOG is some risky business.

Agreed on the plant count,don't want anyone going into this without their eyes wide open. BUT. I do want to take issue with the relevance of a veg room, at least in this case.

Having a dedicated veg room big enough to veg a couple dozen trees is no small thing, and would require a good deal of space, lighting, gear and maintenance, all of which is being used to grow plants, not bud. Even the best 1000W bulb and ballast won't penetrate a 4' tall plant well, let alone a forest of them. So though you may yield well (relatively speaking) per plant, your overall yield will still suffer a bit.

Wouldn't that big veg room be more productive as a second flowering room, and use that power and gear to grow more bud? I think it would, and not only would you have more frequent harvests, but short plants tend to have fewer problems (bugs, rot, etc) due to their short lives, trimming is easier, and less physical space, time and power is needed this way.

I dunno, I've been doing this for years and every year I just get more and more anti-veg. Seems a waste of time growing big plants, since you can still only smoke the bud off em, you can't smoke a 2" diameter stem!

Again, I'll acquiesce to the plant counts being a danger, and I know most aren't growing for sheer weight, but I think more folks on here do than care to admit it. Sorry for the long ramble!

 

[azpeen]

What are the dimensions of the grow room or the dimensions of the alocated walled space?

 

[globel]

1 plant

 

[globel]

maybe 2......

 

[lysol]

Pffft you can do a minimum of 2 plants _per light_

 

[malik]

twistednut, your the second person who's pointed me flood tables. at this point i'm down to try anything eaiser than this. i UNDERSTAND your dissing dwc. it worked great for me in the fall,winter, and spring. summer is problem for the reason you stated poor root development due to high res temps. thx.

lazyman, you said buckets and bags not ideal. What is ideal? lz you said short/no veg then you said vegged probably 2 weeks maybe 3 to get there? explain please. thx

funkbomb, i've just done that. purps and that's mainly what they want. everybody isn't a connoisseur like moi, but i've got so many strains. but i've learned i've got to dial back get thing running more efficiently. thx

lazyman, no ramble knowledge is power. i think your on to something. yes, i do have couple dozen clones vegging and your right it's no small thing. but i'm am 'wasting' some power and gear that could be used to grow buds. good point. great point. lz i think i'll be partitioning part of the veg room to flower. insight greatly appreciated

 

[malik]

azpeen, the basement is roughly 8x8. i still use the room for storage so that's a rough estimate.

globel and lysol TWO?? wow!

 

[Lazyman]

Hey malik, I just meant that buckets aren't ideal for a SOG, as they tend to space plants further apart than is necessary (sometimes by a lot!) In a flood table you can pack em in tight next to each other, lollipop the colas and grow a sea of bud. If you were going to use buckets, you need some veg time (2-3 weeks usually) to fill in the gaps between buckets, sorry I wasn't more clear!

 

[twistednut]

Lazyman is exactly right abou buckets and space I changed my entire setup from 8 buckets to two 3x3 tables and I'm a happier man for it just added the third light and table a couple months back. I'm trying to slowly get bigger as I learn how to care for bonsi moms and can produce enough clones to keep my tables full(which seems to be the hardest part of sog) good luck to u no matter what u choose to do.

 

[FunkBomb]

Have you thought of making some F1 crosses? The hybrid vigor makes one hell of a difference I've noticed. I made a cross of Mandala Hashberry x Nirvana Bubblescious and got a knockout. It grew like a bat out of hell. Not to mention the potency and plant size was incredible. I hit 2 oz/plant under a 400w HPS just growing tree style and trimming the lower offshoots. I hope this helps.

-Funk

 

[Lazyman]

Lazyman is exactly right abou buckets and space I changed my entire setup from 8 buckets to two 3x3 tables and I'm a happier man for it just added the third light and table a couple months back. I'm trying to slowly get bigger as I learn how to care for bonsi moms and can produce enough clones to keep my tables full(which seems to be the hardest part of sog) good luck to u no matter what u choose to do.

Man ain't that the truth! I have 7 of 8 4X4 tables with plants in em now, of all shapes and sizes. The only ones I like are the ones where my Ice plants grew into lollipops (all by themselves!) but anything bigger sags, falls over, has to be staked, etc.

My next run I'm gonna prune and lollipop until they all turn out exactly the same, nice even canopy and WAY easier to trim. SCREW THE BUSH!

 

[malik]

lazyman, got it. i feel like i'll be switching over too. and i need to slow down, but i got clones for daysssssssssss.

funkBomb, i'm not there yet. why? just haven't crossed that bridge (no pun intended). but i would like to see what purps and kahuana cross would look like. those two are most dense flowers in garden. but cheese and sweetooth taste good too. need more time for that experiment. but one day i would like to create my own crosses.

thanks all.

 

[Lazyman]

Oh man, I loved sweet tooth, one of the best strains I've ever grown, and I've done dozens. It would probably work VERY well in a SOG/lollipopped, veg em for 5 days, prune em when you flip and again 2 weeks later, then sit back and watch the big single colas take shape. Good chit mang!