chris, i have 2k in a 7'x4' area, enclosed on 3 sides. while i did purchase 2 xxl magnum reflectors, after seeing numerous success with bare bulb grows (heath, lazy, krunch) ive decided to try it for myself.
i was gifted a pack of ak fem, planted 4 of 6, 1 of of 4 was a mutant. i actually grew her out for a while, but she was taking space from the healthy phenos so i had to vote her off the island.
i dont fully encase the grow area, leave the open side for fanning air. all other 3 sides are mylared, plus the bulbs and ballast are spanking new. havent thought about staggering, but i will look into it. my ultimate goal is to have a 6-8k grow with staggered hps/mh vert. i estimated the stretch accurate, plant tops are just below the bulbs. kinda excited to see how they fill in, looks like it might be real nice. the potency of ak is unreal, why i always run it.
when i was a mod over at serious, i told simon he should change to slogan to ''believe the hype'', lol.
definitely a bush man myself, love seeing how much i can get from 1 plant. while some would disagree, defoliating isnt a ''high yield'' method. it does encourage extremely heavy branching, but i would only do it 1 or 2, then allow them to fill in flower. from the disappointing results from my last grow, i over worked the plants and ended up with less. growing these with regular pruning methods will prove to be much more rewarding.
Depending really on the strain and amount you defoliate.
In my current hydro thread I displayed extream defoliation and 3 days later it barely looked like I touched them,that was with the lvpk tho its a pretty Damn resilient.
yhea, green, that was a noticeable trait between the 2 strains was how much it slowed growth for a few days. by the 3rd time i defoliated, i had swathed up 100's of clones after 2 weeks at 12/12. say defoliating once or twice would be more beneficial than perpetual pruning.
ill read your thread you mentioned, definitely appreciate when people take the time to explore new ideas.
im always open to the fact ive been doing it wrong for years
annual preventative maintenance yesterday; pretty sketchy having 2 workers and the apartments adm snoop through the place. received a 3 day notice, contemplated tearing everything down. with 10 more days of probation left, not even weighing the risk. after the initial shock of the notice was seld sedated, started brain storming on what to do... already 2 months behind on my next crop, down to my last 8grams of stash, starting over would be painful as it would be stressful.
woke up at 5am, started cleaning the place like i was going to have surgery in it. floors, carpets, counters, everything was hit with a generous amount of cleaning products. opened up another vaportek can(3 cans... first) and borrowed my friends pitt to put into the room. had my girl call the office and inform them she had no where to put her dog, so she would be LOCKING him in the room. wasnt too sure i should stay or not, but i decided i would otherwise i might never feel comfortablecoming home again. ever. eventually they came, offered them something to drink, apologized for the crazy dog barking (the woman said ''my that sounds like a mean boston terrier'') and suffered an awkward conversation about the game i was playing on ps3.
definitely hairy next few hours, but all is well. actually started sweating when i heard them walking towards my door... damn! crazy shit...
new pics, about 22 days into flowering here. the one on the far right is a little over 7ft from the floor, few side branches and about 6 main colas, going to be huge.
im 6ft, and this is me looking up.
close call on the flowering height.
really impressed with the versatility of tee pee's for support. allows you to place any bud as close or as far away as you want, plus the mobility of moving each plant individually.