need advice on how to improve quality and yield?

[there goes edro]

hey all. im always looking for advice on how to improve yield and quality.i havent been growing long so i figured i came to the right place for this to be answered.i was growing in a 3x3x5 area with a 400w mh/hps.mh for veg.hps for flowering once buds begin to onset.i have a 4in axial fan on a controller blowing in fresh air, and a 4in intake fan blowing into a homemade carbon filter.works okay but ill buy one online next time.i also have 2 little computer fans mounted just to blow air around.i grow in soil, normally veg for 30-45 days depending on strain.i use pureblend pro veg and pureblend pro bloom in flower.im thinking that boosters may help.
i flower out in 4 gallon pots. i average 1 1/2 to 2 oz per plant dry. i dont really know if this is a good yield because i dont talk about my hobby to anyone but have been reading and lurking in the shadows here for awhile.im kinda paranoid and my wife tells me that posting will probably get me busted, but fuck it.i just want to grow the best possible product for myself because these streets are full of people pedaling sticks and stems.any advice appreciated, sorry for rambling on but im buzzin.

 

[supermanlives]

i get 2 oz in one gal growbags

 

[ColoradoOG]

Your on the right thinking path. Boosters would be the next big thing for you on yeild if your only using base nutes. Then i would spend time looking at training techniques

 

[Maj.PotHead]

i use fo farm ocean forrest soil with a 12 quart bag of perlite added.
veg ferts are
pure blend pro grow
grow more seaweed extract

bloom ferts are
pure blend pro bloom
and dash of powdered koolbloom here n there

i use a 1k aircooled hood 6 inch ecopluss inline exhaust fan 6 in insulated ducting.
i pull air through my can33 carbon scrubber through the ducting through aircooled hood and exhaust into attick. i have a 5x7ft closet i use 4x4 corner of it last yr i flowered 12 plants in 2 gal bags every run. averaged 1 and half pound each run, my best from 2 gal bags was

1 memoryloss strawberry desiel pheno 120 grams dry 60 day run
1 decapation 130 grams dry 68 day run

you need to have temps under control and proper ventilation

Ventilation 101 https://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?t=112862

i grow in soil and keep my waters ph being given to the plants 6.5 with and with out ferts in it. proper ph is mucho important @ 6.5 in soil all nutrients are available to the plant

i grow from clone i choose from seed i veg under cfls for approx 50 days i start fresh rooted clones in 10 oz solo cups. i transplant upto 2 liter mtn dew bottels and finial transplant into 2 gal grow bags. object is to build a proper rootmass up in stages this allows the plant to grow faster rootmass = yield

heres a link to the 400 watt clubb tad over half mill views over 2 thousand replies mucho info in there. 400 watt club... https://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?t=21967&highlight=400+watt+club

 

[señorsloth]

ya 4 gallon is super overkill for a 400w unless your only growing like one plant in a big scrog...400w hps will usually produce decent bud about 8-12 inches deep depending on the strain and growing style. if you let your plants get more than 2 feet tall you will find that more than half of your plant are bare stems or popcorn buds by the end. with lower wattage lights i usually prefer a tightly spaced sea of green, with clones spaced 5 inches apart in beds, flowered within a week of transplant. my setup is a 400w hps in a 2x3x4 foot cab, i have two rubber-made style tubs that fit the entire bottom of my cab perfectly, with plenty of drainage added they are now my new grow beds, set for a half and half perpetual setup, as apposed to my last harvest which yielded just under 9 ounces, with 18 plants in 1.5 gallon grow bags...figure for a beginner with new strains about 8 ounces should be attainable, but if you really get good with your setup and your strains of choice you could eventually pull almost double that in one harvest off a 400w hps. imo a one gallon smart pot or grow bag will handle a 2 foot plant just fine through budding, and unless you are vegging longer and growing fewer plants lst or scrog style you shouldn't need more than a gallon, but 4 gallons per plant is just wasted space since your average plant can get by on much less than that, and smaller pots can mean more plants if you want to go down that path.

 

[DiscoBiscuit]

hey all. im always looking for advice on how to improve yield and quality.i havent been growing long so i figured i came to the right place for this to be answered.i was growing in a 3x3x5 area with a 400w mh/hps.mh for veg.hps for flowering once buds begin to onset.i have a 4in axial fan on a controller blowing in fresh air,

IMO, you should modify your air system. Your fan should be above the canopy sucking warm air out. Intake should be down low. You won't need a fan to suck air in, this is known as passive intake.

and a 4in intake fan blowing into a homemade carbon filter.

Your scrubber should be on the exhaust fan, otherwise stink will bypass your scrubber.

works okay but ill buy one online next time.i also have 2 little computer fans mounted just to blow air around.i grow in soil, normally veg for 30-45 days depending on strain.i use pureblend pro veg and pureblend pro bloom in flower.im thinking that boosters may help.
i flower out in 4 gallon pots. i average 1 1/2 to 2 oz per plant dry. i dont really know if this is a good yield because i dont talk about my hobby to anyone but have been reading and lurking in the shadows here for awhile.im kinda paranoid and my wife tells me that posting will probably get me busted, but fuck it.i just want to grow the best possible product for myself because these streets are full of people pedaling sticks and stems.any advice appreciated, sorry for rambling on but im buzzin.

1 oz per gallon of soil is a general goal and some growers do better than that. best wishes. BTW, tell your wife the servers are in the Netherlands and not subject to US law. Always use https and your comments, pics etc are encrypted. Don't leave bookmark, user name and password shortcuts to ICMag. Type that shit in manually. Always log out so your cookies are deleted. LEO might get their hands on your computer but you won't have all the signs you've been here. Keep your personal info private and you shouldn't have anything to worry over.

 

[there goes edro]

Thanks for all the advice fellas!Yeah, Disco Biscuit i had to take my cab down for security
reasons but Im looking into redoing everything in time for some Christmas time buds. Im sure Ill do more plants smaller container, your logic makes sense.

 

[Shcrews]

good advice from disco,


also just keep reading the forums, ICmag and wherever else you can get questions answered. good luck

 

[there goes edro]

Yeah!This is the coolest hobby ever!Just wondering would the ph meter be worth the
investment.I never check it, trying to keep shit simple but if it is will help improved the finish product I will purchase.Im looking forward to starting my first grow log next time
around hopefully some of you will pull up a chair and chime in a my progress.

 

[Biatchzxz]

Hey good luck on your journey. Def a good place to learn a lot from people who are very knowledgeable. Ur on the Right path. We've all Been there. An yeah there's tons of ways to improve your skills like others mentioned a few different ways. PH is def important. It can never hurt to have a ph meter handy. It's usually a MUST have tool. I've done the eyeballing game too but why guess when there's something that could be precise. And you know for sure plus it will help you get to know more detail about what does what and why

 

[Maj.PotHead]

Yeah!This is the coolest hobby ever!Just wondering would the ph meter be worth the
investment.I never check it, trying to keep shit simple but if it is will help improved the finish product I will purchase.Im looking forward to starting my first grow log next time
around hopefully some of you will pull up a chair and chime in a my progress.

i refer to post #4 proper PH is mucho important read the links provided

i started off with a 400w hps then got a 400w mh to run alongside the hps then upgraded to 1k and havent looked back

 

[there goes edro]

Thanks for all the cool advice.Yeah major Im reading the vent 101 tread, very informative. I just dont know how to light proof the passive intakes.Maybe ill post in growroom designs for some help.

 

[mark lar]

I've build several light proof passive intakes in the style of a dark room louver using just a few things from a bigbox retailer. These louvers are 1/3 the cost of online retailers' products, look clean, and couldn't serve the purpose better.

The basic design uses metal corner beading, black spray paint and a bonding agent of your choice. (Epoxy and hot glue work well, but you can definitely tape everything together with almost no hit to performance). For tools you'll need a hack saw (cheapest) or a good jig saw (fastest).

I don't know the exact dimensions of the beading I use, but it's hard to get it wrong. Grab one of the thinner choices, but not the thinnest and you'll be fine. The idea is minimally interfere with airflow while blocking a maximum of light, so make sure the beading is wide enough (3/4" - 1" recommended minimum). Spray paint the beading black to block light. Cut the beading down to 8" sections and stack them, using washers, scrap metal, or whatever is handy as spacers between the layers of beading. Be sure the spacing is consistent, stable, and bonded to the beading. Done.

That's really it. There's a thread somewhere here or elsewhere that gives a pictorial description of the building process, if you need a better picture of it. Definitely worth your time to check it out.

Good luck!

 

[The Phoenix]

First of all, I would look at the bigger picture. I would start by looking at the per bulb yield first, and the type of plants you are running.

For 400wts, you should be pulling 400 grams minimum once dialed in, (Near 1 lb would be ideal). Quite honestly, most growers don't reach this.

So how does a grower clear 1 gram per watt? More plants, and the right type of plants, or grow method.

I can fit 16 flowering plants easy under 400wts in a 4x4 pot configuration, and pull an oz or greater per plant. The key is to find plants that have small floor footprints, or do lower branch pruning to keep the footprint small, and concentrate your efforts on pulling the weight from the main stem.

Right now we are pulling well over 42 oz's per bulb with Sour Bubble under each 1kw lamp. This is high potency but rather low yielding plant on a per plant basis, but when configured in a 2 gallon 6x7 pot (42 pots) configuration under 1kw, it's very easy to yield greater than an oz per plant.

The main problem I see is, can you deal with the numbers? If your not pulling a gram per watt, then your grow strategy has room for improvement.

 

[there goes edro]

Thanks Phoenix. Ive been thinking about that sour bubble. How long do you veg for? I read that sour bubble isnt much of a yielder but quality is what counts.

So far I need to reconfigure my ventilation, invest in ph meter, start more plants in smaller containers, add boosters, and keep studying, got it.

 

[The Phoenix]

Thanks Phoenix. Ive been thinking about that sour bubble. How long do you veg for? I read that sour bubble isnt much of a yielder but quality is what counts.

So far I need to reconfigure my ventilation, invest in ph meter, start more plants in smaller containers, add boosters, and keep studying, got it.

Sour Bubble is a long vegger, which is the down side, and it's a 7-8 week veg plant from seed, but you can knock a few weeks off veg time if your running from clones.

I have most of my grows based on Sour Bubble, but I've been running them since 2004, so that's how I figured out how to maximize the yield with them.

I was running them for many, many years before I discovered going tight pack configurations with smaller pots is the way to go, and I've tried just about every way with organic soil.

I will only use plants that have small floor space footprints for indoor grows so I can pack them in as tight as possible. 16 plants (4x4) for 400wt in flower, 30 plants (5x6) for 600wt, and 42 plants (6x7) for 1000wt, in 2 gallon containers with a good strong soil recipe.

I found many plants out there fit the requirements for tight pack SOG configurations. No topping, training, or special treatment required to get large per bulb yields if you choose the right plant. Dutchgrowns Sweetest Cindy 99 and her Witches Weed fits the bill for this configuration also.

 

[Biatchzxz]

If you havent already checked it out.

ICMAG'S OFFICIAL ~DIY~ LINK-O-RAMA

http://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?t=40637

Great Thead Lots of info. And great do it
Yourself. Could def help you or even give you ideas

 

[Pyramid]

So far I need to reconfigure my ventilation, invest in ph meter, start more plants in smaller containers, add boosters, and keep studying, got it.

Hey,

Try to use a ventilation fan that will recirulate the air at least once every 3 minutes. You can determine this by calculating your cubic feet 3 x 3 = 9 x 5 = 45cuft

and taking the CFM of the fan /2 (for the filter)

given your space it would seem like any size of inline fan pulling ~ 100 cfm should be fine.

Next you want to make sure that the homemade filter your using is actually scrubbing. Youll need a 1.5 - 2 in layer of granulated activated carbon to get rid of the scent. The best configuration is to use the most surface area so making a dual cylander type of filter similar to a turbo engine intake gives the most pulling power. Having a flat bed of carbon really reduces the intake.
Test it by puffing a nice bowl and blowing it infront of the filter.

If i was you I would use 10in 3ltr pots and run 9 or 6in pots and run 25 plants. You dont have alot of headroom (about 2ft of grow space) so i would flower when they reached approx. 10 -12in


One of the best things you can do to improve quality is to make sure you find a great plant to work with. Selection is very important and unless you have access to proven clones, its just trial and error. Once you find "The One" you can dial it in and really take off.

I dont think the PH pen is a need to buy item unless your running hydro. I used PBP and it seems very stable PH wise.
Id add Liquid Karma and Hydroplex to your line if you wanna upgrade the nutes.

Lightproofing a intake is extremely easy. Just make a 180 degree turn in the duct. I use a vent cover and cardboard to make a light trap.

Good Luck man!

 

[there goes edro]

Thanks Pyramid homie!Next run ill purchase a can33 filter and see how that works.Any advice on any strains that might perform well under my limited space.So far Sour Bubble and Sweetest Cindy99.Two strains that Ive been eyeing for sometime now.Perfect!