Thoughts on a new room design, input pls.

[St3ve]

say your hanging a HPS 600w light vert, but its along a wall or in a corner. Say its surrounded 180 degrees by plant and 180 degrees by tent wall

Sure if you have a reflector already then use it. As long is there is enough clearance as to not burn/melt the tent by a hot reflector.

That said, I would NOT run out and make a special purchase for a hood for this purpose. The walls of the tent already reflect, so the only benefit from doing this is the fact that a reflector is closer to the bulb which means the reflected light is closer to the plants which means you're being more efficient with your wasted lumens. Not enough though to merit running out and buying a new reflector IMO.

Another option, one that I use as well, is tape sections of reflectix to get better reflection in the weird corners.

 

[DaveTheNewbie]

Another option, one that I use as well, is tape sections of reflectix to get better reflection in the weird corners.

not a bad idea at all

 

[RM - aquagrower]

Altho I've never tried hanging a hoog vertically, the general opinion here from the old vets is that it is not a good idea, as the hood will act as a big "heat sink" and make controlling temps even harded.

 

[DaveTheNewbie]

Stretch

Stretch

ok so heres a question regarding the stretch phase of a plant :

say hypothetically you have 2 identical plants. They are both flipped to 12/12 at the same time and the same size. One gets 400w during stretch and one gets 1200w.

does lumens affect stretch much or does a plant stretch a genetically determined amount (say 50%) during stretch? What are the other differences (internode distance for example)

 

[DaveTheNewbie]

ok so its 1 week till harvey on my 2 querkle (ole faithful) and a new strain im trying (Ace of Spades) in between

Its looking like my best harvey yet, even tho the new strain isnt going to yield like the other 2.

This is thru the hottest time of year in one of the hottest places on earth.

Its supporting my theory that IN MY ENVIRONMENT defoliation is a bad thing.
Leaves do more than just act as solar collectors. they are essential in transpiration. Im growing in as hot and dry an environment as ive ever seen, and leaves are essential for this.

Anyway photos in a week of the awesome harvey !

 

[DHF]

Good luck Dave....and yeah.....Leaves are indeed the transpiration highway for the plants , and if yas can`t control environment then what`s left after defoliation once stretch is completely over evidently enough for your girls down under till end of cycle......but....

With dialed environment , all that`s needed are the sugar leaves juttin out the colas with smaller to medium size plants , and hey.......Those sativa-zilla`s yas got growin might need all the help they can get transpiration wise after stretch........

I will say this.....I`ve never advised anyone in my remembrance to strip leaves off big plants except the big one`s shadin budsites along with sucker branch removal but , rather open em up/tie up for optimum breathing and lumen penetration/absorption......

Good luck and here`s hopin fer a good Harvey.......

Pesace....Freds.........

 

[megayields]

Sure if you have a reflector already then use it. As long is there is enough clearance as to not burn/melt the tent by a hot reflector.

That said, I would NOT run out and make a special purchase for a hood for this purpose. The walls of the tent already reflect, so the only benefit from doing this is the fact that a reflector is closer to the bulb which means the reflected light is closer to the plants which means you're being more efficient with your wasted lumens. Not enough though to merit running out and buying a new reflector IMO.

Another option, one that I use as well, is tape sections of reflectix to get better reflection in the weird corners.

Dave...I think Steve's idea might work but you HAVE to get that environment under control, but I feel yah bro on the "being broke" part....I doubt their are too many here who don't know what that's like!

 

[St3ve]

ok so heres a question regarding the stretch phase of a plant :

say hypothetically you have 2 identical plants. They are both flipped to 12/12 at the same time and the same size. One gets 400w during stretch and one gets 1200w.

does lumens affect stretch much or does a plant stretch a genetically determined amount (say 50%) during stretch? What are the other differences (internode distance for example)

No, plants do not have a set amount that they HAVE to stretch. Yes some plants stretch more than others, but those same plants could also stretch less compared to a different plant of the same strain.

I have never actually tried something like this (400w versus 1200w) but here is my understanding and theory:

Plants stretch towards the light source when they are craving more light. Similar to leggy plants under low light compared to shorter nodes under ample light. When you change the light cycle to flower, the plants are getting less lumens per day than they were before so they start stretching towards the light to get more lumens from being closer to make up for the lumens lost by hours of the day.

So in theory lets discuss this example:
400w veg light for 20 hours could deliver a total of 30k lumen over the course of the day.
1200w over 12 hours could deliver a total of 54k over the course of the day.
(Obviously there are a lot of variables but this is just assuming that the plants are getting 3x the lumens on a shorter day)

If this was true, then the plants may not stretch at all for more light. The problem though, is hitting your plants with 3x the lumens all at one time which will shock and burn the shit out of them. (I know, I've done it) The plants are like machines in that they have their internal cycle to process nutes and photosynthesis. WHen you dramatically change either of those (nutes or light) the plants with burn and stress from the shock to try and change the cycle to keep up.

So the "perfect" way to prevent or minimize stretch would be to slowly change your lighting over the course of a few weeks from 18/6 to 12/12 while maintaining a slow increase in light matching lumens lost by less hours of the day. I do know that this works because I have tried it and I was shocked to see how little some of my stretchy strains (sour diesel) actually stretched.

Few other observations from my own grows:
When I go from under 400's to under 600's right when I flip, I get less stretch then if I was already vegging some under the 600's. If I veg under 600 then flip to 600 then I get more stretch. If I veg with 1k's for a few weeks, then flip under 1k's I get the most stretch.

What I do to minimize stretch for me (if that is what I want to do, because sometimes I WANT some stretch) I will veg under my 400's and use my light meter to measure lumens. Then I move them to flower room under the 600's and measure the lumens so they are around 50% brighter. (meaning of I get a reading of 2k on my meter, I will shoot for 3k at the time of flip) Its a bump up in light intensity, but not so much as to burn them. Then after a week, I bump the lights to 750w, then a week later 1k. (I change out the bulbs for each wattage, I do not dim 1k's down) I will then leave them at 1k, and around 5k lumens for weeks two and a half to six and a half. Then at around ten days till harvest (at week 6.5), I drop the lights to 750 and cut the nutes. Then at around 5 days I'll drop the lights to 600 and continue dropping the nutes until the very last watering where I go plain water.

Sorry for too much info, but I was already talking about how I did the lights for stretch so I just finished the whole run.

 

[DaveTheNewbie]

Awesome St3ve, im going to have to digest that.
I dont mind some stretch, but ive got hellish issues with internode distance due to the good ole environment.
But my internode has shrunk to maybe 1/3 since moving from blumats to the PPK. The plant is actually shortner now, if ALOT bushier.

 

[hotboxes]

^^^^ I think thats because the plant is staying at an even growth state and not fluctuating from runaways and under watering caused from trying to dial in the blumats. the least amount of stress a plant endures during its life the better the end product. as soon as you get all of the different stresses inline you will see your plants in a new light for the first time.

 

[DaveTheNewbie]

Damn Lazy Assed Stoners

Damn Lazy Assed Stoners

damn lazy assed stoners

harvey on sunday, it wont be a lazy day im guessing ...

 

[DaveTheNewbie]

Holy Shizit

Holy Shizit

mind blowing experience : trimming!

i actually enjoyed trimming today for the first time in 5+ years.
There was no larf at all. It was like picking egg sized apples of a tree.
There were no sugar leaves except on the tips of branches. The smallest nuggets were 1.5 inches across.
It is the biggest harvest i have ever had. The drying rack that i have been using since i started this thread is full to overflowing. I mean i cant get anything else in there. Its also too heavy to hold itself up, the velcro tab cant hold this much weight.
If i pulled 1.0 GPW in earlier grows, im going to be devestated if i ONLY get 1.0 GPW this time round.

Its that much better a harvest then i have ever experienced before. By a huge margin.

And it only took me 3.5 hours instead of the usual 6-7. Agent orange is a pig to harvest, querkle is always better. But this time its off the charts.

so weight? Your going to have to wait for it to dry as posting wet weights is a waste of time, and anyway it was too big + heavy to weight

so why is it better? Well with bluamts ive had flood/dry cycles for ever. I figured fuck it, and just flooded everything and kept it flooded. It was a hugely inefficient way to do things regarding water + nutes, but they dont cost shit anyway.

Here is a photo of my drying rack tied up with string to a clothes dryer to keep it off the ground :

 

[St3ve]

interesting.. can't wait to hear dried weight fo sho

 

[420ish]

congrats!love it when you dont get any larf,makes trimming soo much easier!are you running any agent orange for the next batch?curious to see if what your doing helps with that strain.

 

[DaveTheNewbie]

congrats!love it when you dont get any larf,makes trimming soo much easier!are you running any agent orange for the next batch?curious to see if what your doing helps with that strain.

the cut i had of agent orange was complete shit and ive thrown it away. never again.

rope/viney branches, tiny buds, leaves everywhere to trim, just an all around PITA come harvest time. And it was nowhere as strong as the querkle either.

 

[frankenstein2]

Man, that's alot of nice nugs. So do those clothes bins work good for drying? I have a rack, but it's a pain in the ass to set -up, and it get's in the way.

 

[DaveTheNewbie]

Man, that's alot of nice nugs. So do those clothes bins work good for drying? I have a rack, but it's a pain in the ass to set -up, and it get's in the way.

seems to work.
when its full like this i have to turn it over every day or so, no big drama

EDIT : just to give you an idea of weight

I weighed it all up today. Thats 4 days on the rack. ITS NOT DRY YET. But it has lost alot of weight already.
1572 grams / 55.6 ounces @ 1.75 GPW (900w)
thats 3.48 pounds.

I KNOW IM GOING TO LOSE ALOT MORE WEIGHT YET. But im wondering if around the 3 pound mark is feasable? Thats 1.5 GPW or 2 pounds per 600w light.

DOUBLE EDIT : its now friday and im down to 1040g / 36.7o / 1.15GPW. Still drying. Well under the 3 pound mark.

 

[DaveTheNewbie]

well ive moved the PPK to flower and ive filled the veg tent back with blumats.
I tried putting a second PPK into the veg tent but theres too many issues and problems.
I still dont believe that recircing coco works. Sure people do it, but i doubt they check thier shit.
Ive been told, ive read, and ive experienced recirc coco raising EC and lowering PH over time.
In the 4 weeks ive been running a PPK the EC has gone from 1.2 up to 2.0 and the PH has dropped from 6.0 to 5.4. Whats going to happen in the next 8 weeks of flower? Well we shall see.
Plus moving a PPK from room to room is a bitch. The pipe clamps get stuck on everything, the lids from different PPK resses dont match holes, moving things sucks, and the new pump i bought for the new system didnt work.
Until i can prove to myself that it will work in my setup, im still looking for my perfect grow system.
It may be that i just cut holes in the tents to allow retic pipes thru, run pure zeolite, and run 1 big tailpipe per PPK. I think thats the only way i could make it work long term for me.

Anyway im growing 1 plant in a 7 gal smarty with 4 (YES FUCKING 4) blumats in the 1 pot. Maybe that will sort shit out ?

its all an adventure. Dry weight for last harvey will be a few days yet it seems.

 

[St3ve]

yea I was going to say not to hope for 3#.. but you updated it seems. Nothing worse than guessing weight my friend, it ALWAYS looks so awesome at first and gets your hopes up. I try not to even think about weight.

I like that you are trying so many things, you're sure to find something that works for you. Might I suggest something else? Try a smaller pot with the coco. Try a 2g with one blumat, or hell, just put in in a slightly oversized drip tray and hand water it just to see how things go compared two the ppk and 7g. Or if you want faster growth, just use a little pump to hit it two times a day.

 

[DaveTheNewbie]

yea I was going to say not to hope for 3#.. but you updated it seems. Nothing worse than guessing weight my friend, it ALWAYS looks so awesome at first and gets your hopes up. I try not to even think about weight.

lol so true

I like that you are trying so many things, you're sure to find something that works for you. Might I suggest something else? Try a smaller pot with the coco. Try a 2g with one blumat, or hell, just put in in a slightly oversized drip tray and hand water it just to see how things go compared two the ppk and 7g. Or if you want faster growth, just use a little pump to hit it two times a day.

i just dont have the lifestyle that i can be in the room every day to hand water it. and a recirc pump will still have the same troubles with coco. but i like the way your thinking : theres always another way to do things.

I have a gut feeling that at the end of the day ill do what bobbles said ages ago and revert back to DTW coco setup. Maybe some sort of raised platform for the smarty with a tray underneath.
Ive also been wondering if its worth trying out a run with blumat maxis. The concept of blumats is perfect for me, its just the damn things dont work.