Yield increasing tricks

13 hours light 11 dark on dark leaved bushy plants , things that don't yeild well , on those plants keep nutes low till peak flower to force them to expand such as bubba and og , don't go heavy on pks early in flower makes for dark pop corn type small yeild , in fact just chill on all the super additives and learn what npk means and the relationship between the elements and your plants

Understanding nutrients means you can use any nutrient from any brand a good grower will be able to read the bottles ingredients and work from there, being able to look at your plants as see what is happening is very important .

Plants that don't produce full buds with stumpy colas ,
Feed less as said above ,trim the scraps from the bottoms as you see them forming , then when you flip to flower use the stretch and the 13 hours to your advantage , start trimming a de leafing , at start of week 2 this will make your main colas stretch and have more shoots which will then fill in to make a longer more yielding main cola , keeping the plants hungry some what , then when you hit peak flower hit them with p fo a week or so,then k for a week or so , then flush , makes for super smooth and super tasty herbs ,

Elmer Bud said:

G`day Ich

How long did it take to grow the mother big enough to air layer the 2 foot cutting ?

I like the tech .
But lets not distort the time and energy involved ,in getting the donor plant to the stage ,where you can make enough air layers for a crop under a 600 .

There`s no free lunches ...

Thanks for sharin

EB .

Click to expand...

How long will it take a mother that can give a two foot cutting to recover? Not long at all. and lets face it will it take 8 weeks, 10 weeks?

If you have plant limit counts air layering will allow you to have a larger clone quicker since you will have a mother anyway. Is it for everyone, no not likely. But if you face plant number problems this will keep you in your numbers and move plants along much much faster.

not much to share but starving for some tip.

signed

Documenting - mainly the flip /stretch and food ect. Makes it easier to reproduce the same results, and getting your top colas within 6 inches of the ceiling

Logging. Make a log sheet, it's easier to see things when it's on paper in front of you at times

Not ever trick will work for every style, strain or system. If you don't like a tip then please just read then next one. No need for debate in here

Over veg. Even if it means larf to trim at the end. If you underveg you will surely see less yeild than if you over veg and have to trim larf.

Ichabod Crane said:

How long will it take a mother that can give a two foot cutting to recover? Not long at all. and lets face it will it take 8 weeks, 10 weeks?

If you have plant limit counts air layering will allow you to have a larger clone quicker since you will have a mother anyway. Is it for everyone, no not likely. But if you face plant number problems this will keep you in your numbers and move plants along much much faster.

Click to expand...

G`day Ich

I read your air layering thread .
So i`m familiar with your method .

My point is you were referencing the time taken to grow your cuttings to a similar size to the pre grown air layer . And talked about gains in yield . Not defining your method as for people restricted by numbers .

I agree the air layer is a great tech for numbers .
Though in the 8-10 weeks big cuts 6-8 inches [ not the 2 inchers you compared with ] could be rivaling your airlayer .

The mother plant in your layering thread looks to be a few months old to me ??

Are you taking the time to grow the mother to size into account ?

Thanks for sharin

EB .

if you start with two identical mother plants and you cut clones off of one and air layer the other, you will end up with larger plants faster from the air layered mother, this is how i understand it.

It is inconsequential how old the mother plant is, 6-8" clones don't compete with 15" air layered plants with an established root zone.

I guess it would depend on the setup you have, people using SOG probably wouldn't air layer, tree/donut/stacked/scrog people are the target market for this method.

This thread has opened my eyes to some new techniques, Thanks to everyone that contributed!

Ok I will explain the air layer helping with yields better. Sorry for not doing so.

If you are limited by plant numbers this is where air layering will help.

Start by taking a purchased clone. You have no real idea how healthy the clone is. But assume that it is in top shape like the clone I had sited above. It had roots out of the cube in 4 or 5 days. It still would take you 24 days to get it to the size of the air layer I took. That is nearly 3 extra weeks of flower lost per flower run. If this is a 8 week run that is a loss of about 40% of your flower run. For a ten week flower run it is a loos of about 34% of you flower run.

Now assume you are making your own cuttings. You therefore would need a mother plant. Grow a big mother and you can get many cuts from the same mother. You can get many air layers from the same mother. I have done up to 5 that were about 16 inches. I am sure I could do 5 that are larger if I wanted to.

But a air layered clone does not count until it is cut off the mother. That means if you finish flower that plant drops from your count. At that point you cut of a air layered clone and your count is back to max. If you did clone from a cutting how many would you take to ensure that they all root? how many of your plant count is taken up by clones that will be thrown out?

So you just took your air layered clone. You lost nothing on plant count and you are 24 days ahead of your clone from a cutting. If you sent it straight to flower you would save 35-40% of your time.

Or lets look at this in say final grow time. 56 days of flower with 24 days veg would be 80 days to harvest for a clone from a cutting. Or 4.56 runs per year if perfect. No clone losses and a perfect run. Now if we did the air layered clone we cut it and go directly to flower so 56 days of flower. This would be 6.51 runs per year.

So 4.56 runs verses 6.51 runs per year for a 8 week strain. If we use my numbers for that run with five plant that would be about 19.5 ounces per run. the 4.56 runs per year would be 88.92 ounces per year. The 6.51 runs per year would be 126.95 ounces per year. Or a increase of about 38 more ounces for the air layered clones.

Granted this is a quick flowering strain with no additional veg time. That would change the numbers a little lower but you still would not catch the air layered lone.

So in the above example you get about 43% more yield. This assumes you have a mother that you hold onto and you max your numbers.

I'm trying air layering for the first time following Ichabod Crane's posts
practicing on the branch of a revegged male plant

12/12. Less daylight if it's a strain that takes longer. So a sativa would be 11/13 day/night after week 6-8?

This is purely anecdotal and based on crude hypothesis. I think 12/12 does great in 99% of the situations.

More light = more photosynthesis = bigger plants/buds, but I think later in the flowering they need far less light and shortening the day length helps them mature faster.

G`day Baba

13 / 11 works for Indica doms .
Try growing a sat dom hybrid along side and it wont end well .

12 /12 is calculated for max yield vs minimum cost .
11/13 is good for Sats and Sat doms .
But ... the plant gets 100 less hours of light over its flower period . Finishes faster . But lower yield .
13 / 11 for Indicas = more yield but more electric costs compared to the extra yield . 60 hours more power your paying for .

Not sure but I`d guess that the 12/12 was calculated for 60 day flowering . As it was a Dutch study .

Thanks for sharin

EB .

vert
organix
multi lights
ipm
+1

I flower everything at 11on/13off... finishes faster and costs less electric.

12 hours evolved to work best in flip rooms I though... Interesting thought on extra hr for less equatorial varieties! I know from years testing out door varieties that many will trigger flower between 14-16 hrs light when pot bound.


Good tip!


If you break your lights into 2 groups and stagger the timers by 4 hrs you can get away with 3 flower rooms of 1 set of ballasts....

For me 6 lights come one in a 12 light room, 4 hrs later all the lights are on and both other rooms sleep for the 4 hrs, then the first set that was on moves to next room...

All rooms get 4 hrs lights A , peak light for 4 hrs, then get 4 hrs of set B to make the full 12 hr period... Yeah, let's see some one else figure that one out... Your welcome.

Boyd Crowder said:

vert
organix
multi lights
ipm
+1

Click to expand...

3 of the 4 things on your list I agree with .

Never seen organics out yield hydro in my exp .
Or in the world of agriculture .

Thanks for sharin

EB .

This is my second grow and I put in a scrog this time. It really helped me use every inch of space in my tent like I want. I'm just amazed at all of the colas this time!!

Elmer Bud said:

3 of the 4 things on your list I agree with .

Never seen organics out yield hydro in my exp .
Or in the world of agriculture .

Thanks for sharin

EB .

Click to expand...

I just pulled 1.9 kg from my 1.2 X 2.4 tent with three 600s
10 plants totally organic all food in soil first , never fed any thing but tap water no ph no chems nothing was super shocked there is an art to organic growing it's less consistent yeild wise but totally possible if you know your strain well , I wouldn't say chems yield more I would say they do more consistently and reliably ,

G`day GB

Without a side by side its not measurable .
Agriculture tells me organics don`t yield as well as chem ferts or hydro .

Sure you will degrade the soil after a few seasons . But in the meantime your gonna out yield organics .
Especially hydro .

Thanks for sharin

EB .

WaxyTaxi said:

My problem with organics indoors is the pot size. You only need a 3gl smart pot of coco to get around 16-20 zips. No way can even a 5gl of organic soil give me more than 10 zips. I worked for people who would use 15&20gl pots. Transplant and harvest suck twice as much....although that was before I knew about recycling soil

Click to expand...

Fair point , Coco is the most reliable and consistent for sure .

Tynehead Tom said:

I'm trying air layering for the first time following Ichabod Crane's posts
practicing on the branch of a revegged male plant

Click to expand...

wow, have to quote myself here and send a HUGE shout out of gratitude to Ichabod Crane and others for their tutorials on air layering. While I didn't do this to increase yield, the results have sold me. I wanted to preserve a special male plant by revegging after it finished flowering, without transplanting or messing about.
Cut it back to one small branch after about a week or so of 24 hr light. Then I got the crazy idea to try air layering that one remaining branch so I could start with a fresh root system..... and gawddam if it didn't work!!!
6 days later the roots are starting to fill the cup. The leaves look burnt and a little stressed but he will come around. gonna wait a week and then sever the plant from the old stem/root system.
check it out. I still can't believe how crazy simple this was to do