[Crusader Rabbit]

Originally Posted by Cravenmore

i'm still vegging flat and flowering bare, can T5's be mounted for side lighting and start bulb orienting the plants sooner?

How tall do you want your plants when you switch to 12/12 ?

[SirStynkalot]

I have a couple questions about vert growing.

Why do you guys pull fan leaves (defoliation)? I've always heard that removing fan leaves is generally a bad idea unless it's stripping off future popcorn (only 20% of the plant every 4-5 days, tops). what's with pulling all the old, established solar panels off? Is it just to intentionally stunt the plant so it has time to put on more growth in different areas?

The other question is this: how much cooler do cooltubes run on 600w lights than bare bulbs with fans under them? Is there a benefit to the cooltubes? and how much stretch does the start of flower usually bring on with larger, more well established plants? I'm planning on having the girls about 5 feet tall and incredibly wide if I can manage it... I'm trying to get 2 plants to completely surround 2 600w lights in a 4x4x7 space.

[Zen Master]

I'm defoilating pretty heavy on an almost weekly basis, I just flipped to 12/12 2 days ago though and will taper off my trimming.

I take off any fans that are shading direct light to nodes. Sometimes there isn't a leaf bigger than a quarter left, within a couple days, the plant has rebounded only the existing fan leafs didn't get bigger as usual, I just got a ton tighter node density which translates into a 'denser' higher yielding plant.

without heavy defoilation, the fans tip like solar panels and would shade TONS of areas that are now going to produce some rock hard lil golf balls.

I'm running a bunch of different OG Kush's (5 actually), GDP, Aliendog and a few more and so far every single one has responded positively to the defoil while under the vert light.

[mrktwiz]

Here is a whole thread on the benefits of "defoliating", check it out it should answer a lot of your questions;

https://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?t=174163

[ambertrich]

Devlove, checked out your grow thread.

Looks nice, man. Gonna be one to watch.

Originally Posted by Crusader Rabbit

How tall do you want your plants when you switch to 12/12 ?

how tall do you want your plants to finish? i like them 5ft tall and the bulb is hanging about 4-4 1/2 feet.

so flip them to 12/12 at 2 feet maybe, i dont measure the height, but i do inspect for stem thickness, i'll flower a sturdy 1.5 ft plant before a flimsy 2 footer. with the bulb orientation the stretch isnt straight up, it also leans towards the light.

try it out and find your sweet spot homie!

[Crusader Rabbit]

@ Cravenmore

I was asking about height in reference to bulb orientation. They weren't T5's, but I once had a cabinet that was 5' tall with 4' fluorescent shop lights mounted vertically along the inside walls and doors. The plants grew up along the tubes. They got a little cooked from caressing the tubes but it was working out quite nicely. Had the tubes been oriented horizontally I think there would have been a problem with branches getting hung up behind the tubes. If the plants are short then much of the light from 4' lights would go unused. So if you flip at 2' then it would make sense to mount your lights on the wall with tubes horizontal. Just make sure that branches don't grow behind the tubes.

[Marlo]

All that is completlely strain dependant Crusader. Thats why its usually better to work with a strain you are somewhat familiar with. I have a couple sour bubbles that barely stretch 50%, that have to be treated differently than my Sour Diesels or SFS that can stretch up to 2.5 times they're size.

Take whatever infor you have about the strain(s) you want to run and make an educated guess. Best thing is to run it a few times and make adjustments as necessary. No substitute for first hand experience bro

Originally Posted by ambertrich

Devlove, checked out your grow thread.

Looks nice, man. Gonna be one to watch.

Originally Posted by SirStynkalot

The other question is this: how much cooler do cooltubes run on 600w lights than bare bulbs with fans under them? Is there a benefit to the cooltubes? and how much stretch does the start of flower usually bring on with larger, more well established plants? I'm planning on having the girls about 5 feet tall and incredibly wide if I can manage it... I'm trying to get 2 plants to completely surround 2 600w lights in a 4x4x7 space.

I don't have any experience with cooltubes so I can't really speak on them, but running bare bulbs in vert has alot to do with ambient temps and ventilation. Some growers have no choice but to use cooltubes, like in the summer for example.
Again, the stretch of your plants is completely strain and pheno dependent.

[Crusader Rabbit]

Hi Marlo

Please don't get me wrong. I'm not giving advice about when to flip plants. I was relating my experiences with how plants interact with fluorescent lights mounted along a wall, in response to Cravenmore's query. Sorry that I wasn't more clear.

Much respect for your style and how you present yourself here.

[Marlo]

My bad CR, I thought you were sort of phrasing it as a question. Didn't want to give you some wrong info. Guess we just mistunderstood each other.

Either way, I think ur better off with the bulbs up the sides rather than horizontal. Have you tried those clear plastic flourescent tube covers they have at home de pot? It could protect some of your plants that rub up against the lights.