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Ways to increase yields in an organic soil setup?

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OrganicOzarks

So as the title says I am wanting to see if anyone has any tricks or tips for increasing yields. I am not a fan of c02 so that would be a no go for me. With a horizontal setup with hoods I can not get over .5 gram per watt. The quality is there, but I feel the yields are not. I just switched one of my rooms over to vert to see what happens there, but it will be months before I know anything. Here is a current horizontal grow 3 weeks in.


I have spent the past few years working on quality, and now I feel I am at a place where yields need to be addressed. So what the fuck am I missing?Thanks!!!
 
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cosmicparticle

Member
Hey-nice canopy there. Quality is the most important thing for sure, but having more of that top shelf is even better:) I'm not on your level yet with the soil but organic nonetheless. I have not had Great yields either, but I usually have multiple environmental problems like extreme temps, no air circulation, extreme humidity, and bulbs that were bought in 2007 lol!

Yeah, alot of cats are using co2 nowadays. What strain(s) are you running?
I just upgraded my equipment, new ballast, hood, and new bulb! I will see how I do this round though I have different strains, and canopy is probably not gonna be even. I also still have enviro issues, but should hopefully not be as extreme as in the past. Good luck and share what you find!
 
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OrganicOzarks

I usually do multi strain grow as I don't want to get bored of the same strain. However I have done some of my heavier yielders mono-cropped, and I still can't break the .5 gram/watt barrier.
 
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Old_Headbanger

Do you have the room to veg longer? How long are you vegging now? Any topping or lst/training? What size pots you running?
 
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OrganicOzarks

Old_Headbanger said:
Do you have the room to veg longer? How long are you vegging now? Any topping or lst/training? What size pots you running?
Click to expand...

I am running 3 gallon smart pots, and I top 2-3 times. Sometimes more on stretchy strains like head band. I veg for 3 weeksish. Sometimes 4 weeks.

I really don't want to mono crop if I don't have to. I would prefer to do multi strain, but I know this can harm my yields a bit.
 
W89

W89

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Best way to get high yields is.... Get your environment 100 dialed in. temps constant, humidity(most over looked part of growing IMO) light, nutrients, air exchange and strain
 
VerdantGreen

VerdantGreen

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ways to get big yields.

1. canopy management, get as many buds into the canopy as possible. make sure the footprint of your lamp equates to 50-60 watts per square foot for maximum gpw efficiency, use an efficient reflector, make sure depth of canopy equates to the useful penetration of your lamp.
2. use as big pots as you can fit in. i use 4 x 4 gallon pots under a 250w and get 2-4 oz per plant strain dependent. usually average 10oz per harvest, well over 1gpw
3. high air exchange - kind of negates the need for CO2
4. have plants vegged up properly and make sure the roots have time to veg into their final pots to use all the soil (but not so much they run out of steam before harvest)

each to their own but personally i dont see many vert grows that out-yield my modular scrogs. (despite all their talk about maximum yields) ;)

VG
 
W89

W89

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Yeah I forgot that one but I have said it else where in the organic section.. maybe in my grow log that canopy management is key, one thing as a ex hydro grower I need to get used to using more soil mass eg; bigger pots... with coco I was growing 6 to 7 footers in 6.5 ltr square pots and doing oz plants in 2 ltr pots.. didnt think soil was any different untill trying it and I was dead wrong
 
VerdantGreen

VerdantGreen

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nice grow,

imo, it doesnt really matter how many plants you grow - just that you fill the canopy with buds and use plenty of soil.

the canopy of a perfect sog would look the same as the canopy of a perfect scrog

not saying this is perfect but it gives an idea of what i mean. 2' x 2'
i usually dont monocrop a strain, modular scrog means you can keep the canopy even by jacking up the pots if necessary
https://www.icmag.com/ic/picture.php?albumid=5747&pictureid=553970
VG
 
Last edited:
FlowerFarmer

FlowerFarmer

Well-known member
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I think vertically you'll see improvement.

I went from only getting around 1lb per 1000w of light under a Daystar AC.
My 1st round vertical I got 1.4lb... the next round I achieved 1.7lb per every 1000w of light.

This was doing donuts with 1k lamps dropped down into the middle of a ring of plants. Bulb orientation was the trick for me.



Vertical + constant ideal environment + right genetics
Healthy plants...I'm sure you've got that growing organically... the rest is in plant/canopy training & manipulation.
 
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Easy7

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Run all the same cuts, boring but a high yeild method. A dual spectrum would also increase yeilds, turns that 1k into a 2k in the same hood. Dual specrum still needs dialed in but it's ideal.
 
Muleskinner

Muleskinner

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you didn't give any information on your grow. Organic can yield extremely well

Without knowing your setup, I would say try two things: more light, better soil mix. I have found cannabis to be demanding with soil requirement. It needs a very light, aerated soil.

The typical consumer-level soil mixes are usually for outdoor vegetable raised beds or mega-containers, not indoor. All the ones I've tried are far too heavy for cannabis indoors. Most indoor soil mix for commercial greenhouses comes from one of two companies, either Promix or Fafard.

I would try one of the lighter mixes from these two sources and don't use one with bark, peat-based only with lots of perlite.
 
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Easy7

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peat sucks!!!!

I stick with compost, some coco coir is good too. Coco coir really loosen's up the compost
 
VerdantGreen

VerdantGreen

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there are lots of different ways to do it. i like some peat in my mix, 30% peat but it needs lime or something to correct its acidity.

i didnt like coco as part of an organic soil mix.

its a common fallacy to think that, because you have a method that works well to get high yields, that its the ONLY way to do it.

VG
 
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