How can I maximize my yield at 600watts?

[jarvild]

roots left a lot to be desired. not at all what you would hope for.

edit: partly because I was letting them get too thirsty in my last 2 grows. I was only watering them about a quarter gallon per pot. I am now watering a half gallon per pot. I am also now using a root enhancer.

My 5 gallon smart pots could easily handle a gallon of water to properly hydrate the entire medium. That's why I suggested up potting in stages instead of solo cup to 7 gal pots, I've ran into this before going to big pots to early and not getting the roots to fill my medium. I like my plants to be as close to root bound as possible by the time they finnish

 

[bravedave]

roots left a lot to be desired. not at all what you would hope for.

edit: partly because I was letting them get too thirsty in my last 2 grows. I was only watering them about a quarter gallon per pot. I am now watering a half gallon per pot. I am also now using a root enhancer.

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In peat, water slow (I use a sprayer), and water to runoff. Pour out runoff. My 5 gl. pots take a bit over a gallon. Point being, its not a set amount, but what they need.

 

[papa canna]

My 5 gallon smart pots could easily handle a gallon of water to properly hydrate the entire medium. That's why I suggested up potting in stages instead of solo cup to 7 gal pots, I've ran into this before going to big pots to early and not getting the roots to fill my medium. I like my plants to be as close to root bound as possible by the time they finnish

Ok. Thanks. I will start with smaller pots for veg.

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In peat, water slow (I use a sprayer), and water to runoff. Pour out runoff. My 5 gl. pots take a bit over a gallon. Point being, its not a set amount, but what they need.

How do you know exactly how much they need? Just watching for runoff?

 

[kmog33]

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You probably would've yielded double of you had Kept them all in the footprint on that light. A 600 is good for a 3x3 for flower 4x4 for veg. You can get them way more filled out than that. In my 3x3 my canopy looks like this when I flip.

you really need to fill up all your space.

Btw the last pic I had already chopped out almost 6 oz from the tent that cycle. Ended up with 370g from 220 watts.

 

[papa canna]

You probably would've yielded double of you had Kept them all in the footprint on that light. A 600 is good for a 3x3 for flower 4x4 for veg. You can get them way more filled out than that. In my 3x3 my canopy looks like this when I flip.

you really need to fill up all your space.

Btw the last pic I had already chopped out almost 6 oz from the tent that cycle. Ended up with 370g from 220 watts.

Not sure if I'm understanding you right. Your saying that I need less plants but need to fill the space better with less plants? Like bending them over and training / fimming? My thought process was that my pots with the drain pans are 1 foot, so I thought for a 3x3 with 1 ft pots I could do nine plants in a 3x3 section. But I didn't exactly account for the plants bushing up. Am I understanding that right? Also, should I get a better hood than my wings? I was thinking about getting a blockbuster and taking out the glass.

 

[StashToker]

When I ran under a single 600 I would Veg 4 plants for 4 weeks all butted together then bottle neck the shit out of them, leaving only the top 1/3. Let them Veg and recover for another week or week and a half. Then flip to flower, use tomato cages or stakes. A 600 watt HPS really only has about a 3x3 flower that's 9-10 inches deep, anything lower than that range will be larf. It's why I upgraded to 1000 waters, and am now looking at the new LEDs. But there is always side lighting to consider. Good luck my friend.

 

[bravedave]

Ok. Thanks. I will start with smaller pots for veg.



How do you know exactly how much they need? Just watching for runoff?

If you are watering slow in peat you are helping ensure that the pot is saturated at the point you spot the runoff. When you spot it, that is "exactly how much they need". Personally, I also scratch the peat surface the day after I water to create a surface more amenable to even soaking the next water.

 

[kmog33]

Not sure if I'm understanding you right. Your saying that I need less plants but need to fill the space better with less plants? Like bending them over and training / fimming? My thought process was that my pots with the drain pans are 1 foot, so I thought for a 3x3 with 1 ft pots I could do nine plants in a 3x3 section. But I didn't exactly account for the plants bushing up. Am I understanding that right? Also, should I get a better hood than my wings? I was thinking about getting a blockbuster and taking out the glass.

Amount of plants is irrelevant. Fill up your space with growth. Whether that is one big plant or 100 tiny ones. I did 6 last run, this run 24. Same space smaller plants, same canopy size.

 

[WeedFreak78]

Not sure if I'm understanding you right. Your saying that I need less plants but need to fill the space better with less plants? Like bending them over and training / fimming? My thought process was that my pots with the drain pans are 1 foot, so I thought for a 3x3 with 1 ft pots I could do nine plants in a 3x3 section. But I didn't exactly account for the plants bushing up. Am I understanding that right? Also, should I get a better hood than my wings? I was thinking about getting a blockbuster and taking out the glass.

The amount of plants mainly depends on their size. You could keep doing 9 plants, but flower them sooner. They will stay shorter, which will also give better penetration with the 600. Learn to "top" plants to produce multiple top colas. It's as easy as cutting off the top of the plant and allowing the lower branches to all become tops. There's a few writeups on LST and training

Learn to clone and you could pack as many as 36 rooted 4-6"clones in a 3x3 tray and just grow single colas.

 

[papa canna]

Amount of plants is irrelevant. Fill up your space with growth. Whether that is one big plant or 100 tiny ones. I did 6 last run, this run 24. Same space smaller plants, same canopy size.

If I wanted to run less plants how would you suggest filling the space better? Fimming and bending?

 

[kmog33]

If I wanted to run less plants how would you suggest filling the space better? Fimming and bending?

Begging longer/topping. And training.

 

[papa canna]

Begging longer/topping. And training.

Ok Thanks. And just to clarify, you were saying from my pics that I'm going too far out of my lighting footprint? The spaces in between are as filled as I could get them without topping

 

[kmog33]

Ok Thanks. And just to clarify, you were saying from my pics that I'm going too far out of my lighting footprint? The spaces in between are as filled as I could get them without topping

No they were not lol. That's what I am telling you. Is you have a lot of spread out/stringy plants. You could've topped them 100 times and the canopy would've been 100 times bigger in the same amount of space. What I am saying is that you did not utilize your canopy surface area well at all. All of those plants could have been pushed up right next to each other instead of spreading them out when you flowers and you would've yielded better.

I'm basing this on the fact that you stated you spread out the pots when you flowered.

 

[papa canna]

No they were not lol. That's what I am telling you. Is you have a lot of spread out/stringy plants. You could've topped them 100 times and the canopy would've been 100 times bigger in the same amount of space. What I am saying is that you did not utilize your canopy surface area well at all. All of those plants could have been pushed up right next to each other instead of spreading them out when you flowers and you would've yielded better.

I'm basing this on the fact that you stated you spread out the pots when you flowered.

Thats what I was told to do. I have a friend who grows the best stuff I've seen. He said to spread out a bit for air flow and spread room

 

[kmog33]

Thats what I was told to do. I have a friend who grows the best stuff I've seen. He said to spread out a bit for air flow and spread room

Up to the point of the footprint of your light and if they were crowded, that would be right. But as your plants had plenty of room. You did not need to, and you spread them out past the footprint of your light. Airflow is good but you had a ton of unutilized canopy space, you would've been fine not moving them.

 

[SoOLED]

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Pics as requested

lmao the bottle of dawn holding it down, no poltergeist in this window.

 

[WeedFreak78]

The useable flowering area under a 600W is between 3x3 Sq and 4x4 Sq depending on your hood. Penetration is only good to about 16-24" from the bulb. You want the canopy to end up flat and wide so you get an even penetration over the whole canopy. Look at scrog. Should get a pound plus fairly easily off a 36x36"net under a 600.

 

[papa canna]

The useable flowering area under a 600W is between 3x3 Sq and 4x4 Sq depending on your hood. Penetration is only good to about 16-24" from the bulb. You want the canopy to end up flat and wide so you get an even penetration over the whole canopy. Look at scrog. Should get a pound plus fairly easily off a 36x36"net under a 600.

I never fully understood the point of scrog. Why build a net? Why not just have a set idea of a canopy? Just for exact measurement?

Also, can anyone suggest a decent hood in place of my half assed adjust a wing? Thinking maybe blockbuster?

 

[WeedFreak78]

I never fully understood the point of scrog. Why build a net? Why not just have a set idea of a canopy? Just for exact measurement?

You fill the net 50-75% in veg and then flip to flower and weave it during the stretch. If its done right the buds grow up, away from the stem, rather than along it, and you can fill almost every square inch of canopy with nothing but big colas.

If you can control canopy height through other methods go for it. I've used craft wire to tie branches down, butterfly clips, zip ties. After letting a plant grow too tall, I went as far as taking hand held electric grass trimmers and just cutting it down to the height I wanted, then flowered it. That was an even canopy,lol.

 

[papa canna]

You fill the net 50-75% in veg and then flip to flower and weave it during the stretch. If its done right the buds grow up, away from the stem, rather than along it, and you can fill almost every square inch of canopy with nothing but big colas.

If you can control canopy height through other methods go for it. I've used craft wire to tie branches down, butterfly clips, zip ties. After letting a plant grow too tall, I went as far as taking hand held electric grass trimmers and just cutting it down to the height I wanted, then flowered it. That was an even canopy,lol.

So netting aside, I want every plant at the same height, while making as many coals as possible. That sounding about right?