Is that a 3x3 or a 4x4 ? If it's a 4x4 your a little under powered. Looking really good. I personally would not run that many plants at one time. Too much crowding. For me 4 plants in a 3x3 is perfect. Another observation that might help. Noticed some of the buds are leaning on the tent walls. I put some wire from post to post to keep them propped up more and off the tent walls. Looks good. Keep it up.
Thanks Southside. It’s a 3x3. With the Orca my PAR meter reads just slightly over 1000 in the center at 24” and a little over 800’s in the corners.
Last grow some of the center Lambsbread Colas got within 12”-14” from the light and were getting around 1640 PAR. Probably a little too much, though they weren’t really showing signs of heat or light stress (though were pulling water and nutrients through them like crazy and ate through all their super soil way too quickly). This time through I’m running the light at about 50% right now at 24” and reading between 300-500 across the canopy right now. Probably gonna run the light at full blast and keep it 24” away from them. I have the Lambsbread in the back corner, so hopefully it won’t be getting crazy amounts of light. But growing a bunch of different strains (most of which I haven’t grown before) it can be tricky managing canopy height.
Also thinking I might try to pick up some Bonsai wire online and see if I can use it to bend the LB branches down lower to try to compensate for the big stretch.
Thanks for the tip about trying to keep the branches off the walls. I have a SCROG that I will put in once the plants get tall enough and that will hold them off the walls. I’ve calculated out that I can fit 12 colas in all 4 directions in the net and still have an empty row around the perimeter. So I’ve manifolded the plants so they each have 16 tops.
Definitely need to do a couple defoliations/Schwazzing sessions during flower this time around though as with so many plants you are right that airflow and light penetration can get iffy as the canopy is dense!
I’ve done a bunch of different set ups regarding numbers of plants (4 in 5 gallons, 3 in 7 gallons, and this past time 9 in 3 gallons). The rain science bags seem to be a little taller and narrower than the Smart Pots I used on my last grow, which seems to work better as it’s a little easier to move them around and the soil can get air from all sides.
I found that, for me anyhow, the 4 plant set up just took too long to Veg out to get a good yield out of them. It was easier to manage circulation though. I suppose if I run into substantial problems this time around though that I may try fewer plants next time. Trial and error.
Will look into some wire mesh to keep the branches off the walls in Veg in the future though. Thanks for the suggestions and sharing your experience.
