How to prevent outgrowing flower room

[Dragon Daddy]

I'm not following you

A plant will stretch in flower,how much is more the strain than the lights.
Less light , or farther away, will make it REACH for the light more than make it stay short

More light is always best, assuming it's at the right distance and is not making the environment too hot

Ok, that wasn’t productive.
let’s try again.
See both 5x5 tents are right next to each other. have 600 w adjustable iPower me/hps lights. There is no window to exhaust them so the stagnant air is continuously recycled.

during summer if the lights are on full, the temps go up to like 100 degrees. Even when I turn the lights down almost all the way down to 200w they still make the room get up to like 90 degrees. So I can’t have the lights close to the plants, especially in flower or it burns them up to a crisp and hurts the yield.

I don’t do mother plants, I don’t have the space, so I clone a plant everytime I move it to flower tent. sometimes the plants in the veg tent get too tall though before space in the flower tent opens up and I’ve been playing with when to clone to keep continuous harvest but also to not have the plants grow up into the lights.

now it’s almost winter and I can crank them up, I just wanted to ask on here because I know there are way smarter people than me on here but I’m not going to be talked down. I was listening to everything everyone had to say I’m sorry I didn’t like everyone’s post and individually comment I really didn’t think I had to I’m sorry that was rude I guess.

 

[MoroccanRoll]

I know how to pick the right size to flip a plant to control its size, but I have an iPower adjustable 600 watt mh/hps light in each tent. Should I set the one in the veg tent to a lower strength of light instead of full strength 600w maybe 400w, and then have the one in the flower tent set to full strength? I want my plants coming from veg to be strong but I’ve heard that the light in your veg room doesn’t have to be so intense. I don’t want to turn it up and make them grow too fast in veg for my flower tent to free up space also.

this is mainly relevant for the summer I really have to have ample space between the canopy and the light in flower because I don’t have good air circulation in my basement, I don’t have a way to exhaust the air and it just recycles so I have to turn the lights down low and keep the plants from getting too tall.

Hey, all the recommendations you've received so far are spot on. The temperature information is new. Thanks for following up with that.

In general, you want more light rather than less. As Bob stated, less light will cause the plants to stretch and become "leggy". If you're waiting for room in the flower tent to open up, topping and training are your friends to help keep your plants shorter.

Is the issue plant growth or are the real issues heat and timing your switch to flower?

 

[.Smoke]

You can run your veg or flower tent @ 250w, 400w, or 600w. It doesn't matter.
The only difference is how close your light will have to be to your plants to give them the proper amount of PAR, and how large of an area you are trying to light.

Example...
Run your light @ 250w over 1 plant (2'x2' space) @ 12" to achieve 24,000 Lux @ canopy level, or run it @ 600w @ 36" over 4 plants (4'x4' space) to achieve 24,000 Lux @ canopy level.

It makes no difference.
You're using your light to light up the space your plants are in, not lightning the plants themselves.

Hope that helps.

 

[JimmiP]

Forget the lights ,,, he should really be worried about his air exchange. He's constantly recirculating and in turn heating the same air. O.P. figure out a way to get the hot air out of the space your tents are in.

You should also move them further apart. First, they are heating up the same basic area. So, spread it out over a larger area. Second, if plants in one tent get sick they aren't right next to the others. Which brings us back to the air exchange isue.

Recirculating the air in that fairly enclosed space is what is causing all of your current issues and is almost certain to lead to more. If you can find a way to get rid of the air in the tents to the outside. Or pump it into your heating system for the winter and find a way to get fresh air into the plants.

Then after taking care of the heat and air exchange issue, you can grow your plants under the same amount of light without worrying about heat or fresh air. And your lights will probably last longer too. Hid bulbs like to be run at the recommended wattage.
Good luck friend!

 

[Dragon Daddy]

I grow in promix and perlite. I use the local stores own grow and also their flower nutrients. I ph my nutrients and water to between 5.9-6.2. I have never yielded as good as people say you should yield and I’m probably doing something wrong but I’m only growing for myself and i don’t usually run out.

to be honest I have
Never calibrated the blue lab ph pen in the year I’ve had it. I don’t know how and I am procrastinating. I’ve been growing for about a year or two.

 

[Dragon Daddy]

Forget the lights ,,, he should really be worried about his air exchange. He's constantly recirculating and in turn heating the same air. O.P. figure out a way to get the hot air out of the space your tents are in.

You should also move them further apart. First, they are heating up the same basic area. So, spread it out over a larger area. Second, if plants in one tent get sick they aren't right next to the others. Which brings us back to the air exchange isue.

Recirculating the air in That fairy enclosed space is what is causing all of your current issues and is almost certain to lead to more. If you can find a way to get rid of the air in the tents to the outside. Or pump it into your heating system for the winter and find a way to get fresh air into the plants.

Then after taking care of the heat and air exchange issue, you can grow your plants under the same amount of light without worrying about heat or fresh air. And your lights will probably last longer too. Hid bulbs like to be run at the recommended wattage.
Good luck friend!

I wish I could do all that but I cant. The room I’m using to grow in is the only one I can use. It sucks.

 

[JimmiP]

I wish I could do all that but I cant. The room I’m using to grow in is the only one I can use. It sucks.

Got a drill and a saw? There is always (well almost always) a way. Do you have any pictures of the room?

 

[Kaotic]

I know how to pick the right size to flip a plant to control its size, but I have an iPower adjustable 600 watt mh/hps light in each tent. Should I set the one in the veg tent to a lower strength of light instead of full strength 600w maybe 400w, and then have the one in the flower tent set to full strength? I want my plants coming from veg to be strong but I’ve heard that the light in your veg room doesn’t have to be so intense. I don’t want to turn it up and make them grow too fast in veg for my flower tent to free up space also.

this is mainly relevant for the summer I really have to have ample space between the canopy and the light in flower because I don’t have good air circulation in my basement, I don’t have a way to exhaust the air and it just recycles so I have to turn the lights down low and keep the plants from getting too tall.

Lol the light outside from the sun is stronger than any light you’ll buy from a machine, what you need to do is either learn tying down LST or if you wanna manipulate your plant then HST, that and learning when to flip to flowering light hours because when they go to flowering they tend to grow almost 2 times in size depending on strain maybe shorter

 

[TintEastwood]

I grow in promix and perlite. I use the local stores own grow and also their flower nutrients. I ph my nutrients and water to between 5.9-6.2. I have never yielded as good as people say you should yield and I’m probably doing something wrong but I’m only growing for myself and i don’t usually run out.

to be honest I have
Never calibrated the blue lab ph pen in the year I’ve had it. I don’t know how and I am procrastinating. I’ve been growing for about a year or two.

PH caught my eye.
5.9 thru 6.2 is the range I use for coco.

I see most of the Promix growers using the soil PH range.

Hope thats of some help.

Oh, on stretch. Keeping night temps near day temps can help reduce the stretch.

 

[Dragon Daddy]

PH caught my eye.
5.9 thru 6.2 is the range I use for coco.

I see most of the Promix growers using the soil PH range.

Hope thats of some help.

Oh, on stretch. Keeping night temps near day temps can help reduce the stretch.

Soil ph is like 6.5-7.0?

 

[Dragon Daddy]

Soil ph is like 6.5-7.0?

I see it’s 6.0-7.0 I used to do that, then for some reason I started doing 5.9-6.2 . I think it was when I used to mix coco in.

 

[MoroccanRoll]

For your heat issue, you may be able to reduce the peak temperature in the room by staggering your lights on times. Instead of a 12 hour overlap of both lights on, you can reduce it to 6 hours with both lights on.

If there's any solar load on the room (such as a south facing exterior wall), you may be able to further decrease peak temperatures by timing lights on at night and lights off during the day.

Just have to tip the energy balance on your system (the room) somehow.

How about a mini-split AC?

Lots of ways to solve problems, you just have to be wiling to consider them all then find the one that works best within your constraints.

 

[Dragon Daddy]

For your heat issue, you may be able to reduce the peak temperature in the room by staggering your lights on times. Instead of a 12 hour overlap of both lights on, you can reduce it to 6 hours with both lights on.

If there's any solar load on the room (such as a south facing exterior wall), you may be able to further decrease peak temperatures by timing lights on at night and lights off during the day.

Just have to tip the energy balance on your system (the room) somehow.

How about a mini-split AC?

Lots of ways to solve problems, you just have to be wiling to consider them all then find the one that works best within your constraints.

That’s a good call about the staggering of the lights on times.
When I first researched about growing, the info always says to not interrupt the dark period for the flowering, as in, don’t shine a light on them during their 12 hours of dark. But I’ve heard some people say they can put light on theirs to some extent.

 

[MoroccanRoll]

I'm not suggesting you interrupt the dark period. You stated you have two separate tents with two separate lights. I'm suggesting staggering the lights on and lights off time of day for veg and bloom. Note below that lights on and lights off durations are uninterrupted for both veg and bloom. This has the potential raise your baseline temperature but reduce your peak temperature. Note that this is only considers the the energy (heat) contribtion of your lights and doesn't take into account any other inputs to the system.

This is an energy balance problem - and not necessarily a difficult one.



@JimmiP suggested you look at increasing ventilation. This will benefit your plants in several ways. It will also change the energy balance.

 

[TintEastwood]

I see it’s 6.0-7.0 I used to do that, then for some reason I started doing 5.9-6.2 . I think it was when I used to mix coco in.