Advice please on how long to veg.... Pics included

jaytea

jaytea

Active Member
Hello , this is my first grow and I think everything is doing ok .. I need some advice on when I should start flowering and stop vegging according to my vertical limitations.

I have included below a few pics so you can get the sense of my limitations . First let me fill you in on the details

Strains : I have ONE Ice strain and Three Critical Jacks for a total of FOUR plants

Growing Medium : I am growing in 6 gallon containers with Fox Farms Ocean Forrest Soil

Lights : I have a 1000 Watt HPS sodium ballast but currently using a Metal Halide conversion bulb that works with the HPS ballast for Vegging .. I will be switching bulbs to the HPS bulb once I begin flowering

Ventilation and temps: I have a duct fan blowing hot air out from my HOOD through a wall and into my garage , I also have another duct fan blowing in cool air from outside and I live in Seattle so it's nice and cool right now

Currently my temperature at the tops of my canopy range from 74 to 80 depending on the outside ambient temp.... I am afraid that once it gets warmer outside say around april or may I might have problems keeping the temp under 80



Now I am in a closet space without about 8 feet of vertical space . Right now I have my lights pretty high above my canopy because if I lower them the temp gets about 85 .


I started with clones about 4 weeks ago (today is jan 19) the clones were only about 3 or 4 inches tall and as you can see in my pics below they have grown quite a bit in just 4 weeks .


NOW my question is after reading my specifications and looking at my pics .. How tall should I let these ladies get before I start flowering them? If you look at my light hood in the pics I can still raise it up another foot or even two feet maybe if i take out the hanger rods and connect my lamp to the ceiling .


Here are the pics :


DSC01969.jpgDSC01977.jpgDSC01981.jpg
 
T

tcaact11

Member
everything looks good, you can veg for however long you want depending on how much bud you want to yield tell me that and i'll get back to you. remember that when flowering they will probably triple under a hps bulb. :peace:
 
The2TimEr

The2TimEr

Well-Known Member
I'd say move the light down a tad, keep vegging for another 2 weeks. when you make the switch to 12/12 keep the MH going for another 2 weeks, until you proper see flowers forming, then switch to the HPS. Also try finding something to stand the front 2 plants on that will bring them to the same height as the back 2 , try keep an even canopy throughout because when you make the switch they are going to want to stretch.
Nice looking room and plants.
 
jaytea

jaytea

Active Member
Yeah my Ice is growing faster than the others and i have one CJ that got root locked for about a week so it's not as big as the other s... I think I may put them on stands to make them even with the others.
 
T

tcaact11

Member
mine are about 4ft tall and still vegging under cfl's expected harvest to be a couple ozs but if you veg like me at 5ft and then start flowering at the 5ft mark then your looking at grate yield from the hps im talking in pounds man and even if you dont have 15ft verticel hight lst them and make them bush out at 4ft so that way when they just get to 5ft then you flower and have nice budds i did this with my other grow (again with cfl) and got 6oz's dried bud a plant and there was only a handful of popcorn budds.
 
jaytea

jaytea

Active Member
thanks for the advice everyone .. I think I will let them go to 3 feet tall then flower and use the MH for 2 weeks as suggested before switching to the HPS.. also I will put the smaller two on stands to equal out the level of the canopy.

I guess what I am still worried about is heat , currently the tops of the canopy is ranging between 75 to 80 ... I am afraid that once my canopy reaches closer to the light that I will not be able to keep the canopy cooler than 80 .... I got all the ventilation I can do at this point . I can raise my light another 2 feet if i have to , but it will require me mounting to the cieling which is an effort with anchors and shit.


Again thanks and I will post an update here some time in the future with pics.
 
Blueberry Bud

Blueberry Bud

Member
Nice clean looking layout but it looks like to me your lamp is too high, especially for flowering. Even out the canopy like others have suggested first.

The best way to make sure your plants are in the "sweet zone" is to buy a light meter. Seedlings and clones only require 375 ft candles or 4000 lux, vegetative growth is 2500 ft candles or 27,000 lux but flowering is 10,000 ft candles or 107,500 lux for optimal growth.

Remember, if you have a 1000 lumens light it will give you 1000 lumens 1 foot away from the bulb, 2 feet away it will only be 1/4 of that or 250 lumens, three feet away it is 1/9 or 111 lumens and 4 feet away its only 1/16 or 62.5 lumens.

If you don't have a light meter, a good way to determine the closest distance of your light from your plants is to hold your hand palm down over the top of your garden and start raising it slowly towards the light. You want to try and find the spot where you can hold your hand for a least 20 seconds without it becoming too hot. No being a hero here......For a 1000w lamp it will probably be between 24 and 36 inches below the bulb. Never let your hood get closer than that to the canopy. Some people I know actually hang a string on their hood and when they see it get close to the tops, they raise it.

Great first grow!
 
jaytea

jaytea

Active Member
Blueberry Bud said:
Nice clean looking layout but it looks like to me your lamp is too high, especially for flowering. Even out the canopy like others have suggested first.

The best way to make sure your plants are in the "sweet zone" is to buy a light meter. Seedlings and clones only require 375 ft candles or 4000 lux, vegetative growth is 2500 ft candles or 27,000 lux but flowering is 10,000 ft candles or 107,500 lux for optimal growth.

Remember, if you have a 1000 lumens light it will give you 1000 lumens 1 foot away from the bulb, 2 feet away it will only be 1/4 of that or 250 lumens, three feet away it is 1/9 or 111 lumens and 4 feet away its only 1/16 or 62.5 lumens.

If you don't have a light meter, a good way to determine the closest distance of your light from your plants is to hold your hand palm down over the top of your garden and start raising it slowly towards the light. You want to try and find the spot where you can hold your hand for a least 20 seconds without it becoming too hot. No being a hero here......For a 1000w lamp it will probably be between 24 and 36 inches below the bulb. Never let your hood get closer than that to the canopy. Some people I know actually hang a string on their hood and when they see it get close to the tops, they raise it.

Great first grow!
Click to expand...

Thanks for your reply ,,, I thought my light was too high but i keep my themometer at the same height as my canopy and to keep the temp on the themometer under 80 degrees I had to raise the light that high . If I lower the light another 6 inches the themometer reads around 83 degrees , which is too hot from what I read. So I guess that begs the question , Should my themometer be kept at my canopy or should i afix the themometer somewhere else? Where in the room should I take my temp readings from ? Because if I put the themometer 36 inches below the light as you suggested it will read almost 90 degrees.
 
bigboybuds

bigboybuds

Well-Known Member
Also have to remember that the taller you veg them, and the taller they get during Flower, them more under growth you will have, that is hard to get light down to, unless you are able to open the plants up with some LST, or super cropping.
 
SOMEBEECH

SOMEBEECH

Well-Known Member
I use 1ks and would lower the light now,with it tht high now there gonna reach for the light.
Making them tall. I would start at 30-36" with a fan blowing across the plants.

Then lower it a to about 24"is where mine are but im getting cool air from outside.

I have a 8" air cooled hood and can get it as close as 18".
When you flip the HPS should put out more lumens and heat.

So be ready for the extra heat.I flower at about 2.5 to 3ft.


Beech
 
jaytea

jaytea

Active Member
SOMEBEECH said:
I use 1ks and would lower the light now,with it tht high now there gonna reach for the light.
Making them tall. I would start at 30-36" with a fan blowing across the plants.

Then lower it a to about 24"is where mine are but im getting cool air from outside.

I have a 8" air cooled hood and can get it as close as 18".
When you flip the HPS should put out more lumens and heat.

So be ready for the extra heat.I flower at about 2.5 to 3ft.


Beech
Click to expand...
thanks for your reply ,,, Again I am confused about temps at the canopy still .... Should my themometer read below 80 degrees at the top of the canopy? Because if I lower my lights 6 more inches from where it is now then my temps read above 80 ..... I do have a an air cooled hood but i don't have a glass shield on it and i only have a vent sucking hot air out from the hood to the outside.... I also have a duct fan blowing cool air in from outside as well but it's on the bottom near the base boards and it's just blowing in the grow space without in ducts going to the hood .... I also have a fan blowing above the canopy .....
 
SOMEBEECH

SOMEBEECH

Well-Known Member
80s are fine i live where its real hot in the summer with 30plus days over 100f.
Mine have gotten as high as 88f,Some strains like it some dont,But for the most
part imo as long as you keep good air blowing across the top of plants up to 85f ive never
seen any issues.


Beech
 
ak47caretaker

ak47caretaker

Active Member
vent cool air from your garage into you light then back out. you should also put the vent out end of you light duct more toward the top to take advantage of warm air rises . it should help to get you temps down some. i run 3-600 watt hps's inline in cool tubes my canopy is 5-7 inches away.
 
jaytea

jaytea

Active Member
SOMEBEECH said:
80s are fine i live where its real hot in the summer with 30plus days over 100f.
Mine have gotten as high as 88f,Some strains like it some dont,But for the most
part imo as long as you keep good air blowing across the top of plants up to 85f ive never
seen any issues.


Beech
Click to expand...

Thanks again ... So im'freakin over the temp in the room or at the canopy ... I've read sooooo much stuff on these forums I was under the opinion that I could never ever let my canopy reach over 80 degrees or the plant would get stunted and not put out new growth or something ....... I always wondered how weed grows outdoors in the deep south when it gets up to 105 degrees (if) the canopy had to be under 80.


OK THANKS EVERYBODY


I will make recommended adjustments and post a picture later to get a final opinion .
 
jhod58vw

jhod58vw

Well-Known Member
co2 works as well for high temps. my box last summer was running 85-90` with co2 and didn't seem like a problem.
 
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