400w Grow tent - !st Time .

A natural green thumb and avid toker I thought I would give this thing a try. 4' x 3' x5' grow tent was perfect for me due to its $$, compact and all inclusive nature and ability to move it .. Living in a apartment makes things tough. I am growing 7 plants.. too many but the person i got clones from gave me two free for 1st time buyer, what was I going to do , turn him down..... So my tent is crowded and will only get worse. 2 Lemon Haze, 2 blue dream , two Hindu Kush and one other I cant remember.
Anyway. 4" fan sucks the air out - that was a whole another story-
2 fans keep air circulating all day
Now since its winter here I dont have the hood fan going while the light is off and am having no issues with heat / humidity. GOOD !!
Feed them still NOT full doses of Nut's , as they seem to get burned still.
I am 3 full weeks into this now and love it.
Because of height req/ i had to flower at 7-9" and after 12 days in VEG>

They look beautiful. Good idea to flower soon. Remember you will need something to hold them up. I love the scrog method and you can see it in my journal but any way to make sure the branches don't get heavy and pull the plant over.. ripping the root zone and smashing the next pot neighbor.

Thanks .. I only intend to grow to about 30"+-. Not sure i will need to hold them up ???

thoughts

Then again I would rather have a cheap method of keeping them upright.,. if needed than have them topple over later down the road.
I also am beginning to see burned leaves and from reading I am leaning toward it being a result of full dose Nuts than light burn. I have an air cooled hood and temps hover around 73F with humidity in the 50% range. Its been 11 days in Flower , next watering i will hit them with 3/4 dose Nuts and see what happens

I used to use string from the ceiling to the branch to hold them up.Or the walls or anywhere. They definitely need to be held up because distance from the light means smaller buds at best case scenario. Worst case is the branch breaks from the weight and topples over on to other plant. In my first grows that happened a couple times. Or take sticks and tie it to that in the middle. Definitely don't want them flopping around and it is not steong like a tree being able to support its own fruit. Yeah probably nute burn if it isn't the temp. Keep in mind right under the light is a different temp then the rest of the grow area. I keep my electrode on top of the highest branch in the middle of the light area.

Good points.. again.. Thank you...
I know that because I have 1-2 many plants i will have leaves and branches that are cut off from light the bigger they get. to combat this I have thought about tying down , but dont really want to do that. I also dont think i want a bunch of strings hanging down either. I think the scrog technique will work best , my only concerns are hanging it in the tent...... I guess I can get a light weight one and use some velcro ties or something to attach to the corners of the tent....any ideas. keeping costs down.
also with the outtake fan off during "night time" what are the best ways to keeep humidity down w/o letting light get in and also not having fans blowing directly on closer plants to the fan.... Fans... thats a whole other issue..

Hey am working or else I would post pics again. A good frame and way to attach the frame of the net to the tent is in a threat I started called 2x2x5 w 600w hps or something like that.. it's in my latest started threads. Best part is it only cost $1 from the dollar store.

As for controlling humidity without an exhaust fan.. you can get a dehumidifier.. expensive. You can put baking soda in there and maybe that will absorb moisture. Or what I currently do is have an intake fan on. That creates positive pressure and blows air out of any cracks. That will replace moist air with air with whatever you're pulling from so less humidity. As for fans.. I have a 12" and a tower fan blowing right on mine. It shouldn't hurt them as long as they aren't sideways and air movement blowingand moving the stalks makes the stalks stronger. It makes micro tears in the dtem just like working out does for us.

Important thing I do in scrog is make sure each branch will go in the loup next to another loup with a branch. I don't do more than 1 branch per inch but the more uniform you get it the more you will yield.

I would bamboo sticks to support your plants. I'm about to start doing this because I've had some near branch breakage here lately with my plants in the last week of flowering. I thought about using a SCROG, but I am growing a few different strains, and they are all different heights, so that won't work in my tent really well. Also it's harder to water with scrog and i like to hand water....But I did also think about using these...
http://www.htgsupply.com/Product-The-Small-Wrangler-Plant-Support-System.asp
http://www.htgsupply.com/Product-The-Large-Wrangler-Plant-Support-System.asp

since they fit right into your pot.

WOW thats great info.... I went to the Hydro store for a noise clamp for my Fan. I am hoping it goes from a swamp cooler to just a loud fan so we will see tonight @9pm.
As for the Scroging i went and bought Botanicare's Hortirellis 4'x8' and some zip ties..... that was before I saw the post by CC08 and his bamboo idea....I also have diff. strains and like to water by hand...would the Bamboo be a better idea than the trellis???

Its all process for me in controlling the environment both day n night. I just turned my outtake fan to pull out air for 15m/ hr that should bring it down near the 50 or so I am looking for. I have a clip fan that does NOT oscillate and a 12" oscillator but since its in the corner its doesnt get all the plants as good as the ones closer. You can see the small blk fna in corner..

I run my 4" inline fan all the time during the "day" and have had it off now as an experi. for the last three days of "night" (9am) . BUt as I saud before I now changed it go on for 15 min every hour for the next three and I will check it then

Bamboo-- LIke my tomato's I will prolly use a bamboo shoot for each baby and install them when buds get 2 weeks ish by inserting them into wet soil to the bottom of the soft pot then use string to tie each branch to it.

thoughts ??

Should leaves be limp and "dead like" when the light is off?

bamboo is easier and maybe a little more expensive. trellis takes about 20 minutes a day at first.

What do you mean 20 min a day at first. I am thinking that I will install it next week or so and just tie it to the poles in the tent then spend the time making sure enough stems are poking through.

Try bamboo on one and trellis on other and compare results....good learning experience. Wait so what are your lights on and light off temperatures? They are looking limp like that probably because they are cold during lights off. I keep my tent at 60F lights off and first 2 weeks or so my newbies to the tent look limp. They start getting used to it as they grow bigger and start budding real good.

I mean you spend time looking for shoots that are covered by a big leaf or making sure they go the right way. gotta keep up on it while it is growing then not so much after about 3 weeks in flower. Well worth it though because it is all at the same height so all the same size buds.

@ CC- DAy time temps running circa 73F w/ Humidity @55%ish . Lights off-around low 60's with high Humidity but I am still running the in-tent fans ( clip non circ and tower 12"circ) but not the Hood fan when its "night time" and maybe ,thus the limp leaves. I am now 12 daYS INTO flower and they look great and are growing like 1/2" a night still , in some strains.

@ PH-
I have the meshy trellis and will install it @ around the 3rd week of flower. However did you just say that you take it off.... afterthree weeks or put it on ?? Please clarify. Also i have the time and desire to try and mesh them all through the holes, going vs my better judgement to use thick bamboo and tie em to it, but....you only can stake the main stalk and not many sep. branches that also may have yummy fruit on them...