Help me increase my yield!

I have been growing for almost a year now and I decided to analyze my yield this month as a way of making positive changes for the future.

I was told from an experienced friend in the business that a good yield is 1lb per light. (do you agree?)

I have set my target on 12oz or 3/4 lb per light since I am in soilless mix and want to set a reasonable target.

I AM CURRENTLY PULLING 4-6OZ PER LIGHT!!!!!

This is not good. I can barely afford my electricity and supplies--literally!

Below is an overview of my operation. I would be happy to supply pictures if desired so be specific if you want pics and I will post them.

I AM LOOKING FOR FEEDBACK OR INSIGHT THAT CAN HELP ME IMPROVE MY HORRIBLE YIELD. INSIGHT IS APPRECIATED.

*****Note: when I say light or table I am referring to a 1000W light over a 4x4 table in all cases. MH for Veg and HPS for Flower. My entire show is set up in tables *****

Mothers:
I currently run with 2 mothers (one Purple Kush, the other Satorie) under one light. Each produces the max amount of clones. I will be increasing this to 4 mothers to take stress off of these two alone. Mothers are in good health but do have some mites. They are watered with 800-900 PPM veg fert with B1. Occasionally they are given just RO water.

Medium and other details
- I grow in soilless (promix) and use 1 gal pots for plants and 5 gal pots for mothers
- my environment is as controlled as I can get it with exhaust fans and oscillating fans in each room appropriately set up. I do not have CO2 at this time
- my walls are visqueen plastic and all lights have shades and no air-cooled. I am in a cold climate and for most of the year depend on the heat from the lights to keep the show warm
- my temp ranges from 18-22C in veg and 18-23C in flower (10-15C at night)
- I water using ebb/flow 2x daily and for half of my tables I water manually 1x daily
- humidity ranges from 40-50

Veg
- I keep plants in veg for about 1-2 weeks after they leave a clone tray. I usually get about a 80-90% survival rate for clones. Some die of mites or were weak and culled out
- I use botanical veg fert (a popular brand) and it has always worked well for me. Plants get 6.2-6.5 pH, 800-1000PPM and are supplemented with B1
- I don't think my problems are in veg

Flower
- most last 7 or 8 weeks for either strain
- watering is manual (top) or by ebb/flow using botanical flowering plus sweet (by botanical). In the past I have used B1 but stopped. I think this may be the problem as I am going to go back to using B1 throughout
- plants are sprayed/trimmed for mites 2x while in flower--once just after entering and once mid cycle
- buds are not getting fat and big, although the buds I do get are awesome, they are just small. I am getting less than an oz from a decent sized 2.5ft plant
- each plant gets a ton of light and is situated 8-18 inches from a light

I used to use another fertilizer that was a A and B part. One part had more phosphorus and could be used more during certain parts of the cycle. This food was very expensive and I have stopped using it for months.

Any insight or questions as to why my yield is so weak as of late. I would be delighted to brainstorm and discuss.

BM

okay so are you flowering a whole clone tray every cycle or are they on a 2 week harvest cycle? How many plants are you growing per table?

Okay no info. So I will try to help with what I can. First of all we both know the mites are not helping your cause. I think your strain selection is not the greatest don't know about the other but I'm sure PK is not a great yeilder. If I were you I would try a strain that was a more commercial yeilder or maybe mite resistant. To me the pots seem a little small a 1 gallon pot for a 3 month old plant? I mean I know it could be done but maybe your yeild is suffering?I imagine plants are just packed in there and with adequate space you could probably get the same yeild with fewer plants. If I was gonna pack them into 1 gallon pots I would get as many as possible and plant em directly in the flowering room after rooting and not have the 2 week veg period. Hydroponic gardening may be the way to go for you also as growth is generally faster. Maybe you could get some 600 watt hps to replace the 1000 watts because they are more efficient and can give more light sources for a more even canopy. Also you could try to save electricity in your veg if you got like a 1000 watter in there than try a 400 it would be great for a couple moms and some clones. Even a flourecent lighted veg room would be good for that. Your yeild may not increase but you could save a lot of money wich is the same thing. If you have never seen the high times sea of green series? They are reallyt good.

What kind of light? HID wil give you the juicy buds, wouldnt waste time with CFL's. Also, make sure you have adequate air intake if not using CO2. Active rather than passive, make it about half the cfm's as your exhaust

how old are the bulbs, a set of new bulbs should help yield..good luck

he's got something wrong more than old bulbs, I would say airflow and potsize (1 gal WAAAY too small, I use 4) could be your main culprits. You also seem to maybe be overcaring for them? Try letting a plant go from straight soil to finish with just water and like 4-5 feedings throughout (2 during veg and 3 during flower). I would also grab a 5 gallon of water for this plant to take your water source out of the picture. GL.

Definitely use bigger pots, and try lst or fimming a plant. molasses increases yields as well.

low stress training any one?

Thanks for the insight guys.

I have 8 tables in flower at any given time with 9-16 plants per table (in 1-gal pots).

After some discussion with my assistant (primary gardener) we came up with fact that we may be over fertilizing them and also letting them veg a bit too long (making them slightly too large).

We are going to make the following adjustments:
- less veg time so they are smaller, this may mean more plants per light
- I will stick with the 1 gal pots as I have a gazillion and with smaller plants and less veg this is good
- we will experiment with different strains to increase yield and mite resilience
- we are going to use B1 all the time as it helps with stress
- we are going to ensure airflow is increased and improved in all rooms

Let me know if I am missing anything.

Do a 5 plant 3 1/2 gallon dwc bucket grow under that thouie... You'll Thank me later

You are absolutely killing your yield with 1 gallon pots, guaranteed! Jump on ebay and grab some cheapo 4 gallon pots.

Also if you mean superthrive when you say b1, that is also killing your yield. I would use sparingly during veg and not at all during flowering. I would say knicks the superthrive all together unless you have some damaged plants that need recovery. GL.

I'm also under the belief 9-15 plants under a 1000 watter that vegged around 6 weeks would out produce 30-40 plants vegged for 2-3 weeks. Don't really have anything to back this theory up though D;

bmiquet said:

Thanks for the insight guys.

I have 8 tables in flower at any given time with 9-16 plants per table (in 1-gal pots).

After some discussion with my assistant (primary gardener) we came up with fact that we may be over fertilizing them and also letting them veg a bit too long (making them slightly too large).

We are going to make the following adjustments:
- less veg time so they are smaller, this may mean more plants per light
- I will stick with the 1 gal pots as I have a gazillion and with smaller plants and less veg this is good
- we will experiment with different strains to increase yield and mite resilience
- we are going to use B1 all the time as it helps with stress
- we are going to ensure airflow is increased and improved in all rooms

Let me know if I am missing anything.

Click to expand...

And make sure you have a lot of fresh air coming into your grow area!

now people are just stating the obvious lol ..... "KUSH" isnt that a kinda low yeilding strain? i know my hindu kush is.i would reccomed buying a strain with a high yeild ratio , critical mass is a bigbud x something else ...huge yeild.

I think your temps are too low for metabolism, air flow to roots? And co2 for plants?not sure but something is very wrong. I'd start with temps

Youngbuckaroo said:

I think your temps are too low for metabolism, air flow to roots? And co2 for plants?not sure but something is very wrong. I'd start with temps

Click to expand...

Temps are fine. i re poted a 2 week old himalayan gold today from a 1 gal pot to an 4 gal, and it was root bound!! so i think you are making a big mistake not uping the size.
And only 2.5ft tall? that to me is a very small plants for under a 1000watter? i would be going for 6-9 5ft plants.

bigger pots r a must i started over a yr ago with 1g pots switched to bigger ones size and yield more than doubled using 3g now and still not big enough just harvested a super skunk yest. forgot to look at the roots but its a good bet its root bound

proper use of lights, mixed spectrum, dialing in the variables to create a stress free garden, proper watering and feeding

I detail my way in my calling all noob growers thread and towards the end there are many pics of plants growing this way (testimonials as it were)

bmiquet said:

Thanks for the insight guys.

I have 8 tables in flower at any given time with 9-16 plants per table (in 1-gal pots).

After some discussion with my assistant (primary gardener) we came up with fact that we may be over fertilizing them and also letting them veg a bit too long (making them slightly too large).

We are going to make the following adjustments:
- less veg time so they are smaller, this may mean more plants per light
- I will stick with the 1 gal pots as I have a gazillion and with smaller plants and less veg this is good
- we will experiment with different strains to increase yield and mite resilience
- we are going to use B1 all the time as it helps with stress
- we are going to ensure airflow is increased and improved in all rooms

Let me know if I am missing anything.

Click to expand...

GET RID OF THE BLOODCLOT 1 GALLON POTS! lol its my first time growing and my golden rule is 1 gallon for every FT i want the plant to grow. I want my plants to be 3ft at harvest so I use 3gal....

1gal pots will cover your hydro bill and give you a little 8th to smoke LOL

1000watters on little tiny tiny flowering plants like that is like....paying a mob hitman to do your housework...things can be cleaned for much cheaper! OR get what you're paying for! have someone killed! (get the 3gal)

I think He's gonna ignore all the good advice and stick with the 1 gallon pots, his loss.