HOW MANY DAYS IN VEG, IN 7-GAL. SMARTPOTS??

hydra-glide

Well-Known Member
"Bud,
Your plan is well thought out. However, keep in mind that when the gals increase in height, they will also increase in diameter.
You could flip now, if you want, and have a finished crop in early March, or you can wait a week or two to flip, and you will be harvesting in mid to late March. - Farmer
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I think I might let them grow another week and flip to 12/12, and tie them down so buds rise from the side-branches that are bent and now exposed to light.
I can not in good conscience flip them today, without at least another week of starved-watering. It's called der "Stockholm syndrome". Make the plant beg for water with near leaf-droop, then quickly bring them back to life with a nute blast. Over and over again.
•••••••••••••••••••

Some stuff on SCROG
http://www.growweedeasy.com/scrog-tutorial
 
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mauricem00

Well-Known Member
How many days should a plant veg in 7-gal SmartPots? It seems like the general consensus is to let the 7-gal. plants grow to a height of 36", before switching to the 12/12 bloom schedule.
Here's a pic of my 5x5x80" tent. I have horizontal lines drawn at 36" (VEG) and above that an 18" BLOOM space, then a 12" LED panel air space above the blooming top canopy, and above that a horizontal line that represents the 12" at the ceiling that the LED panel will occupy at full bloom.
Please tell me what I'm doing wrong. Or if my 36" veg height is too tall for this tent. Your criticism is highly valued. View attachment 3868098 View attachment 3868100
plants double or triple in height during flowering. if you only have a total of 54 inches for your plants you should not go higher than 18 inches before switching to 12/12. you may also want to consider SCROG. this will increase your veg time by a week or two but will give better yields
 

hydra-glide

Well-Known Member
Well I'm past 18" now. At 31", and SCROG-in' looks like a young plants game. Thanks, but I think the only way to max my tent grow is to (LST) pull the branches down and soft-wire tie them to the sides of the SmartPots with big safety pins. Just happen to have a gob of them leftover from round-1. I liked the results of low-stress-training the branches, but disliked the watering-around the permanent tie-downs. I found a long-spout watering can for that, though. Works better. I think the plants days of sunshine are over, and they'll be tied-down now and tent-bound until harvest.
 

hydra-glide

Well-Known Member
Tell us all about your garden, please! Strain, medium, plant food, light, etc.
Light is NextLight-Mega (640W) white LED. 7x7 veg-print, 5x5 bloom-print.
S.Diesel, GScookie, SFV. I use ph 6.2 - 6.8 chlorine-filtered water. foxfarms/perlite 50-50, no nutes for 2-weeks, then silica (stir) Botanicals (veg/bloom) stir, "jive" (thrive) stir, Cal-Mag stir, HumboldtSnowUltra stir, and then power stir some more. I feed in those 3-gallon blue plastic watering cans, or now the long-necked can.
In bloom: All of the above but bloom nutes instead of veg., plus increase the HumboldtSnow and add Budswel.
But stirring each item in ph-ed water is paramount.
Water's incredible. It will absorb better if stirred well. I use an attachment on my Makita drill motor. And ph the mix before it hits the plants. I like 6.8, because it can be reduced to perfect 6.2 by the soil. Test the run-off when you water. I never use test-solution, only the Home Depot tool pH-meter.
 
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hydra-glide

Well-Known Member
I don't want to tie them down in LST, too hard to water and takes up space x 6 plants. So, I'm thinking topping again. I can clip them just above the third node. This way I'll get (6) new clones and delay the top growth? When the first new growths start to appear, they go into flower 12/12.
whaddayathink?
It would be a version ofTyleb173rd, but without tying down the tops, I'd be clipping them off and cloning.
Tyleb173rd :
I top 2-3 times. Once they hit 24 inches or close I'll tie the tallest tops down to even out the canopy and open up the center of the plant a little. I let it grow for 3-5 more days, or until I see a few more inches of growth, then it goes to the flower room.

rnd3.r.JPG .
 
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hydra-glide

Well-Known Member
About my topping to reduce the height:
"Sure, take the healthiest and tallest top for a cutting. If one or more of the gals have two or three healthy and tall tops, take them also -- for the purpose of having an even, somewhat 'flat top' canopy.

Disagree with flipping as soon as new growth appears. Give the gals a couple of weeks to strengthen up the new growth. As I recall, you still have the option of raising the light another 8" should the need arise?" - Farmer
•••••
Answer: Yup! Clone tomorrow, and flip to 12/12 on January 19th, the day before the innaug!
Thanks for the conversation guys!!
 
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hydra-glide

Well-Known Member
Topped nine branches for clones. Maybe I'll get rapid bottom growth around the outer sphere?
Sour Diesel seems to be the dominate strain, between GSC and SFV.
Vega2's final bloom seems about the same height as his Veg. I like the way the "tent-plants" funnel upwards. Space saving. How does that get pruned? Lollipopped, and then the crowded tent conditions force a funnel shape?
 

hydra-glide

Well-Known Member
Topped for 13 clones and lowered the wall-height to 30" for VEG. Is there a more aggressive strain than sour diesel? GSC can almost keep-up. SFV is slower. Will change to 12/12 on Inaugural day. If I had 3-gal pots, instead of 7-gal., I could be mesh-deck rolling them out for sun everyday there was. These are doomed to tent-bloom when DT takes-over.rnd3.S.JPG
 

hydra-glide

Well-Known Member
Freaked OUT! Called NextLight about my 7-gal tent jungle. Nick said, " 7-gal. pots were fine, but next time flip them at 18". He said for now, don't top them again. Go get the square-string trellis and zip-tie the trellis to the corner poles of the tent, and push the colas (or colas to be) down under the trellis, to get them to grow sideways. He said, "Allow one cola to pop-through in every-other square hole, but keep the rest of the branches growing sideways.
Flipping before or after topping is not advised
".
That's why I'm waiting 2-weeks to flip after topping them.
 
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hydra-glide

Well-Known Member
"If your garden was my garden, I would buy another tent; light the tent with your smaller LED, and, supplement the smaller LED with additional fluorescent fixtures. For a few more invested dollars, you will save your back and your life will be much easier." - farmer

Man I wish I could blame this whole mess on him. I'd get another tent but I'm fresh out of space.
 

hydra-glide

Well-Known Member
"If your garden was my garden, I would buy another tent; light the tent with your smaller LED, and, supplement the smaller LED with additional fluorescent fixtures. Like what kind? If they're not bloom fixtures what good are shop lights with the small LED? For a few more invested dollars, you will save your back and your life will be much easier.
I'd buy another 5x5x80 tent, but the other LED has a 2ft. bloom print. I have a 2x2x22" clone tent that I could use to veg the clones and starts, and if I had room for another 5x5x80 tent I'd get one, but alas, no room.
 
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hydra-glide

Well-Known Member
Decided by mutual agreement, to augment my existing NextLight-Mini sandwiched between (2) two-bulb T-5 x 48" fixtures and bring those T-5 lights down even with the 12" bloom distance from the canopy, or closer, like 2" above the canopy and the LED 10" away, not 12".
http://www.homedepot.com/p/Lithonia-Lighting-2-Light-High-Output-Multi-Volt-T5-Compact-White-Fluorescent-Strip-Light-ZR-2-54T5HO-MVOLT-GEB10PS/203137160

http://www.homedepot.com/p/Philips-46-in-T5-54-Watt-Cool-White-4100K-High-Output-Linear-Fluorescent-Light-Bulb-414193/202562910
 
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hydra-glide

Well-Known Member
Flipped to 12/12 at 27-29". They'll be ready March 9-11.
Two of the largest of the six are going into a 4x4 tent, with the LED-mini and (2) two-bulb T-5, 48" fixtures. More space in the big tent is the intended result. Thanks for everyone's help. :) Small-fry are on permanent Veg until I finish their 2x2x18h tent.
rnd3.S.JPG
 

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hydra-glide

Well-Known Member
I found (2) 4ft. T-5 lights at Home Depot and put (2) of the largest plants in the 4x4 tent with the LED-mini, and (4) plants in the 5x5 tent, and clones and a 1-gallon start in the Clone Box tent. I think I have a small factory, but need another 4x4 tent for a veg nursery. In that new 4x4 tent, I'll have only (2) 4 ft. T-5's to slow veg the plants, trying to upcan root-bound solo cups to 1-gallon plastic pots to grow huge root-bound balls, then into 4-gallon SmartPots. A few more weeks of vegging a huge root ball, then flip to 12/12 when their about 18 -20", measured off the floor , not the off the soil in the pot. Check out the almost pure white perlite in the pots. That's 50/50 perlite and Happy Frog. It lets them grow like mad. rnd3.T.JPG rnd3.U.JPG rnd4.A_01.JPG rnd4.B.JPG rnd4.C.JPG
 
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