LOLLIPOPPERS.....Food for Thought

One more thing for ya roach. If you ever have a powdery mildew problem then youll be in trouble if those plants dont have air flow through the bottoms. I can see where the very bottom branches are collecting leaves and that can also mean bugs. Theres no problem with how your doing it bud, just some food for thought for you if you ever do start having issues.

Knock on wood.....I've never had any mold or mildew issues.

To clear things up a bit (maybe), I've never noticed lolloping to increase yields. It's hard to explain why you'd ever want to do it in that case, but I do think topping is the best analogy. It "alters" the shape the plant grows in.

I actually did listen to Uncle Ben and started pruning fewer new shoots at the bottom of branches, and it did increase total yields, but there were also some tiny lower shoots that barely developed when everything else was ripe. In those cases where the popcorn is barely even popcorn, it may be better to increase plant count rather than trying to maximize the yield off one plant.

A secondary harvest is hard to justify when most growers have a veg area with replacement plants that can not freeze their age. They're ready to go! Will you yield more doing a secondary harvest, or chopping and putting in new plants from veg? That's harder to tell.

In general, wasted time/energy is equal to the mass of plant matter you "prune". If you prune off giant branches, you've wasted a ton of time and energy. If you prune off tiny little growth tips, you've wasted very little energy, and only changed the pattern and where the growth tips are.

Lmao@side lighting I didn't know people actually did this

Im not sure why you even secondary harvest. You might spend that extra two weeks getting another oz? Id rather have that time going towards a new cycle. An extra two weeks doing secondary harvest 5 or 6 times can mean 12 weeks. For maybe 6oz? Versus 12 weeks of veg/flower of a whole room in the long run.

Alienwidow said:

Do you have any postable examples of drop in leds? Im kinda interested now.

Click to expand...

I wrote some things about how I do sidelighting. I gave some thoughts there about how some of those things could be dropped down between plants.

But, I would do SMD5730 strip lights. You can get 5 meters for about $20. You can get a good 12v power (100w) power supply for $20. (You can pick a supply with more current, that's just an example.). I've read a 5-meter roll uses 3amps. Each LED is rated for 0.5w, and there are 60 LEDs per meter. They can be cut at 50mm (3"?) intervals. I've read it's better to run shorter strips in parallel then powering a long strip. The long strip creates a longer series connection. Supposed to be less efficient.

These are supposed to be around 110 lumens/watt. T5HO is around 92 when new. They run cool enough they don't need a heat sink. you could mount these to a PVC pipe and drop it down between 4 plants. (You can find PVC "furniture fittings" such as a 5-way cross. A free standing pole could be made to sit on the floor of the tent between 4 plants.). Or, use thin aluminum sheets to create little "panels" that could be put between plants.

I've wanted to play with these but haven't had time. (Been cutting back on growing because I'm producing more than I can get rid of within my small circle. Never thought I'd have this problem.). SMD5730 is the same as SMD5630. The latter is supposed to be the official, trademarked product by Samsung. The former is generic equivalents. I would go with the generic. You can find it on Amazon and AliExpress.

What I like about these is that they face the direction you want them too. The problem with the LED "lightbulbs" I mentioned is that you have to mount them in a reflector which cuts into their lumen/watt efficiency. A lightbulb is a better option for dropping down between 4 plants where you need omnidirectional light. But, lightbulbs usually have a few top-mounted LEDs so the omnidirectional nature of the bulb goes in that direction too. That's a little wasted light. Nothing terrible, but not as optimal as using strips to direct each LED exactly where you want it to go. (And, as I said, SMD5730 is supposed to be 10% more lumens/watt than the LEDs in the lightbulbs.). For lightbulbs they have hanging sockets. I've seen those at Lowes. They're for those outdoor Chinese paper lanterns they hang around patios for parties.

If you play with this, try to remember to PM me. I'd like to know how it works. I think this stuff would be great. Low voltage, you could literally run bare wires through the tent as feeders. Use aligator clip leads from your "panels" or hanging "light bars". Simply attach the alligator clip to the nearest bare wire. It would be like a very long power bar around the perimeter of the tent. No electrocution hazard.

It sounds tedious. But, it's one of those things that, after you invest in the setup, it's just "there" to use. If done right (some thought, creativity, engineering) it wouldn't be too laborious to use it in a larger grow room.