Why did I get such a low yield?!

OregonMeds said:

Need pictures to see what's wrong but I'm guessing you had your 400w lights a little too far away or something like that. But... If you have high electric costs a 600 or 1kw light would pay for itself instantly in both electric savings and mucho higher yield every single run. (Well a 1k would be slightly higher electic but so very worth the little difference from two 400's.)


400's just don't have the power to create weight like the larger lights. Two 400's burn way more power than one 600 but will always yield way less than a 600. Ditch the little lights and next time just post a journal with pictures along the way so we can advise as you go too.

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I never realized how much better a 600 or 1000 watter is. I suppose I could sell my ballasts and replace them if it's going to make such a big difference. I never started a journal because I'm a bit paranoid but may just do that, thanks for the advice.

respawned said:

So I only got about 160 grams dried growing under two 400 watt hps bulbs in 4 bubblers. I planted 4 plants in each bubbler (16 total) and they grew like crazy so I was expecting more, at least 300 to 400.

Some more info, strain is ice, grown in 1 meter by 2.1 meter space with excellent ventilation and acceptable temps. Vegged for about 2 weeks under 400 watt MH, only real problem was nute burn which happened more than once. Also certain plants grew much quicker than others, basically taking over and stunting thier neighbours. I did chop a lot of lower branches before budding but there was still lots of stretching of and half formed buds that never saw the light.

I am making some changes for the next grow like adding a mesh for low stress growing and I also ordered some Misty and Chronic seed which are supposed to be good yeilders.

Our electricity where I live just went up 34% and is going up again by 40% so I really need to optimise, any advice or insight would be much appreciated.

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I'd veg 4 to 5 weeks, regardless of height. You can still prune them to keep them shorter and get them thicker and they will have more colas. The shorter time you veg, the less yield you'll get.
A digital ballast get's you 30% more effective use of your HID's

HomeGrownHairy said:

I'd veg 4 to 5 weeks, regardless of height. You can still prune them to keep them shorter and get them thicker and they will have more colas. The shorter time you veg, the less yield you'll get.
A digital ballast get's you 30% more effective use of your HID's

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Even if I use fairly large clones? I see I said 'planted' in my original post which sounds like I planted seeds but I actually used clones that were already quite large. Just want to make sure we're on the same page

respawned said:

I never realized how much better a 600 or 1000 watter is. I suppose I could sell my ballasts and replace them if it's going to make such a big difference. I never started a journal because I'm a bit paranoid but may just do that, thanks for the advice.

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Here is a picture of how much better, this is from today and that is a single 1kw bulb with obviously a non reflective completely shitty grow room. Clearly I could do better, but this is what you are missing out on.

OregonMeds said:

...this is what you are missing out on.

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Wow! Very nice going there! I know for a fact I could never get anywhere near that, even with three 400's.

Interestingly I have done a grow recently where I hung my bulb vertically, I had some Sativas all in various stages of budding that I placed in a circle around the bulb. That was in pots with soil and it seemed to work quite well, not sure what yield I was getting because I just smoked the plants as they were harvested. I have been planning to put together a hydro vertical/circular grow ever since then.

It's just dirt, longer veg time obviously. Oh and technically it's not even a true 1kw or a really good growing bulb. It's a 940w general purpose HPS conversion bulb in a metal halide magnetic warehouse style ballast.

OregonMeds said:

It's just dirt, longer veg time obviously. Oh and technically it's not even a true 1kw or a really good growing bulb. It's a 940w general purpose HPS conversion bulb in a metal halide magnetic warehouse style ballast.

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I am also using warehouse style ballasts, work out a lot cheaper to purchase. Problem is the biggest I can get is 400, currently I have 7 of them I paid the equivalent to $60 each brand new and $10 for a philips bulb which is a LOT cheaper than our local grow shop.

those are some big ole indoor plants meds nice job

ezy
I just made a small flood & drain system.. how many times a day should i flood it? and does the flow need to change for veg and flower? I've used coco in the past and i'm a newb to the hydroponics. also I use a CF stick to check the nute>anywhere i can get a chart to know the best CF Levels and PH. for Flood & Drain Hydroponics
KeepSmoking

respawned said:

I am also using warehouse style ballasts, work out a lot cheaper to purchase. Problem is the biggest I can get is 400, currently I have 7 of them I paid the equivalent to $60 each brand new and $10 for a philips bulb which is a LOT cheaper than our local grow shop.

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Yea a lot of bang for the buck using surplus ballasts but the 1kw ones aren't that hard to find cheap either. I bought a lot on ebay of 14 of them for $20 ea plus shipping, worked out to less than $50 ea. I can't use a fraction of them yet because I need a big a/c unit still. Saving my pennies...

OregonMeds said:

Yea a lot of bang for the buck using surplus ballasts but the 1kw ones aren't that hard to find cheap either. I bought a lot on ebay of 14 of them for $20 ea plus shipping, worked out to less than $50 ea. I can't use a fraction of them yet because I need a big a/c unit still. Saving my pennies...

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Good news! I found I can get 1000 watt ballasts for a fraction more than I was paying for the 400's. I'm going to get 3 but use 600 watt bulbs for now since I also don't have adequate cooling yet. I also got hold of a decent camera so I can at least take pics and get advice from this forum, things are looking up.

hi again

great price for 1000w ballast. but i'm not 100% on it running a 6oow bulb you mite want to look into that abit first befor getting the bulb.

remember reading some where that you couldn't down grade the bulb. but i don't know how true that is but worth checking on.

growem green-----------spike.

spike1499 said:

hi again

great price for 1000w ballast. but i'm not 100% on it running a 6oow bulb you mite want to look into that abit first befor getting the bulb.

remember reading some where that you couldn't down grade the bulb. but i don't know how true that is but worth checking on.

growem green-----------spike.

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Good point, I know the 400 watt from the same supplier can run anything down to 70 watts so I'm hoping the 1000 will run a 600 but will definitely ask first. Thanks.

hope it does for ya it will be a real bonus with the price as well.

just wish i could say for def that it will or won't. (sorry)

and hay we all like alittle bonus every now and again.

growem green-------------spike.

respawned said:

Good point, I know the 400 watt from the same supplier can run anything down to 70 watts so I'm hoping the 1000 will run a 600 but will definitely ask first. Thanks.

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You can't do this with magnetic ballasts. You must have cooper/lumark fixtures with the misleading labeling. It's not that the ballast covers multiple wattages it's that some of the case parts used are the same with the same label. Very very misleading.

OregonMeds said:

You can't do this with magnetic ballasts. You must have cooper/lumark fixtures with the misleading labeling. It's not that the ballast covers multiple wattages it's that some of the case parts used are the same with the same label. Very very misleading.

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I see. In that case I am leaning toward getting 3 600's which I can also get cheap. I realize it's probably better to just get 2 1000's, but at the moment I have 2 units, one which is 1mX2.1m and another that is 2mX2m (it has four 400's in there).
I could always make a plan if going with 1000's. I have lots of space, that's not a problem.

Does anyone have a direct link to a good priced 1000w along with the ballast? Im using cfls right now and its getting annoying having to move them arround all the time and because of the lack of space have to string each one somewhere got strings everywhere.,.LOL its like im walking through one of those rooms secured by the infrared lines everytime I go in my grow room LMAO! I wanna setup like dudes up there.. one light in the middle no additional work.. LOL

growthspurt said:

Does anyone have a direct link to a good priced 1000w along with the ballast? Im using cfls right now and its getting annoying having to move them arround all the time and because of the lack of space have to string each one somewhere got strings everywhere.,.LOL its like im walking through one of those rooms secured by the infrared lines everytime I go in my grow room LMAO! I wanna setup like dudes up there.. one light in the middle no additional work.. LOL

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Yeah, his grow is really cool. I have enough reflective material to do half a garage if I wanted. As for good prices I probably cant help you there, I live in Africa.

If you do a grow like mine it's easy but it's not optimal, just so you know. I'm getting great results and looking at over a pound of the good stuff but I'm also growing plenty of fluff and almost wasting the side of the plants that isn't facing the light completely. I'll probably have 1/2 pound just in fluff the way it looks but I figure I'll just use that for cooking.

You can do better than I have with this style if you just use mylar or reflective walls and keep the size of the plants a bit more reasonable for one light to cover and be able to penetrate through.

Here is what size they were when I flipped them, don't wait this long:


I'll post pics of the wased fluff if more want to see what I'm talking about. It's not all bad even fluff is a good thing but it also means half the time to veg this big was also mostly wasted.

Well I just made some bubble hash from my number2 fluff and it is really strong, got 5 of us stupidly wasted from one small piece. I cant wait to try my number1 fluff which is only trimmings from the main colas!


Btw, are low bay units ok for growing? I may be able to get something like this in 600watts.

Normally I just get the box and lamp holder but then I have to use my home made reflectors, this might be much easier to work with plus I could cut holes in it for ducting.
I can get them with or without the glass cover.