how long to veg....

[Ganjagrower1]

I am fairly new to this, i have had a couple of grows now. I am looking for anyones opinion on what is the length of time to veg a plant out. In my first couple of grows i had noticed that i have a lot of stretching. I am trying to keep them down to about a foot and a half. But at the same time i am not wanting to lose the quantity of the bud either. And another question i have is i was using 2 400w lights and my buds werent dense. I am thinking of up grading to a 1000w electronic ballast. Will that produce more tighter denser nugs.

 

[yamaha_1fan]

if you want them at 1.5 feet at harvest, then they dont need any vegging at all, You may want to consider a SCROG or something. I believe there are some additives that stop stretching as well

I believe the 1000W will give you better nug density. Search"dense" and choose title only, not the whole thread. I know there are a few threads discussing how to make nugs denser. CO2, temps, humididty, lighting, nutes, strain all play a role

 

[whodair]

ive found seed plant to stretch way more than clone. a strong indica clone will not gain much once you switch to 12/12. sativa seem to have a mind of their own and do whatever they want. typical female behavior.

 

[Ganjagrower1]

Thanks yamaha i will do some more research on the dense part. I am running 9 plants in a 4'x4'x7' area. I am not sure i have room for a scrog. I am looking to make big colas instead of little bud.

 

[house]

Veg to about 1/2 or 1/3 of what you want as the final height. For a 1.5 feet, you could go straight into flower and skip veg entirely. What strain are you running? How are your temps? If you really want the biggest colas at the cost of yield, cut off all axillary growth and grow a single cola.

 

[Ganjagrower1]

I might be exaggerating on the height. A little bit bigger is good. temps are right around 70 degrees. Bubbleisious, alpha diesel, and white widow. I was talking about vegging until they are about a foot and a half tall.

 

[FRIENDinDEED]

i think it all depends on the height of the grow space you already have. and that height is estimated by measuring from the top of the soil in your grow containers to atleast 6 inches away from the light bulb itself.

you should veg at half of that height once you find out what it is.

 

[Ganjagrower1]

I am looking to flip my light to 12/12 this friday. do a nutrient change out and go to flower nutes. I am using GH for my nutes a three part nute. I havent had any problems my last grow just that my nugs werent dense enough for me. I am going to switch to a 1000w for flower. Now is there anything i can add to help root growth for a healthy root system.

 

[FreezerBoy]

Thanks yamaha i will do some more research on the dense part. I am running 9 plants in a 4'x4'x7' area. I am not sure i have room for a scrog. I am looking to make big colas instead of little bud.

ScROGs make great colas. They just grow horizontally. These are 19 inches long.

As long as your plants get their full flowering period, they'll reach full potency. An older plant will produce more and larger buds but, not more potent.

 

[socialist]

Now is there anything i can add to help root growth for a healthy root system.

Hygrozyme will help protect your roots, you can also add hydrogen peroxide.

 

[Dee9]

Sativas will stretch more than 2x their size when in flower. Especially when pruned for a single upright growth pattern.

I found some humic acid really goes a long way during veg to stimulate root growth. I do not use humics in flower, only during veg...

I have had fluffy flowers and dense flowers all under the same light - so I think it is more strain related than external factors.

Remember, a single 1000 W light does not give as good coverage as 2x 500W lights. With your 2x400W lights you are probably already getting as much lumens as a single 1000 W light. Also, big lights cause hot-spots. Bigger is not always better.

My dad use to say: 'you're not greedy, you just like a lot...'

 

[SumDumGuy]

ScROGs make great colas. They just grow horizontally. These are 19 inches long.

As long as your plants get their full flowering period, they'll reach full potency. An older plant will produce more and larger buds but, not more potent.

Those are huge...

 

[Ganjagrower1]

I dont seem to be getting dense nugs with the two 400w lights that i am using. For the hot spots i am really not worried about that. i have it all temperature controlled. when i go to the 1000w i am going to use a vortex fan to vent the hood. I am going to flush today and go into flower. So i am hoping to hop on down to my local hydro store and pick up that 1000w and fan. I will post some pics as soon as i can some uploaded on my computer and post them.

 

[B. Self Reliant]

Expecting to grow 1.5-2' plants with a 400 watt lamp is reasonable. The light intensity should be enough to penetrate a reasonable distance through the canopy, so your goals don't sound too crazy.

How long to veg? That involves quite a few variables, and is a key component to most people's gardens to say the least. Here's some fo teh variables:

1. Sativa or indica? Sativas can stretch 2 or even 3 times the height they were when they were initially flowered, where as an indica could be flowered at about 12", and might only be 16-18" when finished. I personally keep the number of strains I work with to a minimum for this very reason. I just assume that I'm going to have to fine-tune each strain's veg time in order to get the desired plant height at harvest time.

2. What kind of light are you vegging under? Using a T5 fixture is different than cfl's, which are different than HPS or MH, etc. At the very least try to do things consistently. It's almost impossible to learn from your past experiences if you change more than one variable at a time.

3. How soon do you transplant to larger containers? I clone in rockwool for example, and I can assure you that my overall veg time is affected by how soon I transplant to my 3x3x4 cubes. I can either kill time by keeping rooted clones in their 1.5x1.5" cubes for an extra week so they don't get so big so fast, or if I want to veg as quickly as possible I can transplant to the larger cubes as soon as the clones are rooted in the smaller cubes.

If you work with a single strain, you are using a constant clone/germination/vegging procedure, the conditions stay the same, etc, then you should have a rock solid answer after your first grow. Note each plant's height when flowering was induced, and then compare that to it's finishing height. Your second time around it should be a numbers game with no guess work.

 

[Ganjagrower1]

I just flipped my lights last night. I am on day 1 of flower. I decided to just go ahead and purchase 2 new 400w hps bulbs and a 6 inch active air blower. I will try this and see if i have any better results then last time. I think my problem was the lights were to far away from the tops of the plants. Now i am going to be able to have my lights a lot closer this time.

B. Self Reliant........ thanks for the info.... I was using a 400w cmh for my veg. as soon as my clones rooted I transplanted into 6 in net cups. I havent seem to have any problems with this method. I have three different strains going again and i hope not to have more stretch on some then others but that is wishful thinking.

I am going to make sure i do a change out of my water every week this time. I dont want to have any one of my buckets using up more nutes then others so a change out would be good. I will take some pics when the lights come on and post. They are all about 12 inches tall.

 

[Ganjagrower1]

I am on day two of flower and i will have to post some pics soon i am sure you all what to see what is going on with my ladies. With my new active air blower i can have my lights about 5 or so inches of my canopy. Last time i had to have my lights to far from the top and i didnt get dense nugs. I hope to achieve that this time. I hate the beginning of flower when there is nothing to really look at for days. Does anyone have any input on some additives that work great. I am trying some great white beneficial bacteria this time around and so if i can have any better luck. Since putting in my root look whiter then ever. The little tint of brown is gone. Yahoo......

 

[loco81]

Well i agree with yamaha for the most part unless you scrog or something they will be taller then that. i use screws around my buckets and weave in and out threw branches keeping down and making light penetration way better.
As far as he big nugs go check this thread out if you havnt already
http://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?t=12653

 

[Ganjagrower1]

thanks for the info. i have another question i am looking to use co2 does anyone have any input into what i need to do and what to expect.

 

[loco81]

depends how much money you want to spend. here is a setup for cheap!
http://www.rollitup.org/general-marijuana-growing/121920-diy-co2-bucket-system.html

 

[loco81]

watch this video
http://s284.photobucket.com/albums/ll31/rebeldawg777/?action=view&current=7eda5bc0.pbr