LST in SOG

[CloudN9ne]

Hey guys i'm working with two limited confinements for a grow both 3ft tall 4ft wide and 2ft deep (they have to stay like this i can't turn them but i might resize them) They are stacked on top of each other in a cab. I wanted to do a perpetual sog but i'm limited in space so I was wondering if i can train the clones shorter while still focusing on the top of the plants for bigger buds. I understand LST is training to concentrate on growing the other parts of the plant but was wondering if I keep the bottoms trimmed and trained the plants down will this keep them far enough from my 400 what hps cool tube that i can still grow sog style. This is my cab.

For more information on my box please check out my resizing thread below
where i could use some more questions answered thanks in advance

https://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?t=229394

-C9

 

[pinecone]

Hey guys i'm working with two limited confinements for a grow both 3ft tall 4ft wide and 2ft deep (they have to stay like this i can't turn them but i might resize them)

Contrary to intuition (perhaps), it is better if your light is not right on top of your plants. When it is right on top of your plants you get lots of light and radiant heat focused on a small area, but you don't get good coverage. Anyway, with 400w you ideally want about 1" of head space to allow for good coverage. At a minimum you want 6". Add to this the height of any sort of pots that you are going to use. At least 1.5' of grow space is going to be taken up by needed clearance between the light and plant tops and containers leaving you with only 1.5' left for plants. If you 3' figure also counts the space required to hand a light horizontally (as shown) you are fucked. In this case you would have much less space for plants - perhaps only 6".

This would be a lot easier to pull off if you were using T5s HOs. as coverage is achieved via the large size of the light sources, very little clearance is needed between the lights and the plants, and the lights are think and thus don't take as much vertical space to hang. Maybe you could imbed pots in the upper chamber by cutting holes in the shelf and use the bottom chamber as a t5 veg area.

Another option would be to go bare bulb and/or vertical. IC mag member heady blunts has a thread in the micro forum where he grows vertical with 400w in a space that is only 2f high.

I wanted to do a perpetual sog but i'm limited in space so I was wondering if i can train the clones shorter while still focusing on the top of the plants for bigger buds. I understand LST is training to concentrate on growing the other parts of the plant but was wondering if I keep the bottoms trimmed and trained the plants down will this keep them far enough from my 400 what hps cool tube that i can still grow sog style. This is my cab.

You can certainly bend them over by low stress or hard mode training (crimping), but I doubt that you are going to be able to keep them low enough to work well in your space unless the 3' is after the light is hung.

One thing that I have found that works well bowing plants or branches so that they are shorter and maintaining the bows by tying off to bamboo stakes with rubber ties (basically cut rubber bands). With the rubber ties you can force bigger bows, and otherwise shorter plants, by simply pushing the ties down the bamboo stakes. Still I don't think you can grow nice 6" plants.

Pine

 

[CloudN9ne]

Awsome thanks for the info. I also have the option to shorten the veg section and allow the flower section more room would you suggest this and if so how much? i plan on keeping a bonsai style mother down there and i can do lst on it probably so i think this may be an option please let me know

 

[pinecone]

I also have the option to shorten the veg section and allow the flower section more room would you suggest this and if so how much? i plan on keeping a bonsai style mother down there and i can do lst on it probably so i think this may be an option please let me know

I was just looking at my veg space which uses a T5 HO. With 6" high pots I think you need at least 21" and probably 2' to hang the light and allow for decent sized bonzai mom. This would give you an extra foot or so in the flower area which would help quite a bit. Three feet of space is a non-starter with an HID for horizontal hanging of the light, but I think 4' is worth a shot.

Pine

 

[señorsloth]

your def going to want 4 feet on top 2 on bottom, a 400w light needs 4 feet minimum.