Poor yield and stretching

[corky1968]

HPS = stretch.

I used MH to flower my plants and I like it.

 

[bakelite]

Here's a pic of one of my plants

 

[bakelite]

Tough yielding in small space like the armoire, how's many air exchanges you gettin? Turbo whew

My armoire is pretty big. The internal dimensions are 4' x 2' by 4' tall. The air exchange really shouldn't be a problem. I have a Soler and Palau inline fan that pulls 250 cf/min. The max temp of the cab is kept in check by a water chiller unit hooked up to a heater core from a car with a small squirrel cage fan blowing air through it

 

[bakelite]

HPS = stretch.

I used MH to flower my plants and I like it.

Corky, One of my ballasts is a Lumatek which can run both HPS and Halide bulbs. I have a Plantmax 4200k bulb that I have used with the ballast. Do you use a halide for the entire grow?

 

[PoweredByLove]

Here's a pic of one of my plants[URL=https://www.icmag.com/ic/picture.php?albumid=64830&pictureid=1636461&thumb=1]View Image[/url]

nit & mag def. and what is that some sort of kush derivative? i suggest a strain that will actually give you big buds. all the kush i've seen looks just like this. lanky plants with little buds.

 

[Slipnot]

Just buy a 600 watt Light and throw them 2 - 250 's in the garbage problem solved

 

[Slipnot]

Corky to say HPS = stretch is wrong i thrown away all my MH lights and right from beginning of veg there under HPS no slow growth no strectching nothing

 

[I wood]

slipnot, check into recycling please.

 

[bakelite]

Just buy a 600 watt Light and throw them 2 - 250 's in the garbage problem solved

I have been thinking about that, but I still should be getting better grams/watt than what I've been getting.

 

[corky1968]

Corky, One of my ballasts is a Lumatek which can run both HPS and Halide bulbs. I have a Plantmax 4200k bulb that I have used with the ballast. Do you use a halide for the entire grow?

I started with fluorescent bulbs. T-12's and T5's. But I eventually got an Ace Ballast 600 Watt that
can run both types of bulbs like yours. But yeah, I've been running a MH the entire flowering time
and like the results.

This 7200K bulb and ballast to be exact:

Plantmax™ 600W Metal Halide 7200K Sky Blue Grow Light Bulb

IC 600 watt club

 

[Highburyway]

@bakelite

Have you tried having the light at the top of your groom?

Also try building a dedicated scrog net, either secure to the sides of the groom or put legs on it.

You could try having 2 big smart pots to fill the floor space. You could do 1 or 2 plants per pot, if 2 per pot preferably clones then.

The good thing about the big smart pot is you can get a big root space for not alot of height.

Try topping or tieing them down early to get some branches going.


Here's a pics of a scrog that finished about 75 -80cm/29-31"

Good luck

 

[Lester Beans]

I think the first step is a larger light, larger tent, and larger containers. That right there will dramatically increase your yield. The largest pot you mentioned is a 1.6 gal. That's tiny and in soil that can stress plants.

If you want to keep the area you are growing in, you should try coco. It does well in small pots.

Stick with the HPS, it is the light 90% of us use and people that tell you it does not work are inexperienced.

 

[PoweredByLove]

Ive gotten big buds from a single lamp running 300w. He has 500w total... You guys really like glossing over the obvious... That plant needs more food during stretch.

 

[Slipnot]

Ive gotten big buds from a single lamp running 300w. He has 500w total... You guys really like glossing over the obvious... That plant needs more food during stretch.

Dude is haviing 4 250 watt light bulbs the same as 1 1000 watt grow light ???
You think the plant needs more food ??? with 2 weak ass light sources sorry that is not how it works

 

[PoweredByLove]

Dude is haviing 4 250 watt light bulbs the same as 1 1000 watt grow light ???
You think the plant needs more food ??? with 2 weak ass light sources sorry that is not how it works

weak ass light sources?

this is one plant under 300w badly grown in a 1 gallon pot of coco. you guys are obviously doing it wrong if you think 500w of hps lights is weak light.

like i said bro, you need to up the feed during stretch then drop it back down in week 6 then slowly let it fade till chop. specifically more magnesium.

4x250 wont match 1000w bulb in intensity but it will certainly cover more area. whats the difference between a 1000w bulb 4 feet away from the canopy or a 250w bulb 1 foot away?

 

[Slipnot]

lol i guess were doing it all wrong

 

[bakelite]

Very good info guys, much appreciated. I try to keep my plants within 1 foot of the glass on my hoods (appx 16" from the arc tube). The problem is that once the plants stretch on me, only the top most buds get the light intense light needed for dense buds. I've tried lollipopping the plants to try to take advantage of it, but my yields still fall short. I don't like the cheap ass hoods I bought a few years ago. They limit the footprint of the light and the reflective material doesn't seem to be optimized.

I think my issues are a combination of things. If I want to stay organic it looks like I'll need larger containers. Switching to synthetic nutes would be the easier route. I have Dyna Gro Grow and Tiger Bloom on hand and I'm going to try using those exclusively on a couple of plants to see how it affects my yield. I'm going to keep my (2) 250w bulbs for now and see if I can get the g/watt up to a reasonable level. If I can get 0.5g/watt I'd be very happy (that would yield almost 9 oz which would suit me fine).

 

[bakelite]

@bakelite

Have you tried having the light at the top of your groom?

Also try building a dedicated scrog net, either secure to the sides of the groom or put legs on it.

You could try having 2 big smart pots to fill the floor space. You could do 1 or 2 plants per pot, if 2 per pot preferably clones then.

Good luck

Highburyway, The lights are as high as they can go. I'm somewhat limited by the ventilation plumbing and my rather large filter canister.

I've had trouble with watering smart pots. The water seems to leak out the sides of the container and not saturate the lower part of the soil.

 

[PoweredByLove]

how hot is it in your space? how big is it? do you need to use the hoods? open reflectors would get you more spread. assuming you had a 4x4 for instance i would either use bare walls painted and no hoods/reflectors or open wing reflectors and i would set the bulbs 1 foot from the walls...2 feet from each other and try and get all the plants/tops what have you as flat and even as possible and close to the light. if you have some good air blowing around the top near the bulbs you should be able to get within 6 inches without suffering any burn. hypothetically.

 

[bakelite]

how hot is it in your space? how big is it? do you need to use the hoods? open reflectors would get you more spread. assuming you had a 4x4 for instance i would either use bare walls painted and no hoods/reflectors or open wing reflectors and i would set the bulbs 1 foot from the walls...2 feet from each other and try and get all the plants/tops what have you as flat and even as possible and close to the light. if you have some good air blowing around the top near the bulbs you should be able to get within 6 inches without suffering any burn. hypothetically.

The interior of my cab is 2' x 4' x just under 4' tall. Open wing reflectors would help in the lighting department. Right both of my 250w hps are in cooled hoods, running an open bulb would no doubt rise temps in the cab.