Seeking advice for indoor grow

[MangoMaitreya]

Hi all,
I just joined the forum although I have been a long time browser. I have recently set up a small space to grow indoors and I am just seeking suggestions and advice on how to proceed. There are several criteria for which I would like to optimize this grow, but let me start by listing some features of my setup and my progress so far.

I have two very small "rooms" which are just over a meter in height each and have a floor space of 2.8 square feet(1.7 ft x 1.7 ft.) I am using one currently as a veg room and the other is set up as a flower room.

I am currently vegging 12 plants that I started from seed, they are all at about 2 weeks. They are regular seeds so of course I expect plenty of males. Genetics are by bodhi, Mango Hashplant, Mango Lotus and Twin Flame.

This is not relevant to my question but for those curious about lighting, I have 2 diy lights, the veg light having 8 cfls which I believe is 150 to 180 watts ( I have to double check) and the flower light being a 270 watt LED affair.

Now onto my goals for this grow. Given that these seeds are nearly all f1's I am wishing to do some pheno searching, however I am a little unsure about how to do so in an efficient manner given my space constraints. I also would like to produce a first harvest relatively quickly as I am looking to spend less buying ganja from others. (although I know patience is critical in this endeavor)

The options that I am considering include a Sea of Green style grow which would allow me to grow more smaller plants and pheno hunt through more plants at a time. (although this does not seem to allow for taking clones, possibly revegging could be an option?) or just veg longer so I can take clones then flower one or maybe two larger plants. (This seems to be the most basic and maybe smartest option)

Anyway I am pretty new to this and this is my first indoor grow so any suggestions or advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you so much,
Mango Maitreya

 

[Paddi]

Hi Mango M and welcome to ICMag
I think your first problem is lack of height.
The distance during flower from LEDs to canopy is minimum 30 cm.
That gives you 70 cm to growmedium and plant.

Best luck

P

 

[MangoMaitreya]

Thank you for the support Paddi! I do realize that I was not entirely accurate when I gave the height of the grow rooms. Saying it was a meter is just wrong and I don't know why I said that. The veg room is closer to that, maybe 4 feet, but the flower room is a bit taller, I believe over five feet. I will take an accurate measurement tomorrow. Sorry again for the inaccurate info.

 

[MangoMaitreya]

I should have titled this thread "Tips for Efficient Pheno Hunting in Small Spaces".

 

[MangoMaitreya]

After taking a precise measurement:

Veg "room" height is 3 ft 6 in
Flower "room" height is 5 ft 2 in

Sorry for the boring thread filled with my own edits!

 

[troutman]

Welcome to the Party.



Might be good to start flowering when the plants are almost 12-16 inches tall in such a small space.

If they double in height you won't have much room to play with. It's better to have smaller plants
that are not stressed out. Then to grow a jungle where the plants are all touching the roof and
they are too close to the lights. With each grow you can fine tune as you go.

BTW: Once you get 50 posts you'll be able to edit posts and send PM's.

 

[Pumpkin]

Can you dedicate more space? You are going to run into some problems I can't help you with in that space. It's not impossible, but it is making it hard on yourself. More rewarding results are found with more space. If you live in a tiny home, sure try it. If you live in a normal home, find more space.

 

[Pumpkin]

If nothing else, find more height and split your grow vertically. 2m high, and 1.5m for flowering and .5m for veg. Or just use the whole space for veg and flower and don't waste space with a perpetual nightmare.

 

[Pumpkin]

If my plants lived in a cupboard, i'd probably just do the one plant and fill it. (If femanised or clone)

 

[Pumpkin]

If it looks like a success, i'd start a plant a few weeks before harvest somewhere else, even outside or by a window to swap out when it is done.

 

[MangoMaitreya]

Thanks for the input Troutman and Pumpkin.

I live in a 400 sq ft studio so although it is not quite a tiny house I do not have a huge wealth of space to spare. I am thinking about getting a tent later on but for the time being I am going to stick with my current setup regardless of the limitations.

Trout, I am definitely planning to start flowering plants when they are a bit smaller, and I am also experimenting with plant training to keep them shorter. As you say, experience will definitely help me improve my system and iron out kinks.

 

[MangoMaitreya]

I am in the habit of doing extensive research before I embark on any endeavor so I am not without some ideas of my own, but I really appreciate the suggestions and I would love to hear more ideas, or maybe hear from someone who has been in a similar situation with limited space and a desire to find a killer plant or two in several packs of seeds.

 

[ForTheLove]

Hi MangoM'

Welcome aboard

Regarding your small spaces.
I think you'll find running more than 1 plant in sml spaces will get messy quickly.
As you will already know from your research, its not great to over crowd your plants.
As this can increase the possibility of new problems arising from - bad air flow - increasing chance of mood or mildew
reducing plants ability & efficency to transpire effectively
bugs love a mess of leaves
the obvious lack of light to bud sites

If this is your first time seeing close up & personal, the life cycle of a cannabis plant, then you will be in for a surprise once flowering starts & continues. As you would have read, some plants can 4x plus their initial start of flowering height.And some completely don't!

Not meaning to sound so of putting but their are realties & the plant(s) will tell you how to grow them & what you can & can't do with them.

Longg story shorter (ha ha)
Do what you will. But most importantly observe & you'll start to see all your limitation & potential of your plants in your grow space.

Pls keep us updated if you can & wish to?
This place can seem alil overwhelming at first but stick with it & I'm sure you'll nearly always find someone to help you out.
All the best & good luck on your first grow!

 

[MangoMaitreya]

Thank you for the warm welcome FTL. I have grown a few plants outdoors but yes my experience with growing cannabis is certainly quite limited.

I am definitely going to play around and experiment a bit with my setup, I think once I get settled down a bit and find a plant I want to continue with I will dedicate the full space to just that one. I certainly have many plants growing now but I wanted to be safe and sprout plenty of extras.

I will definitely try to give continual updates and i'm very thankful for all the support this new member has received!

 

[aridbud]

Wow! Ambitious project. I think you over estimated starting 12 plants. In that space, 2 plants using LST or cropping would be a jungle.

Listen to those who had valuable input above

We grow our photoperiods 12/12 lighting in 5 gallon buckets and LST/crop/SCROG.

Generally, you get a 50% ratio F:M, so that leaves ~6....still too many for your space. Many times, we WANT a good specimen male, and plants were all female. Luck of the draw and genetics from seed.

Invaluable lesson (keep notes!) and watch how they grow. Wishing you success!

 

[MangoMaitreya]

Haha yes 12 plants is quite a few. Excitement got the better of me but I have definitely ensured I have no want for quantity! I never planned to put all of them into flower together but they are also going to overcrowd my veg area soon so I may cull some or set them by the window or whatever.

 

[MangoMaitreya]

I am thinking about using a technique like the one employed in this thread:

https://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?t=154870

 

[MangoMaitreya]

Does anyone know if plants flowered after 2-3 weeks of veg will have enough growth on the sides of the plants to take clones in the early weeks of flowering period?

 

[Switcher56]

Wow! Ambitious project. I think you over estimated starting 12 plants. In that space, 2 plants using LST or cropping would be a jungle.

Listen to those who had valuable input above

We grow our photoperiods 12/12 lighting in 5 gallon buckets and LST/crop/SCROG.

Generally, you get a 50% ratio F:M, so that leaves ~6....still too many for your space. Many times, we WANT a good specimen male, and plants were all female. Luck of the draw and genetics from seed.

Invaluable lesson (keep notes!) and watch how they grow. Wishing you success!

Ahhh, the gold nugget

 

[Switcher56]

I am thinking about using a technique like the one employed in this thread:

https://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?t=154870

He was not veging under CFLs. CFLs although great for vegging, also causes large inter-nodal length as they stretch for/towards the light. He was growing under 400W HPS and, knew what he was doing. Big difference! Look how compact his plants were. IMHO you will be no where near that, and will quickly run out of room.

Grown in a 3x3 tent under 600W LED (280W draw). Those stakes are 18" long. That was Harlequiin day 42 of flower.

Aca day 42 flower

Acapulco Gold. It can be done Total harvest 290g (dry). Run was 2 x Har and 2x Aca