some extra lighting ideas????

[Tonatiuh]

wattup fam,im havin a few issues with a little tent i have goin right now.i have 1200 watt hps in it right now.my problem is that the canopy is getting so dense that the lower parts of the plants are losing leafs from not recieving enough light...im not so worried about getting a massive changin in yield from the lower stuff,i just dont want these leaves to keep falling off,im in week 2 of flower.heres a pic of the tent so you can see what im workin with...
whole tent

left side

right side

i didnt plan on this many plants in here but i got 25 females from 31 seeds so who am i to complain???
thanks for any suggestions or advice...any pics would be the bomb so i can see better how to hook it up.
peace-T-

 

[rave420]

i would not worry about lower leaves falling off.
It's a natural response of the plant when it rearranges itself to use the available light more efficient. Other than saying "don't worry about it" i don't have any actual advise though.

 

[Tonatiuh]

ok rave thanks for atleast droppin a few lines yo i know what ya mean but i just want more light beneath the canopy...peace-T-

 

[stickylungs]

What i did was use t5 side lighting. Looks like that might be hard for you to do in that set up.

OR

Trim her up a little higher.

 

[alphacat]

Ditch the popcorn undergrowth and SCROG it so the light can produce a carpet of maximum density instead of sapping growth from the top colas to produce crumbs.

This will also make harvest manicuring much, much easier; spend a little time training those girls during the grow and save a little time on the backend.

 

[Tonatiuh]

thanks for the suggestions fellaz,alpha i was thinkin to screen the next grow in here for that exact reason,i think its too late fr me to put a screen in now though...?...
i do have one for next run though.peace-T-

 

[rave420]

maybe just wire some sockets to an extension cord, add some high-wattage cfl's and hang them in between the plants. as long as you have some airflow that should be no problem, and increase the light levels.

Be aware that changing the lightning cenario also changes the way the plant grows, change in lightning is a form of stress. The plants grow so that they use all the light they get in an efficient manner, adding extra light tips off that balance and the plant has to start growing again, rather than just sitting there absorbing everything. Depending on how far you're in flower this can cause all sorts of problems. I had a grow with 300w of CFL, and i added a 150W hps 5 weeks into flower, all plants went hermie on me and started single leaflet grow. I am positive that i had no light leaks. The plants popped some nanners, the old buds were ripe after 7 weeks and the new growth just hermied all over the place. I am not doing that again lol..
Just be aware that a change in light is stress for the plant.

 

[vintner]

Well, I don't see any dead or dieing leaves, but I'll take your word for it. If you've never worked w/a screen I suggest you start small. Maybe screen a plant or three. I'm w/alphacat. With undergrowth that dense my primary concern would be mildew. Thin it out some.

 

[Tonatiuh]

cool guys thank you ...i didnt know adding more light could stresst them...i thi9nk i have enough air movement under ther to keep the mildew away,thanks vin i will be sure to keep a close eye....i was thinkin as far as the lower not getting enough light i could harvest the top half of the plants then wait like two weeks let the lower half finish up better and then chop that???? i know ive seen that peeps do that i just have never done it personaly...anyone ever harvest like that?were the results worth the wait or do you theink you shoulda just done it all at once ? thanks for all the help guys.
peace-T-

 

[Tonatiuh]

sorry about the double post but....

sorry about the double post but....

ok so after much cosideration i decided to listen to ur guyses suggestions of thinning out the rest of the lower growth...the pics up top were day 10 i think and here we are today day 14 all trimmed up...

and still have all my canopy,the tops should be lovely real soon...

thanks guys peace -T-

 

[vintner]

Looking good Bro

 

[fredflintstoned]

It's definitely too late to add a screen. Theres always next time, right?
Getting rid of the lower growth is a good move, it takes away energy from the trophy bud at the top and is a real bitch to trim. I would have waited till the middle of week four though. I would suggest minimal pruning at that time to let more light into the center of the plants. Trimming before the end of budset can send a signal to increase stretch, which you sure don't need at this point!
Another idea, raise all plants to the same level. That way you can take better advantage of the light overlap.The more angles of light, the more coverage you have on secondary lower buds.
As far as harvesting the top and letting the rest go for another week or so? I've done it whenever in the same situation (overcrowding) and think it added about 10-15% to the overall weight. You could see the smaller buds swell almost immediately.
Fred

 

[Tonatiuh]

thanks vin

fred,thank you for the insight bro,a couple things you said that i didnt even know,like pruning could make them stretch more...good chit man..thanx.i tried to have them at the same level but with 8 strains goin in there it gets a lil hectic,theres godberry,MOFO,pollenchuck revised,happy brother bx1,jack the ripper,ffa,bubba kush,and the cheese....godberry,mofo,happybrother,and pollen chuck are from seed the rest from clone...i'll keep that in mind about the double harvest too yo.peace-T-

 

[purpledomgoddes]

ever considered flowering about half that amount of plants?

in that size room, usually do 4-6 plants. they will fill entire space, horizontally+vertically.
@ least cut it in half to 12 plants. @ least 1 branch off of ea plant will be crowded in current set up. ideally want ea branch to max out, w/out constriction.

would thin down the # of branches to 2-3. get huge fruits, instead of many smaller ones. ever thought that garden is overgrown? they could be finishing @ the size they are now if flowered @ 3-4".(?).

biased towards trees, but nice garden!

 

[Tonatiuh]

purple,they were from seed,i got 25/31 females,the other few that went in were because i was runnin low on them strains and they are bomb so i threw a few in there.thanx though ,i never thought of doin 4-6 in there,what strain do you think is the best for growing them big trees?thanks,peace-T-