What's the best spacing? Should I rip these beauties out?

[plantingplants]

So I've seen space efficient greenhouses with crowded plants and also triple planted pots that yielded well. That coupled with the fact that I had lots of extras this year led me to plant extra and plant them pretty close to each other, on average about 2.5 or 3 ft stem to stem. I also planted the biggest plants next to each other, wanting them to get the best sun spots. Probably a mistake. The mounds are 2 to 3 yards but they're connected so more like rows. Two plants for each 2-3 yards. They've been planted for a couple weeks. Do you guys think I should rip out any plants, or maybe just train them away from each other and keep the inside clean? Or just rip out some of the big ones? I would hate to rip them out because they're growing so well, but maybe it's for the best. I could rip out every other big one and replace some small ones with them... they'd lose veg time due to transplant shock but some of my small ones are growing so slow.

Here are a few photos of the rows and the spacing. I tried to offset them a little. I included photos of the biggest ones and the smaller ones. Those are 7 gallon pots for reference. The plants have been lollipopped if you're wondering why the insides are thin.

 

[Mendogrowing]

I'd rock that

 

[who dat is]

I would probably thin the limbs of each plant where they are going to be growing into one another.

 

[_tessarecting]

Interesting setup. Ive sat here looking at your pics pondering what I would do if I were you. You could try training them in different ways so that crowding becomes less of an issue. Support might get interesting with leaning plants though. Pruning is going to be essential either way.

 

[Stone House]

I try to have at LEAST 10 to 12 feet from stalk to stalk, depends on how big the strains you have get.
I have seen 14 plants in a 25 x 25 fenced in area outdoors that looked like a sea of green, only had buds on the top no bud growth under canopy just wall to wall plants. Harvest was still a fair amount but the plants had been topped many times.
Schrews planted some bags 3 plants to a bag and I believe it worked well for him.
Since your plants are pretty much in a row you should still have buds on 2 sides and top.
If it were me, I would remove every other plant in each row and move those bags farther away. If you transplant any larger plants I would do it before dark with a cool day the next day (or shadecloth). Friday afternoon would seem ok as Saturday is supposed to be cooler.
I'm sure others can inform you better as to transplanting big plants, I've never tried it.

 

[SocalNugz]

Space them, your eliminating canopy if you have them too close plus it gives you room to work.

 

[neongreen]

I agree, leaving them like that is likely to cause problems further down the line if they get big. I would start at one end, leave the first plant in the row, take out the the second, leave the third, and so on... Just make sure you take out as large a rootball as possible, but not so large that it collapses when you lift it - a difficult balance to achieve. You also want the soil to be not too dry or wet, but the plant should be well hydrated and no where near the wilting stage (again a difficult balance to achieve). I would try to time the lift for cloudy/cool weather if you have some on the way, and in the early evening so the plants don't have to cope with heat stress as much as possible. Water in well once moved.

If you can do that successfully the moved plants shouldn't even blink.

Good luck!

 

[plantingplants]

So to be clear, the yield from 15 plants spaced 6 ft apart would be better than 30 plants spaced 3 ft apart and trained away from each other? (2-3 yards soil)

So far I count three votes for rip them out, and three for leave them.

 

[gorilla ganja]

Rip them out sounds so wrong. If you are going to cull them.

If you are going to transplant to a new location like neongreen suggests, then not so bad.Little shock, but not bad if done properly.

I would train them away from each other personally. Looks like you have plenty of room on the one side, might get a little tricky between rows. Support may be a issue like _tessarecting was saying. But if done correctly should not be a big issue.
Just leave them un-topped and just keep tying them down with strong stakes and rope. being careful not to strangle them.
One toward the other bed the next to the outside.
The tied down plants can handle wind with plenty of tie down points, better than tall plants.

Best of luck and may all your Buds be Huge.

Peace GG

 

[BAKED_BEANZ]

save yourself some headaches later , pull some or transplant them into another garden bed . plants crammed on top of each other are only going to block light from one another .

looks like good soil lots of water , so they will perform . if it was a guerrilla grow i,d probably leave . maybe thin a little

 

[neongreen]

...or you could always move a few, and also leave a few as they are (with a little training/pruning) and see which do better

 

[RckyMtRdnk]

I vote let em be for now until you see who wants to dominate. That's a guaranteed canopy. Thin it out down low as needed when you see which plants and branches compete for the best positions in the sunlight. Topping, thinning, low stress training, mulch and support and that could be a huge hedge, in my opinion. I think they will work it out if you let em.

 

[HillMizer]

I'm thinking big plant spacing comes a lot from #1 limiting plant numbers #2 pathogen control #3 Light penetration.

If you trust your plant/genetics equally and manage IPM and pruning well then more plants is an easier way to get yield.

More roots, more shoots, more fruits.

Large Root Mass and large well illuminated canopy surface area seem to be 2 large factors in yield IMO. Sometimes more plants is an easy way to get those two things. So many ways to Skin this cat. Thanks and good luck.

 

[plantingplants]

Shit. You've all given me a lot to think about. It looks like leaving them is winning, but I might cull a couple of them to let a few big ones shine. Or maybe I should just go for a straight hedge like Rcky said... Would I just pull branches through trellis into the sun and cut any that are completely inside? Is the idea just to make the most sun exposure possible and prune anything that can't get to the sun?

If I train them opposite ways then I'm not sure that remesh cages are the best option anymore. Maybe metal EMT conduit + plastic trellis will give me more flexibility. It doesn't get really windy over here.

 

[who dat is]

True, there is a lot of back and forth info that people have put forth. I think that is because you could take it several different ways depending on what you decide and what bests fits your needs. You're pretty much just going to have to make the call and then proceed accordingly. There isn't a right or wrong way to go about this.

Regardless of what you decide to do I would make that choice and go ahead and start making the necessary changes. You probably already mentioned this but if you have plants that are the same cut sitting next to each other I would start with thinning there.

I wouldn't sit there hemming and hawing waiting for an answer from the Icmag ether. Get judicious with some pruners and clippers.

 

[corky1968]

I say leave them be and some people say move them.

I just hope you learned your lesson.

 

[Shcrews]

I would leave them and just stay on top of pruning , and later in the season defoliation.

you will have a very full canopy of buds. it will be more work but probably the best way to maximize that space with those size starts at this point in the season

 

[stinky]

I found it is REALLY hard to rip plants up.... I just did this to my greenhouse this weekend. I had 24, what my county say's is ok. I now have 12 plants. Family was like "what the HELL are you doing!"

Couldn't even walk around in there. Now I have some space to actually take care of what I do have. Have a bitchen grow brother! grow them BIG.

 

[Rory Borealis]

If you plan to keep that setup, train (LST) the middle branches on each plant for better light
scatter. Bend the plants toward the north, just enough to allow the side facing south to receive maximum sunshine.

 

[self]

Dig them out, repot them with proper spacing, and you won't have to worry about this anymore or do extra work later in the season. They can take the transplant right now no problem if you don't let them dry out or expose the roots to air for too long.
If you leave it you will constantly have to be dealing with an non-ideal situation which you could just fix now with little effort or loss.
If you leave it till later you will have a maintenance issue pruning the plants out of each other, and any pest will spread through all of your plants immediately due to close contact.
What is the orientation of your rows? It seems like no matter what the plants are going to shade one another an you will lose out.
Just saying this from lots of experience. If you recognize a potential problem and understand how to fix it now, do it.
Or learn this lesson at some future time.