(1) O.K. I have about a week left of vegging. they're 2 months old(alternating nodes), 3ft tall, and in 2.5 gallon pots. Should I transplant into 5 gal pots before 12/12? Or should I stick to the 2.5 gallon? I want them to be like 5-6 ft tall when Im done. (2) Next, the leaves are already overlapping. Is this going to be a problem as time goes on? The closet is not very wide or deep but it is tall. (3) To deal with my heat issue, I oppened the closet door and have an airfilter blowing in. This fixed the heat problem but I have to leave the door open all the time. Is this waisting all of the light? Was thinking about leaving it cracked while the filter blows in but it still get too hot. Thanks in advance.This site has helped out a ton.
'icetea..IMO, 5-6' in heighth isn't usually most productive in ID gargens. Your light intesity deminishes greatly as distance from the bulb increases. (Strato might chime in here, with his formula) Consequently, lower branches aren't recieving sufficient light to produce quality product.Bending/training or topping will aid in keepng your canopy even for more efficient light useage. I'd upcan to the 5 gallons, either way. Rootmass and plant mass are in definate corralation. i.e...more roots more buds.
just remember herbal theyll double or in perfect conditions even triple in height by the time theyre done. what kinda vertical space do you have? dont worry about the lower branches, just use a reflective material and theyll get enough. id go with the bigger buckets too. size does matter.
The closet is 6 1/2 ft tall. 2 ft wide and 1.5 ft deep. Pretty tight in space. Should I swith ti 12/12 now? Im using a 250 w hps. If the girls triple in height Im going to have some problems.
sounds good, I would go ahead and go to 12/12, those pots will be fine just make sure the medium remains moist. Since your using the 250 watt light you dont want to let them get to big before you start to flower because they will double in size. otherwise you might have to add light (Edited by holy smoke at 6:49 pm on Dec. 5, 2004) (Edited by holy smoke at 11:48 pm on Dec. 5, 2004)
a 250 watt light will NOT provide sufficient PAR/lumens to produce quality buds at 5 feet. I don't care what you have for reflective material. "the intensity per unit area varies in inverse proportion to the square of the distance, or E=I/r². so if you double the distance, you reduce the intensity to one-fourth." - JoseHempSeed http://www.hempcultivation.com/420/...hp/t-27422.html...and reflecled light is even weaker. readings from a light meter under a 400 hps.. Distance from bulb LUX ------------------ ------ 4 inches 10,800 8 inches 7,500 12 inches 5,000 16 inches 3,200 20 inches 1,980 24 inches 1,320 28 inches 1,000 Lux is defined as lumens per square meter. If all the light from a 420 lumen bulb was PERFECTLY directed to a 1 square meter area, the intensity at any spot in that area would be 420 lux. 5 feet from a 250... (Edited by Hicountry2 at 3:06 am on Dec. 6, 2004)
If I were you I'd: Top the plant (cut off the top 6--8"). Install ventilation. A powered exhaust and a passive intake. Plants need fresh air. When you 12/12 them, you'll need to keep the door closed 1/2 the time. And remember to have the light on a pully, to keep it 12" above the plant top at all times.
HiC , not sure about any formula , but here's my take . Now that we have the fact that it's a 250 HPS . It works out that a 250 produces about 25,000 lumens . Not bad if you have a high efficeincy ballast and aren't using 500 watts to power it , (more juice than my 400 requires! but that's off topic , sorry .) So typical thinking is 50 watts of HPS per square foot . You have 3 square feet . Dude , your over 83 watts a foot , perfect . That is a good thing . Your light intensity is probably better than most folks . But no matter how you cut it you still only have THREE SQuARE FEET . A full canopy of plant material in that small of a space isn't gonna allow any light past for a reflective material to benefit (not that I wouldn't paint the walls white , of course) . HiCountry has shown you the effects of the inverse square law regarding light intensity and how rapidly it falls off with distance . Look into Screen of Green or SCROG , That may be the sollution for a small area like yours . Training is certainly the way to go to maximise the use of your space . It wouldn't matter if you had 10 feet of headroom , you just don't have the light for it , nobody does . Look up light intensity vs. distance from the bulb on the second page of the FAQs . Great chart . Will get you thinking along the right lines . Looks like 8 inches is ideal on the chart (be careful of heat) and remember light falls off , double the distance is 1/4 of the light . So at 16 inches your about at the end of your rope . On up-potting . Slip the pot off the root ball for a second . Look at the bottom of the rootball . Now , YOU decide . This plant will be growing new roots for at least 4-6 weeks more . I say if it shows any sign of being rootbound , then repot even though you decidedly don't have room for a monster plant , nor the light for it . Hope that helps , Strato . (Edited by Stratocloner at 5:28 am on Dec. 6, 2004) (Edited by Stratocloner at 5:33 am on Dec. 6, 2004)
Thanks for the input guys. I used the fimming technique so I could get as many tops as possible. It seemed to work good. Instead of one main cola I have like 6 different tops now. These are were the buds will grow right? As for the bottom of the plant, I have 3ft floro wedged in and a twisted screw in type floro aimed where ever I think need a liitle extra light. I know floros dont produce **** in terms of lumens but every little bit helps right? Is a 2.5 gallon going to be enough? Im switching to 12/12 today so If Im transplanting I think I need to do it today. Tahnks again for the help.
Look , it can't hurt to transplant and if you've got the container and the soil and feel the need , I'm not sure why you would hold back . The sooner it's in it's new pot the longer it can take advantage of all that soil . Some folks around here don't like topping of any sort . I'm one of 'em , herbali . (there are exceptions to every rule though) . Lighting the bottom of a plant is useless ,IMO . Concentrating every lumen you can get your hands on , onto the flower tops , is where it's at .
Well, it is a learning experience, so you may end up just taking what you can get from this grow. Can you adjust the bulb and reflector height? I use a dual chain assembly for mine, to keep my distances correct. I have a lightweight reflector separate from the ballast portion so I can raise and lower it with ease. With this capability, I can really jog my plants right down to about 14" tall, with colas sticking out all over the place. I top my plants also, and prefer the foxtail type buds I get from this method. Sounds like your off to a fairly good start, tho. Knowledge is king.
Yea, I have remote ballast and can change the height pretty easily. The problem with my grow was that I recently got the HPS. The girls are 2 months old and Ive had the HPS on them like 2 weeks. THey blew up as soon as I put the hps light on. Im honestly worried about them doubling in size. Since I have the door open theyre tring to stick out a little. I guess Ill have to start training. Maybe I should leave them in the 2.5 gal pots so they dont realy blow up.
If you are going to transplant you need to give them time to adjust. Stressing them now may not be a good thing when switching to 12/12.. B1 and Kelp can kelp reduce stess and promote growth. But I may not be correct that it is a real danger?? Anyone?? Randy
I guess Im going to leave them in the 2.5 gallon pot. Its my first grow, and like everyone said its a learning experience. Hopefully I can produce enough buds to just break even this grow. If Ive overlooked anything feel free to let me know. Thanks for the help everyone. This site kicks ass!!!!
