I have a 2x2x6.5 grow tent - Need advice

[2x2growman]

I have 2 t12s 4 bulb and a t5 6 bulb all three are 4 footers I have a nice sized ossilating fan and a box fan. I have 5 seeds in 3rd week from seed vegging in 1gallon pots lst training them now till sex shows then pulling any males. Fimmed three of them other 2 are slower growing. I have the t5 and 1 t12 upright and a 6 bulb cfl 23w 6500k reflector home made over the plants like 12" they all seem to be growing at an acceptable rate.

Any advice what to do? Maybe tent on its side for better light coverage? And do a lst scrogg sog? Keep then super short with many tops? 6" from the light?

Or get a hps 600watt and ventilate the tent need help please 1st timer here. Had success with space bucket grows never a tent grow yet lmk thanks.

 

[Serpent]

sounds like you have a good thing going on i would pick the 600w HPS but i have done a full grow with CFL so what ever way you pick is what ever way your cool doing you don't have to prover anything as long as you get some nice clean smoke and where all her to help and even with CFL and the other lights your still going to get heat so keep a eye make sure you PH everything or it will catch up with you and check the humility your veging keep that up past 50% if you can 70% best but do what you can, little thing go a long way like LST and toping witch your talking about what soil are you using . keep up the good work you got this!!! send some pic

 

[Papageno]

You don't SCROG a SOG it defeats the purpose and if you SOG correctly you will just make a mess and ruin it. Are you asking if you should LST or SCROG or SOG? I would just go LST if you are in a small space. Done correctly it gets the best results. I do SCROG now because it is the easiest and I am not cramped. In small spaces I always did LST. I have more space than I use. SOG is not a good idea in a small space. You can do any of them and I suggest your try all 3 but I am telling you now when you are done you will stick to LST if you are in a slim short tent.

In small spaces my opinion is fewer plants trained horizontally not more that 6 inches above the top of the soil or tub (if in hydro) is best. Typically you loose 12 inches to the light, you need 12 to 18 inches separation to the top of bloom. That leaves you in 6'6" tent with 4 feet for the plant and pot. You loose about a foot to the pot. So you want to train the pant 1-1.5 feet horizontally so you can get 2-3 feet of bloom.

Post a pic of your tent and it would be easier to give some advice.

I don't use LEDs but I think small spaces are where they make a difference and come in handy. You may consider getting a blooming LED for the second half but what you have for may work just fine for veg. You will know by the nodal density if you have enough light for veg. If it is not decent then...well...it could be all sorts of problems.

Ventilation is a must regardless.

This is the real problem with smaller enclosures. The smaller the enclosure the harder it is to control the temps and humidity. I did it for years in a DIY cabinet in a very hot part of California and I was always fighting it.


Good luck!

 

[Spitz]

Keep doing what your doing for now. If you are going to go HID, definitely get a cooltube and I reccomend a variable ballast. The fixtures will accept 400, 600, or 1000w bulbs and the variable ballasts will run them all. The variable ballast would give you options to be flexible in the future (be certain to use the correct bulb for the ballast setting). I'm a LED (and I love them!) guy because HIDs scare me as a fire hazard. I'd utilize HIDs if not for my safety concern. A P300 or P450 would do great in there. MARS makes multiple options at multiple price points that are proven too. A 600 is a lot of light for a 2x2. A 400 would be better IMO.

 

[AKgramma]

I do not recommend high-heat output lights in a 2' x 2' space.

You might be able to veg 4 or 5 plants to 18 - 24" tall, without lsting, but it will be very cramped. For example, I have one mature lady in waiting that is 36" in diameter and 33" tall, grown exclusively under daylight and cool white CFLs in an approx 3' x 3' space. She's waiting for a space in the flower tent, which is 2' x 4' and holds only 2 ladies in flower.

IMO, you're going to need more room! ;-)