Light yield, week potency - what am I doing wrong?

[silloroy]

Hi guys,
Im now on my 3rd grow, and still not even close to the results i want regarding potency and yield.
I will write down details and my question to the experts is:
am i doing something wrong? or is that the maximum i can get out of my gear and conditions?

1st grow:
4 plants - 2 skunk#1, 1 Northern lights, 1 Afgan kush (SENSI SEEDS AMSTERDAM)
60 days of veg, 70 days of flower, 45 days of curing
yield range - 20-28 grams
potency - mediocre....

2nd grow:
4 plants - 2 White widdow, 1 Somango, 1 Blue mystic (Royal queen seeds Amsterdam)
60 days of veg, 85 days of flower (harvested gradually), 60 days of curing
yield range - 22-32 grams
potency - week

3rd grow:
3 plants - 2 Blue mystic, 1 White widdow (I thought if i grow less plants ill get more yield)
Im currently on day 57 of veg, and they are so damn small! (SEE PICS BELLOW - there`s a glassthere for proportion)
Of course i have Google and Youtube and this time i did some topping, wich seem to have really
slow down growth, but still - plants are small with not more than 5-6 tops.

MY GEAR AND STATS:
Grow medium: soil
Space: 60*60*160 cm grow tent
Light: 250 HPS light
Pots: 7 litter aired pots (1st grow was on 3.5 litter pots - and not much diffrence in yield...)
Air: Centrifugal fan + 2 vents + 6" fan
Avrage temp - 28 cellcius
Avrage humidity - 40%

Obviously i got very good seeds from Amsterdam, many different strains,
and untill now non of my products was more than mediucre at best, and light yield
My growing dream is stuck. Need your advice guys, or is that the best a 250HPS can do?
THANX ALL!

 

[tyshizzle]

So many factors could go into your yield. First off. What's in the soil? Your light periods? Distance from the light,pest, & nutes

 

[silloroy]

So many factors could go into your yield. First off. What's in the soil? Your light periods? Distance from the light,pest, & nutes

My soil is a ready to use mix from the store...i know it has pearlites, dont know what else...
light - 18\6 veg, 12\12 flower
distance - about 30 cm from the top
no sign of pests
nutes - i use Sensi grow and flower, 0.3ml per litter, plus Revive (0.1 per litter), and B52 (0.2 per litter)

 

[NuttyProfessor]

your pots are a bit on the small side , big roots make big fruits , i use 15/20 litre pots ,i use 10 to 15 for autos , i use old frying oil buckets with holes cut in them , think this might be your problem

 

[Clancy]

Really hard to say but your plants don't look unhealthy. Larger pots would help increase size but not necessarily potency I don't believe. My first thought is that your lights at 250 watts may be somewhat underpowered to do the job of producing better yields and potency. Maybe invest in a 400w ?

 

[silloroy]

Really hard to say but your plants don't look unhealthy. Larger pots would help increase size but not necessarily potency I don't believe. My first thought is that your lights at 250 watts may be somewhat underpowered to do the job of producing better yields and potency. Maybe invest in a 400w ?

i wish i could....250 watt is the maximum my reletively tent can contain as far as heat, if i`d use a 400 watt temp will rise to about 37...
and i dont have the space for a bigger tent, so im stuck with the 250
as far as yield - yes i can do 15 litter bucket, but then i will have room for 1-2 plants max. now im doing 4 plants and get about a 100grams, so i guess if i grow 1-2 plants that will yield 50-60 grams - im still with the same amount.
by the way - i would rather less yield and more potency, but if i understand correctly - potency depends only on strain (and i have good ones) and light - wich means there nothing i can do?

 

[NuttyProfessor]

did you check thrichomes before you harvest making sure they were mostly cloudy and maybe some ambers ? dont go by what the banks tell you

also led is very good with heat , even the 600 watt is heatless and will use about the same as your hps or less

 

[silloroy]

did you check thrichomes before you harvest making sure they were mostly cloudy and maybe some ambers ? dont go by what the banks tell you

also led is very good with heat , even the 600 watt is heatless and will use about the same as your hps or less

Yes i allways check the trichoms with a *100 scope, i tried harvesting at mostly cloudy, and also mostly amber (90 days flowering...)
didn`t change much. LED? sounds interesting! going to Google it and check strengh\prices etc. thanx for that tip

 

[NuttyProfessor]

you could put a 600 watt led in there with little heat , i used to have hps , i didnt trust them , they just get too warm and could start a fire easy , i give away 3 ballast and about 8 bulbs , now i have a 400 600 alrready led and now a 900 watt in the post lol love them , you can put your hand on the glass of them with out any heat

 

[Icemud]

Your plants look healthy, have you looked into doing a Scrog?

Scrog is a training method in which you use a screen or net to train the plants which creates a nice even canopy of tops. This may help you increase your yield a bit.

I also noticed that you only are vegging them for 2 months (approx 60 days), If you let them go a little longer like an extra 2-3 weeks in veg it may also help increase the yield. I usually veg mine for at least 2 1/2 months or more sometimes longer that 6 months as my current plants are.

Larger pots might also help... larger the roots, larger the fruits..

Try training with either scrog or LST and/or topping to really fill up your canopy before flipping to 12/12. The more budsites, the more bud.

Also, with the 250w HPS light, you may want to move it closer to the plants when you go into flowering. I would say if you have it anywhere from 10-15" would be perfect, if its air cooled I would push more towards the 10". The more light intensity hitting the plants should also increase yield and bud density.

Have you thought about maybe adding additional lighting, like a small wattage LED?

 

[Clancy]

If you currently are running temps under 30 you could add some CFLs, no? I have grown twice now in high temps; like mid 30s. No issues during 2 grows but I'd have to wait until this one is finished to say for sure. Seems fine though.
For sure it's probably good to keep temps in the lower range bu,t like you, I'd rather have the potency than the yield. If you added 100 true watts of CFL you'd have way more light rays. If you see heat stress you can always take them out.

 

[HeavyChevy59]

You might not want to top your plants, I've read that topping only increases yield if you give the plants more soil and more nutes. I've also seen side by side grows of plants that were topped and un-topped, the plants that were topped yielded less than the un-topped ones. If you can get your RH as low as possible during the last few weeks of flowering that could help with potency, if the air is really dry the plants will try to protect itself by producing more trichomes.

 

[silloroy]

Your plants look healthy, have you looked into doing a Scrog?

Scrog is a training method in which you use a screen or net to train the plants which creates a nice even canopy of tops. This may help you increase your yield a bit.

I also noticed that you only are vegging them for 2 months (approx 60 days), If you let them go a little longer like an extra 2-3 weeks in veg it may also help increase the yield. I usually veg mine for at least 2 1/2 months or more sometimes longer that 6 months as my current plants are.

Larger pots might also help... larger the roots, larger the fruits..

Try training with either scrog or LST and/or topping to really fill up your canopy before flipping to 12/12. The more budsites, the more bud.

Also, with the 250w HPS light, you may want to move it closer to the plants when you go into flowering. I would say if you have it anywhere from 10-15" would be perfect, if its air cooled I would push more towards the 10". The more light intensity hitting the plants should also increase yield and bud density.

Have you thought about maybe adding additional lighting, like a small wattage LED?

hey thanks for the detailed answer
I think the ideal for me is to replace the 250 with a strog LED, but its like a 1000$ and they dont really have
many choises of LEDS at gardening stores in my country...they do have a weak 140W LED
and it sells for 350$.
I think that for my next grow i`ll try to grow only 2 plants, in big 15-20L buckets + the 140W LED
and boy how i wish to get 60-70grams each and with an improved potency (wich is my main concern)
say - when growing in big buckets veg and flower times get longer?

 

[HeavyChevy59]

Don't waste your money on that light, check out Mars Hydro they're a sponsor here and they make great led grow lights. I own a Mars II 400w which is a little under 200 actual watts and I only paid about $185. For $350 you could get a 400 actual watt led light from Mars Hydro, but you get better light coverage from multiple smaller lights than one big light. I've heard good things about Eshine led lights too.

 

[Cruizer]

The way it looks is you are going backwards. I would say your bulb is losing its intensity. How long has it been since you've replaced it? They don't last forever.

 

[silloroy]

The way it looks is you are going backwards. I would say your bulb is losing its intensity. How long has it been since you've replaced it? They don't last forever.

well, its been working for about 10 monthes on a 12/12 basis...i`ll go do the math

 

[silloroy]

Don't waste your money on that light, check out Mars Hydro they're a sponsor here and they make great led grow lights. I own a Mars II 400w which is a little under 200 actual watts and I only paid about $185. For $350 you could get a 400 actual watt led light from Mars Hydro, but you get better light coverage from multiple smaller lights than one big light. I've heard good things about Eshine led lights too.

hey man that sounds dreamy and i drooled on their website, but unfortunatly its immposible to order it to my country :\
and even if it was possible - 90% that it will break until it reaches here, from many bad expirences...