7leafclover

New Member
Hi all...first time grower with just one plant started from seed...this is about 6 days old since it punched out of the soil....it's growing in Hyponex potting soil mixed with earthworm castings organic soil enricher...and I use only spring water from a natural spring close to my residence....she's a white rhino growing in a closet with a 250 hps...does she look ok?
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but the amount you have I'd more then that I have and look what's going in my small garden, you know I started with a 5 Watts cfl and changed added on the way with their growth
 
Bigger the light the better the buds ... it's a waste of time ...and money...to not use enough light and have crappy buds....just my opinion..
 
believe me, if you know the output of your light then you can say what's enough and what's waste, and if you don't do LTS starting young you waste anyways light and money
 
I read the foil was beneficial if the dull side is facing outward...which I did...it's taped on cardboard that i used to decrease the size of the growing space.
 
I thought a 250hps was more than enough for one plant...thanks for the opinions.

If you'd like to eliminate the guessing game, pick up a par meter. I did and it was an eye opener.

I've read that in veg you need a minimum 15000 lumen and in flower 25000 minimum.

When plant is left to grow naturally, the main cola being closest to the light receives the most energy so grows the largest most dense buds. Generally speaking, the largest colas are grown on plants left to grow naturally.

When plants are topped and trained for an even canopy, all colas receive the same amount of light so all grow close to the same size. The size and quality of buds is effected also by the amount of water and nutrients the plant can move to the larger number of buds. Typically larger pots with more developed root systems are needed to support the larger number of colas.

All the talk about lights I take with a grain of salt. I have been getting great yields with two cheap 300 watt LEDs and two four bulb T5s. That's about 1000 rated watts. I haven't bothered to see the actually wattage draw at the wall but I'd guess it's about half that. What's important is that I'm getting between 25000 and 35,000 lumen. I could increase wattage but my environment couldn't handle it as I don't want any higher temps than the 80 degrees I'm at with lights on.

Checking tops of colas with par meter there is a great deal of variance in lumen around the tent. For this reason I train heavily but don't scrog, and this allows me to rotate plants so colas on the perimeter get their time in the stronger light.

My plants are getting in the neighborhood of 12 week veg time and have had between 15 and 30 colas each. Buds are dense and my current run even lower buds are decent sized and dense, because I ensure that light gets thru canopy to them. This go round I only defoliated enough to get light to most all bud sites. I find I cut away way too much of the undercarriage and hurt my yield the first run. I'll get near double the yield this go round with same strains as I did first round. Heavier defol mid to late veg is ok as long as plant is still aggressively replacing leaves. Once close to putting into 12/12, I only removed what I had to to get light to lower bud sites. Also first round I defoled from bottom up. I ended up with fan leaves high on colas that shaded lower buds. This round I did the opposite and I was able to remove higher fan leaves to expose to light while lower fans remained to power growth.

I'm a newish grower so only know what I know. One thing I know is to keep and open mind and be willing to try different strategies. Everything is about balance. There's always a sweet spot to be found. If temps increase with the addition of stronger lighting, trichome production drops, making knowing the lumens so they get not too little OR to much light important. Too strong of a light can cause bleaching or heat stress, so light must be moved up. Moving it up decreases lumens so over lighting is a waste of energy/money.

I think there's a trap we fall into, thinking we have to have the top fancy shmancy brands and if we cave to the marketing, think the more money we spend the better the product. I believe our money is better spent utilizing the technology available and tracking everything we do. Someone commented that they were surprised I was getting such good results with my cheap ass lights!! Lol! I love my cheap as lights! I can't smoke or make medicine with ego!!

Don't know why I'm so chatty this morning?!?! Must be that Durban Poison fresh harvest oil I had for a late night snack!! Sorry!! :c}

Just one opinion... take what you can use and leave the rest!
 
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