Preventing Mold & Increasing Yield

dawook4420

Active Member
Looking for some general advice for my first grow. I’ll give you some background and then ask my questions.

Growing in Happy Frog with 3 gallon air pots in a 2x4x5 tent with a 600W Viparspectra LED. I have 6 plants which I realize is too many for my space. I started with bag seed expecting at least 2 or 3 males, but got all females. So it was either squeeze them in or throw a few out (yeah, right!). Not sure what the strain is but judging by the look of the buds and the fact that they’ve been extremely forgiving to my rookie mistakes, I think they may be Northern Lights. I topped and LST’d. Flipped to 12/12 five weeks ago, trimmed all the fan leaves from the bottom 1/3 of the plant 1-2 weeks ago, leaving only some bud sites that popped up down low. Here’s a pic of my grow for reference.
Grow_Week_5.jpeg


#1. With so many plants squeezed into such a small space, I’m very worried about mold. I have a 240 CFM fan pulling through a carbon filter, 2 filtered 6-inch passive intakes, a small dehumidifier, a 6-inch fan blowing on the canopy and I just added a 4-inch fan blowing under the canopy today. Both fans are stationary. Couldn't find oscillating fans that work for my tent. My temps usually run between 77 and 84 degrees F during the day when my light is on, but my hygro/thermometer shows a low of 72 and apparently once it spiked to 88. Humidity usually runs between 45-55% during the day but I’ve seen it as low as 39 and at one point it spiked to 65%. So my questions are this:

a. How susceptible am I to getting mold in my grow?
b. Beyond adding a second dehumidifier, is there anything else I can do to protect against mold?


#2. My goal is to net 6oz off this grow, so 1oz per plant. Below is a pick of one of my nicer colas. I’ve got maybe 4 or 5 this size and the rest are significantly smaller.
Bud_Week_5.jpeg


I give 1/3 gallon of water per plant every other day and I add nutes every other watering at half strength (General Organics GO Box). My questions:

a. At 5 weeks from flip, does it look like I’m on my way to achieving my goal of a 6oz harvest?
b. Would increasing my nutes to the full recommended strength now make a difference in increasing my yield?
c. Any other suggestions to increase yield?


I know this is long. If you’ve made it this far, I thank you for reading and I thank you in advance for your replies. Happy growing everyone!!!
 
Hey there dawook4420! Can you get a more overhead pic of the canopy? It may be easier for people to judge weight. Those buds are looking very nice! I'm a new grower and from my understanding, the last few weeks are when the buds really start to fill in. How long did you veg these plants for?

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I wouldn't worry too much about getting mold. If your humidity was 60% or higher then you should be concerned. But it's not and there's a slim chance of you catching mold.


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Thanks for your replies!
I'll get an overhead pic for you tomorrow afternoon, Nova. The girls are sleeping right now : ) From seedling to flip was about 7 weeks I think. I wanted to give them another 2 weeks in veg but they were getting too big to train any further. I would have been tying down branches on top of each other. So I decided to flip earlier than I wanted.

Kamehameha, glad you don't think it's an issue. I looked into it a bit before posting this thread and 50% was the benchmark I came across. As I said, it does get up to 50-55% sometimes and once it mysteriously hit 65%. Being that they're so packed together is what has me worried though. It really restricts the airflow. But again, glad you don't think it's going to be a problem. Thanks!
 
I wouldn't be worried with your humidity levels...if they were consistently high, maybe...even then, good air circulation can usually trump humidity...I am notorious for over crowding my room, and have worried about the same issue...I just add more fans(3 on the floor blowing up...and 1 oscillating tower fan) and that has worked fine in times of high humidity(70+%)...granted, I do have more space to work with than you...however,its all relative...I did try a dehummer for a bit last summer,worked great for lowering RH, but found it raised the temp in the room significantly, so it was used sparingly...I think you should be able to hit target goal of 6 zips...you might want to try some back building on your buds to fatten them up a bit more as well...cheerz...h00k...:hookah:
 
Per Nova's suggestion, here's a pic of the top of the canopy. I wish I could say the stakes were holding up fat buds, but they're there more to support tall, weak stems. There's not a lot of conformity with regards to height. I tried to arrange the plants from smallest on the left to tallest on the right, but even with each plant there seem to be 1 or 2 colas that have grown much higher than the others.

image41010.jpeg


So I took my plants out today to inspect and feed and whatnot. I'm rather optimistic because more buds seem to be filling out and the few that looked good before appear to be stacking buds on vertically. But I still have a number of bud sites that look like this which is concerning. Strange thing is, as you can see in this pic, I've got a couple plants that have pistils which are turning amber, whereas most of the others aren't. Odd because all the seeds came from the same bag and they all look to be the same strain.

image19238.jpeg


h00k - Thanks for your reply and the reassuring words. I just learned about backbuilding recently. I watched a YouTube video on it but I'm a bit apprehensive. The video showed him backbuilding sativas that had long, narrow buds that looked badly in need of fattening. My buds look to be more short and fat. So I think I'd be better suited trying to grow my buds taller before backbuilding, but then again, the guy said he doesn't backbuild more than 5 weeks in. Which brings me to my question for the day ...

So I recently learned that the first 2 or 3 weeks since flip doesn't count toward your flowering period. I'm 5 weeks from flip and they started flowering 2 weeks in, maybe even a little sooner. So if the flowering period is 8 weeks, does that mean I'm really only 3 weeks into flower and I still have another 5 weeks to go??? That makes me feel a bit better about the prospects of achieving my goal for my yield. That also makes me wonder, though, is it normal for pistils to start turning amber only 3 weeks into flower? Seems awfully early to me.

If anyone would clarify these concerns for me, I would greatly appreciate it. Again, thanks in advance! Happy growing everyone!
 
It does get confusing...but as a rule...breeders I believe consider flower time from the start of pistils, and their timelines are usually based on optimum conditions...so when they say 8/9 weeks flowering time...that could be 1 or 2 weeks after the flip, and your grow environment could add time as well...I've found that indica's grown in a good environment usually stay within breeder timelines(my experience with soil)...soiless or hydro can speed up that time somewhat...given the nature of today's hybrids...its not uncommon for plants of the same strain to exhibit separate pheno types...which may or may not include quicker maturation...while pistils may turn color, doesn't always mean the plant is near harvest...having a good way to see trich's(good loupe or scope), for me is key...Back building can be used with all strains...photo/auto...indicas/sativas...of course these are only my opinions...cheerz...h00k...:hookah:
 
Those buds are looking nice! I don't know if it will fill out to the 6oz mark but I'm sure you'll at least get close. What is the true watts of your light??

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