Decreasing lighting

MikeTahoe

MikeTahoe

Active Member
Hey all,

So its my first real grow with legit equipment and its been going pretty well so far. I am using 2 mars hydro ts1000 in a 2x4 tent sitting 2ft above the canopy. Currently have 6 plants in veg but going to get rid of a couple of the slower growing ones when I flip to flower. They are all (mostly) growing well and healthy, but I noticed the noding was extremely tight and the plants were not tall at all by their fifth node. I topped above the fifth node and the tight spacing immediately filled up and made them very bushy. I decided to get a ppfd meter and saw that they were getting 900-1050 ppfd! I immediately turned it down so now they're getting 550-700 ppfd, but I was wondering if this sudden decrease would have any effects on them? Maybe get them to stretch a bit more and become less compact?

Thanks for any advice!
-Tahoe
 
mudballs

mudballs

Well-Known Member
Yeah the sudden shift from nuclear furnace to breezy beach weather will have a positive effect.if you want them to stretch you need more red spectrum than blue...by a lot
 
MikeTahoe

MikeTahoe

Active Member
mudballs said:
Yeah the sudden shift from nuclear furnace to breezy beach weather will have a positive effect.if you want them to stretch you need more red spectrum than blue...by a lot
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Lol thanks! I don't want them stretching too much, I like them being shorter since my tent is on 5ft tall. But man they were way too stubby! Was getting worried about circulation and the other budsites getting light
 
mudballs

mudballs

Well-Known Member
MikeTahoe said:
Lol thanks! I don't want them stretching too much, I like them being shorter since my tent is on 5ft tall. But man they were way too stubby! Was getting worried about circulation and the other budsites getting light
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Dont be afraid to get in there and remove material, branches, LST...you can turn a bushy tight shrub into an open, leggy lollipop easy.
 
Dank Bongula

Dank Bongula

Well-Known Member
Yes, that will cause them to stretch a bit more...but with only 5ft of tent to work with, coupled with the pot size they are in and the distance taken up by the hanging lights, you may only have approximately 3feet of space to work with...then you have to account for stretch after you flip and still keep a good distance from your lamps once you crank them up for flowering - maybe 18in we could say...subtract that 18in from your 3ft and you're looking at 18in of actual workable space in that tent - plus or minus...just something to think about as you figure out how long your continue to let them veg.

How big are the pots they are in? Are you hanging your light with the ratchet straps or is it affixed to the top crossmember?
 
Three Berries

Three Berries

Well-Known Member
I grow with 5' of space from the light to the floor. They are bushy and not thinned out any. I need to take the next batch and before flower trim the side shoots off. But I end up bending the branches over. And not gently either, I weaken them so the flop and are basically supported by the neighboring plant, wall or whatever.
 
MikeTahoe

MikeTahoe

Active Member
Dank Bongula said:
Yes, that will cause them to stretch a bit more...but with only 5ft of tent to work with, coupled with the pot size they are in and the distance taken up by the hanging lights, you may only have approximately 3feet of space to work with...then you have to account for stretch after you flip and still keep a good distance from your lamps once you crank them up for flowering - maybe 18in we could say...subtract that 18in from your 3ft and you're looking at 18in of actual workable space in that tent - plus or minus...just something to think about as you figure out how long your continue to let them veg.

How big are the pots they are in? Are you hanging your light with the ratchet straps or is it affixed to the top crossmember?
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They will be finishing in 3 gallon pots, and the lights are on ratchet straps so I have been adjusting them as I go. Because of a shipping delay from the seed bank, half the plants got off to a late start, so I topped the first 3 plants (currently in 3 gallons) and have just been lst the other 3 (currently in 1 gallon but going to transplanted this week). Because it's my first real go at this I've tried a couple different strategies, you'll see in two of the mature plants in my pics, one was topped, defoliated and lots of lst, while the other was just topped and less lst (just pushing the tops down a few times a day to let the others catch up). I plan on continuing lst to keep them around a foot when I flip, just keeping the branches going horizontal and bushing out. I only plan on keeping 2 or 3 for flower.
 

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Three Berries

Three Berries

Well-Known Member
I grow two plants in my 30x30x60 tent. I turn them every day a 1/4 turn. They end up being square, and just about the prefect size for the 2 foot wide closet. But this time around they are ahead of schedule so I'm cutting back the time for the next two weeks for the veg. Down to 18/6 and dropping an hour every other day for the next two weeks. Then they should be ready for the flower room as what's there is almost done.
 
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