3x3 tent and how tall to grow plants

Headgrinder

Headgrinder

Well-Known Member
spek9 said:
In my production 4x4x6.5' tent with a 1000W HPS, I flower four plants at a time in three gallon pots after an eight week veg. Each plant produces 4 ounces on average (depending on strain... some three ounces, some up to seven).

My perpetual has me harvesting two plants and putting two new plants into flower every five weeks, for a total of 10 weeks of flower (some go a bit longer, some a bit shorter).
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That sounds very nice. Do you go only 4 because the would get bunched up and yield would suffer? Have you tried the same with 5 gal buckets/bags? I'm asking because I am eying up a 5x5 paired with a 2x4. I was as thinking of trying to squeeze in 9, in 5 gal buckets. Your setup sounds like a good one.
 
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spek9

Well-Known Member
Headgrinder said:
That sounds very nice. Do you go only 4 because the would get bunched up and yield would suffer? Have you tried the same with 5 gal buckets/bags? I'm asking because I am eying up a 5x5 paired with a 2x4. I was as thinking of trying to squeeze in 9, in 5 gal buckets. Your setup sounds like a good one.
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I use three gallon pots because that seems to be the optimum compromise between root-bound and wasting way too much medium. At eight week veg, the three gals work perfectly.

I only flower four at a time (two batches of two as I mentioned) because they fill out the tent beautifully with decent space to turn and move the plants around for light exposure, and because I really like being able to reach in easily to water.

In the past, I have grown out many smaller plants (for a while, I was flowering three batches of eight plants at a time in 2L bottles), but found out less is more for me.

We only use about an ounce a month, and the rest is long-term stored (vacuum sealed and put in the freezer).

Here's my current perpetual grow cycle:

perpetual.jpg
 
Q

Quinteli

Active Member
Yeah I think I should let them grow for 2 more weeks then transplant. I still have to put them under the 300 watt led I have. If hes getting 4 oz in 3 gallon pots I should be able to get more in a 5 or 7 gallon pot? 4 oz is preety good
 
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spek9

Well-Known Member
Quinteli said:
Yeah I think I should let them grow for 2 more weeks the transplant. I still have to put them under the 300 watt led I have. If hes getting 4 oz in 3 gallon pots I shouldnt I be able to get more in a 5 or 7 gallon pot? 4 oz is preety good
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Depends on a whole lot of other things. Dialed in environment, consistent temp/humidity, proper feeding routine, good medium, proper water pH, heading off issues immediately, good genetics and great lighting. I'm running a 1000W HID HPS lamp.

For medium I usually use Sunshine Mix #4, with an extra handful of perlite mixed in. I am in the process of building my own RDWC system, but I digress.
 
Q

Quinteli

Active Member
spek9 said:
In my production 4x4x6.5' tent with a 1000W HPS, I flower four plants at a time in three gallon pots after an eight week veg. Each plant produces 4 ounces on average (depending on strain... some three ounces, some up to seven).

My perpetual has me harvesting two plants and putting two new plants into flower every five weeks, for a total of 10 weeks of flower (some go a bit longer, some a bit shorter).
Click to expand...
Nice setup and production. My 2 plants are white widow. I was thinking about cloning the best plant. 3 clones would be good. Did you do low stress training or the scrog net? Anything to get a bigger yeild?
 
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spek9

Well-Known Member
Quinteli said:
Nice setup and production. My 2 plants are white widow. I was thinking about cloning the best plant. 3 clones would be good. Did you do low stress training or the scrog net? Anything to get a bigger yeild?
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I don't do any low stress training. The only defoliation I do is lollipopping. I do not use a net. I simply let the plants grow. If I've got one that grows a little wild (ie. too tall), I supercrop.

I'm very happy with my yields. I use the KISS principle. I don't trust black magic potions, tricks that people seem to buy into or new fads that pop up. Unless one has done a tremendous amount of grows with the same strains in the exact same environment over and over and kept precise documentation, there's no logical way to tell if you're getting an extra ounce or not due to [insert random method here].

I feed, make sure the lights are on a proper schedule, pick off dying leaves, and let nature do the rest.

Regarding clones, I'd take clones from all three plants, then get rid of the ones you don't want later. I have a separate tent with an aerocloner for my cloning schedule.
 
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Q

Quinteli

Active Member
spek9 said:
I don't do any low stress training. The only defoliation I do is lollipopping. I do not use a net. I simply let the plants grow. If I've got one that grows a little wild (ie. too tall), I supercrop.

I'm very happy with my yields. I use the KISS principle. I don't trust black magic potions, tricks that people seem to buy into or new fads that pop up. Unless one has done a tremendous amount of grows with the same strains in the exact same environment over and over and kept precise documentation, there's no logical way to tell if you're getting an extra ounce or not due to [insert random method here].

I feed, make sure the lights are on a proper schedule, pick off dying leaves, and let nature do the rest.

Regarding clones, I'd take clones from all three plants, then get rid of the ones you don't want later. I have a separate tent with an aerocloner for my cloning schedule.
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So you did no topping, yeah for my first time I want to just let it grow, but topping I might do it I dont know
 
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spek9

Well-Known Member
Quinteli said:
So you did no topping, yeah for my first time I want to just let it grow, but topping I might do it I dont know
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No, I don't top for FIM the plants that I flower for product.

However, the female plants I use to pollinate, I top twice. It creates more surface area for seed production. That's irrelevant in this case though.
 
Q

Quinteli

Active Member
spek9 said:
No, I don't top for FIM the plants that I flower for product.

However, the female plants I use to pollinate, I top twice. It creates more surface area for seed production. That's irrelevant in this case though.
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Wow just let it grow bro lol.
 
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spek9

Well-Known Member
Quinteli said:
Yes and your harvesting every 5 weeks, perfect. I'd like to be able to do that though I'm a beginner.
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For first grow, I'd let the plants grow naturally. This will allow you to get a feel and an understanding of how the plants grow on their own.

You'll then be in a better position to understand whether any LST or HST or scrog etc would be suitable for your environment.
 
greg nr

greg nr

Well-Known Member
Headgrinder said:
Just stick them in the 7s. You only have two so you dont need to worry about maximizing plant number, floor space, etc. So the size wont lead to any negatives. If by chance the 5 gallons would end up falling short, then by choosing the 7 gallon containers you've eliminated that possibility. There is a theory about plants being stunted by being in too large of a container, but I dont buy into it. For you and your 2 plants, the 7's sound best. But when you are all done harvesting, check your roots too.
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It's not so much that they get stunted by the large pot itself, it's that when you use a very large pot for a very small plant you end up with very moist soil for a very long period because the plant isn't drinking much.

That in turn leads to root problems, which leads to stunted growth and apparent deficiencies even though there is plenty in the soil..
 
L

lilbry

Member
spek9 said:
In my production 4x4x6.5' tent with a 1000W HPS, I flower four plants at a time in three gallon pots after an eight week veg. Each plant produces 4 ounces on average (depending on strain... some three ounces, some up to seven).

My perpetual has me harvesting two plants and putting two new plants into flower every five weeks, for a total of 10 weeks of flower (some go a bit longer, some a bit shorter).
Click to expand...
thanks mate. this sort of helped me. planning a hydro grow and I have been trying to decide between a 3 x 3 or a 4 x 4 for flowering. think i am going to go with the 4 x 4 now. i don't need crazy big commercial yields, but still decent sized for me; it would be nice to have a mid size tent i could grow into. i am only starting out with two plants, but i would like to increase after the first or second grow. thanks for the info :)
 
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