ADVICE: White Widow Day 67

Closet Grow: Day 67 (see pictures for details)
=================================
Strain: White Widow (Seedsman)
=================================
Lighting:

• 20 27-watt CFLs under homebuilt reflector
• 5 weeks under 65K (18/6)
• 5 weeks under 27K (12/12)

========================
Growing medium:

• Soil: FF Ocean/Forest
• Nutes:
  • All: Superthrive (1 tsp p/5 gallon)
  • Veg: Grow Big (3 tsp p/5 gal)
  • Flowering: Big Bloom (3 tsp p/5 gal)

============================
Ventilation from closet into closed room

• Top: box fan outflow
• Bottom: oscillating fan inflow
• Mylar on walls

===========================
Questions:

• What's the best way to prune for maximum yield?
• Will a 100 or 150 watt HPS Light significantly improve yield?
• If so, how much heat will this introduce?

Any other advice is welcome!

Why didn't u just bump this thread instead of starting a new one? Anyways looks like your doing a good job you said you have 20 cfls going? that's 540 watts, Doesn't look like it from the pics. To answer your questions I don't know about adding a 150 it's not going to cover that large of an area would be good to maybe get a 400-600 HPS and your yeild will definately improve. As far as the heat I don't know it will probably raise your heat but looks like you have a fantastic ventilation set up. Looks like your plants are a little big for cfls try to get some on the sides for the lower vegetation to increase yeilds. I would stop using the superthrive. I have previously used it for my last 2 or 3 grows but I recently found out that using it in the bloom phase can delay flowering and even cause mutations I guess so no ST in flower. Otherwise looking real good man welcome to RIU.

Sorry - I'm new to RIU! I cross-posted linkbacks to this thread in a couple of different areas, so I apologize if I broached forum netiquette. What's the best way to post, since this covers several different topics? I'm not sure how to bump the thread up.

That's very valuable information about the ST - many thanks! In this grow, I was able to sex all of the plants (had two males) about three days after changing the light cycle. Real bud development began about a week afterwards. I usually start about five or six plants.

Regarding the CFLs, there are 12 in the wooden hood with eight more (three on each long side, one on each short side) in reflectors attached to the bottom of the hood to provide better side illumination. The back lights (three) are turned off for the photos.

Heat is a real problem, hence the CFL design. I live in a hot climate, so I'm unable to grow from about April through October because the interior temp of the closet will into the mid-90s, even with half-as-many CFLs. Outside temps occasionaly reach 105 (and more) during August. I can squeeze two grows in between Oct. and April.

The house is leased, so I'm reticent about cutting new holes for a more efficient ventilation system. Since the closet is in a room with a door that must stay shut at times, the heat buildup makes summer growing impractical.

After researching the issue, I suspect a 400-600 watt HPS would add significant heat build up, even during winter. During this cooler-than-normal season, the interior temp has reached 78 on several occasions. But I might be able to squeeze a 150w HPS in, since the size of the growing area is only about 3x4 feet.

I also have another constraint in house design. Fans and lights are operating off one 12 amp circuit, so I have to be careful about overloading the circuit.

I'm sure a pruning method like supertopping would improve yield, since more light will reach the interior. However, I'm not sure how many leaves to remove. The fan leaves are the heavy horsepower of the plant system.

Cost is also an important consideration.

think about adding some 2 or 4ft T5's for mid range covereage. perhaps mount them in the middle of the canopy to give that added side penetration..

Is there any way that you can cool down that room say a a/c unit or someting? You'll never get the temp down below the ambient room temperature no matter what lights you use. As far as topping it depends what kind of plant your looking for. I wanted big bushy plants so I topped mine at 4 or 5 nodes. I also vegged a total of 6 weeks. A really good stratgey especially with cfls is to top it after the 3rd true node which will result in 2-4 main colas. Super cropping is when you take a plant that is growing too tall and you roll the stem inbetween your fingers until it is bruised enough that it will just fall over at a 90 degree angle. The lower buds will recieve more growth hormones and be allowed to catch up with some of the higher growth and the bent top is still alive it repairs itself. You can basically do this anythime to keep your canopy even.