Gavita recommends 36-48 inches in veg and 18 inches in flowering.......... this is a fact straight from my customer service buddy at
Gavita. I do think the 18 inches in flowering is a bit low and some plants have reacted poorly, especially to the center of the room. 20 inches is where I'm at and maintaining.
What's important to me is controlling the height and stretch in flowering. We don't want them too short or too tall. Just keep in mind that at 18 inches in flowering, it changes the growth pattern of the plant and no main cola is formed- they act like they were pinched and just branch/bush out from there. And, the stretch is only 6-8 inches max if the lights are kept this low.
I think after the first 2 grows, I pretty much have a handle on the plant growth......and how to manipulate it to our advantage. What's coming next though is, adding the adapters and master controller to control light intensity. The Master EL2 can dim up to 50% and anywhere between 50-100%. So do I raise and lower the LED's (which I now have a feel for) OR just dim and strengthen the LED intensity as need be. LOL
A new toy to play with and I'm already figuring out where to place everything for convenience and ease. The system also comes with temperature probes to be place under each LED, so I'll have a more accurate reading and control over each LED for optimum performance under them. Slowly but surely things are getting figured out and fine tuned.
I've already told friends I'm hoping for a 10% increase in yield over the Orange Gasm- 106 oz + 10 oz (10%) = 116 oz for 2.5 GPW but it's probably a bit unrealistic. The Bebop strain may actually be a heavily yielder than the Orange Gasm though. Stay tuned...........