lift up your lights!

[draco]

i have been growing for five years and have been fairly successful in bringing a crop to harvest.

...and i have turned a gram per watt several times.

it's funny though how i get lazy and ignore some really important things:

for the last few rounds i have turned up the lights and lowered them - you know... to get the maximum lumens to the leaves. hell yeah.

BAD IDEA!!

i am here to confess that in my zeal to pump up the harvest, i have stressed my plants! winter low humidity, low lights, and too much fan! i have dessicated the tops of the buds and upon harvest i see there is some rot~!

shame on me.

from now on the lights go off the yo yos and are permanently affixed to the TOP position. FOR THE WHOLE GROW. no more bud rot, no more curled leaves, sweeter buds!

not enough light is not a problem - too much always is.

first rule: DON'T STRESS THE LADIES!!


keep it green homies!

 

[Seamaiden]

Good reminder that more light is not necessarily better. I learned that lesson when I tried to use a light-mover, squashed it down tight over the girls because an experienced grower, or someone who I *thought* was very experienced, told me that was the whole point. Burned, bleached, all kinda shit. FINALLY I decided to listen to my gut, and my gut was saying, Raise the light! Raise it! So I did, and everything got a whole lot better.

 

[respect]

All the pros have their lights lifted...period.

 

[mastacheeser]

Stacking lights and backing them off the plants is the best thing you can do for your grow

 

[GR33NL3AF]

For several years I have always had deficiencies or some minor discoloration and now I KNOW my climate is legit and my nutrient profiles are spot on, the problem is my 3000 watts over a 4x8 and keeping them TOO close.... Starting to see why 2Kw over the same space is the standard.

 

[DeRon1]

so are you saying to leave my lights all the way up top the entire grow

 

[Theoneandonly Z]

i strongly believe in the topic of this post. the only problem is the amount of light one loses to wall space. So use some sort of reflective material and crank those lights up! much easier on the plants. Stress is the biggest contributor to shitty tasting meds, too much light, too many nutes, incorrect flush, etc.... dial the enviro and the rest comes later

 

[DeRon1]

I have a 4x4x78 jungle grow tent and within the next week i will be attempting my first grow. I worry about such things as placement of my 600watt MH/HPS and lately if my garage temps and smell will effect my grow. I also wonder max amount of plants i should place in this tent. RACKING MY BRAIN

 

[ohgee kush]

Like someone else on here said, in this industry less is more. More isn't always best

 

[caveman4.20]

i have been growing for five years and have been fairly successful in bringing a crop to harvest.

...and i have turned a gram per watt several times.

it's funny though how i get lazy and ignore some really important things:

for the last few rounds i have turned up the lights and lowered them - you know... to get the maximum lumens to the leaves. hell yeah.

BAD IDEA!!

i am here to confess that in my zeal to pump up the harvest, i have stressed my plants! winter low humidity, low lights, and too much fan! i have dessicated the tops of the buds and upon harvest i see there is some rot~!

shame on me.

from now on the lights go off the yo yos and are permanently affixed to the TOP position. FOR THE WHOLE GROW. no more bud rot, no more curled leaves, sweeter buds!

not enough light is not a problem - too much always is.

first rule: DON'T STRESS THE LADIES!!


keep it green homies!

How far from top of canopy with what wattage?

 

[Middleforker]

I just put my girls into flower and the stretching is incredible...I moved my 600 watt hps up about a foot after noticing a little leaf burn.

 

[Middleforker]

Right now I'm about 15" above the top of the canopy.

 

[Theoneandonly Z]

How far from top of canopy with what wattage?

i saw this chart once, cant find it, but it stuck in my head.

400w: 16"-22"
600w: 22"-30"
1000w 30"-40"

just a reference i came upon. dont quote me. but i do find this to be reasonable for sure

 

[Theoneandonly Z]

Right now I'm about 15" above the top of the canopy.

ya dude, keep raising it. atleast 20"-24". Its always recomended @ 18" but i feel thats too close. just my $.02

 

[Middleforker]

I raised it up another 6" so 21" total so far. The way the girls are stretching I'll probably need to go another 6" next week. I also take the plants out when the sun shines and it's 60 degrees or more. It may be risky but they love natural sun light and in Oregon I'm legal to have 6 full grown plants so I'm not too worried about security.

 

[Theoneandonly Z]

if u dont like the stretch, there is a few things you can do.
-Pinch top of branches, just enough to feel the crack/pop of the stem
-use metal halide the 1st 2 weeks of flower
-have your night temps the same or higher than when lights are on
-supercrop or topping - dont recommend in flower though
-LST (low stress training) once again, better if done in veg, but basically gently bend the tops down and tie them like that for a couple days.

 

[Black Lab]

About 20" seems to be a good spot. 1000 w has about 48" of penetration and 600 w about 36". I grow 4-5' in 5-7 gal pots and supercrop the tops and lollipop the bottoms. Should give me about 24" into the canopy. I wouldn't go too high but definitely get them up off the plants.

 

[altitudefarmer]

and never underestimate the power of T5...

$38 of electric gets me a solid 4-6 zips, parked right on top of a good canopy. There's a 600w HPS chilling on the end, and I take advantage of the side lighting with another 1-3 zips, strain dependent.

 

[Middleforker]

The stretching is cool. Part of what they do. I've topped and fimmed. they've still got 7 to 8 weeks of flower to go. I'm looking forward to warmer temps and sunshine so I can finish them outside.

 

[DeRon1]

How far from top of canopy with what wattage?

600watt mh/hps