When To Flip For Optimal Yield

[Shawnery]

I have a 5x10x7.5 grow tent with my lights and plants taking up 4x10 of the space. I have 8 plants in two rows of 4. I was going to grow them to 3 feet and then flip to make the most use of my space. Then I was asked by a member why waste all that under growth with that extra hieght. I'd never looked at it that way. I was always under the impression that you should use every inch of your available space.

So if you had my space when would you flip and for what desired end height would that hopefully be for?

I've topped them twice and will end up with 8 to 10 main colas if all goes well.

Thanks!

 

[CaliRooted]

When they reach your waist, after being topped.

 

[Shawnery]

I'm only 2 feet tall!:D

 

[madgrower]

I'm only 2 feet tall!:D

I usually switch when the plant is 2ft not counting the pot..3ft with the pot .and they will reach 4ft all together give or take when done

 

[Shawnery]

Do you do this due to the size of your room or due to diminishing returns? I was going for 6 feet but then the argument of bottom fluff made me consider shorter girls.

Thanks for the reply.

 

[xavier7995]

Depending on strain you might hit your ceiling if you wait till 3ft to flip, don't forget you need a bit of buffer space around the light or you will burn your tops. I account for a tripling in size rather than a double, but that is strain dependent and I tend to run a mixed bag of stretchy sativas and squat indicas. I don't really have a set height, but closest would be similar to the above, around 2ft. Tall from the top of the medium, I plan on a few in the room going to 6 feet and just play with plant spacing and training to keep them out of the lights.

 

[Shawnery]

Depending on strain you might hit your ceiling if you wait till 3ft to flip, don't forget you need a bit of buffer space around the light or you will burn your tops. I account for a tripling in size rather than a double, but that is strain dependent and I tend to run a mixed bag of stretchy sativas and squat indicas. I don't really have a set height, but closest would be similar to the above, around 2ft. Tall from the top of the medium, I plan on a few in the room going to 6 feet and just play with plant spacing and training to keep them out of the lights.

Not that all accounts have not been helpful but you have no lack of detail! Makes perfect sense! I'm growing Gelato this time because I like it sweet and sugary both in scent and flavor. I'll go 2 feet and thanks again everyone!

 

[xavier7995]

Check grow reports on that one, should be a bunch out there for it. It could/should help give an idea of what to expect in terms of stretch, nutrient needs, how it reacts to training, etc. That said, don't expect your grow to go exactly the same, it is just to help give a ballpark of what to expect.

Edit: most strains are closer to a double in size rather than a triple. Wouldn't want you to be overly cautious and short yourself on the yield front.

 

[PassTheJ]

Size of plant is irrelevant.
Amount of pots is irrelevant.
Size of pots is irrelevant.
What week you flip is irrelevant.

Only thing relevant is the area space of your canopy if the question is yield related.

Want to max out yield? Stress them, supercrop them, top them until you have enough tops to cover your canopy during flowering without leaving any open space and not so much as too cover each others branches..

Ex.

If you have a 4x4, You might do it with two 10g pots topped, stressed and supercropped 5 times over with 35 tops on each plant having 2 harvest a year.

Or 20 plants in half gallon pots where you keep only your first set of branches so to make only 3 tops per plant in 4 harvest a year..

Every way is the right way if you end the equation with = area space of canopy.. The distance from your penis to the floor is irrelevant..

 

[Shawnery]

With your above examples, which are numerous and awesome, how can grams per watt have any real value in determining possible yield? When you attempt to determine a possible yield what data are you calculating?

 

[PassTheJ]

Lmbo. Welcome to the world unknown where everyone has an opinion..

In the end, one has to look at the most limiting factor outside of your control. Canopy space..

You can be the best fucking grower in the world, you can't create extra space when non exists.

I used to convert watt per sq ft into grams and sometimes it worked and sometimes it didn't add up. With today's LEDs, it's all over the place. HpS you get a more stable conversion from watt 2 gram.

I don't try to calculate anything anymore. I just try to grow as best I can with the end mind of filling that canopy without over doing it.

There's is no wrong way. You can 20 or 1 plant. Take 3 months or 7 months. I harvest or 3 harvests. In the end, you get about the same yeild if you fill the canopy.

When a website says 400g yield, they calculate this based on area space. Why? Because there's only so much area you can fill up. So my bud has a 400g rating in a 4x4. That means technically, 400 watts out the wall in a 4x4 will give me max yeild as long as I fill canopy. 400 watts out the wall = 900 watt LED. Why you think everyone makes 600-1200 watt LEd and everyone uses 1000 watt standard HPS?

The seedbanks base their yeild this way. So what I do is double the energy of what is standard..

My 4x8 is 1900 watts out the wall. I only need technically 800 watts but again, that's based on HPS grow probably as most seedbank use non LEd methods. So I double up just in case. Then fill canopy with LST super cropping, cloning flowers, topping.. anything to get enough tops where I feel like once I flower, it'll fill in the whole space..

I guarantee myself max yeild this way without wondering if my math, my lights and space work together...

 

[OldSmokie76]

Container size=root mass=plants ability to take up nutrients=plant health=end product. Filling canopy is relevant but don't discount container size relative to number of plants. Don't think of height as much as the horizontal plain of the canopy. Lights can be lowered for desired penetration. The theory of filling the canopy is dead nuts on. But have some consideration in how you achieve that with number of plants. Number of plants and type of medium will determine the container size. You just grow em and train em to fill the square foot of available canopy space. Scrog is great technique to do this. It forces the plant to stretch into all those areas it wouldn't naturally.

 

[PassTheJ]

Container size=root mass=plants ability to take up nutrients=plant health=end product. Filling canopy is relevant but don't discount container size relative to number of plants. Don't think of height as much as the horizontal plain of the canopy. Lights can be lowered for desired penetration. The theory of filling the canopy is dead nuts on. But have some consideration in how you achieve that with number of plants. Number of plants and type of medium will determine the container size. You just grow em and train em to fill the square foot of available canopy space. Scrog is great technique to do this. It forces the plant to stretch into all those areas it wouldn't naturally.

Not only do I not disagree Mr. Smokie, I'll add that EVERYTHING matters. But all that useful information is what one would use to better understand how to fill the canopy. In the end, filling that canopy is the goal. How you get there is your business. Scrogg is a great example of why filling the canopy is the most important part.

I'm saying getting to heaven is the most important part.
You're saying, how you get there is just as important.

Neither statement contradicts one another.

:)

 

[OldSmokie76]

Please no God/Heaven talk on the farm. LMAO. Same with politics. Way too subjective of topics. Hahahaha. You scrog @PassTheJ ? What kind of medium you grow in?

 

[Shawnery]

Off topic sort of,

I believe that my lights are to much in a good way not a bad way but.

Instead of my plants growing vertically they are growing both horizontally and new branches. In the last two days I've grown. 3 new almost foot long branches from the bottom of the stem. Not just down there but from all over. Instead of growing up its juat growing net branches and sub branches everywhere.

I'm sure this is a good thing but at some point isn't all this new growth just wasting growing effort my plant could be putting into the main colas?

Do you remove most of the lower branches that are not either part of the main colas or to low to catch up? Also do you remove most of the inner growth that receives little light and blocks proper air flow?

 

[GT21]

I like to just fill the floor as short as possible then go....in general veg to 1/3 of your max height..

 

[Shawnery]

Fill the floor as short as possible?

I'm sure it's simple but that phrase has my head spinning in confusion.

 

[GT21]

Fill the floor as short as possible?

I'm sure it's simple but that phrase has my head spinning in confusion.

Fill up your grow space floor before you hit 1/3 of your height... In sogs you just cram the space full and flip.. You dont use as much height in sogs

 

[Shawnery]

Did a scrogg my first grow with RDWC system and boy was that difficult. Lost my second grow and 9n my third I think I finally figured it out. The nutrition part but when it comes to training and filling space the best I'm still learning.

It's difficult to decide what lower growth to just get rid of because it's not worth the fluff I'll get in the end and the drain it will have on the overall growth of my girls.

 

[madgrower]

Did a scrogg my first grow with RDWC system and boy was that difficult. Lost my second grow and 9n my third I think I finally figured it out. The nutrition part but when it comes to training and filling space the best I'm still learning.

It's difficult to decide what lower growth to just get rid of because it's not worth the fluff I'll get in the end and the drain it will have on the overall growth of my girls.

I trim off the bottom 1/3