Trouble reading today's article? Click
here: Issue #266 - Sunday, May 21, 2017 Dear Fellow Grower,
In today's issue... - Learn how to grow plants that are the perfect height! Getting the right height will maximize your yields while possibly reducing electricity
use!
- Now that the outdoor growing season is underway in the northern hemisphere, I wanted to share some of the best and safest pesticides to fight against common cannabis pests! All the ones listed are safe to be used right up until harvest!
- Check out this week's trophy pics which feature a
hydroponic grow that pulled over a pound of buds!
Nebula Haze & Sirius Fourside (founders of GrowWeedEasy.com) "Instead of worrying about what you cannot control, shift your energy to what you can create."
~Roy T. Bennet
What is the Best Plant Height? by Nebula Haze |
Dear Nebula,
Is there an Optimal Final Height for the plant?
Most everything I read says to continue the Vegetative Stage until the plant is about 1/2 its desired height, then flip to Flowering Stage, because plants about double in height on average.
Assuming you are keeping the canopy as flat as possible. Should you try for as tall as your tent/light will allow without burn?
Or is there an optimal height found to give best yield/quality? Does the plant waste energy moving the nutrients up a taller plant?
I see amazing pictures of bountiful plants that appear to be under 36", with lots of fat dense colas.
~Reader
|
When it comes to training cannabis plants indoors, in the best-case scenario, you want your plants to be big enough to support as much bud as your grow light can produce. Yet there's no point in having a whole bunch of
bud sites located below where the light can reach, because buds that don't get any light usually do not fatten up. So, when growing indoors the optimal length of buds is heavily dependent on your grow light.
Optimal Plant Height Depends on Your Grow Light. Bigger Lights Can Support
Bigger Plants and Longer Buds!
If you examine the structure of an indoor cannabis plant at harvest, you'll often see that there's long fat "colas" at the top, and underneath there are smaller buds. The further down you get on the plant, the smaller the buds are. After a certain point, the buds are so small that they don't really add any significant weight.
Big buds form on top, but as you get further from the light, the buds get smaller until there are almost none. If these plants had been allowed to get any taller (with everything else the same), they likely wouldn't have produced much more bud than they did here. Any extra time spent in the vegetative stage likely would have been a waste of time.
This was the longest solid cola I've gotten from a 250W HPS grow light; it was about 12" long. Below that point the plant still made buds, but they were individual buds as opposed to a long cola. The final height of a plant should generally be about twice the height of your longest main cola. That tends to be the "sweet spot" for a lot of strains. If nothing else was changed, the yields would not be that different whether the plant is 2 feet tall or 4 feet tall under a 250W HPS, because the light just doesn't go down that far into the plant. However,
a bigger grow light could have supported a taller plant.
A
too-tall plant isn't a big deal if it actually fits in your grow space, but the extra lower growth that doesn't produce bud is essentially a waste of electricity, time and money, since you potentially could have shaved weeks off your vegetative stage without sacrificing yields!
Under a 600W HPS, I haven't ever seen a main cola that's much longer than 2 feet even if light is
getting down almost to the floor. So, I'm not sure how much benefit you would get by switching to 12/12 after the plant is 2 feet tall. These plants were switched at around 20" tall under a 600W.
You can support even taller plants and longer colas under bigger grow
lights!
Examples with Common Grow Lights
Although it's true you want to flip to
the flowering stage when your plant is about half the final desired height (since it will about double in size after the flip to the flowering stage), here are some general guidelines that have worked well for me:
Note: Always try to do an "autopsy" after you grow and take a hard look at your pictures to see if there's
anything you could have done to get even better results! I learn something new every grow!
- CFLs, T5s and Other Fluorescents - Switch when plant is 6-12" tall (unless you also have light from the sides, then it can be a bit taller as long as all the bud sites are getting light)
- 250W HPS - Switch when plant is ~12" tall
- 400W HPS - Switch when plant is ~17" tall
- 600W HPS - Switch when plant is ~21" tall.
- LEC or CMH Grow Lights - Follow general guidelines for HPS lights based on your wattage (a 315W is good for ~15" tall, and a 630W is good for ~22" tall)
- LED Grow Lights - Unfortunately this depends a lot on the model. It's partially a matter of trial and error because there's no "standard" with LEDs like there are with other grow lights. A good rule of thumb is to take note of the length of your main colas after the switch to 12/12 (from a previous grow), then try to initiate flowering with your new
plants when they're about that height. So, if your main colas end up around 12" long, initiate flowering when the plant is 12" tall, etc. But if you aren't sure yet, I recommend just sticking to the "half the final desired height" rule with LEDs, because that ensures that at least the plant will fit in your grow space and you'll be able to learn what to expect from your LED model.
Note:
Defoliation (removing leaves to expose bud sites) lets you produce bigger buds further down into the plant! That means your light could potentially support slightly taller plants with longer buds if you use defoliation. This is why it's important to always test your plants with your light and your
setup, as everyone's results will be a little different based on their strain, environment and personal growing techniques.
"Tall" vs "Short" Strains
Although plants typically double in height after the switch, some particularly tall and short strains can stretch more or less than average! Always pay attention to what the breeder tells you about your strain and plan accordingly! - If you have a "tall" strain, switch to the flowering stage earlier than recommended (1/3 the final desired height)
- With a "short"
strain you should wait until the plant is taller before the switch (3/4 the final desired height), to ensure the plant is tall enough after it's done stretching.
In the picture below, the grower could probably have switched to 12/12 earlier without hurting yields because the buds at the bottom are not adding much weight. Sativa plants like this can triple in height after
the switch to the flowering stage, so it's common to end up with a Sativa plant that's far taller than expected!
What Can I Use to Kill Bugs Safely?
|
Got bugs on your cannabis plants? A pest infestation can be a grower's worst nightmare, but luckily there are ways to get rid of the bugs without harming your plants or affecting your buds. This list of all-natural remedies will get rid of a lot of different types of bugs without harmful chemicals!
|
If you only get one pesticide for the garden, I recommend neem oil as it's safe and organic, but is effective against a wide variety of common cannabis bugs and mold!
Organic and Safe Neem Oil is Effective Against...
|
I just wanted to say your site is off the hook, since I've found it I've gained an immense amount of knowledge, and you guys rock. Thank you!
Sean
|
Trophy Pictures of the Week! |
|
It was a bubbleponic grow following the GWE tutorial and feeding schedule pretty much completely. Maybe a few touches of my own added in.
The harvest ended up being just a little over a pound total off of both plants.
The Wonder Woman is on the right and she has captured a White Rhino on the left with her Lasso of Truth (my old belt) as you can see in the pics. |
Both were feminized photoperiod seeds from Nirvana. What the roots looked like at harvest The Wonder Woman started showing amber trichs right at 8 weeks from the switch to 12/12 so I started flushing in plain water. I started trimming a couple of days
later. I got 258 grams off of the Wonder Woman. The White Rhino wasn't ready until about 9 1/2 weeks from the flip to 12/12 it ended up flushing in plain water for 18 days before I cut the last
cola. I got 199 grams off of the White Rhino. I was afraid that might have been too long but it came out EXCELLENT!
Congratulations on a fabulous harvest!
We encourage you to forward this email to a friend in need!
Check Out Our Growing Community! |
Check out our friendly growing community to ask questions, discuss your grow, share pictures, or otherwise talk about growing cannabis with other real growers!
Ask Questions & Talk With Other Growers!
Please note: We let each person in manually, so please be patient after you request to join and we'll try to let you in as soon as possible!! |
Who Runs This
Newsletter? |
Nebula Haze:
I'll be honest with you, when I first started growing, I struggled. Now, it is my mission to
make it easier for new growers to get started as well as help advanced growers get bigger, better yields with less time and money. We are updating and adding articles every single week and our goal is to eventually build a comprehensive growing resource so anyone and everyone can grow if they want to! If we all share the knowledge there's more buds in the world for everyone :) |
|
Learn which seed sources are personally recommended by Nebula Haze |
Sirius Fourside:
Sirius Fourside is a hobbyist grower who has gained the bulk of his experience growing in water as a medium (deep water culture, bubbleponics).
"Growing cannabis can be a relaxing hobby in and of itself, but it also saves you money and keeps you from having to deal with shady characters. Cannabis is much easier to grow than people give it credit for, and growing in water
doesn't increase the difficulty much, if any. But whether you want to grow in water, coco, or a different medium, we'll show you how easy it can be!"
Get Your Seeds Delivered
Safely! |
|
GrowWeedEasy.com has put together a hand-picked list of all the available seed
banks including what type of payment they accept and where they ship in the world!
List of trusted seed sources:
http://www.growweedeasy.com/seeds Get Seeds!
|
Copyright (c) 2017 GrowWeedEasy.com NOTE: If links aren't working or if pictures are not showing up properly, please view the full
newsletter here: http://archive.aweber.com/gwe-updates
Disclaimer: Grow Weed Easy only recommends products that we've either personally
checked out ourselves, or that come from people we know and trust. For doing so, we may receive a commission. Nothing in this e-mail should be considered personalized Financial, Legal, or Medical Advice. The contributors to this magazine grow legally under their local laws but are not lawyers or medical professionals. Any decision to grow marijuana should only be made after consulting with an experienced lawyer or other legal adviser. Any medical decisions should only be made after speaking with
a doctor or other medical professional. Be safe! How Did I Sign Up For This Newsletter?
Our records indicate that requested to be added to the GrowWeedEasy.com weekly newsletter at .
Date:
To unsubscribe: |
|
