So I’m not a total newbie but I’ll give you a little backstory on my very minimal experience with growing the ganj. About 10 years ago, I bought some Dutch Passion Blueberry seeds online through Attitude Seedbank (don’t know if they’re still a thing) long story short, we had about 19 pups that grew over 5ft tall. Yielded about a pound of material that wasn’t worth a donkey’s ass.
We now have a place to do it in and I’ve been reading up a ton on Bubbleponics. BTW we need more bubble threads on future lol. I love the setup and yields I’m seeing but my question is this. I’m going to be working with a 5’x5’ tent for flowering. How can I efficiently utilize about 20sq.ft. of that area for the girls? Do I really have to use x5 Sterilite bins all with their individual water pumps, air pumps/stones, and precipitators? I feel like there has to be something a little more streamlined. My goal is to clone off the mom, root and veg for <2 weeks and go straight into flower. Hoping to get 30-40 little ones into the 20sq.ft. space I will allot in the tent. I’m going for a perpetual harvest, but I’m essentially trying to figure out a more efficient method of running multiple girls. Hoping to get harvest every 1-2 months and hoping to yield about 1.5-3 lbs each harvest.
Edit: I realize I should have mentioned SoG method seems to be looking like the most efficient method but I’m still at a loss for how to set up a bubble system with a SOG under neth
P.s. for convenience and yield, CMH, HPS, or LED?
P.p.s. I posted this on Rollitup originally. Didn’t know Future had a cultivation category.
Not sure I understand, you’re flowering how many plants in 20 sq ft? I like each plant to have a square yard. I would do no more than 3 in that size space and I would do each in its own 5gal bucket with air and water pump unless you find a long single reservoir that fits the space. You just need 1 air pump and plumb it to feed all the buckets. I’d also make two tents if I was going for perpetual harvest. Vegging and flowering needs different light. I like MH and HPS but they will get hot. Use an adequate fan and duct the heat outside the house if you can. Or make other arrangements for temperature control.
water chiller or window AC unit
harvesting tons of tiny plants is a pain, wouldn’t you rather have a few huge ones instead? I’d say yeild is mainly dependant on light, I’ve heard some are getting 1g per watt with digital MH/HPS lights. Not sure what complications you’re talking about with sog, post of pic of what you’re looking at, but if you can’t just use twisty ties instead to make them grow how you want.
Use clean water! This is important, get reverse osmosis if you don’t have a clean well water. Test tds and pH and free chlorine, they really don’t like most municipal water from what I’ve seen
Using RO will remove naturally occurring beneficial minerals, so you may need to adjust nutrients according ly
First off, let me start by saying thanks a lot for taking the time to reply back. I’ve had this up for a few days and in the meantime have just been using any resources to find a better solution to my initial setup. I keep seeing everyone running separate buckets but have yet to see in detail what a SoG setup would look like in a Bubbleponic environment.
I have a few answers to some of your comments.
My flowering tent is 5’x5’ = 25 sq. ft.
I would like to reserve 5 sq. ft. of floor space for moving things around and anything that might have to rest there. Leaving 20 sq. ft. for girls.
Turnover is a big part of the op I’m trying to retain in the model I’m working on. No space or time to be vegging and topping for 5 weeks. From the research I’ve done (and definitely correct me if I’m wrong) the yields should be similar whichever way you do it. This method would just cut out about 3-4 weeks between harvests. Only thing is with SoG you HAVE to utilize every square inch, and since I’m not well versed, I’m not sure how multiple girls will do in the same tub. Feel like roots tangling could be an issue. Still seeking more info on this.
Post a pic -
As of now there are no pics to post. The only thing The is set in stone is the flower tent is 5’x5’. The Veg will likely be the same size.
Use clean water -
This has also been on my mind. For the setup it will be MUCH more convenient to use tap water. I’m not so hard headed that I won’t explore other avenues but before we go there, is there anything I can do to test the water quality in the tap?
That one link is going to solve A LOT of my engineering issues. They didn’t teach this stuff in high school unfortunately I see you all over the place too. Your help does not go unnoticed.
I don’t have experience with cmh, can the ballasts run other bulbs? Or do you still need a separate HPS ballast and bulb?MH/HPS conversion ballasts can be had pretty cheap and run both
@CCCBD
I believe CMH have their own ballasts but you can run them through Veg and Flower. They also seem to be chieving about the same yields with 20% less current.
Granted, this was in an expert grow op. So it seems, if you know what you’re doing and maximizing yields. You can achieve the same yields with less wattage using a CMH.
No kidding, well I’m old school, I guess that’s a new one to me. For testing water cheap test kits are available on Amazon for chlorine and you can get a tds meter cheap too, this will help you Know how much nutrients you should use also.
Not sure about cmh, but for mh/HPS I think you’d do good with 2 600s or 2 1000s if you’ve got good head room and ventilation/temp management
I definitely will have a vented light whichever way I go, as well as very good air circulation set up. Going to build a faux AC enclosure out the window for any intake/exhaust ports. Fresh air all year round!
The yeilds you’re talking about I think will need more than 1. More light = more bud, as long as it’s not too hot. What height is that 4*5ft coverage at. Lumen intensity drastically decreases the farther away your bud is from the light. Have you picked your seeds yet? Short growing genetics are a must indoors, how high is the ceiling, that’s the limiting factor in some rooms
Edit
Cmh bulbs are 80.00 each. Count and do the math. My motto
Plants dont give a crap if a ballast burns out, a bulb goes bad, or if your sick or on vacation. Backups and daily attention is key to sucess. Plants need daily attention, light, and food water no matter what’s happening.
Use single 315 vs 630. You can spread the light better with more hoods.
Brands…
I love the prism ballasts. It’s just that, a ballast. No wattage adjustment, no fancy case, no fancy led panel or colors.
Make sure you buy legit Philip’s bulbs. There are counterfeits out there.
Do NOT buy a cmh light kit. Use any hood you like. I use big kahuna hoods. They are massive, as big as you get. Trick with that, is keeping canopy 1.5-2’ max is key. Different hoods play roles in canopy height. Small hood concentrates light for a smaller foot print and must be kept higher. Bigger hood spreads light out wider, this needing to keep hoods closer to canopy, but still getting the footprint you need.
Tricks of dialing in a room.
I’m 6’1" tall
My hair just touches the glass on my hoods. My hoods are also fixed. I raise plants to keep even canopy vs lowering/raising lights.
I see you all over the place too. Your help does not go unnoticed.