Pots choice and relationship to yield

[OrganicViper]

Hello,

I have been growing in a 0.6 by 0.8 under a 100w Migro LED for about eight months. I have used six small 7" pots for each grow because I wanted to try different strains, I only vape about four times a week so that has produced plenty. My main aim though is to be able to produce enough to make RSO, tinctures, infused oils etc in addition to vaping. I am in the process of adding a second tent which will probably be a 1m by 1m with a 300w Telos LED light.

From what I have read my new tent will be suitable for four large plants whilst my original tent is really meant for one or two large plants, also it seems that the standard is to aim for 1g per watt. For now I will continue growing in soil so I am guessing 0.5g per watt would be more realistic, please correct me if I am wrong.

Is there a way of working out the relationship of light wattage to pot size to maximise the yield for the space used. I am presuming that there is a cut off point where too large a pot would be wasting space as i will be aiming for three grows in twelve months so veg will be about eight weeks from sprouting for each grow. For now I will be starting from seed.

Secondly what are peoples opinions on the benefits and drawbacks to using fabric pots and air pots as opposed to standard plastic pots. Thanks a lot.

Regards

[Missy]

The saying goes- more roots=more fruits! So the bigger the better really. My tent is 1.2x1.2m and I grow 4 plants at a time in there in 15L air pots.

How many plants are u putting in there? The footprint of a 300w LED is really small and won't reach the edges of a 1m tent basically. You said you didn't need to grow much but I assume that upgrading your light and tent means you want to grow more?



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[Missy]

Also are you growing in soil or coco? Fabric pots all the way for me

But basically 300w light is nowhere near enough for 4 plants even if the brand was top of the range.

Minimum of 900w, 1200w even better but that's if they're good brands.

Can you not invest in an HPS?

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[OrganicViper]

Also are you growing in soil or coco? Fabric pots all the way for me

But basically 300w light is nowhere near enough for 4 plants even if the brand was top of the range.

Minimum of 900w, 1200w even better but that's if they're good brands.

Can you not invest in an HPS?

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Thanks for your replies.

Have been doing some more research tonight about how fabric pots and air pots air prune and encourage a better root structure, so yes definately the way to go.

Regarding the LED coverage, I'm basing it on what the manufacturers say.

I have looked at HPS, generally they are cheaper to buy but running costs and replacement lamps seem to make them more expensive over a number of years, and my understanding is they are more of a fire risk and can make heat a problem in a tent, though i will be running an extraction fan of course; plus they give off a bigger thermal footprint I believe. Would be happy for you to make suggestions regarding HPS set ups.

I do want to grow more than my small tent will produce so that I can make and have a steady supply of my own RSO, tinctures and bud for vaping, but I don't need mountains of it. So many choices about every aspect of growing, learning is very interesting but at the moment I'm going round in circles also money for equipment and running costs is a bit tight. Thanks again, look forward any more advice you think I should consider.

[Missy]

I bought a dimmable ballast HPS set up so I can turn it right down to 250w or right up to 650w.

With LED the wattage of the light is not the actual output you get, for example a 300w Led pannel only actually produces around 145w true watts. So you can imagine how little you get from a 100w.

My 600w Mars hydro LED panel did an o.k job but after x3 grows the lights are dying one by one. So to replace would cost £120. To replace an HPS bulb is £13 so even if I need to change my bulb 3x a year (which I wouldn't) it still works out cheaper than replacing LED.

Even with LED everyone struggles with heat during the summer months. I personally only found a couple of degrees difference in my tent with LED vs HPS. The difference in pence between HPS and LED doesn't bother me at all and because HPS will give u a MUCH higher yield you'll be able switch it all off for longer until you start running low on weed and need to start again lol.

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[CityDweller]

I prefer fabric pots because they are much harder to overwater.

My general rule when planning pot size is 1 oz dry per 4 liters of soil. I am usually within this range.

[GEORGE]

I bought a dimmable ballast HPS set up so I can turn it right down to 250w or right up to 650w.

With LED the wattage of the light is not the actual output you get, for example a 300w Led pannel only actually produces around 145w true watts. So you can imagine how little you get from a 100w.

My 600w Mars hydro LED panel did an o.k job but after x3 grows the lights are dying one by one. So to replace would cost £120. To replace an HPS bulb is £13 so even if I need to change my bulb 3x a year (which I wouldn't) it still works out cheaper than replacing LED.

Even with LED everyone struggles with heat during the summer months. I personally only found a couple of degrees difference in my tent with LED vs HPS. The difference in pence between HPS and LED doesn't bother me at all and because HPS will give u a MUCH higher yield you'll be able switch it all off for longer until you start running low on weed and need to start again lol.

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I use to think the same thing Missy, but after the way my plant is growing after cutting it back from 250W to 127W, I am to believe that it has much more to do with correct soil and water. Check out my last post here in my diary.
https://www.thctalk.com/cannabis-foru...post1070947031

[thelastrebel]

With LED the wattage of the light is not the actual output you get, for example a 300w Led pannel only actually produces around 145w true watts. So you can imagine how little you get from a 100w.

To be fair Missy the whole 'equivalent watts' thing is a marketing issue with some of the low end manufacturers and old blurples etc, iirc including Mars Hydro. It's nothing to do with how LED lights work and so it doesn't have any bearing on manufacturers who don't use the 'equivalent' numbers. The migro 100 is billed as pulling 112W from the wall at full tilt. Haven't tested one myself but I don't see any reason to think that's not accurate.

Invisible sun and other QB types tend to come with a choice of drivers too so you know exactly how much power you're getting.

EDIT - the 300W Telos is also 300W at the wall according to google. Don't know much about them but I'm not sure I'd go with Telos due to the cost though, compared to strips or QBs they're a small fortune.

[thelastrebel]

Found the PPFD charts for the Telos as well - I think if you had 1200W of these, ie four units, in a 1m*1m tent you'd risk vapourising your plants!

[CityDweller]

Found the PPFD charts for the Telos as well - I think if you had 1200W of these, ie four units, in a 1m*1m tent you'd risk vapourising your plants!

Good find. It looks like the light is perfectly sized for the tent.