I actually ended growing out HERMS my first time! And what's funny is that I didn't even realise until my mate (a little more experienced than I) came over to see my, 3 months hard work lol.
After scraping off the debris, I ended up with about a quarter Oz. This was from 10 bag seeds planted, reduced to 5 females, reduced to 3 females, reduced to half a single female pmsl
My lessons were learned harshly. But learned.
Let me share with you, quickly, the main lessons that I learned;
Low light = shit yield. Seriously, you couldn't sell it!
Fresh oxygen, always. Or as best as possible.
Gentle air movement is vital for spreading oxygen and heat as well as for strengthening branches.
LST is not as good as Super Cropping! LST can herm your plant if you're over training it. Super Cropping can double your yield
I now try a mixture of both.
Bigger pots = bigger root balls = bigger yields. Go MASSIVE in this area. Seriously.
Less is always more - one big plant scrogged and SC'd will yield more super awesome buds than 6 small plants LST'd.
(I still always keep little taster pots though, if there is any spare 'light-space' I throw a little 3/4 inch pot to flower and a great way to try a new strain before the mother can sprout babies for me. AND a great way to test for gender for reg seeds)
CFL advice;
one single 250w bulb lets out more intensity, than any amount of smaller bulbs adding up to 250w. Make sense?
Well, I bought 2x 125w CFL thinking they would operate as a single 250w but with a much better spread.
LoL and I'm supposed to be a scientist!
No.
What I got was the intensity of 125w worth of lumens, with a wider spread....
So equally, if you had 25x 10w bulbs, they'd only ever offer 10w worth of CFL lumens, no matter how close you put them to your plants.
I plan to keep my one CFL for vegging, in the hope of not being exiled by my CFL buddies lol
btw lady J, I just been looking at your recent pics - sorry don't always have time to read everysingle page lol - and your shit is looking great! A tent too woooo lol and a random pair of legs that, frankly, made me forget about the weed for a moment lol Is that you in your display pic too? (don't answer here if it's secret sshh).
Calcium, what was that for? I have a similar problem too that I'm trying to work out... yellowing leaves at the bottom, and teeny dots... :S