Anyone with experience going in 20sq ft or less? Insight needed

Anyone with experience growing in soil in a 4'x4'x8'H space?


The Situation:
I am an experienced orchid and tropical plant grower in the Mid-Atlantic in the US. I've always loved cannabis, and used to smoke every week when I was younger. Now, I don't smoke but once or twice a year, but I still love the plant. I originally had 1 super silver haze to keep as alongside my orchids in my greenhouse, but that changed when my job looked like it was on thin ice (by factors outside my control). Now I have taken several clones, and am focusing entirely on high yield instead of aesthetics. I'm working, but I'd like to have a little boost to my savings in case shit hits the fan, ya know?

The Cannabis:
Currently 5 Super Silver Haze plants. 1 mother and 4 clones. The mother has been in vegetative growth for nearly 8 weeks. Clones at about 2 weeks. The mother plan is undergoing LST to open up the center stalks and promote more node growth, hopefully leading to more big colas. I plan on switching to 12/12 sometime in January, and harvesting sometime at the end of March, beginning of April.

The Setup:

*****Pics of my setup available in my profile in my album

I am currently growing 5 Super Silver Haze plants in a 4'x4'x8' high "closet" in my backyard greenhouse.

Lighting- 3x 250watt metal halides, approx 62,000 lumens total. Running 19/5. I turned the whole ceiling into a parabolic reflector using some quality aluminum flashing. All walls are white.

Ventilation- 1x 18" fan on low, 1x 8" fan on high, and 1x 8" vent fan pushing air outside via aluminum ducting. Fresh air comes primarily from the drain and ventilation holes in the floor and gap under the door.

Medium- Potting soil: 66% Organic Potting soil, 33% medium and large-grain perlite, and dashes of blood and bone meal.

Watering/Fertilizer- Watered every 4 days, or as needed. Miracle Grow 24-8-16 is diluted to 3/4 strength and applied every 3rd watering. Soil is flushed (leached) every 10th watering, give or take a week.

Temp/Humidity- Daytime: 80-85F and 50-60% humidity, Nightime: 65-75F, 30-40% humidity.

The Questions:

*****Please reply based on your experience, not what you read on a seedbank's website. My policy is, "Don't know? Don't tell." Thanks!

1. What technique/s would you recommend to increase yield, given my setup? Why?
2. What was your yield, in dried bud, with the same or similar setup?
3. What would produce a greater yield by taking advantage of the 8' high room and the relevant growing techniques? 2 or 3 tiers of small plants (12-18 plants), or 3-5 very large plants?
4. Would the addition of a fourth 250w metal halide be worth the increase in cost and heat buildup?

Thanks for your time and consideration!

I'm only going to answer question #4.

Replace the 3 x 250's with one 600w HPS. You'll get 50% more lumens (95,000 lumens), and use 20% less energy which also = less heat.

sounds like you have a pretty nice setup my friend! only thing i can really say is with the amount of plants your growing you already have plenty of light and dont need any more and i would also suggest trying something other than miracle grow.

hope that helps and im out of here before the few miracle grow lovers show up

Buy a screen and scrog that 4x4 to Max out.

I have the exact grow area. I'm currently running 9 plants in 5 gl buckets. I yield 1.5 to 2 ozs a plant. Average yield is a pound with a 5 week veg period. I spend alot of time moving my plants around. I've grown only 4 plants in 10 gl pots and yield around 4 ozs per plant. I've tried it many different ways and at the end the harvest amount is always about the same. I'm thinking about scrog with just a couple plants in big containers. The guys who do this seem to get the best yields. I just don't like not being able to take my girls out of the room once they grow through the screen. Hope this helps.

Scrog or sog for sure. I'm growing on 4x4 in soil @400 watts HPS. I scrog Kali Mist. In my hands it's not a cash croper, but I get better yields with scrog, in my opinion.

p.s. I know it's a long shot here, but going on your mention of orchids and being from the eastern US, any chance you and your wife were on an Italian bus tour in Sept 2011? It would absolutely blow my mind if you were!

Indeed, very helpful. Aounds like scrog is the way to go. And 2oz per plant with 5 weeks veg is encouraging. Question- what are your lights?

Thanks for the input! And no, havent been on an Italian tour bus. Sorry

TotalSnafu said:

Indeed, very helpful. Aounds like scrog is the way to go. And 2oz per plant with 5 weeks veg is encouraging. Question- what are your lights?

Click to expand...

I'm using a 600 watt light. The first 2 weeks of flower I use a mh then switch to hps. I find it cuts down on the stretch starting with the mh.

19?5?

1. LST, 600 w hps., enclosed hood.
2. Oz.+ min. per plant
3. 15 1.5 gal pots
4. wasted energy