Ballast choice and grow advice skunky 1

Hello Everyone.
I'm going to buy a 1000 watt dimmable ballast.Iv been doing some research and it seems that the Galaxy have the best reviews.Was wondering if anyone has one of these and what do they think of them.I have a 1000w set up .So that is why I'm going to get a 1000w ballast.
I have a 1000w magnetic ballast that is around 5 or 6 years old.I'm after four grows with very poor results 2 White Widow grows which was a disaster,1 Blue Berry grow which was worse and a Northern Lights which was my best but still was poor.Less than a OZ a plant
All were started from fem seeds.Ider Sensi seed or Dutch Passion under a T5 fluorescent .
I have been using Bio Bizz Nutrients with a all mix soil....I just bought the full range of General Hydroponics nutrients hoping I will have better results.I started six Super Skunk number 1 fem seeds about 3 weeks ago and they are doing pretty good.
I plan to get them about 15 inched and then flower under the 1000w. five ltr pots grow and 10 ltr pots flower
I bought a Big Kahuna hood from htg supply b/c the hood I have is a cheap piece of crap.I'm using a Hortilux bulb.
My room is 7ft high 10 ft wide 10ft long.I need the space to move around b/c I use a wheelchair .I have a squirrel cage fan 465cfm on a speed adjuster controller for my air in and a can fan for my air out.All connected to a environment controller.Heat set at 77 day and 10 less light off
I was feeding once every 7 days and watering when ever needed in between.Leaving the soil dry out before watering .Ph around 6.5 and using a water heater.My air pump died so I'm going to buy a new one to aerate my water
I'm a quadriplegic and have been in and out of the hospital for back surgery's but I hope that this last surgery will be my last.That is why I have not been using clones.
I have a hanna ph tester and a ppm tester.I also have a co2 generator which I have never used.This is all my equipment I have.
Galaxy , lumatek or Quantum that is the question.Any suggestions or tips would be great .Thank you Peace..Sorry i meant to say 10 ltr pots.Im growing in 5ltr ..Sorry about the confusion

your problem is your teeny tiny 5 litre pots.


If you flower at 15inches tall then they could reach 3ft , personally for 3ft plant i would use minimum 12litre pots.

When growing in pots you want approx 4litres of pot for every foot of growth.

Have you been doing any training LST or TOP or FIM etc?


J

also i currently use magnetic ballasts with 25yr guarantee cant moan at that, digi's have a warranty of max 5yrs.


J

Im growing in five ltr and going to flower in ten ltr ..Sorry about the wrong post..

I would still up the size pot you are using to at least 12litre. If you can 20litres would be great.

Roots are linked to yield in soil.

The more space for your roots the better your plants will be.

Do you train your plants in anyway or just allow them to grow like a normal plant would?


J

Not sure what lst,top, fim is sorry and I can flower at 12 or 13 inchs b/c iv got the square pots ready to go .I thought that the bigger they got in flowering the better.I really cant handle any bigger pots that why I got the ten ltr ..I wounder if 12 inches would be good if I use the ten ltr pots?
Thank you

Hello.Yes the digi galaxy has only a 5yr warranty Its like 3 year on everything and the last 2 years is a parshall warranty .Not sure what parts are covered the last two years.I bought a big kahuna hood and was going to use it with the ballast I have now but I cannot find a socket and lead to fit my old ballast and the new hood.Thank you

I dont train at all.I prune the bottom of my plants where the light is not getting to.I can go to a bigger pot .Anything to get a little more yeild.Thanks

If you want more yield look at topping or LST training your plants.

You want as much of a canopy basking under the light as it can so we try to create wide smaller plants as opposed to tall slender plants.


J

Im not sure what LST is but I will look it up.They said that the skunky 1 was easy enough to grow.Thats why I got it.What should I expect for yield being a novice grower.I know everyone had different yields but I would like a rough idea what I should be aiming for.Thank you

If you allow your plants to finish under 2foot tall with training such as topping or LST you should easily achieve 50g per plant.

Once you feel comfortable training your plants you will be able to reap the rewards.

With topping if you allow the plant to grow to around 6nodes high then cut the top off right the way down to the 2nd true node. The 2nd true node is miss the Cotilydons then you get a 1 bladed leaf (this is the 1st node) next up is the node with 3 bladed leaves this is the 2nd node, you cut the top off the plant at this point and you will get 4 main colas. Each cola will also develop secondary branching too. So rather than having your single cola plant with secondary you have a 4 cola plant with lots more secondary branching.


When you cut the tops off the plants you can also clone those tops that you take off making twice the amount of plants you had before.


J

Thanks jondamon.I just found great vids on youtube about LST.I just LST 5 out of 6 of the skunk.One was shorter than the rest so I might try Toping or supercrop that last 1.I had topped before but I did not know that method was called topping.If you look at my pics of my previous plants you can see the 1 I had topped it is out in front....but still got a bad yield from it..Would you top them as well as LST ?Or should I just go with the lst ?

When I flusshed my last crop.My PH was 6.9 to 7.6 on the run off.Is that normal for run off water?I never tested my soil ph..Thanks for the help ..

pH in should be 6.5 whether thats a water day or a nute day.

i like to top first then after your 4 mains have taken the lead tie each one down and allow the next tip to take the lead, allow it to get strong and then tie it down etc etc.

i also use LST with plants that stretch above my canopy during the first 2 weeks of flower to restrict virtical growth. currently have 1 undergoing this treatment which had 4 mains with 4 top colas now 3.5 weeks into flower i have around 13 tops all basking under my 600w.


J