A couple of questions about lighting etc..

[newbutoldgrower75]

Hey everyone.
So I have a few questions that you good people might be able to help me out with. I have introduced a 600w HPs light into the grow, I know but I was starting to get a few shaded spots on the sides of the plants. I have put it in the centre of the tent at the moment, but not sure if it's sufficient or not. It does seem to have improved the shaded areas quite a bit. Well here are the questions I have got going on in my head..

1. I have the 600w HPs light 55cm from the canopy, LED's are 60cm from the canopy. Should I lower both the LED's and HPs light, or do you think they will be sufficient enough where they are?

2. Would I get better light coverage if I introduced 2 x 400w HPS lights, one between the back pots and another between the front ones, than 1 x 600w HPS?

3. For how long do people keep training there branches out during flowering? And how far can/should you pull the branches down? I am just asking as I have these extension arms that I got with my pots and could probably extend the branches out further out, especially one plant that has bushed right out and nearly twice the size of the others.

4. How do you stop those bloody wing reflectors from swaying? I have a fan blowing across the top of my LED lights, damn wing reflector is swaying a bit..

Thank you for taking the time to read my questions, I appreciate it. Any help, advice and constructive criticism would be great. I have included some pics from before and after introducing the HID light to the grow, first two before and second three after. Cheers.

[bboyfromwayback]

With big tents, I’ve found you getter better, more equal coverage using smaller lights than just one big one. Two 400w HPS is a lot of heat to deal with. If you can control it, high humidity won’t be an issue. As far as distance from canopy, keep the leds at their recommended height.

Once the plants start flowering I stop training in the sense I’m not trying to grow the plant out anymore. From there it’s about growing buds. Getting as much light to as much as your plant as possible.

[newbutoldgrower75]

Thanks @bboyfromwayback..I was thinking that the two 400w HPS would have a better coverage than just the single 600w. The heat shouldn't be a problem, I had 3 x 600 HPS running in my last grow in the same size grow area 6ft x 6ft. The exhaust fan is only running on one, ISO Max 200 fans come with a 3 speed controller. After speaking to the guys at The GreenSunshine Company, they suggested not to go lower than 60cm from light to canopy for my first grow with LED's.

If I needed to get more light to certain parts of the plant during flowering, example: canopy too dense, would training be beneficial then?

[Cloud]

Gonna grow some nice plants with those electric sky's. What version boards are those and are they the es300? I'm a bit jelly I want a few of them bad.

Also I'm pretty sure you can lower the leds some they look pretty high atm.

[newbutoldgrower75]

Thanks buddy. I'm definitely enjoying this grow with ES 300's, the growth during veg was amazing. I'm running ES 300 V2's, ordered not long before they started talking about releasing V3 unfortunately, the new lights look amazing. But still very very happy with these lights.

I have the lights sitting at 60cm above the canopy. It was suggested by the guys from The GreenSunshine Company to not go under that height for my first grow with LED's. Do you think I should try lowering them more?

[Cloud]

Looked higher up in pics. I would use recommended hanging height. Later when you know everything In Grow is perfect you can experiment with lowering it a bit.

[newbutoldgrower75]

The pics can look a bit deceiving I know, but have been checking heights twice a day through the stretch to keep on top of it. Thanks buddy, they seem to be loving the 60cm height at the moment. Think I will just leave the lights at this height for this grow and start experimenting with heights more next grow. Thanks for the advice mate, appreciate it.

[bboyfromwayback]

I didn’t even look at the pics until I saw Cloud’s post. I use Electric Sky myself. Are you running 2 ES300’s plus a 400w HPS? That’s enough juice to flower 2 tents. I just upgraded from a 5x3 tent to a 4x4 and I’m running 1 ES300 and 2 ES180’s which is a lot of power in 16sqft. My advice would be to get rid of the HPS, raise you ES’s to the top of the tent and set them at 50% through veg.

[newbutoldgrower75]

Tent is probably a little too big, but I like to be able to get inside the tent with the plants when feeding, training, cleaning etc. I'm around 6ft2 and have difficulty mobility at the moment , so need the extra space haha. What distance are your Electric Sky's from the canopy? Thank you so much for the advice on rearranging the lights, it was stressing me out a bit. Due to medication I'm on, I'm having trouble concentrating and working things out at the moment, so really appreciate it. I'm going to rearrange the lights how you have suggested today, but would you suggest using one 600w over two plants or one 400w over each? It would be great to see some pics of your setup buddy if you don't mind, haven't really had the chance to speak to anyone running the same lights yet. I appreciate your time and help once again mate. Cheers.

[bboyfromwayback]

Sure thing man! 600w HPS is more than enough for 1/2 that tent. The 300 was actually made to flower a 4x2 tent and the green sunshine company recommends 2 300’s for a 4x4 which is why I suggested putting them together for one side then the 600 can get the rest. The 400 should be enough honestly. As far as distance from canopy I’ve only moved my lights once since I started using these. No need beck they’re so powerful. I leave them at the top of the tent which usually makes them 36-40 inches from the canopy to start. By the time they stretch they’re generally close to 24”. If they get any closer than 24”
I start turning the power down

[newbutoldgrower75]

Thanks again for your help buddy, the positioning of the lights was starting to do my head in a bit. I haven't had a chance to move them around yet, thought I better wait for some help in my condition, but room mate is back from work tonight to give me a hand. It makes more sense to me arranging them the way you suggested, plus that bloody HPS wont be in my way in the middle of the tent haha.
So instead of lifting the lights to keep 24" from canopy, I should be just lowering the power of my lights? It is quite different to growing under HID, but enjoying the learning experience. Cheers mate.

[TOKABIGONE]

As far as lighting goes it appears you have more than plenty. For training, here's what I did with very good results. I did a traditional 3rd node manifold and LST thru veg. At the switch I released the restraints to allow some stretch. At 5 weeks I decided that the side of the colas and bottom bud sites were not getting enough light so I spread the colas at 45 degrees and tied them again. The canopy is now even and filled with light and at almost 7 weeks in all of the buds are swelling nicely. Pics below show before and after.

This is yesterday.

[newbutoldgrower75]

Thanks buddy, appreciate your advice. I do want to try manifold, once I build my confidence up, it seems so much more controlled and neat. I haven't released the restraints as the canopy on a couple of the plants are quite dense, thought it would help to get light into the plants better. Should I maybe release the girls from their restraints? For some reason I cant seem to see the 3 pics you uploaded mate, just 3 file looking things in their place?

[TOKABIGONE]

Hey newbutoldgrower75, sorry I missed your comment back on the 6th. My first grow, first manifold was really quite fun to see just how much you can manipulate this weed. Most do 4 branches per side but I went to 6. Topped above the 5th node out and removed 2 and 4. By that time the main beam was out to the edge of the pot where I let it grow up. At the switch I released them to see what they wanted and the beam slowly started to curve back up. By week 4 they were shading the big buds that had grown from the lower middle so I again restrained the outer colas at about 45 degrees so the inners again got light an grew more.

[newbutoldgrower75]

Hey TOKABIGONE .. all good buddy. I have just got your comment, slowly going through notifications. I have now started my 3rd grow and nearly at the stage of doing my first topping. I am wondering why you chose to remove 2nd and 4th, and not the 1st and 3rd node?

[TOKABIGONE]

This one is done and in the jar 7 weeks. I grew the sides out to the edge, topped above node 5. Then I took 2 and 4, keeping 1,3,5 for 12 total on the plant. 6 main colas per side.