Ready to go to flower?

[Jdboodle13]

Hi guys! I am in the middle of my first grow and could use some advice. I am growing a Red Cherry Berry strain in a 2x2x5 ft grow tent with a 600 watt LED light running 24/0. I am using Happy Frog soil and the Foxfarm nutrients and am growing in 5 gallon pots. My plants started veg on 3/20 and I started LST a week in and have experimented with fimming (though I admit that I am not sure if I did it correctly or not). The plants have done well and seem healthy, but on the small side to me. I moved the light closer to the canopy and that helped with growth, but I feel like after 6 weeks of veg they should be bigger and bushier. I know they are supposed to grow a lot during the first weeks of flowering, so I went ahead and flushed the plants this week and turned the light off today to take them to flower. My question is do they seem small for 6 weeks of veg in the described environment, and in the future could I get a bigger harvest if I veg longer? And finally, what yield can I expect from these guys? The description with the seeds said the yield would be 500-600 grams, are those descriptions even close to accurate?

 

[Farmall]

I don’t know if these are autos or photos so I’ll assume they are photos. While I know 24/0 can be a light schedule for some, the disclaimers I always read are.... the plant seems to have better photosynthesis when there is some down time for the process to make and utilize food within the cell structures. These 6 week old plants do look nice but are smaller than any photos I’ve done for 6-8 weeks.

will you get a greater size for a longer veg... yes, as long as the size of the plants are getting bigger. In flower they usually stretch 2-3X their height at 12/12 switch. Yield can vary and the descriptions on the label are guidelines for estimations. Some never achieve that number and others can exceed it. Flowering stage bud development will dictate your yield and how well you may manage your plants, lighting and pruning.
in a tent you are managing the environment so this is where your own skills will take over. Light is the locomotive for growth as it drives the buds to fatten up. I have never used a 24/0 light schedule.

 

[Jdboodle13]

They are photos. As I said it is my first time out and I struggled to decide on an 18/6 or the 24/0 light schedule, so I may try the 18/6 on my next grow to see if the plants will get bigger and make comparisons on the yield. Thank you for the info!!

 

[Gluteous]

Those are definitely small for week 6 of veg. You can promote height by moving the lights up a bit, not down. Also, depending on when and how frequently you've fimmed/topped, that will cause growth the slow down right after.

 

[UndergroundFarmer]

Try switching to 18/6 for a week and see what happens. Also, before they get away from you, take some measurements in the tent. It's only 60" high inside there and you won't want them growing into the lights. Most LED manufacturers suggest no more than 12"-18" from the tops of your plants to avoid light burn. RCB is an indica so the girls will probably stretch 2x their height. That means (60" minus 12" minus distance from ceiling to bottom of light minus height of pots)/2 equals how tall you can let them grow before the switch. If I guess 4" clearance for the LED and 10" high pots, that's (60" - 12" - 4" - 10")/2 = 17". You can add back in the height of your pots to get a 27" mark from floor level where you must start 12/12.