DIY Rubbermaid Aero SOG

Maetal

Active Member
Questions about a 6x4 area with 4x31gal rubbermaids each holding 32 x 2" pots.

Each system has an airstone, 2x400gph sub-pumps connected to pvc sprayers, RO water is used and PPM'd for each system according to its week in flowering.

My question is lighting, A growzilla hood is being used with 2x1000w HPS lights approximatley 12-16" away from the hood with no burn effects or signs of heat stress, Im wondering is it possible to have to much light?

Also how exactly does one lollipop effectively for a SOG?

Thank you for your time.
 

Platipy

Well-Known Member
That definitely more light than you need, but it shouldn't cause many problems as long as you have a good ventilation system. sounds like you have a pretty good setup. to lollipop basically cut off all growth that doesn't pertain to the main cola, such as little side buds and undergrowth. Don't prune to much off at once though i've heard you take take off as much as 50% of the plant at a time but i generally stick to less than that. This focus all growth towards the main cola and make your plant look like a lollipop nug. I reccomend starting with clones and giving them a week or two of veg time first.
 

IndoorWarrior

Active Member
it wouldn't make sense to lollipop and SOG. SOG will give you more smaller buds, lollipop will yield fewer larger ones.

no such thing as too much light as long as the plants aren't being burned. and at 12-16" away with that much light, you really need to watch them as the light is really close for such high wattage, and the plants might be burned if they have a great day growing and get any closer.

sounds like you are on the right track!
 

Maetal

Active Member
450cfm fan pulling through a carbon scrubber, through the light, and under a house, along with 2 small high velocity fans pushing air around and 2 oscillating fans blowing through the stalks.

I was under the impression that a sea of green lollipopped is going to be the most efficent use of my light, due to the limited spacing in between the plants in these bins, It seems to make more sense to have no side branching.

Also has anyone succesfully used purple maxx in a hydro/aero setup without damaging the plants? Normally the PPM of weeks 4-8 are inbetween 1200-1750 but would dropping it by half and adding purplemaxx @ 2ml/gallon be ok?
 

Maetal

Active Member
it wouldn't make sense to lollipop and SOG. SOG will give you more smaller buds, lollipop will yield fewer larger ones.

no such thing as too much light as long as the plants aren't being burned. and at 12-16" away with that much light, you really need to watch them as the light is really close for such high wattage, and the plants might be burned if they have a great day growing and get any closer.

sounds like you are on the right track!
With my air cooling I've been able to get them 8-10 inches away before they show signs of burn, I just thought a few inches away would be playing it safe for that exact reason.
 

morrisgreenberg

Well-Known Member
it wouldn't make sense to lollipop and SOG. SOG will give you more smaller buds, lollipop will yield fewer larger ones.

this makes no sense to me, when you are looking to bunch up 32 plants together on a rubbermade, to get the most effective crop would be to lollipop them, , for 1 lollipopping will let the plant focus all its energy into formoning one single cola by trimming the lower 1.3 of the plant, but is essential in making a sog since you need the airflow, and more importantly, Lollipoping them you will not have side branching competing for light and blocking out its nehboring plant, doing this you will achieve 7-14 grams per plant, and more once you get dialed in...one guy on here does the same method, just like that and pulls a pound off it, now if you dont lollipop the buds you will get more squigly buds on side branches cus they dont get proper lighting....and you should lollipop when you know you are using that many plants in a tight space
 

morrisgreenberg

Well-Known Member
in this thread a few of us discussed the technique of lollipopping, also really good examples of it here
https://www.rollitup.org/advanced-marijuana-cultivation/194915-lollipop-lollipop-oh-lolli-lolli.html

in a tub set up like you are doing, i use a smaller one for cloning, but i know exactly what you are looking for and with your eqiupment LP'ing is the way to go, the benefits are as i listed in the other post, but also a short veg time, you can gro out 4 large plants, vegg them for a while, or use 20 plants with little to no veg time and get the same yield, when dealing with. from my personal experience i did it in soil, i took square 5inch pots, put 8 of them on a doubled up nursery tray 10x20 inches, started to flower clones at 10 inches tall, and wound up with 40 plants finished with a max height of 24 inches, some were 16 but you get the point, this is also great if you have height restrictions...7-10 grams each, nice clean efficients and a fast turn around
 

Maetal

Active Member
they are going from clone to flowering, 2 weeks as clone, and 4 flr boxes, they vegged in between clone and flower once and it ended up with them at 9-11 inches tall when entering flowering which was way to tall for lollipopping, correct me if im wrong, but they are now 19-22" tall and very bushy and overcrowded, keep in mind this is only the first week of flowering. Will eliminating the veg time help keep them smaller and more manageable? or would I be able to keep a single cola with a huge plant like that? will my 300k lumens penetrate more then 14" of foiliage? Will it be drastically smaller yeilds if I cut out veg time or will lollipoping them compensate? as of now they only have the bottom 1/3 trimmed, they are bushy though and dont look like a single cola. I appreciate the input. Your combined knowledge is appreciated.
 

IndoorWarrior

Active Member
With my air cooling I've been able to get them 8-10 inches away before they show signs of burn, I just thought a few inches away would be playing it safe for that exact reason.
I never said the light was TOO close, I said it was CLOSE to being too close. IME, at that height with that wattage even with aircooled hoods on a hot day I would be worried about burned plants. im jealous to hear you can pull it off. must make for some really bushy plants.
 

IndoorWarrior

Active Member
it wouldn't make sense to lollipop and SOG. SOG will give you more smaller buds, lollipop will yield fewer larger ones.

this makes no sense to me, when you are looking to bunch up 32 plants together on a rubbermade, to get the most effective crop would be to lollipop them, , for 1 lollipopping will let the plant focus all its energy into formoning one single cola by trimming the lower 1.3 of the plant, but is essential in making a sog since you need the airflow, and more importantly, Lollipoping them you will not have side branching competing for light and blocking out its nehboring plant, doing this you will achieve 7-14 grams per plant, and more once you get dialed in...one guy on here does the same method, just like that and pulls a pound off it, now if you dont lollipop the buds you will get more squigly buds on side branches cus they dont get proper lighting....and you should lollipop when you know you are using that many plants in a tight space
seems very similar to what i said. not sure why it made no sense to you.

SOG will give you more buds that are smaller, lollipoping will give fewer but larger buds. its impossible to say which way will yield more, there are lots of factors at play. ive done both, they both have potential benefits, and drawacks.
 

morrisgreenberg

Well-Known Member
you can trim sidebranchng up till 3 weeks flowering to straighten her out, if you like get to going now, first 3 weeks of flower will get her taller, then the rest is dedicated to beefing up buds, this is the time to lollipop.i know it may be painful to clip off those nice sized branches but go ahead, she is definitly going to grow a few more inches minimum, so your mass will be up top, it makes more sense now to cut them off since its getting crowded right? your plants gonna expend the energy to make popcorn buds. did you check out the link i posted? FDD did this with mother plants, like 3ft tall, they were already that shape from all the cuttings he took, in 2 weeks your flower sites are gonna stack up, so dont be shy my friend, none of us will steer you wrong, and indoor warrior, my bad, i soulda picked up on that being backwards. peace and good harvest to you both
 
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