How should I run my ne w awesome setup (schedule planning help)

Well its awesome in my opinion.


Heres what i have:
2 600w hps lights
1 hydrofarm 4ft 6bulb t5 fixture
various fans

heres my plan:

FLOWER ROOM
put both 600w hps lights in there. its an 8x10 room (rather large) however the hps lights will be put into a "corner" of the room with mylar to reflect the light.

VEG ROOM (this space is limited)
place the hydrofarm 6bulb 4ft t5 fixutre in there with plants in veg constantly. this space is roughly 7ft wide. 6 ft tall and an inch or two bigger than 2ft deep.


If anyone has a better suggestion as to how i should run this im open to hear any ideas.


I really need help with the schedule. Id like to get on a rotating schedule (ie. start plants in veg room...veg for x amount of time then move to flowering rinse and repeat, blah blah)

Im not sure how many plants I can fit under my 4ft 6bulb fixture. i guess it matters on pot size. if i use 1 gal pots or 3 gal pots. if i use 1 gal pots i can fit way more than i can with 3's obviously.

Id like veg each plant for 1month in the veg room BEFORE moving to the 1st of 2 hps lights...then start new ones in veg...allow those to go for a month then move them to that 1st light in flower room while the plants that were under the 1st light go under the 2nd one.

then veg more in the veg room for a month then by the time they go to the flowering room i'll have the plants under the 2nd light ready for harvest (assuming i work with 8wk strains).

how many plants/what pot size, etc. should i do to make this work? i could really use help as ive never done this before (the whole rotating schedule thing)

oh and if i lost anyone what i meant by moving plants between two hps lights is assume one hps light is dedicated to plants in the 1st month of flowering while the other hps light is dedicated to plants in the 2nd month of flowering.

So if I understand this correctly, your plan is to harvest every month. And every time you harvest, you'll replace that empty space with the plants from your veg room that are already 4 weeks old?


Like you said, use the hydrofarm panel for veg. (I'd put 10 3gal pots under it). Veg for 1 month, then stick them under '600w A'.

As soon as you move your first crop under '600w A', you plant your new babies, and veg for 4 weeks. After 4 weeks, move them under '600w B'.

So now you have 2 600w lights, 'light A' with 10 plants in their first day of week 4 and 'light B' with 10 plants under it in their first day of week 0.

Now you plant 10 more babies, and veg them for 4 weeks. You harvest '600w A' and replace it with these veggies that are now 4 weeks old.


Its a good plan and it works, as long as you're on time with everything. But I have to ask, what's the point in using this system when you only run 2 lights? This is a system that people use when they're running commercial grows

ForumAccount said:

So if I understand this correctly, your plan is to harvest every month. And every time you harvest, you'll replace that empty space with the plants from your veg room that are already 4 weeks old?


Like you said, use the hydrofarm panel for veg. (I'd put 10 3gal pots under it). Veg for 1 month, then stick them under '600w A'.

As soon as you move your first crop under '600w A', you plant your new babies, and veg for 4 weeks. After 4 weeks, move them under '600w B'.

So now you have 2 600w lights, 'light A' with 10 plants in their first day of week 4 and 'light B' with 10 plants under it in their first day of week 0.

Now you plant 10 more babies, and veg them for 4 weeks. You harvest '600w A' and replace it with these veggies that are now 4 weeks old.


Its a good plan and it works, as long as you're on time with everything. But I have to ask, what's the point in using this system when you only run 2 lights? This is a system that people use when they're running commercial grows

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Yeah being on time might be hard at first (to get the hang of how long it will take from germ to day 1 of veg each time).

Well im aware its used for commercial grow ops but i thought i'd use to as it would be good use of my resources. Originally i planned on using the hydrofarm for clones but at 4ft long and 6bulbs it only made sense to use it for veg. Also, I hate counting down every last nug till my next harvest everytime (lately ive been doing 6wk veg cycles so its a long wait inbetween harvests)

I figure with this type of setup I can get a more steady harvest.

If you have a better idea of what i could do with this equipment id love to hear it.

i would do it the way you've suggested but 10 plants is to much< that mean you will have 20 plants flowering under 2 lights which is to many! go with 4 -5 so 8 in total 4 weeks apart,

ROBSTERB said:

i would do it the way you've suggested but 10 plants is to much< that mean you will have 20 plants flowering under 2 lights which is to many! go with 4 -5 so 8 in total 4 weeks apart,

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so you're saying 4 3gal pots under each light at any given time (ie. 4 under the t5's...4under one hps and 4 under another hps?)

if not 3gal what would you go with?

yes so you've got 8 flowering 4 weeks apart, for pot size i use 3 gallon and veg mine for 4 weeks, you could do 5 gallon but with 4 weeks veg 3 will do, you could get away with 5 good size plants under each light if you wanted. you should have no problems pulling at least 15 oz every 4 weeks off 4 plants as long as temps are kept in check. 4 weeks veg and the plants should be around the 18-20 inch mark depending on strain of course. good luck

p.s i used to do 6 plants under a 600 in a 4x4 area and it got abit crowded im now doing 4 under it and still get the same yield.

ROBSTERB said:

yes so you've got 8 flowering 4 weeks apart, for pot size i use 3 gallon and veg mine for 4 weeks, you could do 5 gallon but with 4 weeks veg 3 will do, you could get away with 5 good size plants under each light if you wanted. you should have no problems pulling at least 15 oz every 4 weeks off 4 plants as long as temps are kept in check. 4 weeks veg and the plants should be around the 18-20 inch mark depending on strain of course. good luck

p.s i used to do 6 plants under a 600 in a 4x4 area and it got abit crowded im now doing 4 under it and still get the same yield.

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Not to sound rude but i think that number is a tad inflated. 15zips from 1 600w sounds difficult. Ive been growing a few years and I havent gotten that good of a gram to watt ratio at least in my experience. Idk. Maybe i could get 427 g's a month. that would be awesome if i did as i split my harvests 3 ways everytime (1/3 for my gf, 1/3 for my cuz and 1/3 for me).

So looks like im gonna give it a try w/ 4 plants in 3gal pots.

Im thinking my first run in veg will be some freebies ive saved up over the last year or two.

however i wonder if this would go more smoothly if i plant all the same strain?

you wont just have 1 600 though you've got 2 so there will be over lapping light from 2 600 so imo 15 oz is realistic, im pulling 13 oz now with 1 600 and 4 rhinos! ive now added a 400 so hoping for another 5-6 oz with 6 plants. just place both 600 about a foot apart and those 8 plants will be getting some heavy light.

ROBSTERB said:

you wont just have 1 600 though you've got 2 so there will be over lapping light from 2 600 so imo 15 oz is realistic, im pulling 13 oz now with 1 600 and 4 rhinos! ive now added a 400 so hoping for another 5-6 oz with 6 plants. just place both 600 about a foot apart and those 8 plants will be getting some heavy light.

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Oh yeah true. I have both 600's right next to each other right now (about a ft to 1 1/2 ft inbetween them) as in the past i used both lights at the same time for veg/flower all at once.

i gotta admit im SOOOO excited to finally have independent veg and bloom areas. im still setting up my veg area and wont actually run anything until 2 weeks from this past monday.

what style of growing are you doing to get 13z with 4 rhinos? whos the breeder? and how are those rhinos btw? ive been interested in trying a white rhino for awhile.

im gonna need a bigger seed stock though for this style of growing. lol

im not sure who the breader is as i got the clones off someone a while ago and have kept a mother ever since, im growing in soil 3 gallon pots, veg till 18-20 inches and top them once to give 2 main heads, coolshade light about 6 inches from tops, and pull around 3 oz a plant. the rhinos are great very short and stocky with heavy yields, also very sticky, very strong smoke as well, give them a try you wont be disappointed.

also ive got veg and flower room, saves so much time and means your always in flower lol

ROBSTERB said:

im not sure who the breader is as i got the clones off someone a while ago and have kept a mother ever since, im growing in soil 3 gallon pots, veg till 18-20 inches and top them once to give 2 main heads, coolshade light about 6 inches from tops, and pull around 3 oz a plant. the rhinos are great very short and stocky with heavy yields, also very sticky, very strong smoke as well, give them a try you wont be disappointed.

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all the good genetics are cloned

im gonna seriously do a side by side comparison w/ my new set up (ie. 4 different white rhinos...4 different ww's....4 different Nothern lights, etc) i wanna see for myself whos (breeder) is above the rest.

My setup works out to 15 plants under each 1000w light, so I don't think 10 under a 600w is too much. Also, I think you'll have less headaches if you stick to one strain. I wouldn't jump around with them too much

Gotta question about the design now. I had a 2x4 i intended to use as a "rack" of sorts to hold my new t5 light. however the damn 2x4 got split in half on one end from the nail i was hammering through it

So i happen to see something that might work but wanted someones opinion first.

I want to know if you think THIS t5 Hydrofarm 4ft 6bulb fixture:


Will be able to be supported by THIS piece of wood:



I did take the chance to hand the t5 from it just to see how the wood would react and it didnt really start to bow or anything. It dipped (the bar) maybe an inch after hanging the t5.

My only concern could be that it could break causing the t5 to crash down on future plants.

The piece of wood is probably 6-7ft long and the t5 is 4 ft long. im not sure how much the t5 weighs and the box it came in does not specify net weight so idk.

Im not sure what type of wood it is but it appears to be one of those wooden rods in closets so idk if supporting a closet full of hanging clothes the same (or comparable) as hanging a t5 figure in overall weight.

as long as it wont break its fine with me. i (prematurely) put the hooks that i plan on hanging the t5 from in the wood already but can/will remove if need be.

according to the sticker on the wood it says its 3/8in


thoughts?

i would think it should be fine, over time it might start to sag more though, can you not just screw the hooks straight into the ceiling?

ROBSTERB said:

i would think it should be fine, over time it might start to sag more though, can you not just screw the hooks straight into the ceiling?

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lol I tried that when i first got my hps lights. I (thought...especially since i used a stud finder) put the screws directly into the ceiling and everything went fine for a month - month and a half. then one day i went to adjust the light (raise it up) and all of the sudden BAM it comes out of the ceiling and im shocked as to what just happened as i catch the light before it smashed to the floor.

apparently the beams are further back from the ceiling/wall than you would usually expect. So without putting a hole in the ceiling to get to said beams i can't do that. which sucks.

so i was hoping it could just set it up like that but im always concerned about it potentially falling. im not sure what i could do to make sure it doesnt.

ive screw directly into the ceiling just use some rawl plugs! i like to put 2 hooks for 1 hanger, the second hook is just a back up, just tie some garden wire or string around the second hook then loosely around your hanger then if the light should fall the second hook catches it! but its never fell once with rawl plugs. or screw the would to the ceiling useing plugs the screw your hooks into wood.