OK, so I had two clones. One, some kind of Indica hybrid, and the other a Sativa "Quercle" hybrid. I had lights, fan and filter and a bunch of bottles of various potions, but no place to set up in the garage, so I let the plants grow up outside, awaiting my time to clear garage space. I found that they grew well, and actually liked neem oil. I live in a marvelously temperate climate (imagine "no weather"), and nine months later, I had 5' monsters (including the 3 gallon pots). When days were short, I moved the plants onto our patio at night with a flourescent bulb on to prevent flowering. The Sativa in particular had a dense, even canopy well over three feet wide (I had cut the main stem when it was about 14 inches tall). I got a 4x4 tent and set up a cloning station and nursery station, and moved the monsters in for flowering. They barely fit in the tent. Maybe a week or two later, I had 10" budstalks, and I could no longer fit the plats under the lights with enough clearance to keep from cooking them. I hung the 400W MH light from the garage ceiling, and parked the plants under it. I got something like 19 bud stalks on the sativa, above the previous canopy. So far, so good. Then I noticed that the bottom of the plant was looking like Cousin It, with all the bottom leaves just hanging and starting to curl. I started having problems with yellow or wrinkled leaves, and bottom branches started dying en masse. I'd trim them, figuring that the plant was concentrating on the buds. The problem got worse, and everything was still fine at the original canopy and above. I have two or three weeks left before harvest, and I was watching the plant possibly dying from the bottom up. It looked like I might lose the race. It's a long climb from the garage to the back of the house where I have sun and privacy, but I started making the pilgrimages every day to put the plants in the sun in the morning, and bring them back to the (ventilated) tent for total darkness every evening.
The transformation in two days is incredible. I've got a big band of bright green growth wrapping around the plant just below the original canopy level, with lots of buds that look like they are maybe three weeks behind the original stems on top. I'm no longer losing lower branches. It looks like I'll need to do two harvests, and I've read that this can be done.
A few years ago, I had good luck growing two large Sativa plants in a 2'x4' closet without any of these shenanigans (though height was an issue then too). I conclude that the plants adapt to their light. Changing the direction and intensity for flowering looks like a bad idea. I plan to continue to grow outdoors, and move the tent/fan/filter outside, closer to the grow to provide darkness for flowering (and light to prevent it). I'll keep my cloning station/nursery in the garage, since I'm getting good results there, and my clones are doing well with a 2' 100W four bulb T5 flourescent. Once the clones have been transplanted to soil and grown enough roots to cause decent growth, I'll move them outdoors. The first batch went out there yesterday, and got bright sun today, with no ill effects. Everything looks happy.
A few caveats - I'll never grow plants this big again - I have to mix three gallons of juice for two plants each day, and moving them is downright scary. Next time I'll use 5 gallon pots. Last, my grow meets at least state legal requirements, and I'm fairly discrete about it. I didn't have much trouble with pests/mold/fungus outside. I believe that healthy growing plants have better defenses against these things. I used neem oil at least weekly with an occasional spraydown with Safer ("organic") sulfer-based spray until flowering started. I may just have been lucky about the pests/disease.
The transformation in two days is incredible. I've got a big band of bright green growth wrapping around the plant just below the original canopy level, with lots of buds that look like they are maybe three weeks behind the original stems on top. I'm no longer losing lower branches. It looks like I'll need to do two harvests, and I've read that this can be done.
A few years ago, I had good luck growing two large Sativa plants in a 2'x4' closet without any of these shenanigans (though height was an issue then too). I conclude that the plants adapt to their light. Changing the direction and intensity for flowering looks like a bad idea. I plan to continue to grow outdoors, and move the tent/fan/filter outside, closer to the grow to provide darkness for flowering (and light to prevent it). I'll keep my cloning station/nursery in the garage, since I'm getting good results there, and my clones are doing well with a 2' 100W four bulb T5 flourescent. Once the clones have been transplanted to soil and grown enough roots to cause decent growth, I'll move them outdoors. The first batch went out there yesterday, and got bright sun today, with no ill effects. Everything looks happy.
A few caveats - I'll never grow plants this big again - I have to mix three gallons of juice for two plants each day, and moving them is downright scary. Next time I'll use 5 gallon pots. Last, my grow meets at least state legal requirements, and I'm fairly discrete about it. I didn't have much trouble with pests/mold/fungus outside. I believe that healthy growing plants have better defenses against these things. I used neem oil at least weekly with an occasional spraydown with Safer ("organic") sulfer-based spray until flowering started. I may just have been lucky about the pests/disease.
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