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Help building grow tent
Catsquachstarted grow question 7 months ago
wanting to get a bigger tent ever since I’ve gotten my 2x2 and since 4/20 deals are here I thought now would be the best time . Been wanting a 3x3 or a 4x4. What does everyone use ? Been looking at the se5000 from spider farmer but hear it best in a 3x3. Trying not to get a kit
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001100010010011110answered grow question 7 months ago
number of plants merely impacts how long you have to vege to fill the space.. more plants = less vege time. It's a good idea to work backward from an intended canopy. It's taken me five years to accept what i already knew.. more coles has a limit before it doesn't help yield and just mamkes trimming more difficult and a higher percentage of larf.
2-3 colas per sq ft is about all you want.. in fact i think it's less than 2.5, but genetic variety will certainly have some say in this. These are ballpark values.
So maybe 35-40 colas for 16sq ft... divide that by number of plants.. that's how many vertical colas you want per plant.
if done right, you should be around 50g/sq ft for decent yielding plants. genetics will play a large role.
5x5 tent -- if you plant to ony use 16 sq ft with the se5000 or similar light, this has some benefits.. you can keep plants off the walls more easily. more room for equipment, like circulation fans. I do somethign similar at this point. I use a 10x10 but only use about 40sq feet for the canopy / focus of light. The room is 80% light proofed and the tent takes care of the rest. The dehum fits inside, my heater is inside, etc etc. I hang two 20" box fans several feet away to avoid wind burn. I have lots of room to get to the plants on each side. I do have the grow in 1/2 as opposed to down the middle to take better advantage of at least 3 reflective walls.
compared to growing in my 3x3 or 4x4 i much prefer the larger than necessary tent. it was an accident.. my dehum can't keep up with a full tent of plants and i don't need a fullt 10x10 of weed, so... sliced it in half and it's been fucking awesom since. 50pt-dehum can keep up with 40sq ft of canopy and not a sq ft more and that's in winter with 25-30% RH due to furnce baseline.
I really like having at least 6" space between plants and the 3 walls. that would bring your light coverage to 4x4 - hanging distance and lux meter can help you focus the light across that 4x4 space.
001100010010011110answered grow question 7 months ago
photoperiods..
900PPFD/10.76 = 83.x umol/s per sq ft over 12 hours for 38.9DLI. 35-40 DLI is a good starting target regardless of tent size or whether you are growing autoflowers or photoperiods.
75-85 umol/s per sq ft will do you good. e.g. 85 * 9sq ft for a 3x3 is roughly 750umol/s
2/3rds of that for autoflowers.
Rounding is fine.. these are ballpark ideas that you still must observe and make small adjustments. From then on, your adjustments will work in a consitent and expected manner.
Any light that produces that or more will be up near max DLI for each context May even need to dim it a few percent from that.
SE5000 says 1333umol/s produced.
1333 / 83.6umol/s = 15.95sq ft (38.9 DLI)... So this light is fine in a 4x4 with ambient CO2 and a 12/12 light cycle (photoperiods). you would need this light at 66-70% power for an 18/6 cycle with vege plants or autoflowers in the 4x4 tent. 39 dli is probably safely on high side and that 15.95ft^2 is a conservative calculation to ensure you have more power than less power.
distance from canopy should be about best coverage end-to-end and should remaint the same throughout the grow with mature plants.
small plants can be lit with lower power and much closer hanging distance, but that takes trial and error to map that out. The above suggestions are very solid for any full bore growing with bigger plants.
So, just about any light with 1300ish umol/s PAR produced will be a good fit for the 4x4 tent.
Usually equipment limits using teh entire 16sq ft.. focus light as best you can on the actual growing area. A lux meter on phone can help reduce the difference from middle to edges/corners. Proportional intenisty is key here, so no need for a 500 usd quantum meter. a free app is fine. Probably find the best results when edges/corners are no less than 60% of central areas under light. 18" is a good distance for this light and other bar-style when at 100% (or 66-70% over 18 hours is same DLI)
less power and closer is fine for shorter / younger plants. you will still provide the same DLI even in this context, but the difference will be that depth/penetration of light is more shallow. So, when you get to flower, don't focus on how close you can get it to canopy.. focus on what provides best light to canopy and retains it's strength deeper into canopy. (inverse square law applies to how light spreads out and explains why this suggestion is true and not bro science.. it's basic math.)
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