Set up:
Lights: 2-600w MH in Vivosun air cooled reflector.
Environment: 5x5x7 grow tent, 2-humidifiers, heater, clip on fan, pedestal fan, 8 inch inline exhaust fan ducted outside.
Grow media: Fox Farm Ocean Forest in 5.5gal pots.
Nutrients: General Hydroponics trio, Cal-mag, bush doctor come back.
Plants: 3-Growers Choice White Widow photoperiod
This is right after defoliation, flipping on the first.
The scrog is %43 full, I know that’s not quite where it should be but would rather have extra space than not enough.
I had my light to close for the first 4 weeks, they were only 8 inches tall with 7 nodes, lol. I raised the light to get a little stretch for scrogging.
Any suggestions on what I should do different next time or what I could do to maximize yield during flower.
I will be posting weekly updates on Fridays unless I have a problem.
Thanks for the help!
The best thing you could do is use bigger containers. The output of what the plant can yield is directly related to the amount of medium available for it to grow in. Also, if you can, use some fabric grow bags. Maybe some 10 gallon bags? It will allow for more O2 at the root zone to be pulled in and the medium will dry out faster. The quicker the medium dries between waterings, the more watering and feeding you can provide.
About the medium, FFOF is good stuff but it doesn’t have enough perlite in it and stays wet way too long. Find some large to extra large perlite and make the mix be about 60% FFOF and the rest perlite.
I just harvested a White Widow and it is an outstanding bud! Really smooth, stinky and tasty and a great high. 
Its definitely on my list to grow again soon.
Great information. When growing inside, I have to flower when the plant is two feet tall due to ceiling height and stretch. Can I still get a bigger yield by using bigger pots even though the plants can’t get any bigger?
Absolutely, you can but you’ll need to veg longer, like 8 weeks. I made it to 9. Gotta build the roots so they’re ready for the gargantuan size you’re trying to get them to grow to. My ceiling is barely more than 6 ft. My light fixtures can only go up so high and I try to make sure they are no less than 16" away from the canopy so I have to train them as low as possible from the start.
I have maybe 2.5 ft to play with so I manifold and spread them out as much as I can and grow as much plant and tops as I can before the flip. One trick I’ve learned to limit stretch (as long as plants are healthy and having no problems) is to give an intense defoliation at the end of week 2 in flower. Its causes stretch to nearly stop.
Once they’re past stretch, you gotta be hitting optimal VPD and maximizing light hitting bud sites for the rest of flower through week 7-8. Its a lot of attention and work but you’ll know it was worth it when you have a stellar dry weight.
Other things to optimize for this:
Water temp; should be between 68 and 73°.
pH between 6.3 to 6.5.
Water thoroughly and make sure they get dry between each.
Do a flush (pHd water only) at the end of Veg and in the middle of flower.
You’re grow is in a tent?
Yes, I was thinking about removing the tents. Other issues though is that I dont have access to that much water I could ph. I have to flush with hard water that is around 7.3, which is probably fine for flushing, but I don’t want to use it for normal watering because the ppm is 575 and I don’t know what the contents are. I realize I could find out, but I’d rather use purified water so I would have to put in a pretty big system. I would probably want to put in a new sump pump and water proof the walls. I’m not sure it would be worth it. I need a better grow space to do it right. BTW, what is VPD?
VPD stands for vapor pressure deficit. Its a calculation made from the temp in the room, the temp of the leaves and the humidity in the room.
VPD, when its in the right zone will be like having your plant turn on a plumbing system that takes the water from the medium through the plant and expelled out the stomata on the leaves. There’s a lot of info out there in it, but this one will help you understand it better.
I hear ya about the water quality. I ended up spending around $400 for a reverse osmosis filter system, a special timer for keeping the water on for a specific amount of time and having it fill a 30 gallon water barrel. With the big bags, 15 gallon to 25, the plants will need around 3 to 4 gallons of water to get the entire medium wet. You need to have a system for the water to pass through the medium and drain out. With the bags being that large, there isn’t much run off, but when flushing you’re looking at around twice what you would normally give them and thats gotta be able to go somewhere.
Is it worth it? I guess it depends on your yield goals. 
I’m so far into $ I’ve put into my grow its frickin ridiculous. 
I don’t spend much anymore. Got everything so I just replace as necessary now.
Flushing with 7.3 might be ok as long as the last two cans are 6.3 to 6.5. The pH is super important for nutes being available to the plant.
@Outdoorman here is my watering system.
Wow, that’s pretty awesome. Thanks for sharing
Thanks StickyBudHound!
Yeah I will definitely do fabric pots next time. I have drilled .125 holes every 2 inches on my 5.5 gallon pots and lined then with landscape fabric. I’m figuring the landscape fabric will wick extra moisture from the bottom of the soil to the top and also allow air to move.
I did the same thing on my 1.5 gallon pots and it seemed to work well, the roots in the middle of the pot were air pruning once they were through the landscape fabric.
@StickyBudHound dude that’s absolutely badmothafuckin ass right there!!! #legend. I’d love to see a walk around video of your grow space as well. I’m getting ready to build a 8x8 grow space over the next month or so and I love they way your setup and would like to see more to get some more ideas! If your up to sharing your secrets lol
Your idea to use the landscape fabric is very inventive. Thats using your THC enhanced brain! 
Thanks, Mike. I appreciate the props. Perfecting the grow is kind of a rabbit hole but it sure is fun, and a high mind seems to come up with some rather interesting stuff sometimes.
My motivation is usually a self serving one tbh. I’m just putting a puzzle together as I simplify my life to make it as easy to deal with as possible.
I’ll work on doing a video of my space but will probably wait until the new girls are filling their areas better. For now, I’ll look for a good pic of the room while it had my large girls in there and I’ll post it here.
Here’s the room a few years ago. One of my 4 had hermed so the back right space was empty. Thats 3 plants.
Very nice, so your a “long haul” grower, really long veg times? In reality that’s is what I should do being that I’m med grower my limit is 6 flowering. I’m considering growing 3 auto’s and growing 3 photos right next to them, then flip the photos right after harvesting the auto’s.
That’s a good 16 weeks or so of veg time so I could do 15 gallon fabric pots and scrog like you did.
Noticed the end of the leaves turning light green to yellow.
Worried it’s root rot:/. I’m hoping it’s just a deficiency magnesium.
Any idea??
Wow, thanks for sharing @StickyBudHound. I’m getting some great ideas and understanding from you. Might I ask 1. What type and how much lighting, 2. Where does all the run off water go when you flush and 3. Is everything on wheels so you can move them around? How do you flush that set up?
