Maximize Your Plant's Yield in Your Hydroponic Grow Tent
Here's some useful tips and hacks on how to maximize your cannabis plant's potential during the flowering stage in your indoor, hydroponic, grow tent. (compiled by Jon and Megan from Suite Leaf Plant Nutrients.)
Before you “flip” from the vegetative stage to the flowering stage, make sure that:
a.) Your grow tent is light-leak proof and placed near your HVAC unit or a window. Your tent will need access to either cool air or heat depending on the time of year and region that you’re growing in. Cannabis plants thrive at 68 - 78 degrees and 45% - 65% humidity.
b.) Your HPS or LED light is on the highest setting without overheating your tent. Your tent should not exceed 80 degrees and more than 65% humidity. The higher your temp is, the more likely you’ll burn the terpenes off your plant.
c.) Your timer is connected to your ballast and it’s set to 12 hours on and 12 hours off.
d.) Your light needs to be on a 600w setting or higher in order to produce the best outcome. For non-LED users, we suggest getting a digital, dimmable, ballast so that you can have better control over your environment. For smaller tents (under 2’x4’x5’) a 400w or higher light setting will work just fine.
e.) Make sure you have proper air circulation as your tent will be extremely hot without at least a monkey fan or in-ine duct fan and air ducting to suck all the hot air out of the tent.
f.) Defoliate your plant! Remove large fan leaves that will eventually block light from the pistils and prevent “kola’s” from forming (tops of your buds/flowers)
g.) “Scrog” your tent using a trellis netting. This allows for maximum light exposure to your plants by stretching them out just enough under the canopy.
h.) Feed your plants the recommended amount of plant fertilizer and amendments. Be careful not to burn your plants by overfeeding them too much fertilizer. This can happen and it’s called “nutrient lock up” and it takes a week or more to fix so try not to let this happen to you.
i.) Use organic pest spray and always empty your trays/saucers with a turkey baster to avoid fungus gnats. Tap your plant’s buckets on the side to reveal any fungus gnats. We suggest getting some yellow sticky traps and placing one in each soil bucket/pot.
j.) Try not to move the plants too much when you’re in the grow tent. The trichomes can fall off easily.
k.) Last, always, always, always, pH your fertilizer and water solution before you feed your plants. Most nutrients feed between 5.8 and 6.5 pH depending on your grow media. For example, soil likes 6.2 - 6.5 pH and rock wool likes 5.8 and under.
Stay tuned for more MJ grow tips and hacks from Jon and Megan. Click here to see more helpful grower’s blogs and articles on our website.