Yield and harvesting help needed!

RandyMarshT

Active Member
Hello I have 7 autoflowers growing right now and have harvested and smoked 1 plant so far! My first plant that I harvested was afghan mass and it yielded 19.8 grams. I was pretty dissapointed with this yield (I know I'm still learning so the yield was to be expected) but this is the main reason I joined the forum to help grow healthier larger plants! I currently have an lsd and northern lights in flower only a few weeks from harvest and the closest next set is a caramel cream and sweet soma they went into flower alittle over a week ago.

They are planted in 3 gallons pots (I think that's part of the yield problem) in Coco loco potting mix by foxfarms using down to earth organic nutrients 4-4-4 and 4-8-4. I am pH-ing the water and have started to pay attention to over watering, I believe that could be a problem as well, but I am not using reverse osmosis on the water.

The plants were moved to a new environment in the past month to remove the smell from the house. The environment before was perfect but this one has some flaws. They are in an uninsulated 11x22 basement right now and is the only thing down there but I am planning on doing alot of the work to the room in the near future to turn into a full size grow environment. The temp is consistent between 64-71° and humidity is in the higher range of 70-80% I am monitoring for bud rought and have a dehumidifier on the way. So all flaws should be fixed soon.

The light that I am using is a sunraise 1000W LED that is rated at 165w draw from the wall. I know that I was alittle ambitious with how many plants I have with such a small and underpowered light. I have realized that I made a mistake and have stopped planting until the girls finish. I am also planning on buying a Mars hydro tsw2000 hoping that it's at a good price and can add more lights to the grow as I start to expand. Is this a good budget light that scales well? Or should I go with the Mars hydro 300 and spend the extra money.

I did watch a video by from seed to stoned on YouTube and he said that autoflowers don't need light schedules and can benefit from the light always being on. I've tried using that for the past week hoping it can help my plants get the light they aren't receiving from my weak light and the buds seems to have liked it. What do you think? Have you heard anything or could think of any risk of them receiving constant light?

I have put my lsd girl directly under the light to help give it as much light as it can get. I know I made so many mistakes with afghan (which is the reason for the low yeild) that I'm trying to get all the help I can get with lsd to make sure I harvest it at the perfect time and give it the best environment to yield the best that it can! When do you guys think I should harvest lsd. Size and bud pics are linked.

I do interweave the girls together to get them all as close under the light as possible. I also make sure that they do not block each other's bud sights.

Thanks in advance for all of your help!
 

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Welcome. Looks like you are doing OK as far as I can tell with the blurple light, but you need many more watts for that many plants. If you want to grow 4 or 5 at a time, I'd suggest a 500 watt board. I've got a 480w Budget board and 2 100 watt bars lighting my 4X4' Scrog running 4 plants.
 
Honestly they look great for a first time! Extra weight will come with time and autos can be lighter yields than their photo cousins. Ive run NL autos before and had similar yields and now im getting ready to chop a NL photo who has about a half pound on her (guesstimate). Yes, some people can push them harder to bigger yields but that also comes with time and multiple runs of the same strain learning its nuances.
It sounds like you already know the answer about using a light just strong enough to keep them alive vs one strong enough to push some weight out.
Best of luck!
 
Ya I have some experience and knowledge to gain but it'll all come with time and all the help from this great community! What kind of strategies do you guys use to determine when to harvest. I may have harvested afghan mass alittle early which is why it's bud was so leafy and not dense but then again I'm new, idk what I'm doing lol. What do you think?
 

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Small larfy buds like that are usually due to insufficient light for proper development. I have used Mars lights in the past and they are decent lights. I recently acquired a QB/Samsung based light from Budget LED and $ for $ you are getting a better light with better output from them.
 
I went from chinese LEDs to 315 CMH to recently quantum board lights and holy moly that's the way to go! Very little heat and the best grows yet
I've been a long time HID user. I just did the first 4 weeks of bloom with a DE 1000w HPS @ 1150w, and last 6 weeks with a Budget 480w Red Spec board. I'll never use HID again. I am doing my first all LED grow right now.
 
I've been a long time HID user. I just did the first 4 weeks of bloom with a DE 1000w HPS @ 1150w, and last 6 weeks with a Budget 480w Red Spec board. I'll never use HID again. I am doing my first all LED grow right now.

I started out with MH and went to LED in my saltwater specimen tanks and did the same with growing. I got Budget LED's 500 watt red spec 3 and I am thoroughly impressed not only with the intensity but with the light penetration. The Vipraspectra's and Mars units that I have do not even compare to it. The new lights are more like MH/HPS with how they produce light.
 
For your weight some basics are pot size, light, plant strains and temps. Of course there is more but these are the basics. Average weight with no training around 2-4 oz per plant I got growing 20 different strains in 5 gallon pots using FFO soil. No nutes added start to finish only cal/mag added temps 78-80. Now could I got more weight if added nutes? Probably yes but I did this to see straight averages. Light power was around 450 wall watts per 4x4 area. If your not reaching this averages then one of these factors might be the problem. Hope some info helps take care
 
One more thing, I seen you said (The temp is consistent between 64-71° ) That is good for Hps/Mh, bulbs put off way more light heat to the leafs, LED's do not hints temps for LED grows 76-80 optimal for growing to get leafs to proper temps.
 
Ya I'm working on the temps. Im going to buy some heaters to help rise the temp really soon. The light I'm not sure what I'm going to go with yet.

I'm not sure when I will harvest lsd. Will the leaves still discolor and wilt even with the mistakes that I've made through the grow?
 
Will the leaves still discolor and wilt even with the mistakes that I've made through the grow?

They very well might get some dark colors. You should cut back on N and the big fan leaves will fade to yellow. You did well with what you have.
 
I have recently ran out of soil and nutrients so while I'm waiting on all of my ladies to finish up I'm starting to plan what my next grow will be planned in. Could you guys offer some help? I don't think I picked the right nutrients for my soil last time.

Also in my current grow I have never brewed any organic teas or anything for the plants. Is that necessary or does it help increase yeilds?
 
The most I ever got from a single plant was the Blueberry strain. Fairly easy to grow, too. I've seen multiple kilos come from one outdoor Blueberry. The seeds came from DJ Short about 20 years ago. The strain is still around, but I don't know if it's the same today. Nutes---I used GH for many years, in it's many forms from the simple dry, to their most advanced. Many people also swear by Fox Farms. I am trying MegaCrop rightnow, and liking it.
 
The most I ever got from a single plant was the Blueberry strain. Fairly easy to grow, too. I've seen multiple kilos come from one outdoor Blueberry. The seeds came from DJ Short about 20 years ago. The strain is still around, but I don't know if it's the same today. Nutes---I used GH for many years, in it's many forms from the simple dry, to their most advanced. Many people also swear by Fox Farms. I am trying MegaCrop rightnow, and liking it.
I'm sorry but what is GH? I'm still really new to all of this this I barely know what soil to buy lol
 

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