Maximum Yield Cannabis USA April/May 2018 | Page 12
ask a grower
I am running two 400W HPS on
each side of my 12x6-foot room
and a 1,000W HPS in the center.
I am in a vertically challenged
area, so a fellow grower
suggested I use netting. So, I
have my six ladies spread throughout the room
and I have been weaving them over and under
for the past three weeks, which has allowed me
to spread them apart to allow inner and lower
flowers light. My issue is I am unable to rotate or
rearrange them, and it seems the upper foliage
has grown so thick it’s not allowing the further
down/bottom flowers any light. I had three
65W LED recessed lights that produce 4,000K
and 650 lumens, so I mounted them six inches
apart on a board and placed it approximately
12 inches away from the pots on a diagonal,
pointing upwards towards my ladies, hoping
to help the bottom flowers. They seem to be
helping the lower flowers, but my questions are:
Will it help? Will it damage anything? And is it
okay that it’s white light? (All the LED lights I’ve
seen on your website were multiple colors, but
as I said, these were here already.)
Q
Thanks,
Nicholas
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12
grow. heal. learn. enjoy.
a
Nicholas,
Thank you for your question. Using trellis
netting as you described is also referred to
as the screen of green (ScrOG) method and
is a great way to maximize the efficiency
of your given light energy. When I use the
ScrOG method, I also do what is called an
undercut. This is usually implemented during the first few
weeks of the flowering cycle when the upper portion of the
plant starts to fill in. An undercut consists of removing the
leaves and branches that do not reach above the screen or
trellis netting. In other words, remove the lower leaves and
branches that will not receive adequate light. This enables
the plant to focus all its energy on producing larger flowers
in the upper section of the plant.
The 65W LEDs you added may help fill in the lower section
a bit, but be careful when aiming light upward. The top of
a plant’s leaf is designed to absorb light energy, while the
bottom is not. Providing light to the underside of the leaves
can cause them to twist or turn toward the light source
(positive phototropism). Put another way, providing light from
underneath can confuse the plants and you may end up with
crooked, misshapen plants. Your best bet would be to focus
on creating a thick canopy just above the trellis netting to
maximize the foliage in the light energy’s “sweet spot” (the
space 12-24 inches below the light source). This may require
undercutting or trimming the lower sections of the plants.
The more you practice undercutting and ScrOG, the better
the results will be. I hope this answers your question.
Keep on Growing,
Lee G. Lyzit
Lee G. Lyzit has been involved in the medical cannabis
industry for nearly 15 years. His passion for natural healing
drives him to learn as much as he can about the miraculous
cannabis plant. Lee breeds his own strains of cannabis to create
concentrated glycerine and coconut oil extracts. Aside from
cannabis education and consumption, Lee enjoys playing music,
gardening, hiking, and cross-country skiing.
myhydrolife.com