Wooo made it! Finishing, a long thread is like getting to the end of a book, only you get to brag to the author's at the end. Thank you all very much for the information and inspiration!
I have a lot to figure out of course, but had a couple questions to start.
1) For those using Blumats: Can you topdress under the drips? Is it possible to reduce the amount of "drenching" by doing this?
I grow in a space where it really helps to reduce the amount of mixing water and hand watering. (Upstairs, no bathroom, carpet, hobbit sized doorway....) I have been using subcool's Super Soil successfully so far with plain water only, but I want to take it to the next level in terms of flavor (in particular).
2) Options for tackling veg space for a smallish (1-4k watt) grow using beds or pots so large that they can't be moved? There was some talk about it earlier in the thread, but if possible I'd like to explore it further. This is an area critical to maximizing yields, and requires no funky synth inputs
My space is about 5x12, with access along the 12' side (3 doors right now).
I have 3k watters now, 2 on flower all the time, one that veg's 2/3 of the time before starting the flower for about 2 weeks. I harvest the 2 lights every 45 days (8-9ish week strains), so the plants have about 45 days under 2k, 15 days under 1k, 30 days under 1k vegging, and about 2-3 weeks before that under T5's rooting and getting started.
Plants are in 7Gal @ 4 per light.
It works well for me so far. In particular I find that having the plants stretch while they are kinda cramped leaves a little extra space after I move them. Not necessarily maximizing; however, I don't have much larf.
I get about 8 cycles per year (16 1k watt light turns-ish per year) on this funky cycle. If I am going to veg in the beds which fill a whole 4'x4' area obviously this will have go down (worth it for better buds!). The best I can come up with for 3k in a 4x12 is about 75% of that, albeit with increased light for veg (perhaps dim the light for part of veg?).
Going to try "Mainling" too... Gotta lover free collected wisdom.
Random Thought- In my experience so far, rent costs often exceed power, power exceeds dirt/nutes/etc (other consumables). By figuring out how to best use our space we can make the biggest difference in our yield for a given amount of effort (money, since you have to earn it...) Another way to look at it; maximize everything else before increasing how much space you use.
Thanks to everyone and I look forward to your comments and conversation.
