sea of

green

5 Tips for Cost

Effective Yields
 Contents

Introduction 2

Tip #1. Routine Maintenance is Worth its Weight 3

Tip #2. Trimming and Training 4

Tip #3. Getting The Most From the Roots 5

Tip #4. Fine Tuning Nutes 6

Tip #5. Cost Efficiency Using CO2 7

Conclusion 8

Sea of Green. 5 Tips for Cost Effective Yields 1

 Introduction

With so much information out there about setting up and maintaining an

indoor grow, it can be exhausting to piece together everything you need to
know for success.

Indoor cultivation takes a lot of patience and practice to perfect. You need to
understand all aspects of the process, such as the environmental controls
and feeding schedules. This may require some trial and error to learn how to
improve a grow properly, but we are here to help you get it right.

As the owner of the hydroponics store and grow consultancy Sea of Green, I
have been working with other growers for over a decade.

I have seen setups of different levels of sophistication throughout the years.

Of those, the most successful grows are always a fine-tuned machine that
maximize the efficiency of inputs and implement regular protocols to make
all aspects dialed in from start to finish. Our goal is to help you create that
machine for yourself.

Often the tendency of new growers is to push too hard for heavy yields, but
this can open the door to expensive problems that diminish the quality of
your harvest. Instead of pushing your system to the breaking point, I suggest
checking out these five areas to really dial in, with the goal to push plants for
efficiency to enjoy better results.

Justin Cosgrove
Owner, Sea of Green

Sea of Green. 5 Tips for Cost Effective Yields 2

 Tip #1

Routine Maintenance
is Worth its Weight

Instead of using harsh chemicals to control pest or disease, a well integrated

routine of monitoring plants will ensure better taste, quality, and yield
for your grow. Keeping a well cleaned grow environment means being
consistent. So consider some easy preventive ideas in regards to pest and
disease. Save your money for nutes, not nukes.

Check the tops and bottoms of leaves regularly for pest or problems. Cut
off damaged or sickly leaves.
Get rid of all open standing water, as it may attract things like fungus gnats.
Consider post room cleaning rituals for the walls, floors, and reusable pots.
Tools should be treated in solutions that kill molds and spores. A good
solution is to use ProKure, an EPA registered chloride gas that leaves no
residuals. For post clean up, ProKure is awesome and safe for killing molds
and viruses on both the room itself as well as on equipment and plastics.
Keep the room clean of debris and dirt. These are easy places for problems
to hide.
Wear clean clothes to avoid being the source of contamination.
Use preventive foliar feeding solutions of compost teas to help increase
brix (sucrose levels) which has been linked to lower threat of pest or mold
problem. Build up the defenses in vegetative growth and the 1st-2nd week
of flower when using a foliar feeding program.
Quarantine plants if they are from an outside source. You want to sequester
and treat these plants to be sure they have no hitchhikers on them.

Sea of Green. 5 Tips for Cost Effective Yields 3

 Tip #2

Trimming
and Training

Trimming and training plants is necessary for good growth. Different

methods result in different desired outcomes, but the result of a well-
groomed plant means increasing airflow through the canopy, minimizing
shadows, maximizing exposure of light energy to flower sites, and increasing
photosynthesis overall.

Low-stress training is one the most effective methods to increase surface

area for lighting coverage. Low-stress training removes the apex shape of
the plant, so you get light more uniformly to all of the canopy by exposing
more inner and side branches which normally are shadowed by a single
taller apex branch.
During the flower cycle, trimming up the lower third (lolli-popping) of the
plant assures the energy is going to the right places to increase yields.
Youre better off removing the lower third because the lower branches will
zap the energy that should go to your tops.
Dont over veg. Plants will double in size when you turn the lights to 12
hours. If you veg your plants too tall, they will grow into the lights. If you
want more bushy plants and side branches, top them by removing the apex
stem, resulting in more side shoots. Some strains of plants do better with
this than others so dont be afraid to experiment.

Sea of Green. 5 Tips for Cost Effective Yields 4

 Tip#3

Getting The Most

From the Roots

A healthy root structure is everything to a plants overall yield. Focusing on the

health of the roots during the vegetative stage means that the plant will have a
lot of pathways for the swell of nutrient uptake needed in the flowering cycle.
Make your roots do all the dirty work with the quick n easy tips to keep in mind.

For Soil:
Focus on the Rhizosphere. You need a good colony of bacteria and
Mycorrhizae to do a lot of the work for your plants. The better Rhizosphere
can even cut the amount of food you have to use and reduce nutrient
build-up, which causes salt toxicity.
Do not let plants become rootbound. If the plant slides out the pot like a
compact ball, chances are the plants health is being negatively affected.
The soil is depleted of food and oxygen becomes harder for roots to reach
in compacted soil.
Starting small plants in too big a container is wrong too. A good rule is the
final container should make up of the plants final size, so get in the habit
of transplanting from a veg cycle going into a flower cycle.
Have a flushing regime and use enzymes to remove salts. This resets the
plant for better nutrient uptake. Rest and reset will improve the efficiency
of adding nutes.

For Hydroponics:
Keep the temperature of water as close to 68F as possible. This keeps
dissolved oxygen in the solution higher.
Let pH move naturally to 5.5-6.2. This helps elements that absorb better at
different acidities.
Use enzymes and bacteria inoculants that are rated safe to use in hydroponics.
Mycorrhizae cannot survive in an aqueous solution, but leading manufactures
have found strains of bacteria such as various forms of bacillus as well as
natural plant extracts loaded with root producing hormones that are great for
prolific root development. Root inoculants like H & G Roots Excelurator Silver,
or Rhizoblast by Botanicare are both popular options amongst the many.
Keep the water moving and oxygenated as much as possible

Sea of Green. 5 Tips for Cost Effective Yields 5

 Tip #4

Fine Tuning
Nutes

Nutrients can be tricky as mineral salt polarity and plant physiology changes
and moves as the plants develop. Understanding when to feed, how much,
and how to identify nutrient problems early on is an art. Consider the follow-
ing methodology to get better use of nutes, and how to approach nutrient
imbalances if they occur.

Plants know more than feed charts. Your environment and strain deter-
mine more what the plants need then a nute company may suggest. Start
off with less than the recommended dose to see how they like things in
your environment. It is easier to bump up food than to try to unfeed them.
This is a big money saver here. Too many nutes are often problems, not
solutions.
If you are re-circulating nutrients, use a meter to monitor changes. Be less
attached to what the ppm (or what a feed chart says) and use ppm as a
reference. The change in ppm and pH day by day will indicate if you are
over or under feeding. For instance, a rise in pH and drop in ppm is a good
indicator that your plants are taking up the nute solution. The feed cycle
is a slow progression. Increase food strength gradually week by week until
peak flower, then reduce again till flush.
If the plant is not healthy, throwing in more additives like bloom boosters
can be catastrophic. Be careful of bloom boosters and plant growth stim-
ulants even when the label has a low N-P-K value. Special plant growth
hormones are often what are used in bloom boosters and can negatively
interact with base nutrient regimens. Bloom boosters surge food through
the roots and can sometimes create mineral lockouts, and adversely affect
taste and smell.
Lastly, going back to tip #1, keep a grow log. It is hard to remember what
may have been done when, and whether something goes right or wrong.
Having a good record can improve each grow cycle.

Sea of Green. 5 Tips for Cost Effective Yields 6

 Tip #5

Cost Efficiency
Using CO2

With CO2 injections, the goal is to speed up growth, but keeping the stomata
taking in carbon dioxide means having a balanced environment that allows
gas to be absorbed for photosynthesis. This can be daunting to set up and
expensive to implement in a closed environment. If you are not seeing ben-
efits of CO2, there might be an imbalance somewhere inhibiting the absorp-
tion. Use these steps to keep down the price of gas for your plants.

Make sure the room is sealed as best as possible and have CO2 drop from
above and pushed around by fans. CO2 is heavier than air so air circulation
helps kick it around the atmosphere.
Keep temperature and humidity in the right range by having controllers
to activate things such as cooling, heating, and dehumidification. Control-
lers often have settings to deactivate (defeat) CO2 when venting the room.
When venting stops, CO2 is reactivated.
Nutrient-rich water being pulled up through the plants tissue is done when
the climate is conducive. If temperature or humidity are not ideal, stomata
close and CO2 cannot be taking in.
Consider letting rooms get a little warmer when CO2 is injected. Plants will
tolerate this, and in fact, this is a key combo for speeding up the sucking up
of water. With increasing temperatures, be sure to keep relative humidity
under 60% in veg and 40-50% in flower.
Going above 1500 ppm often lowers your ROI. 1500 ppm should be consid-
ered through the first of flowering. Otherwise, 1000-1200 ppm is ade-
quate for seedlings, clones, and veg.
Use full spectrum lamps for best CO2 utilization. Light wavelengths of col-
ors do different metabolic functions.
Do not run CO2 at night. Plants are not using it.

Sea of Green. 5 Tips for Cost Effective Yields 7

 Conclusion

Good practices are invaluable and help you save time and money. The
tendency is to over complicate and push plants instead of balancing out the
system within the limitations of the situation. Applying the above-mentioned
practices will help save some money and up yields while limiting unneeded
complications.
We want to see you save dough when you grow, and by dialing in and
understanding the fundamentals you will find that those results are at your
fingertips. Whether you're a professional grower or a garden hobbyist, Sea
of Green strives to understand your operation in detail to give your grow the
attention it needs. We focus on quality goods to minimize failure, increase
gram/watt and maximize your return on investment.

Sea of Green. 5 Tips for Cost Effective Yields 8

 Sea of Green is the original hydroponics

sea of store in Arizona, and has over 30 years

combined experience helping growers

green
with operations, growroom technolo-
gies, and plant sciences. Our extensive
network of resources have helped create
the long lasting relationships that we
have acheived with our clients.
Our goal is to provide products and
services for desired results. Contact us at
480.448.1129 or write us at sales@sea-
of-green.com for consultation and pric-
ing. Alternatively, if youre in the area,
check us out at our Tempe location

If youd like us to help you with

your grow room, please give us
a call at 480.448.1129 or contact
us via email here for your
personalized consultation from
our team of expert growers.