I have heard people getting 2 or 3 lbs a plant indoors and I am lucky to get 2 to 3 ounces. I understand you need to have proper nutrients, hvac, etc… Howevever is it really possible to get pounds of cannabis per plant? If so is it heavily strain dependent to get these yields? Has anyone consistently gotten a pound per plant per grow? If so what is the biggest factor to get up to that level. i.e. scrog them? hydro? Give them plenty of room? Heavy nutes. 1000 watts per plant?
Thanks,
Kevin
To answer your questions in order: yes, yes, yes and yes. In my experience, achieving large yields is matter of having a balance of proper and consistent environmental conditions (air, water, CO2, temp, RH), proactive integrated pest management (IPM) strategies, correct PPM’s of nutrients, the right lighting and pruning techniques and timing. With any of the preceding out of balance, your yield will be negatively affected. Strong genetics is also a big part of the equation.
I am using some automation on the Temperature and Humidity to finally get them to hone in on where they need to be during the grow cycle for different day/night variables for each week of the grow. My next step was to add co2. Do you think that is the best next thing to get a handle on in order to achieve higher yields? Do you see much larger yields with Hydro since I have not experienced that. Just trying to focus on the next thing to master since there is a lot to do as you pointed out but one step at a time! Thanks,
My advice is to focus on what you know first: if you are good with soil and have managed to master some of your environmental conditions, then that is great! Get really good at maintaining those environmental conditions through an entire grow cycle. Once you have figured out the kinks to environmental manipulation you are ready to focus on another task to master. Get your pruning/training techniques down so you know what to expect out of your genetics. Know your plants! Keep very detailed and accurate records of everything! Only through your records are you going to be able to gauge the efficacy of the techniques you are employing.
A word of warning about CO2: once you start supplementing with CO2 in your grow, it’s very hard to go back! You will begin to notice how well your plants respond to the combination of proper balance of environment and elevated CO2 levels. However, if you fail to get the environment in balance and you are supplementing with CO2, you may be putting the cart before the horse, so to speak.
It sounds like you are already on the right path to 2-3 pounds per light!
You are looking at it the wrong way. Calculate the dry wieght per square foot. You can compare this to other growers through the public record
The optimal number I can calculate for cannabis is “Pot Mums” example.
The numbers I calculate are about twice the production of the highest reporting grower.
693 kilos dry wieght for a 10k sqft operation.
Or 270 grams per sqft year. This is about twice the curent production numbers.
From the voices in my head
Ethan
3oz per plant is fine for a small plant in a small pot. 2lb plants are HUGE, and in an indoor setup it will cost a lot of time and energy. It takes about 2.5-3 months to veg out a 2lb plant, and maybe 2-3 weeks to veg out a 3oz plant. A 2lb plant takes up about 16sqft, while a 3oz plant takes up about 1.75sqft. Do the math, you should be able to hit 1.5-1.75 in the same space with more cycles per year. With minimal space devoted to veg, you should be able to cycle every 8 weeks or so. The reason why 2-3lbs per plant are/were desirable was due to medical laws restricting gardens by plant count rather than sqft of canopy. So if you are restricted by plant count, you want these high yields per plant, but if you are governed by sqft of canopy, small plants with a quicker turn around is going to give you higher yields per sqft per year.
Great point, @Farmer_Dan! I am in one of the states limited by plant count so big ladies are my bread and butter 
These are the plants I see with Hemp streak virus all the pictures of massive flowers. Looks just like the pictures of the problem in WW2 hemp for victory.
From the voices in my head
Ethan
That depends, spend 2.5-3 months vegging a plant before transitioning to flower and you can get those yields. My outdoor runs about there, at least 2lbs per plant is my goal next year. Total cycle is 20 weeks from transplant to harvest. I am sure I have viruses, but I don’t get those weird club buds either.
It’s the tomatoes vs pot mums example.
no its the funny indoor grows with the guys with the 3 pound flowers.
Maybe it’s PGRs? 
@kmoroz1 I’m at echoing what @Growernick said about environment, and then I’ll say , environment, environment, environment just to point out that you won’t be worried about nutrients if it’s way to hot in your space so staying out of the 75 + degree range is crucial…
Simply yes genetics play a huge part in it and buying stable genetics is always a better bet if you are unsure of feeding… but I can regularly pull 1lb off a 315w with two plants 3.5 wk veg 8wk bloom … I am looking to condense my veg and exceed dry weight …
I would say back off the CO2 for now and focus on environment and your feeding … also making sure that you are increasing and decreasing food to the plant at the right times in the bloom phase as this will greatly effect yield …
If you haven’t read about Laws of minimums this is a good thing to have in the base knowledge set when feeding … the LOWEST LIMITING FACTOR … don’t be pressured into overfeeding as often is the case when people are looking to increase yield …
You will quickly exceed that number if you hang around on here
Pac will have that effect…
May I quote you?
Thanks for the feedback. I am limited by plant count which is why I am interested in larger yields and a bit lazy too since the fewer the plants the easier it should be to manage. Is the THC content the same on the larger plants? I would imagine a 3lb plant would have less ThC to spread around. In regards to the laws of minimum which is an awesome tip, I just made my own super soil for the first time and was hoping to not have to add to many nutrients. I have about 4 weeks left in my current grow, what nutrients would you recommend to add? I hate to say it but I have been just using General Hydroponics maxi series for nutrients since I was/am assuming the soil will provide enough nutes. Any recommendations on what nutes to add to help increase the yields or maybe better said what is usually the lowest limiting factor? N P K? I was using Michigan mix before which again contained a lot of the nutrients in the soil. Is the only way to know for sure to test the soil? Thanks again. Kevin
@kmoroz1 at this point its hard to say and truthfully i wouldn’t want to give you any blind advice, (dr. approach do no harm), also without knowing all your soil amendments its hard to say what ‘super soil mix recipe’ …(yes even the almighty sub’ had multiple iterations of ‘Super soil’ mix [OG - refugee for those who get the reference])
the laws of minimums generally apply less to NPK in cannabis as most nutrient you are buying is already plant tailored according to their crop dosage and schedule…this law usually applies more to micro nutrients that are generally not fed or absorbed in large quantities. (some are at different times but this is a much larger can of worms)
simply put in ‘supersoil’ true RO water only super soil , topdressing with more fresh mix is usually prescribed however, the addition of a microbial tea/ compost tea/ out of the bag or otherwise can help… all this is doing is reinoculating the plant with the microbial life that helps the plant uptake nutrient and regulate itself not to mention it can help to make things in the soil MORE AVAILABLE for the plant to uptake… xtreme makes a good product and you can get 10 pouches(and activators) which each makes 5gallons, but make sure you take it at least 24hrs of brew… honestly, if you do it enough and have a place for compost start a pile and next year you can make this (IT WILL BE 1000x fresher) and save yourself the 40 dollars plus composting is better for the environment (blah blah blah whole host of other things compost is awesome)
sorry if this isn’t more helpful
NKPCa is where 99.8% of your time. The micros are just there in a good Petelite fertilizer. Sometimes boron or molibdum in the 1 to 5 ppm ranges need to be suplimented. Other local conditions can make the traces different. One grower needs a bit more Sulfer. But when he posted his field and water profiles. I see the need in his location for supplemental Sulfer. His case gypsum made the best sence in the field. An a small change in PH restored Sulfer availability indoors.
Every poinsettia grower knows as the days get short one shot of molibdum at 5 ppm makes the sun come out. But, poinsettia is an outlyer. Cannabis is a temperate plant that has some interesting weed like behaviors. But, it is just a plant. No special powers.
Cannabis is a only a moderate to heavy feeder. It is not a feeder like poinsettia.
Nitrate form of nitrogen and Calcium seem to be the biggest factors. I still think a soil pH in the 6.5 range is safest and will give you the best results.
Digging into soil science stuff, yuk and some our friends at the substrates laboratory in North Carolina.
We are again seeing the influence of tomato practices adversely affecting nutritional outcomes in cannabis.
As basic short day plant growers feed at 6.5 to 6.8 pH in the growing phase of 1:1:1:1 plus standard micro nutrients works outstanding. Some local variation can change this but they are environmental not plant specific. Think Midwest uses a lot of 15:16:17 it called the dark weather feed. The north east has a verient.
At bloom there are some differences in nutrition. But they fall in to groups 1:3:2:1 feeders and the 1:4:3:1 feeders. You only need 1week to ten days of this in the schedule.
Rember they are just plants. They follow very predictable growth cures. We head pat our plants to much, that is money
If you use L H Bailey line “Leaves are for photosynthesis and roots are for nutrion. Leaves make bad roots” you will be OK.
Calcium is the number on deficiency I see in people’s grows.
Remember plant nutrition is simply a numbers game. WHat is the statistical chance of an ion being in the water. The plant is not saying oh I need a nitrogen. No, it is in the water.
Constent liquid feeding CLF will win. The guy who grows in the substrate requing the most watering in a 24 hour period win the dry weight game at flowering.
We have seen this in every floricultue crop comercally produced. Cannabis growers are acting like little old ladies growing Africa violets on her kitchen sill. We need to get back to best practices from floricultuer. We baby too much.
From the voices in my head
Ethan
I agree with you but as you see Ca as the consistent mistake and 100%…and most liquid nutriets won’t have this (unless it states that usually Ca specific)… it is compensated in certain growth mediums (soil yuk , agreed) and yes the PROVEN methodology for dry weight is the most frequent watering don’t disagree… thus i am more of a hydro man myself… all the controls in the nutrient
