I switched to my new tent tonight. Overall, I am really pleased with the result, even though the plants took a beating. And I learned something interesting about growing in a space with limited horizontal space...
Both the old and new tent are 2 feet by 4 feet horizontally. With two plants in the tent, the branches that grew right against the side of the tent didn't really have to focus any energy on being able to stand up; they can instead focus on just pushing upwards. So when I removed the plants from the tent, all of the outer branches immediately sagged - most resting on the floor. I wish I had taken pictures of that, but I was so freaked out that I just kept plodding along so as to get the plants back into a tent as soon as possible.
I took the opportunity to put in a new carbon filter and replaced the fans. Also replaced the check valves on the air pumps (after 16 months, they had built up some water inside, and needed to be swapped). Once the grow is finished, I'll finish setting up the tent proper. For now, the lights are hung directly from the support beam at the top of the tent frame. I need to add extension cords and some other hardware to make the height adjustable, but that can wait. Right now the lights are two feet above plants that are starting to get serious about flowering. Shouldn't need any further adjustment. Also, cable management can be vastly improved once the tent is empty.
I made one critical mistake, though.... When I placed the plants back into the tent, I reversed the order.. Let me explain.. The plant that was originally on the left had branches on it's left side that were not remotely concerned with rigidity, since the wall of the tent held them up. The branches on the right had similar issues, but they were at least making an effort. An effort that was supplemented by the fact that they were pushing against the branches of the other plant to its right. So when the plants went back into the tent, the weakest of the branches now opposed each other, and just fell into a very crowded mess.
I tied up the branches as best I can with pipe cleaners, and just finished adding food to the tanks. With any luck, the plants will get their collective sh*t together soon so I can untie them and let the buds max out. Worst case, i'll have to lollipop the things and deal with the reduced yield. I worry that if I just keep things tied up I risk the onset of mold.
As I said, I am overall really pleased with the additional vertical space, and I think my future grows in this tent will do quite well. In hindsight, I wish I had just ridden things out with this grow in the old tent, and done this change between grows.
Here are some pics:
