CFLs clear PVC hung vertical *concept*

[ST8DunWSociety]

I N Hail - Hey, thanks for the suggestion with the coleman lamp glass, the ony issue with that is I'm looking for like an 18-24 inch long tube, But appreciate the help man

Foaf - Dude that is awesome! hey thanks for giving me some love with your pictures, now on to that whole PVC / acrylic / lexan clear tube thingy, i think they do make clear PVC (at least that's what i saw, i'm going to start looking into it more tonight) but hey thanks so much with the ideas!

Mjconfid - Just some food for thought for you, if you were to weave your plants though a screen they could be uniformly even with the light in front of it. With most indoor grows some form of training is suggested and in my opinion the vertical standing screen and light combo make is easier to accomplish (the plant is gonna growing up, right?) Also with the screen you would want it to grow lopsided as to get the most light to the sweet spots IMHO (all based on observations) and good luck with your plants, i remember the first time doing it and i was in the same situation (cept i ran my straigh 12/12 from seeds) one ended up being male, the other female. Pray for pistils!

Hopefully by the end of this week i can pick and order the tubies i want, i might find myself in two grows at the same time though, hehe ohh well, one might turn into an experiment on how far i can just one 18 gallon tub to go (might just be one tub with horizontal cfls super cropped, ended up being that 6 one gallon mike jugs fix perfectly) if this is the case i might try doing something a little different with ventilation, anyone ever try using a automotive blower motor? (was looking at one from a honda and it looks it could be the perfect hook up, oh yeah, it's 12V so i could run it with a PSU, and as long as the fan is balanced it could be uber quite with awesome airflow all for 15 beans)

 

[foaf]

they do make clear schedule 40 pvc tubing, it is for laboratory installations, drainage, so that they can inspect for clogs and such visually. $34 a foot for 6", 10 foot minimum. Acrylic is cheaper and there are several places on the net you can order it, but probably also with minimum orders. Also the pvc is thick walled for pressure so I suspect it blocks more light than the thin acrylic tubing.

pvc 6" tubing

 

[mjconfid]

Mjconfid - Just some food for thought for you, if you were to weave your plants though a screen they could be uniformly even with the light in front of it.

Cheers ST8. Digested....makes sense, so I will go with screens . Today I checked the plants using a torch and one has pistils!

 

[ScrubNinja]

Some info I came across

There are two types of forming used for perspex tube.
One will leave the tube with small ridges and imperfections.
Other method makes the tube perfectly round with no blemishes.

For any aussies, plastix.com.au sells a wide range of tubing.

 

[ST8DunWSociety]

Damn... well guess i have to find my smooth, un-ridge perfectly round tubes else where

Good research bro. I've been in the middle of stressing out. So i've just been comming on to check everything and try to give you some electric love. Maybe later on once everything in the house is once again calm i'll do some poking, maybe throw some links up while i'm drinkin some Natty Bo, love that awesome cheap beer. lol

 

[ScrubNinja]

Haha shit. I gave up drinking January 1st! Best thing I have ever done. My whole life and attitude changed. Sorry, I will shut up and let you get your drank on, heheh.

Juice me up bro, bring on the amps! Also, I better mention, that was just a random post on a pc modding forum, so they didn't go into more detail about the moulding methods, sadly.

 

[ST8DunWSociety]

Hey good for you on that drinking call! I probably would too if i had a steady supply of green. I gave you some amp love read on, if you have problems let me know, i should be on either late tomorrow or the next day (life sucks for me right now, haha). When i do get one, i just might be placing my order for some tubing

 

[oldbootz]

i gave up drinking heavily. now days i have a beer here and there, but if i try get drunk, and sometimes i do try, my stomach decides to call it quits before i get past the tipsy stage... i guess i drank too much in my youth

 

[ScrubNinja]

now days i have a beer here and there

Exactly, it's all about the balance really. Moderation. Even with the 'erb. And the more I think about it, most things in life.

Sorry, I have nothing to steer the thread back on topic, but if I did, I would say it now

 

[oldbootz]

i got something ! verdant green on his mod scrog thread mentions that a plants leaves are designed by millions of years of evolution to receive light from above. i think this definately holds some truth. We need a side by side comparison of a grow with vertical CFL tubes, and one with the tubes horizontally fixed to the roof, with reflective tape on the roof side of the tubes to act as a reflector.

which will deliver more usable light to the plant?

 

[ScrubNinja]

I just looked under my leaves and they're very pale compared to the tops. Maybe that's an indication. Or maybe if you supplied light underneath they would green up? I think if you had a landrace that was from, say, a sandy place with bright white sand everywhere, wouldn't that particular plant have evolved to make use of some underlighting?

I applied underlighting (as well as some vert lighting and top lighting) in my first grow and I *felt* that it helped, but that's anecdotal at best. I only got 2 z's from the whole tent so...yeah. But I've felt there's potential to absorb some light. Another factor is that not every leaf faces directly up. Anytime I've done a scrog I often screw some up and leaves face down, and even in my current grow, to some degree they're all over the place after trying to tuck the leaves down to thin it out some.

 

[oldbootz]

like a plant that grows in the deserts? afghan, mazar, morrocan? i dunno interesting point though.

 

[ScrubNinja]

Yeah exactly. Or I was also thinking like, maybe it's just me, but the stereotype I think of places like tibet or afghanistan mountains, it's basically like steep slopes covered in light grey rock. So if it was growing on a 45* slope, all the light coming down off the sun would be hitting the slope on the uphil side and reflected horizontally-ish into the plant for example. Making it stocky, making it indica, which is where indicas were born, I believe.

Lol, I dunno, I may just be pulling it outta my ass....but there's gotta be *some* kind of light absorption under the leaf.

 

[ScrubNinja]

Let's go for a quick trip to tibet via google image search for "tibet hillside" They do have some damn nice fertile flat ground by the looks, but these are what I was getting at:

http://img2.allposters.com/images/RHPOD/29-1117.jpg
http://winterstaleblog.files.wordpress.com/2009/06/tibet-blog-39.jpg
http://www.myhimalayas.com/kangchenjunga_olungchungkola/image/nepal_tibet_from_air.jpg
http://janbowler.files.wordpress.com/2009/03/img_1298.jpg

Actually, how much would a ticket to tibet cost? Looks nice.

 

[oldbootz]

makes sense to me scrub, good thinking. indica leaves may be thicker and fatter to be able to bear the rough terain.

here are some of my indica dominant plants next to some side lighting, they have a 250w hps right above them but the bottom leaves seem to want to face the closer side lighting





maybe the plants dont care where the light comes from they just adjust themselves accordingly?

 

[ScrubNinja]

Nice - was magiccannabus's cab inspiration for that? He is doing a similar thing right now.

If you get bored I made a gigantic epic post relating my views/questions on environmental conditions. Just one stumbling fool's opinion of course I'll post a link instead of filling the thread up, but that's what I'd post now.

 

[festivus]

i used the top of a cola bottle to surround my middle bulb on my first grow, it was a 20watter hanging in the middle, cfls still do burn plants if you dont have direct air being blown onto them or if the plant is touching them after period of time.

I have considered doing what you speak of, but my only problem would be the fact that you have space in the tube wasted by where the CFL's ballast is

if you found 2 long and large enough cfls to put them so their tips meet in the middle of the tube, i think it would work.

but like scrub said, it will eat lumens.

I just modified a 6" cool tube to accomodate 2 of the large 125 watt cfl grow bulbs. I bought a section of 6" sheet metal duct, made 2 sections 6" long and mounted the mogul sockets in them, and attached them to each end of the cool tube. I then made another section out of the crimped end of the sheetmetal duct, about 4" long, and attached a 6" axial fan to it. It then slides nicely into either end of the tube. Working great so far.

 

[snufkin]

Hey hey,
I got something vertical going on at the moment, instead of plastic/glass tube I hang a fence bent around the CFL. It's attached to the roof with few hooks and cable ties and the bottoms just tied to the ground. It's surprisingly firm, works as a v-scrog also. Also got a 80mm x 80mm computer fan blowing right under the light and you can let the leaves touch the light without any heat problems. Of course it'll shade rest of the plant so you don't want that.

The fence is 2-3 inches from the light, which is more then enough. And I also bent the fence a little around the stub(no idea if I got the right word here..) so the bulb won't bang against the fence if it happens to shake a little.

And also those coke bottle MacGyverings are just waste of time. Even if you don't burn your apartment, they take at least 50% of your precious lumens, maybe even more.

Hope you ST8 (or someone else) picked something useful out of that.

maybe the plants dont care where the light comes from they just adjust themselves accordingly?

I've noticed that after bending the plant turns its leaves facing the light just over night, not fully but it's giving her best

 

[ST8DunWSociety]

Damn... i come home, post some shit, go to sleep, wake up, go to work, and come home and the natives have all sorts of interesting posts going on! Awesome, I really don't know what to say honostly

Bootz your christmas tree is looking great! I believe that plants will adjust them self to where the light is comming from. THIS IS PROVEN! you know how they make those neat interlocked bamboo? they just don't start braiding it. Now as far as plants being having been geneticly disposition to recieve light directly over head like from the sun. I dunno bout that. Seems kind of iffy specially when there is some plant art work done where they have the plant above the light to have it grow down towards the light. I think is a matter of like the plant will try to go after the light. Kind of like a really slow fat kid going after a cheeseburger.

Anyway, hey snufkin! digging the set up, hopefully it works out for you. My concept is pretty much the same. V-Scrog with the light in the middle. But with some clear tubing so i can have computer fans pulling the head out. I'm still looking into the acrylics i'm trying to find the exact refraction rating on it. If not i'm thinking about taking it to a friend (who happens to be a police officer, haha) and getting him to use a refratrometer (sp?) they use it to check car window tent to see how much light passes though. FOOD FOR THOUGHT!

 

[grouchy]

I think is a matter of like the plant will try to go after the light. Kind of like a really slow fat kid going after a cheeseburger.

Hahaha! Well said!