vertical aeroponic 2000W

[whythefnot]

DAY 28 UPDATE

So I've been doing some leaf pruning to get a little more light to the back part of the plants. I'm normally not a big fan of leaf pruning, but I feel that it's necessary here to not screw me on yield.
Also, I took a long piece of fishing wire and tied it off to one part of the screen, then wrapped it around some of the branches that were getting really close to the lights and pulled them back to the screen to kind of open up the inside to get a little more penetration and surface area. Here's a pic. I did this to most of the back side (thick side) of the octagon. I'll be pruning leaves gradually for the next month.

A few of these are almost repeats, but there's a slightly different angle that I liked for some reason.

This is one of the lowest buds, almost at the floor (maybe 8" off the floor)

Here are a few shots from below...

And a few shots of the top...

And a couple close-up bud shots

C'est tout!!

Oh one more thing... the humidity has skyrocketed... 90%!! Ugh!! Dehumidifier is on order first thing in the morning.

 

[whythefnot]

I forgot to mention... my partner crawled inside yesterday and said he smelled cantaloupe. I just smell ice cream

 

[Paranoid one]

HOLY MOLY!
very very very nice.
Mad respect brotha!

 

[whythefnot]

Hey, thanks Paranoid. I can use the encouragement.

The buds densed up a LOT last night. Yesterday they were little pom pom fluff balls, today they were heavy marbles. I can't wait til this next update, the buds look so much fuller, not to mention more crystally, even 2 days after the last update.

I picked up a dehumidifier off of craigslist last night. It's a kenmore 50 qt in great condition for $70 (energystar rated, for what it's worth). Not a bad deal imo. It filled in just a few hours lol, my humidity has been at 90% for quite a while. The carpet is all wet from a few accidents and hasn't really had a chance to dry with this long winter we've been having. I've been having plenty of mushrooms growing straight out of the floor. Running it full time, it keeps the air humidity at 50%. We'll see once the floor dries out, shouldn't take too long.

Also, ordered one of these. It's a CAP Ozn-Jr. Haven't heard the very best reviews about the thing, but I paid under $80 shipped, and it comes with a 3-yr warranty. I mean, it's a CAP product, they don't make much low-class stuff, and they honor their warranties, I know from experience. I don't have a carbon filter right now, and this far into budding it's starting to get pretty smelly (tho less like weed, more like melon right now) so I had to just do the damn thing. In a sealed room, I decided that ozone is the better way to go. Any air that does manage to escape is already treated with ozone. It's a smaller unit so I'm not worried about frying my plants or my lungs, plus it automatically shuts off every other 10 minute period.

 

[whythefnot]

SURPRISE UPDATE DAY 32

still waiting on ozone generator, humidity under control


a few pics...

 

[aces]

I have a bunch of questions I wanted to ask WHYTHEFNOT.

1. How big does your place have to be to be expected to use 2000w by the electric companies? 3 br apt? townhouse?
2. Do you use 24hrs in the veg?
3. How many slots and how much do you harvest?

I wish you had instructions to how to build your aero vertical system. This is what I always had in mind and been on the internet for like 6 months trying to find someone doing it. So I was glad to see your jounrel.you ever considered using fog?

 

[aces]

Also what strains do you prefer for highest yields and short veg? I was thinking cheese would be good for this type of grow..

Sorry if you answered or already posted these questions I've asked.

 

[whythefnot]

I have a bunch of questions I wanted to ask WHYTHEFNOT.

1. How big does your place have to be to be expected to use 2000w by the electric companies? 3 br apt? townhouse?
2. Do you use 24hrs in the veg?
3. How many slots and how much do you harvest?

I wish you had instructions to how to build your aero vertical system. This is what I always had in mind and been on the internet for like 6 months trying to find someone doing it. So I was glad to see your jounrel.you ever considered using fog?

1. my bill is around $100. pay your bill on time, you won't have to worry about your electric company. this is a very small home, and I'm not doing anything out of the ordinary, and I'd be comfortable increasing the light at some point
2.yes, I use 24 hrs, it's just easier than 18
3.I can put up to 48 plants, right now I have around 24. Next run I'm probably only doing 16 plants. with the 2 ft vertical space, one plant per side works out pretty well. don't know on the harvest, will find out in about a month

I don't have instructions, I just threw this thing together. Yes, I've tried going the fog round, wouldn't recommend it. lots of headache and dead ends

also don't know on the strains, this is my first time running this thing. I'd say any strain works well in here, just less stretchy varieties, I'd use more clones. in a set up like this, you're able to pull a lot off a sativa or an indica - it really maximizes your light use

 

[aces]

Do you have a picture of the aeroponics vertical unit without any plants in them? That way I can try to make mine likes yours... What type of sprayers/misters do you use? How big is the pump? Also I never understood how the water/nutes would go back down to the reservoir.. gravity? Your set up is bad ass, your the only person on the net that has a vertical aeroponic journel I can find. Great job man you are awesome.. Also on what you said about your electric bill is only $100 for 2000w 18 hrs a day.. I thought it would cost A LOT MORE.

 

[whythefnot]

Do you have a picture of the aeroponics vertical unit without any plants in them? That way I can try to make mine likes yours... What type of sprayers/misters do you use? How big is the pump? Also I never understood how the water/nutes would go back down to the reservoir.. gravity? Your set up is bad ass, your the only person on the net that has a vertical aeroponic journel I can find. Great job man you are awesome.. Also on what you said about your electric bill is only $100 for 2000w 18 hrs a day.. I thought it would cost A LOT MORE.

thanks for the props man, let me straighten you out a little...
yes I have a pic. It's in this journal. go back and read the first few pages.
I use a waterfall to return the water to the res. Out of necessity (design flaw) I ended up just setting the last section of PVC (the T that connects the two levels) on the edge of the res, so the res supports some weight. Not the way I'd like, but I sort of threw this together with very little concrete planning and a very low budget. After this run (I gots roots in de way right now) I'm going to cap the end of the T, then add a return line to the res, just to make everything completely light-proof. I don't have any problems with algae or anything, I just want to make sure.
And my electric bill is about $100 for 12/12. I never run 18/6, ever. It's a little more when I run 24, but I don't usually run 24 for more than a couple weeks. If I do, I start with just one bulb to keep the bill pretty stable. Also, I don't have any commodities at this location. There is a fridge, but it's all the way on the warmest setting. It's only for seeds and cannabutter anyway, lol. I don't run a water heater at all anymore. I only use lights as I absolutely need them, and all the lights in the house are CFLs. Sometimes I have a little jam session over there, and all the equipment does draw a bit of power, but it's only for a few hours, then everybody goes home (get the hell outta my grow house! lol).
Also for the grow I'm running a 220V fan (not sure on the CFM, found two of them in the dumpster one day) and a 220V A/C unit that draws some serious power, but delivers some serious cooling. Also, my pump draws 1300 watts (yes, it's a huge pump) but that's only for 15 sec every 10 or 15 minutes. Then there's the dehumidifier that I just got, but it doesn't seem to spin the meter very much. We'll see at the end of this month. The bill is completely paid right now, so at the end of this month I'm going to find out exactly how much it is to run the grow. Either way, it's not too bad. I wouldn't be afraid to run 4000w here, honestly, and it's a very, very small home.

 

[Paranoid one]

Looking good whythefnot!

How long do you think you will be flowering for?

 

[whythefnot]

Looking good whythefnot!

How long do you think you will be flowering for?

This is a 9-10 week strain. I was thinking I'll start the flush at 8 and a half weeks, pull a first harvest right at 9. Then I'll let the back branches fill out for another 2 weeks or so then harvest those. I wish I didn't have quite so much plant matter in here so I wouldn't have to do it this way, but I'm kind of stuck.

Tomorrow is the first day of week 6, so another 3 - 4 weeks before they start to come down.

 

[whythefnot]

update is postponed until tomorrow night

 

[whythefnot]

DAY 36 UPDATE

Lots of pics, no captions required... Enjoy!

Things lookin great, right on schedule. You can really tell the difference between the two phenos now. One is less crystally and is going to take slightly longer to finish, but is producing much larger buds. The other one is prettier ATM, and possibly (?) more potent, since it looks more crystally... we'll see.

One more thing... I'm all sticky from getting in there to take pics earlier. I can't wash it off. Dish soap doesn't take it off, not even the smell. I'm gonna have to break out the rubbing alcohol lol

 

[averagejoe]

oyes i enjoied watching these pictures

 

[turbolaser4528]

looks good man, combining a whole bunch of cool elements here.


im surprised that the plants arent more light bleached/burnt at such a close distance like that




good luck on the yield youll hit 1gpw you got walls of weed!

 

[whythefnot]

looks good man, combining a whole bunch of cool elements here.


im surprised that the plants arent more light bleached/burnt at such a close distance like that




good luck on the yield youll hit 1gpw you got walls of weed!

Thanks, I do get quite a few bleached leaves, but here's the deal with that ... if the branch grows toward the light on its own, it won't bleach. If I move stuff around and a branch happens to fall close to the light that's not used to it, it'll start bleaching right away. I try to just keep them far enough away, and for the most part it's not a problem, but I do get some bleaching and I've been plucking those leaves pretty liberally to let the good leaves behind catch that light.

And thanks for the encouragement on yield. 1gpw would be so nice!

 

[Kahl]

No captions required. lol love it. Great job man! Things are starting to get extra frosty

 

[whythefnot]

I took clones for next run last night. It's DNA's Rocklock, supposed to be a commercial strain, 80% indica.
I really like indicas, but I can't smoke them early in the day. Same as I really like sativas, but I don't like to smoke them before bed.
So this run is 95% sativa, next run is 80% indica. Rocklock is an 8-week strain and branches like crazy, so I think we're gonna have a good run with her.

I'm going to try to grow the clones for a week or two in the cloner. Once most have roots, I'm going to add about 300-400 ppm veg ferts and stick them under a 400w MH to give them a head start. I only want to have to veg them about a week once I get them in the octagon, but we'll see how it goes once we get there.

 

[whythefnot]

mmm, this is gonna be the best 4/20 EVER!! lol