Grow space and reflector decisions

[rrog]

How in the world can you pull enough air through the hood that you don't need glass? Since clean plate glass drops visible light by 10%, I'm interested.

 

[Hold Your Fire]

Do a google search for Heath Robinson. That dude did more with a single 600 than most people do with a couple of 1000's.

I'm giving the bare bulb plan some SERIOUS thought for a fall grow.

From what I've seen, not much out yields it!

 

[datruth]

cooltubes are a last resort. they have the worst possible light coverage pattern. i am getting rid of all mine

 

[datruth]

when you use bare bulbs in alot of cases you increase your veg time. so they really aint as effiecent as it appears

 

[rrog]

So more light = increased veg time? Or is there some spectral shift by removing the glass that slows down veg time? Both sound unlikely.

 

[Anti]

I have NOT noticed my plants requiring extra veg. I just vegged 16 days from rooted clone and then flipped. I'm also not growing trees.

 

[stealthed-up]

Sorry guys i was removing the anti glare sheeting from my screen lol, im back.

Cool tubes are out of the question for sure, i have been checking out the bare bulb grows but cooling the area down might be an issue ?

Still got to see alot more comparisons considering the two.

 

[rrog]

... i have been checking out the bare bulb grows but cooling the area down might be an issue ?

This is my question also. I'm really intrigued but seems like you'd have to move much more air through the open hood than with sealed.

 

[Anti]

My room has 2x400w in about 16 sq. ft. My bulbs hang down between my plants and are cooled by two cheapo fans - one beneath each light, pointed straight up on the lowest speed. My temps never go above the low eighties. I am extracting the room approximately twice a minute with a can fan 6 and filter.

A lot of guys who switched from horizontal with reflectors vs. Bare bulb vert report being surprised by how much easier it is to cool.

There's no hood trapping heat. The fans direct heat straight up, where it can be exhausted.

 

[stealthed-up]

Yeah look that makes sense because the hood is enclosing the light & basically all of the heat is from the light. id have to go for a bigger fan then. An open reflector is going to cost me 90 +- $ bigger fan will add on to the price, although the Super Sun2 is going to cost me about 300 +- $, add the price of a bigger fan & the overall price of the reflector goes up, please correct me if im wrong.

Also if i go open reflector then i cant get my light as close ?

 

[rrog]

Ah, Anti has a vert grow. I wonder then if something like this is even possible with a hood with no glass?

 

[Anti]

Ah, Anti has a vert grow. I wonder then if something like this is even possible with a hood with no glass?

I would think that if you wanted to get as close to a horizontal canopy as possible with a reflector, an SS2 with glass and constant air extraction would be the way I would go. That's what i was gonna do before I decided vert would be drastically simpler.

By the end of cycle I have plants within a few inches of my bare bulbs on all sides.

I am by no means an expert on the subject. Just a friendly guy who reads a LOT of grow threads.

 

[stealthed-up]

Anti i appreciate your help dude, i just need to get to a final decision, i have already planned a 600w digital due to the amount of good ive read about them & ive gone through a serious amount of phone calls & emails to organise it. So if i dont get the ss2 will a 600w vertical be as good as 2 x 400w ?

 

[Anti]

Anti i appreciate your help dude, i just need to get to a final decision, i have already planned a 600w digital due to the amount of good ive read about them & ive gone through a serious amount of phone calls & emails to organise it. So if i dont get the ss2 will a 600w vertical be as good as 2 x 400w ?

Only reason I went with 400w is because they don't make CMH in 600w. If you put plants in an octagon or circular shape around a 600w you can do some cool stuff. Look at Maj.Cottonmouth's or Aerohead or Farmhouse Cat's setup for ideas.

 

[Hold Your Fire]

Ah, Anti has a vert grow. I wonder then if something like this is even possible with a hood with no glass?

If growing bare bulb vert, no hood is used.

 

[Hold Your Fire]

Looks like this




This is a pic from one of Heath's grows.

This guy is fast becoming a hero of mine!!

 

[stealthed-up]

Yeah i see what you mean anti, cmh you can veg nicely aswell, ive read up on them before, the bare bulb method does look good, it is a option to consider, do the buds expand evenly around the plant though ? how are the buds that sit behind against close to the wall ?

Thank you people

 

[Anti]

expand evenly around the plant though ? how are the buds that sit behind against close to the wall ?

Thank you people

There are different ways to tackle this issue.

Basically, if you are familiar with the technique called lollipopping... in a horizontal grow, many growers will trim off all foliage at the bottom of the canopy. This eliminates a bunch of material that never would've been anything but "larf" and allows the plants to concentrate their budding energy on areas that ARE getting optimal lighting.

In a vert situation, you want to basically eliminate or train any branches that come off the backside of the plants so that all buds are being lit.

Aerohead's grow is a really good one to look at because it was his first attempt and he had some pretty impressive results with his "weed donut." By putting a screen around the bulb, you can train the plant so that they form a solid cylinder around the bulb.

For me, I try to eliminate branches all together. I am interested in growing a bunch of single cola plants. My first round, I under watered MASSIVELY and I still pulled 17 oz (0.58 gpw) from my setup. This current round, which has only been in flower for 3 days is getting watered 3 times a day. (Last round was once every other day.) The difference is night and day. I expect much better results from this round.

Here's a picture as an example:

^^^ That is from day two of 12/12 (yesterday.) When my plants stop stretching (in about a month) I am going to remove most of the branches and any leaves that have a stem.

There are 65 plants on two different levels on four sides of the lamps. It's hard to get a good shot of the whole thing, but maybe this will help:

^^^ That's a view from the side, which shows both levels.

^^^ This is right after the clones were planted (about 2.5 weeks ago) It's the best picture I've got to show how my fans are positioned. They are about 3-3.5 ft. below the bulbs, but they provide a slow, steady column of cool air that encourages the heat from the bulb to do what it wants to do naturally and rise.

In the spot where the little red fan is sitting in this picture, I now have a "cool mist" humidifier which is adding 15%-20% to the rH in the room. (It was at about 43% with no humidifier, it sits between 60% and 64% during lights on with humidifier.)

None of these ideas are my own inventions, and please let me know if I'm sharing too much and mucking up your thread.

 

[rrog]

If growing bare bulb vert, no hood is used.

I understand vert, but can a hood without glass be sufficiently vented for overhead lighting? I'm thinking no.

 

[Hold Your Fire]

I understand vert, but can a hood without glass be sufficiently vented for overhead lighting? I'm thinking no.

Depends on your situation.
In my tents, I can remove the glass when running 400 and 600 bulbs, but not 1000w bulbs.

My tents are set up in basements so the temps stay between 60°-65° F, outside the tents.

Out of the basement, however, it will not work as well!