LSWM's 3k Vert Donut's @ 7000ft!

[LSWM]

This is something I had never seen before. The plants excreting these weird sap balls. I tasted them like any other idiot would and they taste like maple syrup! It seems to only be on this 1 strain, Train wreck, and I've never seen it before this run. I hand watered with some sugarcane by gen hydro this round and I think that had to play a role.

I've seen a few clear, light amber,and in the pic below even dark brownish red globs. Searching around the internet I'm not the only one with thisoccurance . Seems to happen in really mature flowers only and at the base near the stalk. Some people areclaiming it hhoneydew, but I have never seen honeydew in drops this big, and have scoured my plants for aphids and white flies. There are none.

 

[LSWM]

More pics. The first picture is all the popcorn I had from those 5 plants. Shows why vertical and proactive trimming/lolipopping are the best!

 

[Ttystikk]

Great stuff! I would love to see/hear some more detail about the setup you're building, as that's my core interest.

I'm working with a cylinder made of fencing that helps improve yield per watt in vertical grows. I work the plant onto this trellis, ScrOG style, and it fills in during bloom. Yields are well over 1g/w and I'm still making a lot of mistakes. I think the rest of your op is so well organized that you would benefit greatly from such a 'silo' approach.

Based on my own past experience, I would suggest a mesh fence cylinder four or five feet tall and about four feet in diameter, which would require twelve to fourteen running feet of 4' or 5' fencing. Hang one (base up) 600 just below the top rim of the silo, and the other upright (base down) roughly a foot above the bottom of it.

Build the whole cylinder high enough off the floor so there's room for your media containers beneath; the entire trellis is for bud. That's 1200 watts doing an all but IDEAL job of covering 50-60 ft² worth of ScrOG screen. I bet you could easily get four # a run out of such a silo, using 4 to 6 plants. I did it with one thouie and two plants and I wasn't happy with either- and I still got two plus per run.

Now I'm building 100 ft² Super Silos with two thouies in them and seven was the first run's result, with lots and lots of mistakes made.

 

[LSWM]

Great stuff! I would love to see/hear some more detail about the setup you're building, as that's my core interest.

I'm working with a cylinder made of fencing that helps improve yield per watt in vertical grows. I work the plant onto this trellis, ScrOG style, and it fills in during bloom. Yields are well over 1g/w and I'm still making a lot of mistakes. I think the rest of your op is so well organized that you would benefit greatly from such a 'silo' approach.

Based on my own past experience, I would suggest a mesh fence cylinder four or five feet tall and about four feet in diameter, which would require twelve to fourteen running feet of 4' or 5' fencing. Hang one (base up) 600 just below the top rim of the silo, and the other upright (base down) roughly a foot above the bottom of it.

Build the whole cylinder high enough off the floor so there's room for your media containers beneath; the entire trellis is for bud. That's 1200 watts doing an all but IDEAL job of covering 50-60 ft² worth of ScrOG screen. I bet you could easily get four # a run out of such a silo, using 4 to 6 plants. I did it with one thouie and two plants and I wasn't happy with either- and I still got two plus per run.

Now I'm building 100 ft² Super Silos with two thouies in them and seven was the first run's result, with lots and lots of mistakes made.

It may be hard to see, but what I have going here is a 4x4x4 Octagon/Cylinder on each flower tray. This has trellising to tie the plants back to, with Orca Film immediately behind this trellising. There are some bamboo around some of the pics, so I could see some confusion taking place.



Looking at your shots, it is reinforcing my theory that my plants need much more veg time to run 6 sites around a 1000. My other issue is that during stretch they don't blow up quite as much as I'd like. I believe this is due to low humidity, and possibly pH/nutrient issues at times. I know with low humidity, you must run a lower EC to account for the extra drinking the plants do.

I also have the issue of not being able to do any real vegging in the flower room due to some weird timing I've had in the past. This next round should work out better. If anything I'm going to try and over veg them. I'm much more ahead of the game in veg this time around, and am hoping that helps me out. Fingers crossed.

EDIT: After thinking more, I realize that what you're saying would increase my vertical space by the height of the pot. I also realize it would take the pot and put it out of direct light. These are both advantages. One disadvantage would be dealing with the runoff. I currently have a method for this, and plumbing new trays, as well as purchasing equipment would be a hassle that isn't worth it I don't believe... At least not currently.

For now let's just try filling the trellising I have, and maybe I'll step it up on this next build out!.

 

[LSWM]

Great stuff! I would love to see/hear some more detail about the setup you're building, as that's my core interest.

Because of my issues securing initial investment, I am still expanding, but just slowly as funds become available. This large expansion may still happen, but not as quickly as I had hoped.

If I cannot afford a whole new room by this winter, I will move everything into the main house, all into the aforementioned upstairs expansion from the last page, and add 2-4k in lights + CO2. If I do that, I can save ~$1000 in equipment, and still double the size of the grow.

I have a few ideas in mind for the upstairs build out. I'm toying with 4 rows of plants and 2 rows of lights, or 5-7 donuts, or an XO pattern and larger trees with smaller plants around the outsides...

I've looked at the ppk builds and having a hard time deciding between ppk or still just coco DTW for larger trees/bushes. Maybe I just haven't looked around enough but I can't see how building everything for the ppk would give me that much/better growth than just upsizing to larger containers and continuing to use coco.

 

[Ttystikk]

Before you return that magnetic ballast for MH 1000 only, consider a Philips 860W CDM bulb. Runs in the ballast you have and is considered an upgrade from God's for flower. I'm planning a run with them asap.

 

[Ttystikk]

My suggestion about plant shading in veg will sound weird, but bear with me; you want a plant that is tall and lanky to come out of veg. If it is too dense, it will choke itself, and taller is better in vert! This is why my veg stages are all overhead lit and the plants are packed together to encourage that stretch. They fill out just fine when they hit the silo. Also, veg for at least a few days or even up to two weeks once they're on the silo before flipping into bloom, it's way worth the wait. I do not top my plants in veg at all, except to train for one strong apical tip instead of getting bushy too soon. Once the plants are on the trellis, they only get tips removed if they're about to grow off the edge or the top of the trellis. Topping them at this point is very good and to be encouraged.

One big difference in approach between my vertical silo approach and the trellis of most others I see is that I treat my silo exactly like a ScrOG canopy, only sideways. This means the main stem and branches are all OUTSIDE the mesh; just like ScrOG, only the buds grow through. This enforces a much more precise distance between lamp and leaf- which in my mind is the very crux of indoor lighting efficiency. And of course this applies independently of lamp types, spectra, etc.

 

[Ttystikk]

I run 27 gallon tuffboxes, one to a site, RDWC style with a waterfall in the lid. It's the simplest setup I've ever run- yes, simpler than soil- and it's very stable and fault tolerant.

Vertical gardening can of course be done well with nearly any substrate- I made my choice based on performance potential, low cost, simplicity of construction and ease of use. Due to the requirement for a chiller, this isn't for everyone.

 

[LSWM]

Before you return that magnetic ballast for MH 1000 only, consider a Philips 860W CDM bulb. Runs in the ballast you have and is considered an upgrade from God's for flower. I'm planning a run with them asap.

Too late! Lol

They have 2 more MHs at the shop, and I paid 130 out the door. Not too bad. I'll look into the new Phillips bulb!

 

[LSWM]

I run 27 gallon tuffboxes, one to a site, RDWC style with a waterfall in the lid. It's the simplest setup I've ever run- yes, simpler than soil- and it's very stable and fault tolerant.

Vertical gardening can of course be done well with nearly any substrate- I made my choice based on performance potential, low cost, simplicity of construction and ease of use. Due to the requirement for a chiller, this isn't for everyone.

Do you run the rdwc each site independent or are there control buckets? What size pump do you run?

RDWC has been something I planned on running from the beginning, waterfall, high flow, Heath style, but due to cost/complexity/chance of root rot I steered clear.

I almost want to try running a small dwc bucket with waterfall only. Could I get away with a small 5 gal bucket for 1 of my 6 sites just to see how it performed? I'm in the room daily, and automated top offs are doable during vacation time when needed. I have a couple tuff boxes laying around as well if needed. As well as some 400 gph pumps...

The chiller would be the big issue, but i do have an extra 35 pint dehuey lying around i could use this winter once everything gets setup/moved into tge main house.

 

[Ttystikk]

Do you run the rdwc each site independent or are there control buckets? What size pump do you run?

RDWC has been something I planned on running from the beginning, waterfall, high flow, Heath style, but due to cost/complexity/chance of root rot I steered clear.

I almost want to try running a small dwc bucket with waterfall only. Could I get away with a small 5 gal bucket for 1 of my 6 sites just to see how it performed? I'm in the room daily, and automated top offs are doable during vacation time when needed. I have a couple tuff boxes laying around as well if needed. As well as some 400 gph pumps...

The chiller would be the big issue, but i do have an extra 35 pint dehuey lying around i could use this winter once everything gets setup/moved into tge main house.

My RDWC system consists of eight tuffboxes all connected with 1" tubing and bulkhead fittings. One control bucket has a copper coil for cooling and a waterpump drawing water and pushing it through the waterfall supply manifold. That's it.

 

[LSWM]

Just pulled the last plant on the first tray that was along side the Trainwreck. DTB#1. I really like the look of the nugs, the structure and how they turned out. I really dislike the smell of it right now, very chemical, like windex or wd40. IDK something not natural, but I enjoyed it after the dry and cure last time, so we will see how it goes.

First shot is the whole plant. Last two are the largest colas, but the way this strain grows, all the branches near the top were at almost the exact same height, and only two were significantly larger than the rest, which were all very respectable imo.

 

[LSWM]

Okay so I moved these 5 plants, from Veg into the flower tent in the newly empty tray. I went to the trouble of light proofing it from the other 2 trays in the same tent so I could do some Vegging on the tray. These are all the same strain, still have 1 tray of them in flower ATM, Catpiss Haze is what I'm calling her, supposed Tahoe OG, haven't been able to get her to stop foxtailing either of my runs with her, but she stinks to high heaven. Bag appeal is a 10 simply because of smell. Nobody has seemed to care how larfy she is...

Problem is, they look like they are ready to be flipped! I'm going to get in there tonight and tie them up and chop off everything behind, but I'm thinking 3 days of Veg is the most I will need. I'm tempted to just flip them tonight...

Maybe you guys can help me decide.

First shot you can see the height of the plant against the screen. It's over halfway up the 4' screen, but 12" of that is pot, so they are only ~18-24" tall from pot to growth tip.

 

[LSWM]

More pics after tying them to the screen a bit.

Gonna take clones today from them and chop them up. Thinking just a few days of veg will be fine.

 

[LSWM]

Been turning the day length down to get these bitches to stop flowering!

Down to 11/13 a few days ago. 10/14 today.

 

[LSWM]

Some more shots!



Some shots of the buds right near the pot. Still looking large!



Then this shot from the last tray. I got this new magnetic 1k and man does it make taking pictures a bitch. My digis don't do this to my phone. I know it has to do with the frequency. Anyone have any tips around this?

 

[LSWM]

I've got a large problem with humidity. I really don't want to flip them with it this low... I've got a DIY 5 gal bucket swamp cooler going but its barely getting me from 20-25% to 30-35% 40% if I'm lucky.

I'm going check with my Caliber IVs to make sure the hygrometer isn't lieing to me... I don't have much to drop on this room yet, maybe ~$100. Anyone have any ideas?

I'm debating just building a massive swamp cooler with some Rubbermaid bins and ducting it directly into my intake. Then possibly a second one if needed.

 

[LSWM]

Looks as though my temp/hygrometer was right on the money all along. My problems really are as bad as expected...



I covered the tops of my pots in hopes of keeping the top of the pots wetter. Hoping I see more root growth up near the top of the pots this way. Before i would get about a half inch to an inch of dry area if it wasnt directly under the drippers.



And finally a pic of the clones I took yesterday. The growth tips had turned up after tying them to the screen when I took the cuttings. So they look super sloppy, but I'm sure in the coming days they will turn their leaves around.

*

 

[LSWM]

And I think I've convinced myself to get a dog...

Gonna head to the shelter and check out this 7 month old Shepard mix.

More responsibility incoming!

 

[LSWM]

Just finished the paperwork at the shelter for this lil girl. Guess I'm getting a dog!? ~7 month old german shepard/lab mix? I dunno but she's a cutie.

...can't pick her up for a week though until she gets fixed... state law apparently?

I've got no idea how I keep getting myself into more shit, but this one was just too cute and friendly to not take on. She's got a loud deep bark as well! That's a plus!

I've had dogs ever since I could remember, but never one all of my own at my own place, they were always family animals... I'm sure it will be just fine.

Now I'm gonna need a name for this new member of the family. I think it would be fun if her name was somehow weed related, but under the radar enough to not ruin any public appearances, lol. I was thinking Mary Jane, but that's just too obvious, lmfao. Any suggestions?