vertical grow chamber

[crabboyjimmy]

So.... I saw this and thought it would be a great idea to try, but decided to have my friend whos got a shop help me put together a couple out of marine grade aluminum. Never done a vertical grow or even a hydro, but these look like a lot of fun. Ill be using 2 600w cool tubes and rockwool slabs with a Hesi nute schedule. My biggest concern is the proper strain for this. Its 5x5 and with 4" of rockwool and 6" of cool tube, im looking at 23" of slab to light without scrogging. It will be completely enclosed and vented via a inline fan on top of the lights suck the air OUT of the the chamber and into a Carbon filter. and another fan will be supplying the intake air.
This seems like a great opportunity to try Co2 as well ( never done that either ) there are 244 holes that are 45 mm to allow for stamndard rockwool cubes.
Im running 8000w of soil right now, so any info on hydro, drip and vert would be most welcome.
May you all have a bountiful harvest,
Jimmy

this is a link to what im trying to do. Its along the lines of my original idea, but they really know there shit and I borrowed greatly from them

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4-RSLbs4X1A

 

[Mister_D]

Sounds like an awesome idea if you're up for it. Marine grade aluminum hydro system would definitely be something to see. These types of systems yield VERY well when dialed, but they are also a lot of work to manage properly (ask me how I know ). I can tell you for sure, it's not a system for an unseasoned grower. I don't know you're skill level, but clearly hydro isn't where your experience lies. I'll lay out some of the finer points for you, but judging by your post above this isn't a system you want to run unless you can afford to fail.

That said here are some of the things you need/need to consider:

1. Hope you're clone skills are up to par. Because for starters you will need at bare minimum 500 clones to select from for proper canopy, really you'd be better off with around 700.

2. I strongly recommend you go DTW. Pumps can work fine-ish in this type of setup, but I'd recommend going with a gravity drip system. Tutorial can be found in my sig. Also not sure if it's still on the site, but an ex-member named gmax did a great thread on a vertical aeroponics system that is principally very similar to what you're proposing. I think the thread may have actually been called "vertical aero grow" or something to that effect. Do a search and see if you can find it, might spark some ideas for ya.

3. As for a strain, you're looking for a short bushy indica, or potentially a bushy hybrid that can be flowered early.

4. I would clone directly into the 4" rockwool, and likely flower as soon as I had decent roots at the bottom of the cube. Strain dependent of course.

 

[crabboyjimmy]

my gf is the queen of DWC . so Ill have some help there, but the rockwool, drip, vertical is all new. the 5x gives me 78.5 sf of space before the canopy starts and i didnt know if I could even do all 244 holes, Also Ive never flowered so early. I usually veg for a couple months. Can I get a decent yeild off of a 12-14" clone? I know its not like a fullgrown one and the numbers will make it work, just kinda curious how much wieght they put out with just the single cola?

 

[zamzia]

Wow, love to see how this turns out! Good luck!

 

[crabboyjimmy]

I've finished two of these now. The chamber was the easy part. Now comes the dialing in of all the interior parts. I'm trying to make it look like Darth Vaders bathroom with all my gadgets, so its taking a little while. I will post more pics soon.


Much love

 

[FlowerFarmer]

Tuning in for this one.

Heck of a Coliseum you guys have built yourself here.



Can't wait to see you load it up.

 

[Chunkypigs]

wow! that's something else…there is a timeless pull toward these designs that try to maximize the light usage
at the expense of many other factors that will IMO make it a big PITA to use.

I hope you are the OP who will make this look easy and fun and yield 244- 14 gram plants on 1200 watts.

the infrastructure needed to feed one of those that many clones every 8 weeks
seems like it would use enough energy to offset the savings on light in the flower chamber.

I hope I'm mistaken and you go down in history as the most space age grow ever, Best Wishes!

 

[crabboyjimmy]

Its already WAY past the PITA stage. I plan on rooting my cuttings and using the Chamber for veg as well. With the co2 I think it well benifit from being a completely sealed system and if i get pest of any kind Ill just turn it up to 10,000 PPm for an hour and sole that problem
I havent done any grows this way. Im still in the fab stage ! But I will try and keep posting as I go.

 

[crabboyjimmy]

starting to finally get it put together, still a couple more weeks on the clones before they're ready

 

[crabboyjimmy]

whoops forgot a pic. the rockwool is in place and the drip manifold is in place.

 

[Chunkypigs]

Nice! how many will you run in there the 1st time out? lets see some more pics!

 

[crabboyjimmy]

I've got spaces for 224 plants and am waiting for the clones to root better. Plus..... there's a few tweeks I'm redoing. I'll be posting more pics as i go

 

[GoozMan]

What happened?? This looks awesome and I want to see it in action.