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First attempt on vertical Scrog(250W+1 plant setup)

God_Speed

Member
Hey everyone,
I'm opening this thread to help me finish the planning phase of my sort of micro vertical system. Later on also to log my first grow with it.
I've had a few runs before indoor/outdoor but I'm all new to the vertical growing.
Sorry if my English is bad sometimes, it's not my native tongue.

I'm about to build a 250W RDWC vertical SCROG setup for 1 plant.
My aim is to reach the 1gr/w ratio and not to loose to much on the quality side.
My room of operation is an unheated room so It can go minus in winter. I've thought about the insulation and also about using the heat of the lamp so that part is mostly figured out already.

For the RDWC setup I've used snype's tutorial from icmag (He's a genius btw)

For the vertical part I still have some questions which I can't seem to find answers for.

I'm gonna put a ring of some metal wire,fence or something with the diameter of 40cm. What I have no idea about is the height of the fence?
What is optimal for a 250W HPS? I'm planning to run 1 plant based underneath this ring and the fence would be behind the plant.

All I know about the vertical, I've learnt it from the smart ones here on this damn good forum and from all the guys who made the effort to share the knowledge and wisdom in their threads.

I'd like to train that one baby under some T5's tie her down hard so that I can fill up my space equally later on. Also in order to place my little honeywell under the bare bulb I need to place the bucket under the vent so I need some long stems.

Anybody has some experience about how much heat does a lamp of this size produce?

Should I build some lamp mover so I have some extra space in height? Or that wouldn't work with a 250W?

I'll include some drawings of the system.

I'm already in debt with those who take their time to check in and help out here and there.

Thank you all!
 

Globule

Member
Hello God!

I used to do horizontal scrog using 250w HPS a few years ago and they don't give off too much heat. Keep plants at least 6" away from a 250w bulb to prevent burning generally.

You can check the heat being produced by putting the back of your hand where the plant canopy is and if it feels uncomfortably hot then your plants are too close. You don't want plants so hot they are crisping up and transpiring heaps of water to keep cool - but not so far away that not enough light gets to them and they stretch or grow fluffy buds.

I don't think a light-mover is necessary for a 250w HPS. If you have extra space have you considered moving up to a 400w bulb instead? More penetration, more space for more buds if you have the extra room - just a thought :biggrin:

I would definitely get some sort of insulation/foilboard in that room too. The extra cost now will pay big dividends when winter comes!

Good luck with your grow GS - I'm tagging along for the ride! Yeehar! :lurk:
 

God_Speed

Member
Thanks for your insight and for tagging in!

I'm gonna remember the 6" with the diameter but what do you think about the height? If I measure it from the socket?
I've got a 600W HPS on the shelf, the reason why I'm choosing the smaller bulb is to not waste too much $ on the electricity bill while I'm learning. As in my last run I reached 0,41gr/w ratio with the 600W bulb with way to much money wasted on bills. Which is the same if I reach 1gr/w on a 250W system. Even though I know compered to the massive setups on the forum my bills are still nothing!
 

Globule

Member
Hey GS,

If you put your plants on the inside of that 40cm diameter ring they are going to grow into that light and burn up unless you do some serious training to tie them back against the screen.

Can I suggest you train the plants outside of the 40cm diameter ring you have in mind instead? Either that or make a 60cm diameter ring if you really want to tie your plants on the inside of the metal ring.

As for height I think 2' vertical height would be optimal, 3' they would be suffering a bit towards the rump-tips I reckon...
 
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God_Speed

Member
Hey G,

Thanks for the info. As I'm still at the drawing board I take every drop of wisdom!

That is the plan to tie the plants to the ring behind them. I looked up the 40cm from the tutorial on this forum probably it's the sweet spot for the buds and not the foliage.
Cheers on adding the height that 2' sounds good!
About the insulation I have some polystirol boards so I'm gonna build a box out of that.

That PPK sounds good I'm gonna look into that as I had a few runs in coco before and loved it, might change my mind on the RDWC.
 

God_Speed

Member
Getting Started

Getting Started

Hey everyone,
Sorry for skipping a few weeks, I was busy building the new site.
So I've sown them sweet little ladies, 5 Big Bud into coco/perlite (50/50) with a bit of dolomite lime in it. So far they stretched a bit but now they are under some T5-s. Probably being busy on building some root mass.

So in the end I tried to mix a few techniques and I came up with the following system.
I'm gonna place them in coco which is top feed but under the pot there's a bucket and all nutes are circulated back.
It's a bit of this and that.
Hopefully it is going to work.
I have a ring of fence with the height and diameter of 60cm with a 250W HPS hanging in the middle.

I'm planning to place 2 of them in their new home after the second or third set of leaves.

From earlier experience with this strain I know it's a heavy stretching type in the first 2-3 weeks of flowering so I'll have to be aware when to flip.

I'm all excited about going vert. I hope to have some insight from you guys along the way.
If I'm about to make some stupid mistakes please help me out with the wisdom you got!

Thanks for all the help in advance!

Pictures are coming in a few days!
 

God_Speed

Member
Cheers man for the info, but luckily I managed to heat up the room to 18'C without the lamp on. So It's not gonna be a problem anymore. No air needed straight from the outside.
 

God_Speed

Member
I'm just about to start the system. Modified it a bit. I've upgraded it with an extra tank(40l) which is connected with a float valve to the reservoir also added an air pump so now I'm gonna have 0,5l/min. As a last touch I've added an external filter for cleaning the res. So hopefully I won't need to change the water too often.
 

God_Speed

Member
Hey Guys,
Finally I could hit the Start button.
I'm gonna show some pics hope to get some insight on my wrong doings
The system is doing Okay, keeping the pH in balance around 5.8-6.0, water level also in balance.
I've placed 2 OG Kush clones from Flowery Field(Vienna).
I've started training them and defoliating.
Tieing them to the net is all right trying to see where they gonna grow.
About defoliating, I can tell so far that first round of plucking of leaves slows them down like hell but after 2 weeks their picking up their speed, and branching out like crazy!

Thank you for any information you pass on!
Good growing for all of you!

 
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