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Thinking Vertically 101 : The Build & Grow

mojave green

rockin in the free world
Veteran
Ir are a little confused on that snail as well....
that snail peels right open.
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easy to roll away in the corner for cleanup
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Jaden

Member
Hej there. It seems it's been a couple of days without an answer... an obvious one :biggrin: what you see in the picture is the outside of the reflector, which is reflective inside and black outside :joint: otherwise he'd have to roll it the opposite way around.

Anyway, this makes me think of a cool microgrow project: why not equipping that snail with an upper lid with extraction and possibly an hangin' humidifier? Might it work with a smaller bulb? :biggrin: Invention time baby!
 

Boyd Crowder

Teem MiCr0B35
Okee dokee - Im pulling into the final week of my flower and just ordered the light mover. Im thinking of expanding too. the wifey said i could build out my room by 16 more sqft. Im of the belief 40sqft is better than 24. I also have a hunch my 3 600w will do great in this setup. Im prolly not gonna like the xtra work of daily training or what not, but if i can start getting closer to a gpw , ill be better off than where i am at now.

Im also a little nervous about being an organic guy, what with all the hydro genius' doing this. I kinda didnt think this would be an issue , but in my research, I havent found many others doing this in soil.

I think itll work tho , and itll be a great time to learn more techniques. I did a lil experiment a few weeks back. I popped 5 little 12" clones i had laying around into flower, in .75gl pots. kinda just to see what would happen and kinda to have a lil smoke in between this batch and the upcoming vertical experiement. They are looking a little weird but not unmageable,and they seem to like the fish sauce more than anything, teas or topdressings, they like "meh?" One kool thing is my buddy found a seed in his stash of girl scout cookies, so i chucked it and got a girl, go figz.. Im gonna say , she sure looks like a gsc in structure so far. shes really frosty as well, compared to my existing stock.

Anyways, we are just about ready to start this thread up, so Ihope you guys stick around for the show.
 

rykus

Member
I'll post pics of my stacked or staggered bulb rooms, that is what I do for long narrow but tall.

Basically the idea is to get a maximum surface area per light, so the extra floor space wouldn't ensure extra yield with the same light, but would make it way easier.

I would use tall narrow pots like 7gal buckets and do a row down each side, probably 5 plants a side for 10', and one at each end then some little guys on the floor that get moved in and out as a bonus. If it where me I'd probably hang my fist light 2.5' from wall and 2' from ceiling, next light another 2.5' but 3' from ceiling, and final light 2.5' from middle light/back wall and 2' from ceiling again. Rather that mesh I would run 2-3 lines the length of the room on either side about 18-24" apart at bulb heights to stop burn(stakes in end plants) and just tuck in branches that could burn.

The biggest single factor other that avoiding full death scenarios is turning the plants a quarter turn every day or 2. This will seriously up yield at least 30% when light is vertical and only hits plants from limited angles. The mesh with catch more buds and break more branches. Some strains might do well to be shaped like hedging cedar to avoid long branches getting tangled.

Good luck and fill it IMO, I'd veg half and cut half every month if your veg can handle half in full size pots.... But I guess you know how my mind works,lol.
 

Miraculous Meds

Well-known member
Hey Boyd, let me address the organic topic a moment with ya. Don't worry about going organic n vert, its fine. The main difference is the organic people will speak to a healthier tastier product. while I like organic, there are a lot of misconceptions about quality vs chem nutes imo. The chem people will speak to speed of growth, which I believe to be undeniable. So all ur really giving up is speed of growth. Probably a little bit on max potential yield, mainly due to speed of growth too.

Now all due respect to rykus for sharing, but I disagree with his turning the plant suggestion. Ive done this experiment n seen several very successful growers speak on the subject. All the ones I follow n my own experience tell me that its better to prune branches that don't come into the canopy sweet spot instead of rotating the plant. Rotating the plant just spreads the weight more evenly, instead of just leaving it where it sits, n getting bigger buds on the branches in the sweet spot.

Rykus, when growing vert from a single horizontal bulb placement, where the light source only hits 180 degrees of the plant, I suggest trying to prune the branches that grow on the opposite side of the light source instead of rotating the plant. If u can bring a sturdy desirable branch from the back to the front in the canopy by bending n replacing/pruning out a weak branch already in front, that's desirable too. Otherwise if u prune out all the branches that don't get good light, the plant will focus that energy into the branches in the sweet spot, n u will gain that 20 to 30% that u were talking about without ever turning the plant, n have larger buds with less trimming to do, than when ur rotating the plant.
 

rykus

Member
Sounds good in theory my friend and for a long while I did agree, but after side by side experiments running almost 200 lights over 7 houses I can assure you the work load is higher and yield is lower to properly strip and arrange branches....

If you start early and also bend the branches down instead of stripping you will save time and money and increase yield.

I call it fluffing, but I turn 90* (180 gives you 2 dead zones) then pull all the branches down and out to light.

You can look at some of my other posts if your not sure if I'm full of shit but like most of us, in my mind I'm not,lol.

Getting great growth and yield with full organics right now.... Usually recommend both but the full meal deal is working wonders for me right now too, reusing dirt is making me happy!
 

Miraculous Meds

Well-known member
Sounds good in theory my friend and for a long while I did agree, but after side by side experiments running almost 200 lights over 7 houses I can assure you the work load is higher and yield is lower to properly strip and arrange branches....

If you start early and also bend the branches down instead of stripping you will save time and money and increase yield.

I call it fluffing, but I turn 90* (180 gives you 2 dead zones) then pull all the branches down and out to light.

You can look at some of my other posts if your not sure if I'm full of shit but like most of us, in my mind I'm not,lol.

I believe ur experiences. theres more than one way to grow successfully. I still find that pruning is easier than rotating every couple days. But im glad u found a way that works for ya. Sounds like u do a lot of turning.

Maybe running that many lights makes it easier on the workload vs proper pruning of that many lights. Ive yet to try that much light, so I might chose the easier to manage way too. I haven't seen anybody hit the kind of yields though doing the turning vs pruning methods.
 

Miraculous Meds

Well-known member
Ill also add that what I think we are coming down to here is the difference in growing large vs growing medium/small weight. when growing large it becomes about net dollars made per year. So yield per crop becomes less important than number of crops. Whatever adds up to more profit in a given year. When dealing with limited plant counts, or energy consumption, then extra time in pruning might be more beneficial.

Last post by me on this subject, sorry for the side track boyd.
 

Boyd Crowder

Teem MiCr0B35
Ok so im already organic - i know 2 of my strains but i havent flowered the other two - gg4 and a gg4xxx & i do know the gg4 is gonna stretch a bit .

I was trying to move away from stadalone plants and put some fencing along the walls to support my leggy girls. my width is only 4 ft. im using ten gl pots so ill have room for maybe 8-14 if i went that way. so just getting around the pots is 16" of space if i line the walls. one of my strains will get 6+' tall free standing

so since 2 of my bulbs will be on the rail and moving up and down 3' or so i figured the sucker shit i usually trim off will produce buds i usually toss out

this will be fun i think , and hopefully ill have help along the way from you guys

rykus, could you drop some pics on me with some examples?
 

rykus

Member
Sure will, I'll be back over there fri sat, so I'll get pics and try n show a few angles. The light mover is a great idea, just I'd be certain to attach a back up line that would stop it from ever dropping or what not.

I use to heavily strip all my plants and didn't turn any side walls. For a good while I would cut the branches right off the back and tie every branch up nice....

I got sick of being dependant on workers, watching make work projects drain my personal enthusiasm... Anyways the best yields and highest quality so far over 23 years is organic trees that are healthy and never root bound or stressed, I've seen some great hydro buckets but many failures, and aeroponic tables.... Seems to me the common theme is good air to roots and healthy nutrient availability, and low stress. But to get the yields in dirt I had to turn and bend my branches down starting in early flower set(day 10-30) to let the light in, the turning and bending down strengthens the branch and where it joins the main stalk, so then so tieing.... Just an evolving system I've been doing over 7-8 years, but you really start to learn fast when lots going on, if something works in one place in weeks it's a part of the program or tested thoroughly in multiple spots.... Exponential learning.
 

Boyd Crowder

Teem MiCr0B35
hey my light mover came in early today woot
i broke some stuff down and mounted it using the pulley n stuff and ..... it sucks, dangit
I cant seem to get it set up without it jamming up. gonna hit marlo up for some suggestions

anyways , i hung 2 600's and picked up a couple honeywell knockoffs to place underneath the bulbs

now i have a 4" intake/fan feeding into the room from the veg room
a 4" exhaust from my 8" exhaust / ac exhaust going into the carbon filter in the attic and.......
my room is 10* cooler smh

I cut about 2/3 of my harvest down on wednesday night, by this afternoon , they were crispy and dry, the rh in the house is ~30% and i can never get a nice slow dry in my rack, guess cause i trimmed wet the c99 and gg4xx were at 41% & 33% weight loss for about 17 zips. I still have ~600gr of bud on the vine im letting go another week to see how that extra 7 days effect the buzz. i chopped both of these at ~10-15% amber maybe 10% clear. gonna keep a close eye on its cure , as its all been vacpacd away nicely, im hoping we gets no mold in there, so i prolly will chuck it all in the freezer just in case

Tbh, I feel the borg cost me an extra week or more, it wasnt much , but they dont want neem or azo in flower at all, but thats better than bugz. Im currently borg free and will prolly juice down the fam before they go into flower next week
 

shrugthisatlas

New member
Hello you awesome growers!

I've been checking out lots of vertical grow stuff and am ready to get going.
:tiphat:Hats of to all of you who take the time to share your knowledge and experiences with everyone out there. Thanks! You've inspired me:dance013:

I'm lovin your set up Boyd - Your harvest sounds awesome.
I want to get those results!


All this stuff just gets me goin!

I have a 4 x 4 x 8 cabinet I made and after a few horizontal grows I'm ready for vertical.
I plan a single 600w and three walls of green. I'm just a bit worried that 4x4 is to small for vert tho - I;m worried the lamp will burn the plants, but looking at the pics it seems to work pretty well!

I have started 3 Blue Dreams and three Afghan (free from herbies:)). There going to end up in coco in 8lt fabric pots. Poss drip fed- been checkin out HGO and Aeros
The plan is to have the tall Blue Dreams and the shorter Afghanis filling the walls with the use of some netting on the walls.

I'm thinkin I should put a wire screen round the lamp like mojave does..
Not sure tho. I love the little trellises ichabod made too!
Do I need a light mover with a single bulb?
Any advice for a room this size much appreciated.
Thanks
 

Boyd Crowder

Teem MiCr0B35
Hello you awesome growers!

I've been checking out lots of vertical grow stuff and am ready to get going.
:tiphat:Hats of to all of you who take the time to share your knowledge and experiences with everyone out there. Thanks! You've inspired me:dance013:

I'm lovin your set up Boyd - Your harvest sounds awesome.
I want to get those results!


All this stuff just gets me goin!

I have a 4 x 4 x 8 cabinet I made and after a few horizontal grows I'm ready for vertical.
I plan a single 600w and three walls of green. I'm just a bit worried that 4x4 is to small for vert tho - I;m worried the lamp will burn the plants, but looking at the pics it seems to work pretty well!

I have started 3 Blue Dreams and three Afghan (free from herbies:)). There going to end up in coco in 8lt fabric pots. Poss drip fed- been checkin out HGO and Aeros
The plan is to have the tall Blue Dreams and the shorter Afghanis filling the walls with the use of some netting on the walls.

I'm thinkin I should put a wire screen round the lamp like mojave does..
Not sure tho. I love the little trellises ichabod made too!
Do I need a light mover with a single bulb?
Any advice for a room this size much appreciated.
Thanks

hello shrug, welcome to the mag!

the wire mesh around the bulb is prolly a good idea, i will be trying this myself as i get going
i dont think you willl need a mover at all, i think that 600 will be perfect.
Im not sure how i would do a mesh in there , but maybe something like vortex roll of fencing on the inside might be where id start, or maybe line three walls with some mesh and have a couple freestanding smaller girls you can move in and out for training might be ok as well

So Im thinking instead of pulling laterally on the mover against some pullys, i might stack the 2 bulbs and have the mover sweep the room instead. this would prolly work out fine im thinking.
but ill test it out and see if theres any cooling issues with this method.

On with the SHITSHOW!

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Boyd Crowder

Teem MiCr0B35
S you can see the temps are much lower, but ima need some warmer weather to see how that affects things.

made some hangers for the bulbs outta coat hangers, works ok ,i think. need to throw some caribeeners on there replacing the hooks.
 

shrugthisatlas

New member
Thanks for the advice and pictures.

I'm totally new to the whole vert thing so I'm just soaking up as much info as I can. Your pics really help me get an idea of set ups.

I've only grown in soil before - organic, so the whole coco hydro thing is a bit of a step for me also.
I'm half thinkin of just sticking with soil,but I've got the gear now and am going for it..
I have a wilma 4 pot hdyro set up. it fits in the room with a foot to spare.
Do you think I could use it for a verticle grow, or would the plants be too close together and close to the bulb?
Or could I just train them back to the walls?
I have the plants under a T5 for now, but I intend to get the 600 going when they're a bit bigger.

Lookin at your mover - I thiought of it as an up/down rather than side to side.-Def dont need that in 4x4!$
 

Boyd Crowder

Teem MiCr0B35
personally, im done with hydro ftm. i did the whole dwc thing and prefer the flavor and ease of water only. Im sure your rig will work fine
im not sure about the mover on pullys yet. marlo managed to pull it off, but i need to fiddle with it more myslef....
Id train against the walls for more space around the bulb myself.
 

420ish

Active member

here is how i run my 2 600 hps .i like tieing to walls and have a rack for in front of the door that swings out.
i am running a ppk hydro set up with no problems at all for 6 cycles so far
 

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