[greentrich]

It's been brought to my attention, and my curiosity is piqued. I am successful with horizontal setups, and I do veg under a 400w HID...but there is ALWAYS something better. However...couple questions before I make the final decision to vert growing:

Gear: Sunhut Large 54" x 35 1/2". 400w HPS and MH digital. Thinking barebulb, or cool/sun tube if necessary. Target of 6 to 8 plants. Using Blumats in 1 or 2 gallon Smartpots growing with Coco drip to waste.

1. The most important question for me is space. Is the tent listed above enough space for a vert setup? I know the width 54" is sufficient, but the 35 1/2" dimension is concerning me. Especially when I see reports that say plants need to be 18" to 22" away from the bulb. If it's not enough space, don't even bother proceeding to the next questions...pointless.

2. Bulb choice. I see a lot of vert growers using CMH bulbs. Is there an advantage to these or should I stay with the conventional MH/HPS combo?

3. Vegging. From what I've read, vegging is pretty much the same method in vert as it is in horizontal. Just orientating the crop differently (circle as opposed to rectangle). Is this true? I typically veg for a month. I have topped in the past but found no advantage to it. I had the same results as far as quantity topping or not topping...didn't matter. Does it matter more in vert?

4. Light dispersion. I understand the theory behind vert providing more light to plants around the bulb. But what about the backside of the plants that just get whatever light happens to make it through the "tree". Do the backside of the plants suffer from lack of light? If so, how are you all taking care of this? Keep in mind I will only be using one light source. This might be a stupid question, but it is a point of concern for me unless someone says otherwise. **Edit: Think I found the answer to this one: just strip the back???

5. Cooling. I sort of touched on this in the opening of the thread. Will a fan down below be enough (yes I have an exhaust system in place for the tent itself) blowing up towards the bulb? Should a "tube" be used to aid in the cooling? Or does it just hinder light output?

I did do a lot of research before coming up with these questions. Read through countless numbers of pages here in the vert section, and took a look at HR's setups. Frankly...his are a little too far from my setup so they don't really help out in regards to my questions. I've read enough lately that my eyes have turned to sand...and I haven't even smoked yet lol! Not to mention it's not that easy to find specific info in this section compared to others...yet, but I did find a lot, some helped, some didn't.

Bring on the knowledge!

GT

[GardenCaress]

you could grow on 3 instead of 4 sides to eliminate that 35" space issue

[Daffy]

1. yes, 2. never used a cmh before, apparently they throw much less heat and no UV, have a better spectrum, can be used with a HPS ballast, produce more par but less lumens.From what I've seen they work great but haven't smoke any CMH nugs so I don't know about the quality. For me the UV radiation is vital. Seems you need the MH for UV. More UV equals better resin production. I think it would work great for veg. I have 1 MH, 2 HPS for flowering. Of course I would like to use more MHs for the UV benefit but heat is a bigger issue for the MH. 3. It's up to you. I think training is best always since it saves growth. 4. Yes it is a problem but it's one that easily remedied. I veg horiz. making my own bonsai(strip the bottom, once their big, face them toward the bulb. Phototropism is different with a horiz veg that a vert veg. The light will always be focused on the tops rather than the sides. Because the plant grow apically it makes for much better buds. Of course there are other solutions which you can research or develop yourself but this is a simple way which only produces tops. Another one that is good is the self rotating pots but I haven't got the ambition to make one maybe later. 5. The best way I have found for controlling temps is controlling the intake air temperature. If you have an abundance of cool/cold air perhaps in the winter or at night in the summer then I think with good air circulation it will be acceptable. If its 90 degrees out at night then you might consider an A/C and a cool tube. Its sort of a tradeoff, cool tube on the plus side offers heat capture, on the downside it captures light. The exposed bulb is harder to capture heat from, but provides more light. So its situational. Try a dry run to see what you need and what you don't. Ideally a bare bulb in a properly cooled environment should see better results.

[greentrich]

Perfect. Thanks Daffy and Garden(never thought of just doing 3 sides!).

Daffy, just the info I was looking for.
Thank you!

[transplant]

Originally Posted by greentrich

It's been brought to my attention, and my curiosity is piqued. I am successful with horizontal setups, and I do veg under a 400w HID...but there is ALWAYS something better. However...couple questions before I make the final decision to vert growing:

Gear: Sunhut Large 54" x 35 1/2". 400w HPS and MH digital. Thinking barebulb, or cool/sun tube if necessary. Target of 6 to 8 plants. Using Blumats in 1 or 2 gallon Smartpots growing with Coco drip to waste.

1. The most important question for me is space. Is the tent listed above enough space for a vert setup? I know the width 54" is sufficient, but the 35 1/2" dimension is concerning me. Especially when I see reports that say plants need to be 18" to 22" away from the bulb. If it's not enough space, don't even bother proceeding to the next questions...pointless.

2. Bulb choice. I see a lot of vert growers using CMH bulbs. Is there an advantage to these or should I stay with the conventional MH/HPS combo?

3. Vegging. From what I've read, vegging is pretty much the same method in vert as it is in horizontal. Just orientating the crop differently (circle as opposed to rectangle). Is this true? I typically veg for a month. I have topped in the past but found no advantage to it. I had the same results as far as quantity topping or not topping...didn't matter. Does it matter more in vert?

4. Light dispersion. I understand the theory behind vert providing more light to plants around the bulb. But what about the backside of the plants that just get whatever light happens to make it through the "tree". Do the backside of the plants suffer from lack of light? If so, how are you all taking care of this? Keep in mind I will only be using one light source. This might be a stupid question, but it is a point of concern for me unless someone says otherwise. **Edit: Think I found the answer to this one: just strip the back???

5. Cooling. I sort of touched on this in the opening of the thread. Will a fan down below be enough (yes I have an exhaust system in place for the tent itself) blowing up towards the bulb? Should a "tube" be used to aid in the cooling? Or does it just hinder light output?

I did do a lot of research before coming up with these questions. Read through countless numbers of pages here in the vert section, and took a look at HR's setups. Frankly...his are a little too far from my setup so they don't really help out in regards to my questions. I've read enough lately that my eyes have turned to sand...and I haven't even smoked yet lol! Not to mention it's not that easy to find specific info in this section compared to others...yet, but I did find a lot, some helped, some didn't.

Bring on the knowledge!

GT

Use cool tubes! you can get plants closer! Rotate plants 1/4 turn every week. Cool tubes much needed for heat issues! I wouldn't dream of going back horizontal!

[transplant]

I do veg horizontal though, a 4x4 table with parabolic reflector.

[redspaghetti]

Originally Posted by greentrich

It's been brought to my attention, and my curiosity is piqued. I am successful with horizontal setups, and I do veg under a 400w HID...but there is ALWAYS something better. However...couple questions before I make the final decision to vert growing:

Gear: Sunhut Large 54" x 35 1/2". 400w HPS and MH digital. Thinking barebulb, or cool/sun tube if necessary. Target of 6 to 8 plants. Using Blumats in 1 or 2 gallon Smartpots growing with Coco drip to waste.

1. The most important question for me is space. Is the tent listed above enough space for a vert setup? I know the width 54" is sufficient, but the 35 1/2" dimension is concerning me. Especially when I see reports that say plants need to be 18" to 22" away from the bulb. If it's not enough space, don't even bother proceeding to the next questions...pointless.

you can use 3 sides of your tent, no problem heres, you can do wall of weed if you want, put a couple plants near the wall, vegg em up then put 3 screen on 3 of the insides of your plant and flower, boom ya got 3 walls of nuggies

2. Bulb choice. I see a lot of vert growers using CMH bulbs. Is there an advantage to these or should I stay with the conventional MH/HPS combo?
i like CMH, but the only make 400 ? i'll go with 1k mh if i want superb buds, hps if i want heavy yield so up to ya!

3. Vegging. From what I've read, vegging is pretty much the same method in vert as it is in horizontal. Just orientating the crop differently (circle as opposed to rectangle). Is this true? I typically veg for a month. I have topped in the past but found no advantage to it. I had the same results as far as quantity topping or not topping...didn't matter. Does it matter more in vert?

^

4. Light dispersion. I understand the theory behind vert providing more light to plants around the bulb. But what about the backside of the plants that just get whatever light happens to make it through the "tree". Do the backside of the plants suffer from lack of light? If so, how are you all taking care of this? Keep in mind I will only be using one light source. This might be a stupid question, but it is a point of concern for me unless someone says otherwise. **Edit: Think I found the answer to this one: just strip the back???

5. Cooling. I sort of touched on this in the opening of the thread. Will a fan down below be enough (yes I have an exhaust system in place for the tent itself) blowing up towards the bulb? Should a "tube" be used to aid in the cooling? Or does it just hinder light output?

i'll go cool tubes if i dont have AC, if i do i'll hang it bare turn on the ac and the scrubber

I did do a lot of research before coming up with these questions. Read through countless numbers of pages here in the vert section, and took a look at HR's setups. Frankly...his are a little too far from my setup so they don't really help out in regards to my questions. I've read enough lately that my eyes have turned to sand...and I haven't even smoked yet lol! Not to mention it's not that easy to find specific info in this section compared to others...yet, but I did find a lot, some helped, some didn't.

Bring on the knowledge!

GT

cheers,
red.

[Shcrews]

haha good call w/ that 3-sided vert grow -

are u just gonna use one 400? you could put 2 or 3 and have sum **walls**

[greentrich]

are u just gonna use one 400? you could put 2 or 3 and have sum **walls**

IF I go vert this time, just one 400 for now. Might bump it up to a 600, don't know yet. Don't think I have the cooling capacity for two lamps.

Thanks for stopping by Red, appreciate the tips.

[redspaghetti]

Originally Posted by greentrich

IF I go vert this time, just one 400 for now. Might bump it up to a 600, don't know yet. Don't think I have the cooling capacity for two lamps.

Thanks for stopping by Red, appreciate the tips.

No problems m8,

If this is your first dance with vert, i say you go with 400, you will learn so much with your first run,

how to keep temp down
how to make sure air flow in ya tent
growing style
strains that could be use for your growing style

after ya got all that down with no hiccups, then ya bump it to 600, you'll learn a few more things when running the 600 vs 400, now once you're done with 600 you move up to 1k

After you done with the 1k, you will have very solid imagination and ideas for you next run with vert.

Take it slow, step by step, and plans everything out, It is a way to make sure you wont fail, only success!

Dont strike for perfection strike for success because there are always fear that lurk behind perfection

cheers,
red.