[Anti]

Ok. I decided to stay sober while working in Sketchup today so that I could get this thing right.

Please, please, PLEASE tell me I got these lights in the right place!

I measured from the outside edge of the top tier to the outside edge of the top tier on the other end, then I divided by 3 and placed the lights there. (77.375 inches / 3 = 25.7916 inches) So i put each bulb 25.79 inches from the outer edge of the upper tier.

(PS - they are centered above the cutouts. It's merely the angle of the camera in sketchup that make them look like they're off-center.)

[Anti]

So once I get the new house (moving in next month) and I figure out where I want to put it I'll basically be building a "room" for it to go in. Does anyone have any suggestions as to how tall the ceiling should be or whether I should leave any extra room "behind" the setup?

I was considering getting a piece of sheet metal and making a dome ceiling with an exhaust duct right in the center at the top. Does anyone think there are any reasons not to make a curved roof like that? If you think I should go with 90 flat roof, how high above the canopy do you think it needs to sit?

Something like this:



I've got a month to play around with this in sketchup but I want to get it complete so I can start budgeting for the supplies.


I'm planning to have it be modular so that I can pull out one two-tiered, eight plant unit at a time for watering and haircuts and whatnot.

[bobblehead]

If Anti can run plants in the corner, then why not put a table between the lights too? Make it happen Anti. Can't wait to see what you come up with. Building thing doesn't always go like it does on paper, so be sure to leave room to improvise...

[Marlo]

Originally Posted by DHF

Gotta respectfully disagree on the corner plants position Marlo , cuz it`s establishing a "fully developed" sideways canopy , and He`s runnin budsicles , not actual plants that could per chance grow into each other and potentially be counterproductive as you say.....

I agree, with the right strain, budsicles will probably behave well enough to stay uniform. But the problem i see is this.....

Look at Anti's pic below, (looks dank btw) the cola itself is just as wide as the container, but the plant spreads out a few inches in each direction. Now imagine another plant on either side 1" away, and there you have your overlap. Considering that, if you look at the 3 plants that make up each of the corners in the design, the corner plant will be shaded quite a bit by its neighbors. The spaces between the plants are smaller than the plants themselves. Even the most extreme SOG's don't do that. At least none that I've seen, but I haven't been doin this as long as u bro!

Originally Posted by Anti

Serious AK-47 budsicles in 2.5"x2.5"x10" tree pots:

But I'm not really bashing the plant in the corners idea. I think lowering the plant count 20-25% would help. I'd just remove those corners 1st, along with about 20+ more and give everyone some elbow room.

Heaths vert sog's always started with some space between the plants. Either the containers were bigger (providing space), or the holes in the pipes were spread out some. Yet the plants always manage to fill the entire canopy, and yield like a muh fucka.


Bottom line Anti, you gotta get this shit done so we can see what the hell is gonna happen.

[Maj.Cottonmouth]

Originally Posted by Marlo

Bottom line Anti, you gotta get this shit done so we can see what the hell is gonna happen.

Looks like a great plan so far but I agree with Marlo and think less would be more. Best of luck with this, I am really looking forward to how it works out.

[StealthDragon]

hiya anti!

First off wow! I love your designs man...it made my night to stumble across this. Amazing engineering skills man...I'm just gonna throw all my thoughts out here since you want to hear what ppl are thinking I'm all about making things easy to clean and fix or modify later..so I kinda lean that way in advice

here's a few thoughts...first you talk about keeping the containers secure..I think it seems like alot of work to try to make all those square holes...I see you said they're easy to make but how easy to clean? Are the side supports necessary? I mean I'd just go with a front "bar" that holds the rows in place. I assume you have a bunch of the tree pots and you could just stick one in between as a placeholder if there's an empty spot so that the plant doesn't fall sideways. This way you also have the flexibility of removing the bar/lightshield for cleaning and stuff and you could also slide an entire row down a slot if ya know what I mean. I do a long plank of wood that just slots into place so you can pull it out easily later for cleaning.
..another thought I had was metal walls and magnets on the back side of the pots...no shelves..just flat metal walls...nice and open and you could "stick" plants anywhere you want. That's kinda a completely different design though.
...another thought I had was just fastening clips behind each treepot and cliping it to the back of the pot.....again I'm all about the easy cleaning and open environment for good airflow.

That 's a ton of plants..I strongly recommend something automated...like maybe a mini flood and drain or nft. I think blumats would be more work then they'd be worth with that many plants man. They're awesome but dialing in that many of them and the price of getting that many...I think you'd be better off with just timered watering or regular drippers. Gutters are also a good idea..they seem about the perfect size..waterproof..angle pieces..downspouts..etc..

On the lighting, I like the first placement.(sorry!)..squared with the side walls, also I'd hang the bulbs tip down and cover the floor with plants as well. If you don't cover the floor with plants for some reason then I'd switch the bulbs to tips up..ah, nm I didn't see #'s were so high, so mount them tips up so the light reflects off the ceiling instead of the floor. I also agree with justwatchin on the cmh, I've used them for over a year and they're a good bulb and great for veg but I personally found the buds to be slightly smaller and leafier....I recommend at least running a cheapo hps on one side (on the first run) and check it out for yourself...the opposing far walls will show you the difference in bud structure. If you were running 3 bulbs in there I'd say make the middle one cmh..but with just 2 I'd go with hps's...cheapo hps too, nothing fancy....just cycle em out when necessary. I think my cmh buds were slightly more frosty but also way leafier which is gonna get trimmed off anyways hard to fully explain but overall I feel I get more quality with hps..ie, bigger calyxes and less leaves.

hmmm..I'd put doors on both sides, or if it just opening from the front attach some of the racks directly to the doors....that would be really cool...like refrigerator door style. Whatever you decide to do for doors, or if you leave room to walk around it...make it easy access...I really like the dome idea too.

Might want to do something with a cool tube in such a tight area...or at least leave an option open to install one later if necessary.

Man...now that I'm looking over the pics again...this thing looks like it's about the size of a bed...or would fit under one ...might be jacked up a little...but you could put some fake drawers on the side...oh wait new, bigger house...but still been working on my bed idea for years...hmmm..

[Anti]

Originally Posted by Marlo

Look at Anti's pic below, (looks dank btw) the cola itself is just as wide as the container, but the plant spreads out a few inches in each direction. Now imagine another plant on either side 1" away, and there you have your overlap. Considering that, if you look at the 3 plants that make up each of the corners in the design, the corner plant will be shaded quite a bit by its neighbors. The spaces between the plants are smaller than the plants themselves. Even the most extreme SOG's don't do that. At least none that I've seen, but I haven't been doin this as long as u bro!

I have been considering on my own whether or not to add a bit more space between plants.

In my CFL cab, I pack them all in right on top of each other (not even giving them the .75" space between one another.) I figured vert HID would penetrate better than my horizontal CFLs, so I figured packing them in close together wouldn't be an issue.

Bottom line Anti, you gotta get this shit done so we can see what the hell is gonna happen.

I'm dying to see it myself.

Thanks for all the help and encouragement guys. When I pull the first harvest in, it will be thanks to your help and advice.

[Marlo]

That 1st harvest in a new setup is priceless. It'll show you exactly what went right or wrong. Whatever you decide to do, I'm sure there will be a big jump in efficiency by the 2nd run.

[TruthOrLie]

Seems like a lot of work. I didn't read it all so maybe I missed it.

Do you believe these budsickles would out produce 10-20 larger plants in the same space?

Or is this more for a perpetual type thing?

[justwatchin]

I think he's doing perpetual which means he can pack plants together and space them out at appropriate places. I don't see crowding being a problem with perpetual buds just develop differently on plant. The plant develops more on the top from earlier crowding. That along with mover and good air when it gets packed it won't be a problem.

One thing I would do though is leave both ends open and have air flowing from one side with fan on intake down the middle like NortherFarmer does. Put the fan of the filter on a dimmer so that you can turn it up as things get crowded. And buy a filter and fan twice the size of recommendation. Your gonna have to deal with that humidity that comes with packing it in and you can't do that from top venting. This will also allow you so cool lights with ease.

On the design aspect I would also add 2 more shelves. All 4" apart vertically. A 400 is ment to cover a 4foot space so 3" a shelf x 4shelves you should be fine. As far as the height, you can get as close as 9" without a problem with those CMH. Direct cooling maybe even better. So shooting for 12 in colas, fitting a big enough filter at 1 end (can 9000)(or even a 66 on dimmer till things are crowded I would think). Your canopy will end up being 2' 4" tall and 12" wide on each side. Leaving a six inch gap between sides that's 2.5 feet total with. I'm sure the 400 can cover that with bulb as high as center of top canopy. Now add the mover and appropriate space for adjusting light just in case, I would go with 3' 10" tall.

As far as leaning into the bulb, you would have to rotate plants a quarter everytime you water which should be about every 2days using 1:4 perlite/coco mix. The high amount of perlite in the mix actually holds more water believe it or not with dunking.

As far as your actual shelf design. I think something that would allow you to leave it in .5-1 inch of water everytime you water would be appropriate as the plants pass 30days watering. Everyday is a pain in the ass. Plants actually respond appropriately from the bottom feeding by sending more roots down there and giving you better growth up top. And with the roots crowding the bottom in those small containers you will find that the plants also finish a wk or 2 faster and you will also find that sativa's are perfect for this system.