24/7 flower room!

BrianDirt · Oct 24, 2013

Anyone have any info on running a flower room 24/7. The idea would be to move plants from the flower room into a dark room and move the plants from the dark room into the flower room. The theroy would be that what good is all your gear sitting in the dark doing nothing for half the day, when not much is needed in a dark period other than ventelation and cooling.

I can grow 24 plants and flower 12 at a time so lets say I run a small flower chamber to hold 6 flowering plants and in the same room build a dark box with venting big enough to fit six flowering plants. Put the plants on some kind of rolling cart with a drain and not much else. Roll them in and out of each chamber at the 12 hr mark and you double you production and can harvest every month if you want! Now just do it in a warehouse and you see the bigger payoffs. Thoughts?

dankworth · Oct 24, 2013

Do it once, get your results out of it, and buy duplicate equipment for room B.
Did it once with a 2400 watt gig. It was okay for about 10 or 11 days. Fucking hated it the rest of the time.
Had a lot of things to do besides manually flip a room 2x a day at that time though.

It will work. Being an hour off one day is survivable and can be corrected.

bat_j · Oct 24, 2013

BrianDirt said:
Anyone have any info on running a flower room 24/7. The idea would be to move plants from the flower room into a dark room and move the plants from the dark room into the flower room. The theroy would be that what good is all your gear sitting in the dark doing nothing for half the day, when not much is needed in a dark period other than ventelation and cooling.

I can grow 24 plants and flower 12 at a time so lets say I run a small flower chamber to hold 6 flowering plants and in the same room build a dark box with venting big enough to fit six flowering plants. Put the plants on some kind of rolling cart with a drain and not much else. Roll them in and out of each chamber at the 12 hr mark and you double you production and can harvest every month if you want! Now just do it in a warehouse and you see the bigger payoffs. Thoughts?

I have done it once, and got great results concerning the yield, but as dankworth said, it requires a lot of effort, that might have been put into good use for something else more important. It does double the harvest, though.

BrianDirt · Oct 24, 2013

Alot of work/effort in my book = $$$

But this could be easy enough that the wife could push a cart around and move the other and be done. My club asked for at least half a pound at a time for purchace! Not sure what others buy at, but I think my meds could beat out some mould/fungus/bug/grass/hay smelling funk bud any day of the week! So thats what I am thinking about doing.

Camdawg · Oct 24, 2013

Why not just use a flip flop?

ttystikk · Oct 24, 2013

Okay, so here's an idea; set up your plants in carts. These carts are on rails, enough carts to hold all the plants under the lights in your bloom space. Now, build another set of carts just like the first. Build rails so the carts will move back and forth, sharing the grow space. Use heavy curtains at either end around the two 'dark rooms' for light control, and use curtain style reflective material- like used for tents- to reflect light back into the grow space. I would bet that there is a way to automate this carousel to go back and forth, sharing the same bloom room.

It's a lot more expensive, and uses half again more space than just building a second bloom room...

Same goes for building a rail system for the lighting to roll between rooms. As a model train buff, I feel strangely tempted...

sgt. schultz · Oct 25, 2013

Camdawg said:
Why not just use a flip flop?

Flip flop requires double the equipment and then some, plus extra space. Dark plants can be jammed in, lighted ones need more space. On start up budgets all that is crucial.

ttystikk · Oct 25, 2013

sgt. schultz said:
Flip flop requires double the equipment and then some, plus extra space. Dark plants can be jammed in, lighted ones need more space. On start up budgets all that is crucial.

If you're poor but dedicated, this can be an excellent tactic. Helps you get and stay tuned in to your plants, too.

Camdawg · Oct 25, 2013

Okay I've been thinking about this since I woke up. If you buy carts big enough to do the job youre gonna be spending the same as for a flip flop, this is a ballpark guess if im way off tell me. If you're going to move those plants one at a time I'd do big pots and use a skateboard to wheel them around. Make sure you can fit the plants through where ever you need to move them like a doorway.

BrianDirt · Oct 25, 2013

Yeah thanks for the info and ideas, I would love to have carts for the plants, My back is killing me after moving the 5 gal pot atm. To make the cart I have not priced yet but 2x4, wheels, screws and some kind of plastic sheeting for the bottoms so it can drain in to a pan after watering. I like the curtain idea I use 2 blue tarps (green maybe better) as a kind of light barrier. I am all set up and growing atm so just tring to adjust a little and make my setup a little more commercial friendy production wise. I have a veg and flower setup so it would be easy to add to it.
I used a corner of a room ran the tarps at 6 ft square and then made a litlle half box out of a 4x8 ply and put it to the corner and have a little 4x4 top and bottom open box. So with carts and a box in the other corner for a dark spot and two cart would not be too much to do.

darkmatter · Oct 25, 2013

That would drive me nuts quick.ive done some juggling but doing that 100 percent I think I'd stroke out.

Jboys3 · Oct 25, 2013

Carts, tracks, curtains, lights, and flips. Too deep for me...

Good Luck with the plan. Let us know how you do.

ttystikk · Oct 25, 2013

Furniture dollies are available cheap at thrift stores around here, or make some from old furniture and plywood or 2x4 lumber. I'm no stranger to being cheap, and I'm much more proud of my scrapyard scrounges than shiny storebought shit!

I've McGuyvered up stuff and left pics all over this forum, lol

dankworth · Oct 25, 2013

Hook up irrigation manifolds and a drain arrangement that connect to pvc supply and drain tubes against the wall. Uncouple feed and drain lines every 12 hours. Furniture moving dollies from Harbor Freight are cheaper than Home Depot casters.

AlterEgo860 · Oct 28, 2013

Camdawg said:
Why not just use a flip flop?

why the hell would u do all that work.. wen u can set up the same system. and make a flip flop.. and be good to go .

if ur willing to do that every day.. y not just buy another hood and bulb. and just switch the hood to ballast manually flip flop it .. ive had to do it wen a ballast blew recently.

homebrew420 · Nov 1, 2013

You can do it! You won't want to though. Especially after week4. Maybe it will be worth it.

Good luck

neverbreak · Nov 1, 2013

reckon beds with casters would be the way to go. way too much work for me, but if that's what double harvest is worth to ya, go for it!

neverbreak

ttystikk · Nov 1, 2013

Just because this is my obsession, I laid awake in bed the other night thinking about putting the entire lighting system on a light rail, and having it move back and forth between two separate rooms through a curtain that blocks light spillage. It would move from one end of its track to the other once every twelve hours and sit there.

midwestdensies · Nov 1, 2013

Much better idea ty!

ttystikk · Nov 1, 2013

midwestdensies said:
Much better idea ty!

I still don't see how this would be less expensive than just getting two sets of lights, especially once all the fabrication work and building modification work is factored in.

24/7 flower room!

24/7 flower room!

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