8k+ watt Vertical Tree Grow, soilless

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istari72

istari72

44
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8k+ watt
Vertical Tree Grow
soilless

Bobrosstrees



Greetings and Welcome fellow farmers! Thanks for coming :) I have decided to start my first grow thread! Though I am admitedly posting a little late as I am already almost halfway through flowering, this will serve as a bonus for us short-term attention folks. Comments, questions, and other positive means of participation is certainly encouraged. Let's get straight to it.

Grow Room Dimensions:
22 x 11 x 10 building
Panda plastic covers walls
layout picture will be provided next posting

Lighting:
2x 1000w Eye Hortilux MH bulbs
1x 1000w PlantMax Dual Arc bulb (I broke the other one ffs)
5x 1000w Eye Hortilux Super HPS bulbs
overhead Green Floodlight and green LED headlamp for 'lights out' work

Side Lighting:
4x 105w CFL's with Hydrofarm Vertical CFL Mogul base fixtures (fixtures only rated to 100 watts but 105'3 are ok per Hydrofarm tech).

Ballasts:
4x ipower digital, dimmable 4-6-10k ballasts
2x SunSytems 1000w HPS ballasts
2x Generic 1000w MH ballasts

Ventilation:
6x 8" cool tubes (one circuit of 4, one circuit of 2)
Heavy Duty Insulated 8" ducting
2x Valueline 8" fans

Environmental Control:
2x floor fans on opposite sides of room
6x Econoline wall mounted circulation fans (3x 18", 3x 16"; 18's far superior)
2x common dehumidifiers with 5 gallon DIY resevior
Green Aire CO2 burner
10k BTU window mount A/C
Heater on thermostat (to maintain 70 degrees at night)

Strains: Elephant, Querkle (3 phenotypes), Cheese, Crticial +
(next round will be OG Raskal's White Fire, Paradise's White Berry, and Critical Bilbo, and hopefully Gage Green Group's Dumbo (Grape Stomper Bx), Sun Maiden, and Purple Snowman)

Nutrients:
Advanced Nutrients A and B
Hygrozyme
Carboload
Vitamin B1
wetting agent
occassional CalMag
Bud Blood – first week of flower
Big Bud – flowering weeks 2-4
OverDrive – flowering 5-6
Ph: originally 6.5, reduced to 5.5 (*based upon runoff)
PPM: 800-1000 ppm, raised to 1350 ppm beginning of week 4

Tea: appx. 10-14 day intervals
Companion Microbial Inoculant
Sulpher Free Molasses
Great White Myochorizae
Vegetative: Mexican Bat Guano + Maxicrop
Flowering: AN Tea + Budswell

Containers and Medium:
32 gallon Trash cans on dollies, holes drilled in bottom, lid inversed and serves as drain tray between can and dolly
Excess nute water wet vacuumed out of lid drain trays
Sunshine Mix #4
Each can has 3 custom perforated 1/2" PVC pipes for improved drainage, top of pipes sealed to prevent blockage
No gravel at bottom of containers!

Experience: 15 years

Intital Pictures:
02/21-28/12

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I had some serious droop/'ram horn'/leaf curl here which was sigificantly anxiety producing. Quick smoke break, adjustment to musical selection, and I'm at it! Possible issues which may have been causing this problem which would have to be excluded, one by one, included root rot problem, oversaturation and/or compaction issues, poor O2 at root level, Ph/PPM/nutrient problems, lumen shock....I had to ferret these out.

Fixes:
Hanna meter was not working properly, replaced it.
installed perforated 1/2" PVC pipe, sealed at top, installed 3x per can for improved drainage.
Did H2O2 flush individually, followed 4 days later with Tea

***Primary issue, however, was........Lumen Shock. I took plants directly from 2x 1000k watt MH horizontally positioned lights to suddenly being broadsided by Six horizontally positioned 1000k's...took me five days to put this together, raised lights 2 feet and observed a dramatic difference by the next day. I slowly lowered them for period of 4 more days and they were good to go. My experience has clearly demonstrated to me that Lumen Shock is no myth!

02/28/12

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my working view :)




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all other pix up to present in next posts....


Lessons/Possibilities thus far...

+ Smart pot fabric incorporated into trash cans? eg. Line inside of cans with fabric after drilling holes of some form, shape, etc. On side of cans to imporve root conditions?
+ Regarding Innoculants, i'm now under the impression that once them critters have colonized the roots, they're home. Keep the carbs coming, don't kill 'em with chlorine or H2O2, and they're good.
+will incorporate hydroton into SS#4 mix next round, while I become familiar with under current hydro system.
+I'm investigating nutrients in a more thorough manner to determine if high priced nutes like AN are price effective, and what alternatives are available...will keep posted in future

Pending Changes
+will be adding another ipower 1000k lamp with 1000k Eye Super HPS bulb in vented 8" "Ocho" overhead reflector – haven't decided placement yet...

Next posts will include all other pictures and comments to date. Thanks for showing up, and take care of yourselves and each other.

Istari72
 
southstreets

southstreets

1,480
113
You do any super cropping 2 these or just let them go?
 
T

TECK

Guest
Off topic: please check the image upload guide I made.
It explains how to use the new features to display all images nice. :)
 
istari72

istari72

44
18
You do any super cropping 2 these or just let them go?
Lots of topping, bending, pruning, training...these plants were in veg for awhile so I had plenty of time to encourage lots of tops. I even have some branches that are oriented downwards as a bit of an experiment. I recently removed a good deal of fan and smaller leaves from the majority of plants to minimize shading and increase airflow. I'm presently on an anti-popcorn crusade, so it's all about them tops.
 
istari72

istari72

44
18
Off topic: please check the image upload guide I made.
It explains how to use the new features to display all images nice. :)
Thanks m8...your guidance is appreciated. I'll check it out and improve the picture quality.
 
istari72

istari72

44
18
P3180102

picture from floor looking up into canopy, yesterday​
_____________________________________
basic room layout

CCF03202012 00000   Copy

______________________________________

January Pix
P1150029

P2040034

P2040037


022112

Resized P2210042


022812
Resized P2220046

remaining photos to date to follow...
 
istari72

istari72

44
18
031812
P3180002
A whooooole buncha bud sites
filling in rapidly!​
P3180004
select required kit items
P3180111
UV protection clear glasses​
cowboy hat to protect head from vertical reflectors when working 'underneath the 'hoods'​
Knee pads not shown but Critical​
floor cleaned 2x per day
P3180101
with...
P3180099   Copy
clean, open canopy for air circulation
and light penetration
P3180106
next posting will illustrate present canopy management startagies including pruning, tying, bending, and inverted training.​
 
P3180100   Copy
P3180107
K

kushtrees

591
63
looks great man your killin it
I should get me some knee pads ive never thought of that
 
MarijuanaBaybee

MarijuanaBaybee

641
43
digggggin the big girl styleee alll of them plantas looking lovely :cool: i could just imagine when its time to chop and hang these girlzzzzzzz keep up the A+ work playa
 
istari72

istari72

44
18
Spent all day yesterday watering my fifteen 32 gal. ladies yesterday......by hand. In order to empathize with my pight you must understand that I have to work beneath the canopies, struggle under and over ducting and various necessary items and tools, and water with a 1 gal bucket - not to mention cleaningup after all of that. Poor me, huh?

Well, my 50' coil hose arrived today, so now my life will be easier, my back and shoulders can take a much needed brake, and now I have a new excuse to medicate :) I will attach a water pump to my 32 gal. resevior, and with proper attachments, connect the hose to the pump on the res. I'll still have to work in hobbit-like conditions, but hey, what's a little sacrifice, eh?

FTW:
week 4.5 in flowering - I expect a full 9 weeks will be required
3x 32 gals every 3-4 days
Ph: lowered Ph of nute solution from 5.8 to 5.5, will check runoff tonight
PPM: 1350
last AN Big Bud application yesterday, will transition to OverDrive next watering
no evidence of mold, pests, etc.
roots are good, good drainage, and hopefully roots fill each container...roots = + buds

Buds are really growing in width and breadth, crytals are evident and significant, starting to smell reeeeaal good.

Next post will address Canopy Management experiment and rationale, a couple of leaf issues I need help with, and so on. Cheers!
 
MarijuanaBaybee

MarijuanaBaybee

641
43
dudeeee i knoe how goood it feeels when u dont got to water by hand anymooooe it is the best!!! i rember i had to water 80 girls by hand with a mason jar and that was not fun at allll i remeber i just about trew a fukin party when i got the hose and the pump insider the rezzzie and started watering them...them girls are gunnn start to stak the fuk up love seeeing these big girls grow :D
 
istari72

istari72

44
18
Previously promised Canopy Management segment pending, I don;t want to do it halfway. The 9th 1k watt Super HPS bulb/ipower digital ballast addition is now running full time, and the addition of top lighting to my vertical garden has fully convinced me to continue this in the future. It not only completely engages all of the tops, it also signficantly lessens shading problems that have always been a challenge for me. ISInce Ihave 2 spare "Ocho" reflectors, I am currently alternating sides of garden every day. A little more work, but I feel this will be optimal until I purchase more equipment.

P3280002

Querkle #3

Buds are All filling in very nicely. This is the most succesful anti-larf grow for me yet, by far. Opening up the canopy through selective thinning has thus far been quite encouraging,

P3280003

Querkle #2


P3280005

Elephant's gittin Phat!


P3280008

Closest bud out of focus, but I still dug this canopy shot.

P3280009

Elephant

Cheers!
 
P3280016
istari72

istari72

44
18
Ok, folks, update time. As I don't clearly remember when I started flowering, i'm working on the 02/15 date which is probably correct. This means my ladies have now entered week 7. Last nutrient application was two days ago, and I will begin flushing tomorrow. Will use Kleen for initial flushing, followed by Ph balanced molasses water till fin.

Changes: Added yet another overhead light, so the mean total of lighting is 6x 1000k's vertical cool tunes, 2x 1000k bare bulb, 2x 1000k overheads, and four 105w cfl's for the corner. The overhead lighting complimenting the vertical bulbs has dramatically reduced the amount of shaded canopy areas, opened up the tops of all plants, and is the way to go!

I have completed all "unnecessary" leaf removal in order to open canopy for more comprehensive light/bud exposure as per my defoliation/canopy management strategy that I have employed thrughout this grow. My strategy has been to utilize bending, tying, pruning, and leaf removal to achieve balanced light throughout the entire plant which means no overlapping leaves, no shading, and no big fan leaves. This also, of course, serves to minimize circulation, pest, and molds issues.

Pistils are between 20-50 withered and dry, trichomes are getting bulbous, though clear. Sticky icky icky sweet budeness abounds! And some of the elephant plants have buds that are fist size and larger. As my goal was 10+ pounds for this run, I am relatively anxious regarding the final total, though I think I may be pleasantly surprised.

Finally, I have a new camera and tripod, so I'll be posting some good pix next. I hope all of you are well, take care of yourselves, and take care of each other.

Cheers!
Istari72
 
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