Capulator
likes to smell trees.
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Hello folks.
Last year I built a room and had some space against the wall, so I wanted to maximize it with a few more plants. I built a shelf against the wall and set a few 12 gallon totes on it with a drain fitting in each bucket going to a main drain, so DTW chow is the basic set up. In the beginning, I tried the screen on the wall with spacers but it was a pain in the ass. Shit would get too thick to tie up, even with mad pruning. It would eventually grow out away from the wall, and need a second support.
^^^ original back screen only method kosher kush week one after a hard training.
same plants week 2 to 3^^^....
^^^kosher wall of dank^^^
Next round I tried it with the screen in front (by chance really when I needed a second support system for some lanky kosher kush plants and 100 yo yos was getting retarded. The results were wonderful. It was easier to get to the larf in the back, and the plants naturally grew up and forward in to the screen. I just used wire to support the branches that were leaning a little too hard.
Now I have been running what I call "the coco wall o' dank for like a year and a half. What I found is that most plants that stretch a lot and need support work amazingly well.
I grow the plants to 18-24" tall with lots of topping. Then, I move them in to flower. After that I "fan them out" with a little wire if necessary, but at this point they are not up against the screen yet. . Also not in the pic that the screen hangs from the ceiling. There is 12" gap from the top of the container to the screen. The screen is wired to the container to keep it tight between the ceiling and the floor.
white fire monster pheno after 1 week from flip^^
.
Over the next 3 weeks or so I let them fill the screen, but I don't do any bending. Instead, I cut out the branches on the back side of the canopy. If the branches are mature enough I pull them through to the front.
^^^^ Here is the same Wifi above at week 2 with mature back branches pulled to the front, and the bottom larf and backside cleaned out: You can see these girls are just running their course. No bending down to a screen.
I noticed today while pruning with my face right next to the bulb (on stepstool with goggles on) is the penetration. More light at bud sites equals bigger, more dense flowers, and when the light is penetrating from the side it goes deeper because the structure of the plant itself allows more light in. Leaves naturally hang in a slightly more horizontal position than draped all the way down (unless you forgot to water!!). A 1k light blows through the side of the plant. With a little defoliation on the front side you can hit every bud site on the plant with almost equal light (within reason). The key here is the right strain. Some strains that are very bushy do not work as well. The stretchy ones though, absolutely crush it.
LSD, Colombian, Wifi, Kosher kush... These plants are giving 3/4 of a potato consistently off each site. The ones pictured above are getting hit from just one side of 2 1k's hanging bare vertically.
If you had a 6' W, 10' L, 8' high room, you could get 6 and 3/4 whole potatoes from 2 lights hanging bare. 4 plants on each side and one against the back, to make a 'U" shape.
A vert reflector for a one sided skinny space (5' wide) would be awesome but I have not seen any good ones yet. A big parabolic on its side would be what you would need for maximum spread.
Anyway I wanted to document this method in a separate thread and not all jumbled up in my long ass grow log... so hopefully some people can get some use out of this style. It's really efficient and fairly easy to maintain. ESPECIALLY for those lanky girls.
-Cap
Last year I built a room and had some space against the wall, so I wanted to maximize it with a few more plants. I built a shelf against the wall and set a few 12 gallon totes on it with a drain fitting in each bucket going to a main drain, so DTW chow is the basic set up. In the beginning, I tried the screen on the wall with spacers but it was a pain in the ass. Shit would get too thick to tie up, even with mad pruning. It would eventually grow out away from the wall, and need a second support.
^^^ original back screen only method kosher kush week one after a hard training.
same plants week 2 to 3^^^....
^^^kosher wall of dank^^^
Next round I tried it with the screen in front (by chance really when I needed a second support system for some lanky kosher kush plants and 100 yo yos was getting retarded. The results were wonderful. It was easier to get to the larf in the back, and the plants naturally grew up and forward in to the screen. I just used wire to support the branches that were leaning a little too hard.
Now I have been running what I call "the coco wall o' dank for like a year and a half. What I found is that most plants that stretch a lot and need support work amazingly well.
I grow the plants to 18-24" tall with lots of topping. Then, I move them in to flower. After that I "fan them out" with a little wire if necessary, but at this point they are not up against the screen yet. . Also not in the pic that the screen hangs from the ceiling. There is 12" gap from the top of the container to the screen. The screen is wired to the container to keep it tight between the ceiling and the floor.
white fire monster pheno after 1 week from flip^^
.
Over the next 3 weeks or so I let them fill the screen, but I don't do any bending. Instead, I cut out the branches on the back side of the canopy. If the branches are mature enough I pull them through to the front.
^^^^ Here is the same Wifi above at week 2 with mature back branches pulled to the front, and the bottom larf and backside cleaned out: You can see these girls are just running their course. No bending down to a screen.
I noticed today while pruning with my face right next to the bulb (on stepstool with goggles on) is the penetration. More light at bud sites equals bigger, more dense flowers, and when the light is penetrating from the side it goes deeper because the structure of the plant itself allows more light in. Leaves naturally hang in a slightly more horizontal position than draped all the way down (unless you forgot to water!!). A 1k light blows through the side of the plant. With a little defoliation on the front side you can hit every bud site on the plant with almost equal light (within reason). The key here is the right strain. Some strains that are very bushy do not work as well. The stretchy ones though, absolutely crush it.
LSD, Colombian, Wifi, Kosher kush... These plants are giving 3/4 of a potato consistently off each site. The ones pictured above are getting hit from just one side of 2 1k's hanging bare vertically.
If you had a 6' W, 10' L, 8' high room, you could get 6 and 3/4 whole potatoes from 2 lights hanging bare. 4 plants on each side and one against the back, to make a 'U" shape.
A vert reflector for a one sided skinny space (5' wide) would be awesome but I have not seen any good ones yet. A big parabolic on its side would be what you would need for maximum spread.
Anyway I wanted to document this method in a separate thread and not all jumbled up in my long ass grow log... so hopefully some people can get some use out of this style. It's really efficient and fairly easy to maintain. ESPECIALLY for those lanky girls.
-Cap