Converting to grow trees, need tips

[Capulator]

Rather then double stacking you can use 4 lights around one plant and one horizontal light on top. Another method I have thought of is 6 lights around one plant in a hexagon pattern. Every other bulb could be 6 or so inches higher than the others. Would love to see someone do this! I will eventually. Here is an old picture I drew up last year. It states 3 lbs on it but now I'm hitting that with only 4 lights per plant. With 6 lights per plant you could break 5 maybe 6 pounds. You would also want and need a horizontal light on top.

What is the projected electric bill of said project Mr. Email? :angelic:

 

[ttystikk]

if the bulb has a reflector the plant will not be able to get as close. Food for thought on your spacing.

Oh, I'm sooooo glad you asked that question, my friend! I will be placing the hoods in the corners. To reach the plants with sufficient intensity, the bulbs will remain in their reflectors. Just no glass. Vertical. Intensive cooling, dehumidification via chiller and cold water circuit.

 

[deniro]

Can't rotate RDWC plants, but if its in chow mix then yeah, rotating it would work.

I must have not thouroghly read the entire threads, I didn't know they were RDWC plants, and I was referring to big plants not tress, which is my bad, sorry folks!

 

[Capulator]

Oh, I'm sooooo glad you asked that question, my friend! I will be placing the hoods in the corners. To reach the plants with sufficient intensity, the bulbs will remain in their reflectors. Just no glass. Vertical. Intensive cooling, dehumidification via chiller and cold water circuit.

I think maybe you misunderstood. You may get light bleaching and foxtailing with that much light. The sweet spot for a 1k with reflector is 3-4 ft IMHO. with no reflector around 2'. you can get a little closer but I think buds do better a little further away. my 600's bleach buds at 18" with plenty of cooling. Anyway, maybe I have no idea what I am talking about and you will have a different experience. :)

 

[ttystikk]

I think maybe you misunderstood. You may get light bleaching and foxtailing with that much light. The sweet spot for a 1k with reflector is 3-4 ft IMHO. with no reflector around 2'. you can get a little closer but I think buds do better a little further away. my 600's bleach buds at 18" with plenty of cooling. Anyway, maybe I have no idea what I am talking about and you will have a different experience. :)

My reasoning for leaving the bulbs in their reflectors and mounting them vertically in the corners is that the light has to travel several feet to get out of the corner. So for a ten by ten room the diagonal distance corner to corner is over 14 feet, the idea was to project the light from deep in the corner onto the side of the plant. Option B is bare bulb and hope the reflective materials on the wall help out- and I see this as having more guesswork involved, not less. Your points about bleaching are well taken and I will be looking for it closely.

 

[Jalisco Kid]

Putting lights in corners where there is no air movement is a waste of electricity. I tried reflectors that were air cooled still a waste of money. The heat buildup is not worth the fight. I found vegging plants that have the branches trained to go only out on 180* is far more rewarding. I then replace that light with a 600w and double stack my lights and throw the plants against the wall. JK

 

[ttystikk]

Putting lights in corners where there is no air movement is a waste of electricity. I tried reflectors that were air cooled still a waste of money. The heat buildup is not worth the fight. I found vegging plants that have the branches trained to go only out on 180* is far more rewarding. I then replace that light with a 600w and double stack my lights and throw the plants against the wall. JK

I'm a visual person, so it would help me to see a pic or a diagram of what you describe. I'm placing lights all the way in the corners and leaving them in the reflectors, no glass. I don't see them getting too hot, but time will tell.

 

[Pancho-N-Lefty]

great thread TTY but then u know im in the same delema.. thanks for the answers gents! helping out alot for the expansion.

 

[kushtrees]

I've never had hear issues with bulbs in the corners. usually its the middle bulb that causes the most issues cause my plants always want to try and touch it

3-4 ft away with a reflector would be tough in a 10x10 room

 

[ttystikk]

I'm shooting for light to plant distances of 24" at full growth, or 36" while they're still young.

Before I get much farther however, I need to shout out to Wavegem and his thread in the alien gear section. He's running an RDWC with 50 gallon stainless sites and literally dozens of thousand watt bulbs, all inside 'fresca sol' water cooled vertical fixtures. I'm extremely impressed!

 

[kushtrees]

I thought that was his own design of water cooled lights. That is definitely one of the most impressive tree grows I've seen. The stainless steal is badass

 

[ttystikk]

I thought that was his own design of water cooled lights. That is definitely one of the most impressive tree grows I've seen. The stainless steal is badass

The design elements he is responsible for include the overhead pvc pipes that serve as the manifold for all those bulbs. If I had access to 200 amp service (and buying a plug in hybrid or a hot tub is a perfect excuse, hint, hint) I would jump on that style in as a heartbeat! I'm very curious about how much additional cooling of the room is required, and how much chiller capacity is needed for how many lights, so I can run some numbers and see what might work for me here.

 

[Jalisco Kid]

Once a tree starts to fill in that corner will get no ventilation unless there is a fan directly under in. What little space is there is being used alot to create distance from the bulb. If the tree was up against the wall, that space could be used to grow more bud with the lights being double stacked.Usually by throwing the 2 outside rows against the wall I can get in another row. JK

 

[Capulator]

I'm a visual person, so it would help me to see a pic or a diagram of what you describe. I'm placing lights all the way in the corners and leaving them in the reflectors, no glass. I don't see them getting too hot, but time will tell.

think of the wall o dank, but with light on both sides, instead of a thousand watt, 2 600's stacked. I think thats what he means anyway. like hedges.

 

[Capulator]

The design elements he is responsible for include the overhead pvc pipes that serve as the manifold for all those bulbs. If I had access to 200 amp service (and buying a plug in hybrid or a hot tub is a perfect excuse, hint, hint) I would jump on that style in as a heartbeat! I'm very curious about how much additional cooling of the room is required, and how much chiller capacity is needed for how many lights, so I can run some numbers and see what might work for me here.

He told me his dad helped him design those and that they are custom made by him and his father (mostly his pops)

 

[ttystikk]

He told me his dad helped him design those and that they are custom made by him and his father (mostly his pops)

His dad no doubt helped him make the tubs and plumb the water lines, but those water cooled light fixtures are widely available. I was asking about the size of his cooling plants so I could understand what part of his cooling system is doing which job.

In response to Jalisco Kid's comments about putting trees up against the wall, I would need more insight about how to keep them from dying against the wall. I've had lots of trouble with that in the past. How do you do it?

 

[Wavegem]

Was up guys, dam I love talking about about trees. You get that feeling when you approach a gorgeous female. Haha

I hate typing if you guys haven't noticed. But I like reading

Ok, my dad owns a custom metal fabrication company in south Florida. The lights first.

Instead of buying the lights for 300-400 I had access to make them cheaper. I bought a fresca sol platinum and it broke the first day. So I got better glass bigger wider, industrial gaskets that will never corrode made of silicon. I have to say I am not trying to sell the idea, I know they work. You should have seen the smile on my face when that pump turned on and all those lights filled with water. That was epic. If done correct you will have zero leaks, which I thought was not possible. You can touch the glass when the bulb is full burning for hours. Within inches it maintains your exact room temps. The more surface area, longer wider the more cooling capacity the glass can have. custom built shit is the best. You can double stack or do whatever. I know you guys are interested, the lights cost me 100 dollars in parts and a solid hour a piece in labor to put them together. I am working out the final kinks, the only hold up is the glass company actually making the glass. I will post some pictures in detail about the light, it running with a light meter in and out of the glass with water. It does reduce lumens but we will see how much. This solves small spaces. The other thing is I can get German aluminum 99 % reflective metal for reflectors which I don't have. I used 90% white aluminum I am changing them tho. We seriously need to talk about these lights.

Buckets and other next.

 

[ttystikk]

Ooooo I like me the custom built shit! I thought you had bought the fixtures. I am VERY INTERESTED in how this works, stop I can do it just like you. Seriously.

 

[Wavegem]

I can clarify if anybody needs.

I am going to build an exact replica of an undercurrent except with a tad bigger stainless buckets and 10 inch net pots. The system in my ewok thread is a Mpb bucket style system. I also have access to stainless steel and lots of it.Engineering Lasers press brakes welding polishing shipping it's that easy. I am building(as in I gave my dad designs and he built) everything from Graywolfs terpenator to these buckets and can do anything you can imagine. He is borderline genius. So I am capitalizing on my resources and using the tools is more profitable than making and selling them. I have access to walk in cooler equipment IT defenitely applies to us because there are all types of Thermastats, solenoids air handlers coils and a bunch of other stuff relating to cooling and heating. I can even build water chillers using Copeland compressors custom built coil solenoids relays Thermastats dual reservoir. It was like a dream come true when all the pieces fell into place.

I wanted to clarify a few things cause my other Uc thread is dead. When i finally weighed in my last harvest my best Hollywood came in at 3 lbs not 5 everyone was calling 5 but that wasn't the case. Some of them got to big and really effected production. I am still learning. The potential is there. What made the room an even bigger failure is 4 of my 8 buckets did very very bad. Original d from swerve my buddy gave me cost me a lot. She only did 1 lb. that hurt a lot. Ewoks got me sweating cause she is very dense and not nearly the size Hollywoods were. But she will come through. Much bigger than the d. I know hitting 2 gpw is out of the question in my room, even 1 gpw would take a master with the right strain. But I know I will hit .75 by the end of the year. I am on a mission next year i will be aiming for 1-1.25. I am not compromising quality by any means I will get starfighter someday if I have to. Or make it myself which I have gone insane popped all my beans taking clones giving them to patients crossing males and females f2 fast finding that pheno that I need. Hollywood was close but I want to double that which I think is possible.

 

[Wavegem]

Ooooo I like me the custom built shit! I thought you had bought the fixtures. I am VERY INTERESTED in how this works, stop I can do it just like you. Seriously.

I am here to work and help lets flip shit upside down.