Plant Spacing and Light Layout

mrhappy · Jan 25, 2010

thanks so much for the advice amigos! Widowmaker, thanks for letting me know about the infirmary, i will post there. I have many sucesful rdwc harvests under my belt, but none with vert lights or in DD buckets. My 5 gal rdwc room next door is ok, so i guess its a light thing? i will check nutes and ph, they are about 900ppm and 5.5 ph. perhaps raising the lights is the answer. What did you guys think of the steup to grow 1-1.5lbs bushes? should i move the lights closer to the center plant or leave them the way they are?

mrhappy · Jan 25, 2010

i just got back from the store and will be installing a carbon filter with a large exhaust fan to keep temps down. I have dug an old chiller out and will set that up tonight as the nutes did feel warm enough to go swimming in (mid 70s). But most importantly I picked up a brand new factory calibrated combo meter, so i am going to keep a tight eye on nutes & temp. I forgot to mention that I have a gen1 co2 burner positioned directly above the plants and because of all the loss due to venting the burner stays on all the time. aside from heat issues (86F-88F) could the constant co2 be hurting them. my computer only reads 800-1000 ppm, but I am looking for answers. Thanks again

OregonMeds · Jan 25, 2010

Widowmaker said:
OM, Appreciate your angle and since this thread is about plant spacing and lighting layout your view is necessary and its important but I can only grow six plants so I'm going for max weight per plant not max per watt. Just my thing.
:icon_spin:

Right but I didn't mean you had to run multiple small plants to do the scrogged vertical ring around a main tree I mentioned at the end of my post, you can do it with 5 plants around the outside if you can have 6 total, same thing, you just won't quite be able to fill it in as much as if you had a higher plant count but it would still produce better than if you try to cram 5 big suckers in there which end up shading all their backsides or if you draw lights away from a center plant like it sounded was your question before I answered.

You said you know enough to know what would work, so I'm sure you can picture the scrog ring vs what you have run before. My last runs have been 6 big tress with too little light and you end up with a bunch of little stuff on the back that takes too much time to trim and really lets you down. Sure it'll work, and overall it'll produce guys I was only making suggestions based off his concerns to not run stuff that has shaded areas. When I did scrog my big girls vertically and cut off the backsides there was no longer a problem of shaded areas or too few lights and sure enough it yielded a lot better.

Any way will work, just trying to get you a 4k tree and not sacrifice anything else in the process if that's what you want to do...

mrhappy · Jan 25, 2010

OM, thanks for the vscrog idea. I was originally thinking i would try something like that but i couldnt figure out how all by myself, I am very grateful for this forum and its members! I get the idea of vscroging the outside plants, and am beginning to understand the concept of surrounding the center plant with 4 lights. I guess it is about getting the light to the plant before it can disipate. I am loving all this great info regarding vert lighting. and am hopefull to pull a good harvest. what is the max temp to run with co2, next to the lights?
do you really think the vscrog idea will yield much more than if i were to grow 5 nice size bushes and trained them in tomato cages? i do prepetual harvest so vscrog will be tough, as i have to move plants into flower rooms after 60 days of veg!
I am confused on which will yield more overall for 5 plants: 1 plant with 1K on 4 sides (12" away from center plant) and other 4 plants with light on 1 side
OR
the way my room is currently setup with: 1 plant with 1k on 4 sides (but the lights are pulled 24"-36" away from the center plant. this additional distance from center gives the light spread to cover the entire garden, but am i missing the point as far as intensity? i am wondering if I am trying to cover too much area and loosing the intensity that leads to big buds? even i was surprised when i measured and saw the lights were 36" away from the center of the plant, how close should i place my fresca sol's from the center plant?
I am doing cycles for a prepetual harvest, this is my veg room i am working on now, my 2 flowering rooms have the same 4 lights but are each 8x10, so if you have some layout ideas for a larger 8x10 room and 4 1k lights let me hear em. thanks for the inspiration and help!
is my 27 gallon bucket size too big for the 1.5 lb bushes I want to grow, with a 55 gal res I am mixing nutes for 140 gallons and it is costing lots $$$.

OregonMeds · Jan 26, 2010

I wish I could find the picture I'm thinking of as an example, but I can't. Each plant can be separate, rather than a round cage on it you just put up a half or part circle on each supported by stakes or something attached to the bin or bucket and then you can still go perpetual with it. That lets you shuffle them around at will and grow them the same aside from trimming.

Yes I do think it's bound to yield more than if you did full plants, because you can concentrate the light on only good buds. Also you could shrink the space the light is in a little more that way, wall it off with some panda film and it will up your lumens per foot in a smaller space rather than the space you would have needed for full plants.

OregonMeds · Jan 26, 2010

Here it is... You train them all through veg. Then you could give the best 4 the best spots next to the lights during flower and fit the smallest one wherever.

http://www.invalid.com/attachments/grow-journals/678655d1263260766-jigfreshs-grow-2-vertical-scrog-cimg6541.jpg

http://www.invalid.com/attachments/grow-journals/678611d1263259867-jigfreshs-grow-2-vertical-scrog-cimg6554.jpg

Widowmaker · Jan 26, 2010

OregonMeds said:
Here it is... You train them all through veg. Then you could give the best 4 the best spots next to the lights during flower and fit the smallest one wherever.

Very Cool!!!
:icon_spin:

mrhappy · Jan 26, 2010

om that is a great idea, thanks for helping. I do think i may have to try that!

OregonMeds · Jan 27, 2010

Sure no problem...

Credit for that grow goes to jigfresh on rollitup. I think he probably has a journal there on it also but this video shows the basics.

[Youtube]xX9mkN8AJBY[/Youtube]

mrhappy · Jan 27, 2010

in this video is he using vertical lighting or horizontal?

OregonMeds · Jan 27, 2010

I guess it doesn't show for more than a second in there a couple times, but he has a vertical light in a diy cooltube in that little closet and a couple of those girls crammed in.

If you watch very carefully you'll see it.

stillsmokin · Feb 17, 2010

Here is my question,

I've been growing sog for a while now and want to try something different.

Here is my current equipment

2x400w (mh -> hps on flip) aircooled reflectors
2x1000w aircooled reflectors
5x 200w Natural Night CFLs (they're 32w but 200w equivalanet)

I also have a 2 bulb cool tube which I haven't used since my first failure of a grow room design.

The space is an 8x8 Grow cabinet, it's not the Hydrohut bullshit, it's the more expensive guy, name is escaping me. It uses a super bubbled reflective material on the inside (walls, ceiling, floor), so I'm hoping this helps in the tree/grow.

Power wise I might be able to squeeze another 1600w.

So I'm wondering, if I wanted to spend the least amount of money to make a tree system viable, how would you guys set it up? Should I use the 2 bulb tube and just put my two 2ks on the inside and put 3 plants around that and use the other bulbs as supplementals?

Basically I'm just trying to avoid buying useless equipment again, since the space isn't going to be expanded anytime soon. And I've already spent thousands on different design iterations (I've literally rehanged the system every cycle, started out as a disastrous vertical scrog lol).

MedicalINFO · Feb 17, 2010

Widowmaker said:
MedicalINFO hope this what you wanted with 40" Spacing
View attachment 63849
Above is lighting layout, below is plant layout.
View attachment 63850
:icon_spin:

now that I am laying everything out in the room it's all starting to make sense. This design that Widowmaker so kindly worked up for me is 40" spacing. It looks really tight. is this going to be enough space (BLACK DOMINA 100% indica)?

How close can the bulbs get to the plants once fully grown?

THANK YOU FOR YOUR TIME :)

Widowmaker · Feb 18, 2010

MedicalINFO said:
now that I am laying everything out in the room it's all starting to make sense. This design that Widowmaker so kindly worked up for me is 40" spacing. It looks really tight. is this going to be enough space (BLACK DOMINA 100% indica)?
How close can the bulbs get to the plants once fully grown?
THANK YOU FOR YOUR TIME :)

I'm no expect...........just a guy with AutoCAD making drawings based on what I've learned here from DDs posts.
I believe this falls under dialing the system in. Have read 8" distance from the light, that seems very close, see link below.

You can raise your lights to get some more distance. Are you using cool tubes? Seeds or clones?
:icon_spin:

MedicalINFO · Feb 18, 2010

I have a four ton AC. Running a "sealed room". I have 20 black dominas dripping hydroton on a 4by 4 table, with a Hortiluxe "blue" 1000w metal halide in a magnum xxxl hood that covers the entire table. they are about a foot tall so the clock is ticking!!

After messing around in the room for a while it looks like my best bet is going to be the origional drawing you worked up with 10 plants and 11 thousand watts, It just seems way more possible to imagine giant trees in the 10 plant setup than trying to squeez 600's in to the corners.

xox
oxo
xox
oxo
xox
oxo
xox x= 1000w

THANKSFORYOURTIME :)

MedicalINFO · Feb 22, 2010

I have decided

xoxo
oxo6
xoxo
oxo6
xox
oxo
xox

12 plants
11, 1000w
2, 600w

I would do all thousands but don't have enough AC. I think it worked out to like 45" spacing.

Widowmaker · Mar 1, 2010

View attachment 70446
Its a little tight...
:icon_spin:

Purkle · Mar 2, 2010

THANKS WIDOWMAKER!! Dang man thanks for putting that up!

Widowmaker · Mar 2, 2010

View attachment 70614
20 Buckets

View attachment 70615
21 Buckets

You can edit these using Window’s Paint program or other graphics program; repost them to be edited in Cad. Using buckets or tubs and what size.

:icon_spin:

Galt · Mar 2, 2010

Hi Widowmaker,

Just wondering if you aren't pressed for time, would you mind drawing up this 10 plant configuration with 60" centers.

x0x0x
0x0x0
x0x0x
0x0x0
y y y

x = 1000W HPS, y = 600 HPS in cooltubes

Room dimensions are as follows: 24' x 16' (hopefully not too much of a squeeze)

Thanks so much for your time. Sincerely appreciated.

Plant Spacing and Light Layout

Plant Spacing and Light Layout

mrhappy

mrhappy

OregonMeds

mrhappy

OregonMeds

OregonMeds

Widowmaker

mrhappy

OregonMeds

mrhappy

OregonMeds

stillsmokin

MedicalINFO

Widowmaker

MedicalINFO

MedicalINFO

Widowmaker

Purkle

Premium Member

Widowmaker

Galt

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