Vertical 360 Light Micro Grow Box

[Ambre]

MrBanjo's suggestion of a trellis is a good one. Since you will be pulling the plant in & out of the cabinet to maintain it, you might mount a trellis to the container the plant is in. Something maybe along the lines of a tomato trellis?

Most feed/farm/ranch stores (including Tractor Supply Co) sell a type of fencing that makes a great trellis. It's made of fairly heavy wire that is welded in a grid - the vertical wires are 2" apart & the horizontal wires are 4" apart. It's called "Welded Wire Fencing." It's available is 36" or 48" height and various lengths. This fencing is sold in a roll, it is not the super heavy-weight panels that are sold in flat 16' lengths (livestock panels make great trellises for outdoor use, but they are too stiff to curve for a small space like yours). The welded wire fencing is easy to curve into a circle to support your plant.

 

[jimbooo]

Interested in seeing how this tuns out.

 

[Dirty White Boy]

Rocked many many waterfarms over the years. If your gunna trellis that sucker in there raise it up a few inches and cut the blue tube showing your water levels. When ya need ta drain flip that tube around and drain it from that into a tub or container then water through your medium till you hit your desired level. Stay away from organic or even semi organic nutrition with the farms. Use something simple like flora nova bloom or basically anything salt based. If your gunna throw a cage on it like ambre suggested then just pull the sucker out set your top bucket in the tub and fill as need be. Good luck with it dude can't wait too see some pics.

 

[timmur]

@jimbooo - Me too! It's all a bunch of theory until you give it a go. I'll definitely post up a grow when I get it started. I have to go out of town in September for two weeks so I won't actually start a grow until after the 23rd.

@Ambre and @MrBanjo - Not sure on the trellis. I mean I know what you're referring to, but I'm unclear what it is for. To keep branches off of the lights? Support the flowers?

@Dirty White Boy - Thanks for the advice on the Waterfarm. I was hoping to just use the nutes that came with it so that works out nicely.

So my plan is to grow this single plant phototron style (kinda). Their approach (to pruning to allow for good light penetration) is going to be followed as well as their pinching protocol to slow upward growth and promote lateral branching. Consequently the veg cycle will likely be fairly long.

The final step will be a kind of chemical topping via Stretch Stopper (Chlormequat Chloride). In an email exchange with mbeferts.com they said, "Hi, chlormequat chloride (ccc) used at this low dosage will not harm you or your plants. Trichome production is not hindered either. We recommend using it day 7 or 8, so you get a little stretch prior to stopping the stretch, which is equivalent to stopping the veg and starting flower quicker. Also by foliar spraying it instead of drenching it because with a drench it sits in the medium longer...Now some with sativas, or crosses have to reaply 5-7 day later as these typ of plants stretch for 3-4 weeks".

I plan on letting the veg go until the plant is about 40" tall or so. If this stuff works as claimed (research says that it does) I will have a bush with many small bud sites which should maximize yield. That's the theory anyway.

 

[Ambre]

The trellis is to both support the plant and to help contain/control it. Since you have a very narrow but tall space, the plant will fall over/ flop around / get burned on the lights unless you have something in place to stabilize it. The tendency to flop around will be even worse since you will be pulling the plant out of the unit; you will risk broken branches and more.

 

[timmur]

Got it. Thanks Ambre and MrBanjo.

 

[Dirty White Boy]

There really is no need too move the plant in and out of the box with the drain near the bottom of the bucket...a trellis is a must for sure...elevating the bucket however is a must if ya wanna remove the headache of removing such a tall plant then replacing it . I'd create a trellis and use the drain tube that way you won't be moving the plant train it and weave it through a trellis connected too your top bucket. Since your using t5 burning isn't much of an issue....especially with your exhaust things won't be getting too terribly hot. I grew my plants right into my h.o.t5 bulbs no issues. You wanna use the uvb and I'll say it does make a difference but only on the area directly exposed. If it's up top it won't make a huge difference too the whole plant.

 

[AfricanHaze]

Why go for a 'chemical topping' using chlormequat chloride over physical topping?

 

[timmur]

Why go for a 'chemical topping' using chlormequat chloride over physical topping?

Based on my research, chemical topping is more effective at stopping the stretch. If this is not true then I will just top. If it really works as advertised then I should be able to utilize the full vertical height without the increase in internodal length which should give better yield. Maybe I'm misunderstanding how the stuff works?

 

[timmur]

@Dirty White Boy - thanks for the additional insight on the UV. My plan "B" is to buy 4 more fixtures like the ones I already have and put the Reptisun bulbs in them. The only issue is the incredibly close distance of the plant to those bulbs will mean very high UV exposure. That should be fixable by only turning them on for a very short exposure time.

 

[timmur]

Well the fan arrived today but the darkroom vents won't show up until tomorrow. Here's a quick mock-up of how I'm planning to install the fan. The vents will go on the bottom. I'm pushing through the carbon filter as my research indicated that it wouldn't really matter.

 

[BeenBurned]

Nice...that will exchange some air! On a timer?
Looking forward to results For sure.
Every Sativa I've grown has needed support. Yo-yo's?

 

[timmur]

Probably put in on a fan speed controller and timer. Probably come up with a trellis for support as well. Yo-yo's?

 

[BeenBurned]

The little spring loaded reel, fishing line w/ a hook or 2.
I use the ones that lock in place. They hang from little teacup hooks. You probably just have a few tall colas, those may work for ya.

 

[timmur]

So got the fan and vents installed today. Tested it out in my garage where the ambient temperature was 82 degrees. With fan running 100% (no controller) the temperature in the cab was 87 degrees after running for 1/2 hour. Of course it will be in a temperature controlled environment so I will probably be able to slow the fan down quite a bit.

 

[20kwDreamer]

I'd drape a support mesh from the top left of the aquafarm to the top right of the cabinet. I'd put all of those lights on one side of the cabinet. Train the lady to fill out your mesh. I'm pretty sure you'd do well. Let me know if you need an mspaint doodle. Go vertical! :D

/ (this is the support mesh, lights mounted on left wall of cabinet, you'd train the plant on the right side)
[|] (this is the aquafarm with a tree in it)

 

[timmur]

20kwDreamer, I'll take you up on the doodle. I'm horrible at visualizing things!

 

[Purpz]

That is looking funkier and funkier! Gotta give you props for creativity, really hope it does what you want.

 

[timmur]

That is looking funkier and funkier! Gotta give you props for creativity, really hope it does what you want.

Ha ha! Yeah looks like it's gonna blast off! Thanks for stopping in to check out the progress. Gotta get the wiring done and then it's time to give it a try.

 

[AfricanHaze]

Based on my research, chemical topping is more effective at stopping the stretch. If this is not true then I will just top. If it really works as advertised then I should be able to utilize the full vertical height without the increase in internodal length which should give better yield. Maybe I'm misunderstanding how the stuff works?

You could be right, I nothing little about what you're specifically using. I would have thought both would elicit the same hormonal response in the plant, but maybe not.