The Sidewaze Daze!

[mexiblunt]

Alright here is the plan! I have 2 clones that I have been vegging for a little over a month, what I want to do with this grow is transplant them into containers that I can have them horizontal. Once horizontal, the plan is to use string and weights to hold the main stem from turning up allowing the branches to grow back vertical.

Here are some of the specs on the grow, I am very willing to hear other ppl's opinions and ideas so feel free to comment on this journal, if it's just a simple question er something I would prefer a private msg, just so this doesn't get too cluttered but whatever let'r buck.

Room - The room is about 8ftx6ft. Will only use about 1/3 the area if that. Will be adding mylar to the 2 walls in the corner I will grow in.

Temp - Right now the room runs at 76-82 lights on, 70-75 off depending on the outside weather as it cools from central air cond.

Venting - The room is constantly being exausted by a small squirl cage fan. This is probably not needed right now as when the a/c runs(every 10-15 mins) it pumps fresh air into the room.

Light - 250 hps with batwing reflector
150 hps with parabolic reflector, The plan is to mount these both to a frame or peice of plywood so they can be turned or moved daily to get even light over the plants as they will take up alot more sq footage on the horizontal plain than they will height wise.

Soil veg- these clones were started by someone else in rockwool cubes and given to me together in a 3 gallon pot with sunshine mix #4. I seperated them and potted them into 2 gallon pots with straight sunshine #4.

flower- still a little unsure but will probably be the same. sunshine #4 but I may add 10-15% compost and a little perlite.

Containers - currently in 2 gallon pots, once I re-pot they will go into 5 gallon pails with a slot cut down the side for the stem to go thru so I can cover the whole root mass with soil.


Nutes - these were vegged using an unknown (i know, shame) advanced nutrient, works well tho.
- For the flower phase I have a floro nova formula from general hydroponics. 1 part bloom 4-8-7. i will use this if needed depending if i mix in compost or not. may be just a light feed here and there. I will also use blackstrap mollasses thru weeks 2-6 give or take. as I have with great results in the past.


Plants - hmmmm. I was not told the strain of this plant, however I was told that it is a 8 week flower time, and grows short and bushy. these pics are current and are about 1 month old from cuttings 7-10 inch clones.


Ne or all of these specs could change at any time depending on YOU! lol.
I will take all advice and comments and do what I can to make this the best I can on a low budget.



one side note. I'm just waiting for these to finnish up here in the next week or so because they are taking up my room and I am gettin a little teird of moving them in and out every 12 hours. They go under the 250 watt hps while the clones are beside them under a lower hanging 150 watt hps also providing side light to the flowering ones.

 

[mexiblunt]

Day 1 horizontal!


Here they are on day 1. Found some garbage cans at the local hardware store that were broken---2 bucks, sweetness. Gonna wait till tommoro to see what it does, alot of the tips turned up in the 2nd hour.

Next thing I'm gonna need to learn is how much water/how often. These cans are 9 gallons so it's all new 2 me I'm used to 2 gallon, I'm guessing every 5-7 days or so? If Ne1 has a better idea let er rip?





Side note. choped 1 of the 2, it's not quit as done as I would like but It was really going yellow and the other 1 was ready. The others in the dark till tommoro. These are indoor mix from Dr.greenthumbseeds.

 

[mexiblunt]

Day 2. All the tops are coming up nicely.

Side note chopped the other 1 today.

 

[recvryjst42day]

Im going to have to follow this, I like the idea! Nice Harvest too man!

 

[mexiblunt]

Thanks man! Hopefully everything goes good.

 

[videoman40]

I wish you the best of luck, I dont think you'll need it though.
Peace

 

[fdd2blk]

what if you lay the light on the floor under the plant? just wondering

 

[SmokerE]

He needs that light fan!

 

[mexiblunt]

Thanks Videoman!

FDD. hmmmm light on the floor? Are you messin with me? lol. I thought plants didn't use the light from under the leaves?. I'm thinking the plant would still grow agianst gravity but the leaves would turn themselves upsidedown? Ne ideas bout that?
Right now I have the 250 watt hps 1 foot above the plants, seems to cover the area well, the 150 hps is the same height but near original tops of the plants, as I have a bunch of seedlings, clones under it untill I switch to 12/12.


SmokerE. A cool tube would be the bomb. but I'm happy with my room temp it's been averaging 74-76. Today a new xbox 360 has priority lol.

 

[clekstro]

Thanks Videoman!

FDD. hmmmm light on the floor? Are you messin with me? lol. I thought plants didn't use the light from under the leaves?. I'm thinking the plant would still grow agianst gravity but the leaves would turn themselves upsidedown? Ne ideas bout that?
Right now I have the 250 watt hps 1 foot above the plants, seems to cover the area well, the 150 hps is the same height but near original tops of the plants, as I have a bunch of seedlings, clones under it untill I switch to 12/12.


SmokerE. A cool tube would be the bomb. but I'm happy with my room temp it's been averaging 74-76. Today a new xbox 360 has priority lol.

The plants wouldn't absorb the light from the bottom side of the leaves, but the principle would be the same as the current light setup, wouldn't it? You're still not illuminating the other half of the plant (call it side #2 if you had split it down the center while growing normally, straight up) except for what reflects off the floor, though that is probably negligible. It seems that floor lighting would be less practical for the heat/space issues. You have a lot more room up top in the room that at the floor, and you may even get lucky and have the branches currently facing down start to grow towards the top light. Not many people seem to keen on LED's on this forum (i know, they're impractical and not efficient blah, blah, blah) but it seems that for "floor" lighting, if you could find either a cheap array or build one yourself, this would alleviate any concerns that would come from placing a HPS lamp there. Really cool idea! Will follow your progress...
good luck

 

[fdd2blk]

these were taken outside this morning. they are turning towards the sun. i was just thinking that with the light below the plant would grow downward which in turn would make it even bushier. mylar on the floor if anything. if i had the option i would try it myself. no joke.

 

[WillieNelson]

what if you lay the light on the floor under the plant? just wondering

The leaves would turn and the plant would grow downwards with all of its might. I broke one of my ladies in half during an LST project I was trying. I threw it in the corner and left it. The next day the fan leaves around the top cola(facing down) bent 180 degrees and faced the light. Absolutley amazing what the will to live does to a plant.

 

[fdd2blk]

i think it would look way cool. and does the plant feel gravity? is there a natural gene in the plant that tells it which way is up or does it ONLY grow towards light? would the low lighting be fighting against the upward pull of gravity?

 

[mexiblunt]

I think it would look way cool. and does the plant feel gravity? is there a natural gene in the plant that tells it which way is up or does it ONLY grow towards light? would the low lighting be fighting against the upward pull of gravity?


I'm not sure. FDD your plants are turning mad towards the sun!! Not sure who It was but I read a tread about this octagon type grow structure with all the lights in the center, kinda like a stadium grow I guess? I was pretty sure they said that a plant will grow primarily up agianst gravity? But that kinda goes agianst the hydro wheel type thing where the plants go around the light in a cycle. You would think in that thing when the plant is on the top it would 180 itself?

Now I'm gettin all kinds of crazy ideas, Ill have to do some more reading eeesh never ends I love it!!!!!!! And that would look way cool.

 

[mexiblunt]

Well haven't done ne usefull reading yet. In grade school we grew a potato plant and then turned it upsidedown and it grew back around and went up. Now was that due to light or gravity I can't remember? Not a proper control for this idea ne how.

What would happen if a horozontal plant like these would get even light from top and bottom? If gravity is out of equation, would it randomly pic which leaves turn up or down ,or just by proximity?

 

[fdd2blk]

What would happen if a horozontal plant like these would get even light from top and bottom? If gravity is out of equation, would it randomly pic which leaves turn up or down ,or just by proximity?

you just stepped outside the box. i love it!!

 

[clekstro]

i thought that the plants use blue light to orient themselves to the light source, that they would grow naturally in the direction of blue light. That said, from what I have read there is definitely! a gene (?) in the plant responsible for "reporting" the gravitational situation. But I have no idea what that would have on growth. There's always that ad which someone referred to in High Times of this huge growing apparatus with the cycling cylinders of hydro, and those plants grow like wild, spending, however, not all of their time upside down. I think that a light underneath the plant would simply give the "neglected" side of the plant more light and give you fuller growth. As long as it wasn't the stronger of the two light sources, which the plant will surely sense (like I said, with blue light), the only thing growing down on the whole will be your roots. A quick search on google confirms what i read before: weeds, (and i assume other plants along with them) use the gene called "EIR1" to grow roots in the direction of gravity, establishing the root mass to support the plant's growth upwards. But hey! will see what effects actually happen with your grow. peace

 

[clekstro]

Well haven't done ne usefull reading yet. In grade school we grew a potato plant and then turned it upsidedown and it grew back around and went up. Now was that due to light or gravity I can't remember? Not a proper control for this idea ne how.

What would happen if a horozontal plant like these would get even light from top and bottom? If gravity is out of equation, would it randomly pic which leaves turn up or down ,or just by proximity?

Well, does it randomly "pick" which leaves naturally grow upwards towards the light? I think that there is enough evidence already to say that the plant doesn't work randomly, and that its growth is based on and actually reflects the environment, no matter what grow factor you're talking about: light, air, co2, water, nutes, etc...

The plant will grow towards the light and use light as beneficially as it can. That means that your bottom leaves that were once facing the floor will turn and grow toward the ceiling as long as that light penetrates the canopy well enough (perhaps a limited amount of light is necessary to trigger this move by the plant, as could be expected). It seems to me that this is why someone with supplemental lighting on the sides doesn't really run the risk of having different branches growing toward the side lights like some light addicted bitch looking for her fix. The overall plant information will detect which direction to promote new growth in (toward stronger blue light source), but supplementals, in my view, should keep the leaves themselves facing the direction of their own strongest light source. That seems to be the most efficient use of light that millions of years of evolution could offer!

And shit, I just read your question again. And your question is about this very new growth... yikes... I suppose if both light sources were the same that the plant, sensing gravity and thrusting its roots naturally in that direction, that this would promote growth against gravity, but definitely, in my view, to the light with more blue light. But then, if they're both equal, maybe it the plant would consider it a waste of resources to try and grow against gravity and let itself "fall" towards the light. But the plant would sense stress and would hold itself up against gravity (as in your current setup), but hey, your light source gives it one hell of an incentive. I suppose someone would just have to try it. From everything I've read there's no clear answer...
/

And sorry, will have to find sources so it doesn't look like i'm pulling this stuff out of my ass...

 

[fdd2blk]

Well, does it randomly "pick" which leaves naturally grow upwards towards the light? I think that there is enough evidence already to say that the plant doesn't work randomly, and that its growth is based on and actually reflects the environment, no matter what grow factor you're talking about: light, air, co2, water, nutes, etc...

The plant will grow towards the light and use light as beneficially as it can. That means that your bottom leaves that were once facing the floor will turn and grow toward the ceiling as long as that light penetrates the canopy well enough (perhaps a limited amount of light is necessary to trigger this move by the plant, as could be expected). It seems to me that this is why someone with supplemental lighting on the sides doesn't really run the risk of having different branches growing toward the side lights like some light addicted bitch looking for her fix. The overall plant information will detect which direction to promote new growth in (toward stronger blue light source), but supplementals, in my view, should keep the leaves themselves facing the direction of their own strongest light source. That seems to be the most efficient use of light that millions of years of evolution could offer!

And shit, I just read your question again. And your question is about this very new growth... yikes... I suppose if both light sources were the same that the plant, sensing gravity and thrusting its roots naturally in that direction, that this would promote growth against gravity, but definitely, in my view, to the light with more blue light. But then, if they're both equal, maybe it the plant would consider it a waste of resources to try and grow against gravity and let itself "fall" towards the light. But the plant would sense stress and would hold itself up against gravity (as in your current setup), but hey, your light source gives it one hell of an incentive. I suppose someone would just have to try it. From everything I've read there's no clear answer...
/

And sorry, will have to find sources so it doesn't look like i'm pulling this stuff out of my ass...

hella funny. you were so close. you almost had it. then the "buts" came in. i love it. we have to try this. someone? anyone? i don't have the proper lighting or i would.

 

[clekstro]

me neither. I've just got a 400W HPS and am planning on an LED array when I can find a setup worth investing in, but that wouldn't compare at all to HID as far as intensity is concerned until they start putting out luxeons to match the peaks of chlorophyll absorption. happy to entertain...