20,000 Watt Medical Grow Op Construction

[TheLastWood]

Don't mean to speak for gardener but he's not using co2 and has ample light because plans on growing trees since there is a plant limit

 

[ENDLSCYCLE]

I wouldn't call 99plants a limit....more like a schmorgis board of bud!!!

 

[collective gardener]

hey CG, u guys use a big res with a hose attached right? when u water, do u base the amount of water on sight(seeing that the plant has enough water), or do u turn the hose wand on for a certain number of seconds? ive seen people do both. if its the latter, how do u keep the pressure constant, so the flow rate is always constant too? without the same pressure and water flow in the hose, the later plants would get less water. this is because the res is less full and therefore less pressure

i was talking to my friend about this and i thought i remembered helper D using a hose wand in a pic. so i thought id ask here

Helper D uses a wand and counts the seconds. Every day he confirms waste water flow on a few plants cause the needs change. We water sooooo much that a fluctuation in flow wouldn't make a difference. Nutes are cheap, and flushing is good.

 

[collective gardener]

No worries! Thanks for the welcome and congrats so far on what you've accomplished.

I use SWIM out of habit... anonymity is key, and I've been involved in a few "operations" that required the code word

Anyway, the plan is to simply grow the best possible product with the most possible efficiency. I have been reading and reading and reading about what is needed to start an operation in CA... It honestly seems daunting, especially with the possibility of raids still being present. I understand that you're doing this to provide sick patients with medicine, and I'm totally on board with that but money makes the world go round. Period. My question is this... being that the risk of a "kick door" still exists, why not grow somewhere where you can maximize profits? Basically, what I've gathered from the last thirty pages or so is "we're safe, but the feds can come in and take everything anytime they want." This seems counterintuitive... asinine in a sense... not for the one growing, just the general principle.

If you live in CA and are already there, cool, but for someone like me, who is not in CA, it still seems the legal landscape is up in the air enough to not justify coming to CA to grow.

I'm trying to secure my future as I've learned that my science degree is meaningless unless I want to do 5 more years of loans, school and bullshit... The solution: grow.

Anyway, your setup is PHENOMENAL. I am wondering, though, is 12,000 watts in that small of an area (8'x24') overkill? Will you experiment with using less light and calculating yields to see if the extra light is worth it? Are you projecting 2g's/watt? If so, how much CO2 are you using?

Looking forward to cramming my brain with more knowledge. Great board you guys got here.

Wood covered it. Thanks. I believe that 62 watts/sq ft isn't overkill. While the yield may remain close with less light, I wouldn't get those ultra dense nugs that california patients expect. If you're using less than 50 watts/sq ft, you're going to lose yield. I have a friend who uses 80.

 

[RollUpMikey]

I believe that 62 watts/sq ft isn't overkill. While the yield may remain close with less light, I wouldn't get those ultra dense nugs that california patients expect.

No Lie!

I read your whole thread and love everything I see so far. The talk about Collective's being raided for legit reasoning was completely correct, especially where I'm from. Countless friends have lost jobs recently due to being raided. Continue posting, cause you've got my attention sir! :]

 

[Sr. Verde]

Right on Verde. Toss us a pic to keep the Bubbas company.

Hey man, I came by to make a reply, but I got reallllly stoned and passed out I'm sure you know how that is

Anyway, I just took some pictures for you again, since the pics from last night are outdated

This is Barneys Farm Tangerine Dream on day 21 since lights on. They are JUST beginning to start on their branches, it should get seriously bushy in a few weeks (I also topped all 4)... I'm in a 2x2x5 tent, with 4. I plan to veg to a little over a foot, and then flower them. I'm not sure how big they are going to get in flower, but if worse comes to worse I figured out how I could add another 6 inches of vertical space, by putting the inline fan on the outside of the tent

I've got a wide range of phenotypes and one retard, that i'm not taking pics of LOL I might have to chop him down if he keeps not doing much

Under a 250w hortilux blue MH

 

[collective gardener]

Verde,

I like that side branching right down to the dirt. Keep power blasting those things with light and you're going to have to dense bushes. I can't wait to see them in bloom. Didn't they win the cup this year?

 

[Sr. Verde]

Verde,

I like that side branching right down to the dirt. Keep power blasting those things with light and you're going to have to dense bushes. I can't wait to see them in bloom. Didn't they win the cup this year?

Thanks man

Glad you can see exactly what I'm trying to do with it

Yeah I really want to see them bloom too But I've learned to take my sweet time in veg, get some reallly nice healthy branching, and some low bushes, with the tops arranged accordingly ready to stretch up.

The leaves look and smell really tropical. Like, WOW. Very smooth, relaxed round edges... thin leaves that look like they belong in humidity. Smells like mandarin orange tea dank

This is the image attitude provides

going to have 8 large stalks of that hopefully I want them budding from the dirt

 

[TheLastWood]

What's new gardener? How's the ladies doin? Can't wait to see your vert bulb setup in action. I know your probably not interested in breeding because of your plant limit but have you ever thought about it? Seems like you have enough room. Man there's so many things I would do if I had knowledge and resources you have.

Well keep up the good work bud! N keep the pics comin too! Never get tired of pictures.

 

[killeroxx]

Im growing AK-47xLowryder#2 right now and I hope I can get them to turn out as nice as your ladies....and OMG thats a huge room looking great plus rep..if ya get a chance check out my GROW
Subbed +REP

 

[collective gardener]

I went ballistic with the camera today. We've made some changes and the plants have grown quite a bit since last pics. Here goes:



Added a portable AC unit to bloom room. This is the supply air for the compressor. It's an 8" duct with a booster fan. The AC uses the air it needs and the ballance is just injected into the bloom room as fresh air supply.


This is in the veg room. To the left is the main warehouse. The lower booster fan is 10" and supplies air to the veg room. The upper 10" duct passes through the veg room and into the bloom room, supplying fresh air there. The air is pulled in by the inline fans on the carbon filters located in the bloom room.


Carbon filter #1 installed yesterday. About a week late. It's a 10 x 39 Phresh.


#2


Spare bulbs and extra ballasts. I ran out of power to the rooms. I may run some more power...we'll see.


This little RO unit is great. A little over $200 and makes 200gpd. We let it run all night and have plenty of water the next day. Pre filter and carbon filters are 13 bucks each and are changed once a month.


This is the socket we'll be using in the bare bulb trials. We have 4 of them and 4 - 600 watt ballasts.


These are some new plants a friend brought by. They are Lavander x Afgan x Purple Kush back crossed with Afgan. They are unruly to grow. However, the buds are deep purple, covered with crystals, thick, and dense. My friend, who sells to collectives, has 5 packs of this sold a month in advance. We feel very fortunate to have them in our stable.


The veg room stays full. We keep moving plants into bloom, but the veging plants are growing faster than we can flower.


The bloom room looking pretty good.


Top view of the bloom room.


Here's a Bubba at 4 weeks into bloom


A closer look at the 4 week Bubba


Another top view.


Some scale on stock size of a 10 gallon Bubba 2 weeks into bloom.


LST results. The next few pics are all of different plants showing what the stocks end up looking like after some heavy bending.











And, at last...another crowd favorite; Helper D crawling around the underbrush pulling hose and playing with his wand.

That was a big one. Helper D hears about all of your comments so keep em coming. A friend dropped off 3 samples of some LA Confidential, Super Skumk, and Blue Dream for us to try out. Since I don't smoke during the day, I ordered Helper D to try all 3 right away. Being the loyal worker that he is, the glass was out in mere seconds. Within 15 minutes he had a consise rating of each. He is truly a proffesional.

 

[TheLastWood]

Lol gardener your doin awesome! Thanks for the update. Oh my god its so amazing. I'm so jealous. I was pullin my hose n playin with my wand too! My grows been goin about 11 weeks now, got 3 jack herers flowering, until now been tryin to get a little smoke but mainly finding good mothers and collectin equiptment to go perpetual. I'm gonna start lst soon as my clones root and are ready, but I'm wondering how much room do you give a plant with lst? Its obviously more than normal but I don't wanna start too many and get too crowded. I also have some diesels in veg should be preflowering any day now.

 

[collective gardener]

What's new gardener? How's the ladies doin? Can't wait to see your vert bulb setup in action. I know your probably not interested in breeding because of your plant limit but have you ever thought about it? Seems like you have enough room. Man there's so many things I would do if I had knowledge and resources you have.

Well keep up the good work bud! N keep the pics comin too! Never get tired of pictures.

You know, I've always wanted to try some breeding. With the genetics that I have access to, there are some real cool possibilities. For right now, I need to get this grow dialed in. We're growing now with brute force. It'll take some time to get this op where it needs to be. I know that whatever yield we get from this crop will be less than half of what the op can do in a year or so. This is my first time growing this strain, and my first time growing such big plants indoors. This batch is a trial run, using LST and some leaf pruning. We'll be running some through with different techniques next round.

So, Wood, as you can see, we're a long ways off from adding new challenges to this grow.

 

[incognegro999]

The picture with the cell phone next to the stem is awesome haha

 

[collective gardener]

Im growing AK-47xLowryder#2 right now and I hope I can get them to turn out as nice as your ladies....and OMG thats a huge room looking great plus rep..if ya get a chance check out my GROW
Subbed +REP

So, Killer, I checked out your grow. That's a nice clean little settup. You should be proud. Now, let's see you pump out an elbow of that AK. I KNOW it can be done under a 250 in that box. People underestimate the power of a small light in the right size small 4 sided box. I'll be checking in on ya.

 

[Sr. Verde]

So, Killer, I checked out your grow. That's a nice clean little settup. You should be proud. Now, let's see you pump out an elbow of that AK. I KNOW it can be done under a 250 in that box. People underestimate the power of a small light in the right size small 4 sided box. I'll be checking in on ya.

2g/w?


dude i'm running a 250w hortilux mh, I WISH I could do that I'm hoping for at least a QP.. i hope low though?

 

[collective gardener]

Lol gardener your doin awesome! Thanks for the update. Oh my god its so amazing. I'm so jealous. I was pullin my hose n playin with my wand too! My grows been goin about 11 weeks now, got 3 jack herers flowering, until now been tryin to get a little smoke but mainly finding good mothers and collectin equiptment to go perpetual. I'm gonna start lst soon as my clones root and are ready, but I'm wondering how much room do you give a plant with lst? Its obviously more than normal but I don't wanna start too many and get too crowded. I also have some diesels in veg should be preflowering any day now.

Jack Herer, eh? I remember when that won the cup. I keep saying I'm gonna grow it some day. I just haven't got my hands on a proven clone, yet. I prefer not to grow from untested stock. I'm glad you're going perpetual. To me, it's the only way to fly for many reasons.

Why do you want to LST? Just curious. I do it to get more plant area under the lights with less plants. If I didn't have plant limits, I'd grow hundreds of 3 footers un-topped. Anyways...your question: How much room is up to you. I didn't calc anything. We just bent the first batch down and out 1 time. The second batch we bent once and then again when we transplanted into the 10 gallon pots. Our first crop is around 2.5 feet in diameter. The second is around 3.5. Also, these plants were all either topped or FIM's early in life to give us more branches to bend out. I have seen a single stem plant bent down in one direction and trained to be like 5 feet long, with branches shooting up all the way down the main stock. The grower used broom sticks wired to the pot to tie the main branch to. The plants ended up around 5' long, 2' wide, and 2.5' tall. They yielded over an lb each. I always go a little big and end up tossing a plant or 2 due to lack of room in the bloom room. I'd much rather do this than come up short and not have enough plants under the bloom lights. The whole idea of the perpetual is to keep every sq ft of the bloom room filled with plants. So, veg like a mad man

 

[collective gardener]

2g/w?


dude i'm running a 250w hortilux mh, I WISH I could do that I'm hoping for at least a QP.. i hope low though?

Yes...2g/watt. You can do it with enough practice getting the canopy right. Can you get an HPS conversion bulb for flowering? I knew a guy years ago that consistantly got 1.5 lbs from a 400hps in a little box like yours. The nice thing about that little box is that you can spend the time figuring out the absolute best way to get the highest yield. My 1.5lb friend grew in that little box for over 10 years. He got 1lb for years, until he switched strains and got an extra 1/2lb. I don't remeber the strain, but it was killer cause I smoked a ton of it!

 

[hellraizer30]

Ive grown a bunch of strains and got some very good results with some but what you guys think is a win all strain weight/quality?

 

[collective gardener]

Ive grown a bunch of strains and got some very good results with some but what you guys think is a win all strain weight/quality?

Let me know if you find that "win all" strain.

We grow the strains we grow because of quality. Our Bubba is not a great yielder. But, my commercial grower friend grows it and sells 5 packs for asking price all day long. Same with the Lavander cross. These are truly special clone only strains unavaiable at any store. Almost every time I've purchased seeds or clones, I've been less than satisfied with the results. It sucks to invest all that time and $$$ into growing something that turns out to be just so so. It takes the same amount of time to grow something wonderful as something ordinary. And, in Califrnia, ordinary won't even pay the electrical bill.