Sparky's 60 Plants in a 7x7 Room Grow

[sparkafire]

Well I thought it was time to post my new project which I started by remodeling my room completely, adding Co2, another light I am now at 3000 watts, losing the Ebb & Flow tables and making a custom 7.5 gal bucket system that works as a DWC in between floods allowing me to flood more often.

I set up 3 runs of 5- 7.5 gal buckets each with its own air stone and 35 gal rez with custom bucket timers.

I am using Higromite as my medium I thought for a while that I would use STG Hail but I just didn't want to use something a lot different than Hydroton. HM is cool although you have to wash the shit out of it even more so than Hydroton but I feel so far that it is a great medium, We shall see if I am saying that when I have to clean that shit after harvest.

Adding Co2 has been interesting only in the fact that you just THINK you have a sealed room and then you find yourself burning though propane like you are out BBQing with 100 of your friends 24/7 then you realize your idea of sealed and Co2's idea of sealed are 2 different things.

I have 3000 Watts of light giving me right at the 60 watt per ft optimum lighting using 2 HPS and one of the high end dual spectrum MH lights that seem to put out 2 x the heat but I switched out the 6500 BTU for a 12,500 BTU AC it keeps it at a cool 80 to 82 degrees with everything on. Nothing like walking in and your room is 103!!

I changed my nutrients from the simple Flora Series to the even simpler Dyna Gro product line and could not be happier Dyna Gro is SOOOOO much cleaner and so stable I am really glad I switched. I am not into the MOJO juice the hydro industry has made us believe we need; Dyna Gro is what commercial produce grower’s use because of the complete spectrum of nutes it provides. When you break down what is really needed for optimum plant growth there is nothing that delivers for less.

I use House and Garden Root accelerator and Hygrozyme along with the Dyna Gro although I am NOT spending 100 bucks a liter for that root shit again Dyna had a root product and will be changing when I am out.

I foliar spray everyday rotating seaweed extract, liquid light and Dyna Gro in a foliar spray

SO now for the grow info where the future is unknown and the chance of failure is possible.

I got this idea from 2 mothers I topped and grew side by side trimming each branch until only the colas remained and since I am a Al B FUCT Head disciple anyway I just took the idea one step further so instead of one cola I have 4 with a total of 16 colas in each bucket

The "Plan" I set 4 plants PER bucket topping when there is at least 6 nodes showing leaving 4 per plant then trimming and training each set to grow uniformly allowing the colas to grow at the same rate. Yes they will be tight but if done correctly there is no reason this will not work. If things get too tight I will just trim to fit learning what works and what doesn’t.

60 plants in a 7x7 room should be interesting to say the least so hold on!

 

[Goldowitz]

Just a heads up, but if your air pumps sit on the ground (at water level) it is unlikely, however still possible that water could get into them and burn em up. Everything else looks great. I am a Fuct head as well. How many hours a week do you spend running your grow?

 

[sparkafire]

Just a heads up, but if your air pumps sit on the ground (at water level) it is unlikely, however still possible that water could get into them and burn em up. Everything else looks great. I am a Fuct head as well. How many hours a week do you spend running your grow?

If for some reason I get water in the air pumps I have way bigger problems than that anyways that was the only place that just seemed to work at the time. Since it is a new set up I am sure that I will be making improvements before the new run starts.

Most people will not do the work or think that the yields suffer from not having trees but for me growing like that is the only way I know how. My name is Sparky and I am a Fuct Head!

I could spend 5 mins a day if that was all I wanted to but you know how it is you just end up standing there looking at them. On nights where I change out tanks and trim branches it will run me 4 hours or so.

Hell yeah, that should be a packed full room. Subd.

Yes it will be I just hope I am not stepping on it. This is a classic hero or zero situation.

 

[supergrow357]

looking good sparka. I usually hang my air pumps. helps with the noise and the being above water thing. Is the higromite heavier than the hydroton?

 

[sparkafire]

looking good sparka. I usually hang my air pumps. helps with the noise and the being above water thing. Is the higromite heavier than the hydroton?

Thanks SG I guess I should have hung them I just would have had 400 ft of air hose instead of the 200 ft it took I just had no room to play with. You know how it is you get building a new room and sooner or later you just want to get going which cost me dearly as it was ( long story) Higromite Link here is lighter I think and has a totally different way of acting than Hydroton. It snaps crackles and pops when it gets wet. I like it so far.

 

[Goldowitz]

Four hours a week is all? Damn, I takes me 25 hours a week to run my 4'x4' perpetual SOG, seperate mother room and maintain equipment. Maybe I could hire one of those efficiency consultants or something.

 

[sparkafire]

Four hours a week is all? Damn, I takes me 25 hours a week to run my 4'x4' perpetual SOG, seperate mother room and maintain equipment. Maybe I could hire one of those efficiency consultants or something.

4 hours a week when on the week I am not cloning, triming and changing nutes which pushes it up to 10 hours a week. I do consulting work

 

[My420]

4 hours a week when on the week I am not cloning, triming and changing nutes which pushes it up to 10 hours a week. I do consulting work

dang I am glad I use my setup then. Takes me about 15-20 min a day then on rez change day takes about 10 hours due to the fact I have revers osmosis and a 115 gallon rez that I drain fill up again to flush ( every week ) then drain and fill again for nutes after I wash it out. You guys make me feel a lot better.. lol

 

[sparkafire]

dang I am glad I use my setup then. Takes me about 15-20 min a day then on rez change day takes about 10 hours due to the fact I have revers osmosis and a 115 gallon rez that I drain fill up again to flush ( every week ) then drain and fill again for nutes after I wash it out. You guys make me feel a lot better.. lol

Are we talking a true have to be there or else time or I get mezmerized by my plants and they wont let me leave time? If its true time I will have an hour a week and make it 2hrs a week if I have a do a 3- 35 gal rez change out and 3 hrs if I have all the other stuff as well.

 

[My420]

Are we talking a true have to be there or else time or I get mezmerized by my plants and they wont let me leave time? If its true time I will have an hour a week and make it 2hrs a week if I have a do a 3- 35 gal rez change out and 3 hrs if I have all the other stuff as well.

Not really a have to be there because it takes hours to fill the rez. Most of it is me playing a game while waiting for the rez to fill. Maybe about 2 hours or so of actual work on rez change day I am guessing from just washing both of my rez's and adding nutes checking PH and PPM's.

 

[sparkafire]

Not really a have to be there because it takes hours to fill the rez. Most of it is me playing a game while waiting for the rez to fill. Maybe about 2 hours or so of actual work on rez change day I am guessing from just washing both of my rez's and adding nutes checking PH and PPM's.

You know whats funny is that I never have washed my tanks or equipment during a grow now when I change rotations I will but its just a rub down not a sterilization. I am sure one day it will bite me but so far I have been STD free. Why do you use RO?

 

[My420]

You know whats funny is that I never have washed my tanks or equipment during a grow now when I change rotations I will but its just a rub down not a sterilization. I am sure one day it will bite me but so far I have been STD free. Why do you use RO?

RO water cleans out all the chlorine and all the BS calcium ( that white stuff in water ) that can build up real fast in your medium. But I have to use Cal/Mag when using it because it takes it all out of the water. Makes the PH more consistant when adding nutes and a few other things I can not remember because I just smoked and I am stoned lol give me a while I will remember what other reasons their are. As far as the tanks I just take a sponge and clean it like a plate wiping off the residue basically just trying to get any extra left overs out before starting a new watering cycle.

 

[TheLastWood]

RO water cleans out all the chlorine and all the BS calcium ( that white stuff in water ) that can build up real fast in your medium. But I have to use Cal/Mag when using it because it takes it all out of the water. Makes the PH more consistant when adding nutes and a few other things I can not remember because I just smoked and I am stoned lol give me a while I will remember what other reasons their are. As far as the tanks I just take a sponge and clean it like a plate wiping off the residue basically just trying to get any extra left overs out before starting a new watering cycle.

I don't think taking out the calcium is why ppl use ro lol, considering you have to add it back in

However, indirectly, you may be trying to remove calcium for its ph uppging affect, but most likely for other ph upping agents, since you will indeed add the calcium back in.

So ro is great if you have soft water, very hard water (high ppms), have a high ph (needing more than 3 ml ph buffering sloution per gal). In a 1000 ppm solution you can deliver more usable nutrients starting at a ppm of 0 compared to my tap of 290ppm.

I use tap anyways

 

[My420]

I don't think taking out the calcium is why ppl use ro lol, considering you have to add it back in

However, indirectly, you may be trying to remove calcium for its ph uppging affect, but most likely for other ph upping agents, since you will indeed add the calcium back in.

So ro is great if you have soft water, very hard water (high ppms), have a high ph (needing more than 3 ml ph buffering sloution per gal). In a 1000 ppm solution you can deliver more usable nutrients starting at a ppm of 0 compared to my tap of 290ppm.

I use tap anyways

Sorry I am not explaining myself correctly and fully with everything in detail so here that is. Sorry ADD kicked in and kinda zoned out without finishing. It cleans out WAY more then calcium it is to also make sure that you do not have any containments in your water that can naturally get into drinking water that can harm plant growth or production such as:

Naturally Occurring:
microorganisms (wildlife and soils),
radionuclide's (underlying rock),
nitrates and nitrites (nitrogen compounds in the soil),
heavy metals (underground rocks containing arsenic, cadmium, chromium, lead, and selenium),
fluoride.

Human Activities:
bacteria and nitrates (human and animal wastes—septic tanks and large farms),
heavy metals (mining construction, older fruit orchards),
fertilizers and pesticides (used by you and others (anywhere
crops or lawns are maintained)),
industrial products and wastes (local factories, industrial plants, gas stations, dry cleaners, leaking underground storage tanks, landfills, and
waste dumps),
household wastes (cleaning solvents, used motor oil, paint, paint thinner),
lead and copper (household plumbing materials),
water treatment chemicals (wastewater treatment plants)

Hope that clears it up for you.

 

[mr.smileyface]

RO is for the people who want to correct the little things. Its not always a straight pitch. Its mostly a curve. So do everything you can to make the guess work gone.

 

[Goldowitz]

You know whats funny is that I never have washed my tanks or equipment during a grow now when I change rotations I will but its just a rub down not a sterilization. I am sure one day it will bite me but so far I have been STD free. Why do you use RO?

Ok, this is why that time sounded short to me. I drain all of my tanks once a month, sterilize, scrub and wash out everything. Reservoirs , trays, pumps, etc. I also do a full res change every other week. I also use RO water and it takes 30 min. to get five gallons. I need 70 total.

Since my grow is perpetual, I figured my maintenance schedule might as well be also. Every week I drain a res and clean a quarter of my equipment. While waiting for RO water I harvest 1/8th of my girls, add the same amount of rooted clones back in, trim all 58 SOG plants, rearrange all plants (tall plants in the back, small plants in the middle) take new clones, trim the dry bud in my drying box and add in the freshly harvested plants. Every week. It never ends.

 

[sparkafire]

Ok, this is why that time sounded short to me. I drain all of my tanks once a month, sterilize, scrub and wash out everything. Reservoirs , trays, pumps, etc. I also do a full res change every other week. I also use RO water and it takes 30 min. to get five gallons. I need 70 total.

Since my grow is perpetual, I figured my maintenance schedule might as well be also. Every week I drain a res and clean a quarter of my equipment. While waiting for RO water I harvest 1/8th of my girls, add the same amount of rooted clones back in, trim all 58 SOG plants, rearrange all plants (tall plants in the back, small plants in the middle) take new clones, trim the dry bud in my drying box and add in the freshly harvested plants. Every week. It never ends.

You have a handful there!! I will be running perpetual after this so my time spent will explode every 3 weeks doing the do just like you

 

[My420]

Ok, this is why that time sounded short to me. I drain all of my tanks once a month, sterilize, scrub and wash out everything. Reservoirs , trays, pumps, etc. I also do a full res change every other week. I also use RO water and it takes 30 min. to get five gallons. I need 70 total.

Since my grow is perpetual, I figured my maintenance schedule might as well be also. Every week I drain a res and clean a quarter of my equipment. While waiting for RO water I harvest 1/8th of my girls, add the same amount of rooted clones back in, trim all 58 SOG plants, rearrange all plants (tall plants in the back, small plants in the middle) take new clones, trim the dry bud in my drying box and add in the freshly harvested plants. Every week. It never ends.

I clean and drain rez every week and also give them a flush of h2o2 and clearex every rez change.

 

[sparkafire]

So the weekly update on the 7x7 60 plant room. I took pics tonight and I have to tell you in a one week time frame the plants just explode with the Co2 in the room. I have never grown with it so the results are stunning to me anyways. I wanted to show you a few of the plant characteristics and what some of the plants are doing.

#1 Here are some last week to this week shots.
#2 One of the things that I noticed was some of the leave sizes. This bad boy is 7 in and would be 12 in if you included the stem.
#3 I wanted to show how the nodes have started to already come in closer together and its only been a week in flower.
#4 Just wanted to show how I topped them using Uncle Bens topping Technique. https://www.rollitup.org/advanced-marijuana-cultivation/151706-uncle-bens-topping-technique-get.html
#5 This is a from the floor view, one I think I will become very used to because this room is going to be full!

Over all I am pleased with the grow so far but I can tell that this is going to be a chore to keep them trained properly.

 

[sparkafire]

I clean and drain rez every week and also give them a flush of h2o2 and clearex every rez change.

Hey man why do you use clearex? How often do you use H202 during the regular cycle?