First Attempt at Vertical

[Kervork]

This is my first attempt. I had a 1000 watt light and light mover.. what to do to go vertical.

I had several racks around and decided they would be good to use. A few 2x4's on top and my light mover and bare bulb was suspended between two 7 foot racks. The racks are currently about 3 foot apart and nothing is nailed down so I can bring them closer or further apart as needed.

The next issue was draining. I'm using DTW with coco and plastic pots right now. The plants get top fed with 1/4 line and no emitters. After some thought I used a heavy rubber pond liner stapled to some 2x2's. The rack is sloped about 6" over 4'. The water runs off the edge of the rack and down into a rubbermaid tub. A little extra flap of pondliner keeps it from spilling.

At the bottom of the rack I used a couple 1x2's to suspend a box fan which blows upward.

Currently I have 12 plants of assorted strains. They have been in there for about a week and haven't died yet. I have a minor issue with pressure differentials in the feed lines and some plants not getting enough water. Hopefully that has been solved.

The entire cube is wrapped with mylar and I'm not seeing a lot of light leaking out so I assume the plants are getting blasted. My light meter suggests I've got near daylight at some points.

Some of the plants are easily within 12" of the light. I learned from a previous grow that you can have a 1000 watt light inches from a top and not burn it provided you have air flow and the light is moving.

Currently I have 6 plants on one side and 6 on the other. A couple are looking damn good and the rest are ok. Seem to be getting a couple plants putting out 3 leafers regardless of what I do. Maybe genetics?



Excuse the blurry shot... hard to shoot holding a light in one hand and camera in the other.

Anyway, I have about 2 ft of headspace right now. The plants are getting trained down and out. I'm hoping to wind up with two walls of weed that are about 4'x3'.
I have enough room that I could put in a third rack and light but I want to see how well this works out first.

The racks are adjustable. I had the plants at the half way point to start, today I lowered them about a foot and if necessary I can drop them another 6 inches.

It is a little crowded in there, I may pull out the two biggest plants and stick them under a 600 watt in another location.

I should be able to train the end plants so they cover up the blank areas.

My theory...
My reflector looses light via the glass and light thrown out on the walls etc. I wind up having to keep it 18"+ above my plants to illuminate a full 4x4. So far this setup
seems to be delivering more light to the plants. I've learned that you can produce the same amount in a 3x3 area with a 1000 watter as you can in a 4x4. More space doesn't seem to equal more buds unless that space comes with more light.

 

[dankness19]

mylar is a good reflective material, you could top or fim because of your space and have it grow horizontal more than vertical. LSTing it might be too late but that is also a good way to grow in tight spaces

 

[Kervork]

Update. Time goes on. Plants not dead yet. In fact they seem to be healthy. I took the largest two out and stuck them under a 600 watt. They seem a bit gangly. Twisted and snapped the hell out of the stems a few times and the branches seem to be toughening up. Maybe they will support the weight of buds.

Things I have learned so far. I can get the plants damn close to the bulb. Plants are being trained forwards towards the bulb. Periodically I raise the bulb so the fillament is about the height of the tallest plants. Overflow has not been a problem. Could probably go a week without filling up a rubbermaid tub with runoff. Plants can go several days without being checked. A 55 gallon drum of nutrients lasts about a week.

Maintenance seems to be minimal. Should have started with the plants on the lowest level. Plants are starting to stretch a little and have been in bud for about 5 days. I can run wire across the front of the rack and support the plants. Perhaps next time some netting or something. I could easily picture two lights vertical instead of my one. The degree of difficult is no harder than growing flat. The materials, if you don't count the racks which I already had are cheaper than a 4x4 flood tray and resivoir. The top view shows my filter, ballast and the mover on the 2x4 frame.



Airflow is easy. Stuck a box fan below.

Verdict so far, system is easy to work with, other than the light mover not horribly expensive.

The plants seem to like it. I'm getting some big tops. Little more stretch than I would like but I could say that about almost any of my grows. Perhaps the vertical lighting will allow for better filling in once the stretch stops.

The big question however is will yeild be improved. I do think this method would be well suited to a walk in closet.

 

[Kervork]

Time marches on. Now about three weeks into bud. I have baling wire running across the rack to help hold plants in place. It allows me to arrange them for optimal exposure to the light. There is about a two foot swath of budding sites across the rack giving a total of 8 sq. ft.

I loose a few leaves now and then when they get too close to the light but given the density of the canopy I don't think it will be a problem. I took the two largest plants out and stuck them under a 600 watt. The are doing well also.

Without any heat the temps seem to hang in the 60's. Hopefully this won't be a problem.



I could prevent leaf burns by moving the racks further apart but I think it is better to blast them with light and loose a few leaves here and there.
In the picture it appears that the tops are closer than they are, in reality the closest fan leaves are maybe 2-3" away and there is perhaps 3 ft between
the racks.

When I compare what I'm seeing with the 600 to the 1000 I would say there is more than twice as much material growing from the 1000 watt.
At this point it is difficult to guess what the final yeild will be. For flat grows I've been getting anywhere from 16 oz to 24 oz depending on the
plant count and methods.

 

[OGEvilgenius]

I think I missed this somehow. Looking forward to how you do. Your canopy is definitely on the small side, however it sounds like you have a pretty tight space. Next time I'd let them grow taller as it seems you have quite a bit of vertical canopy to work with, of course this is a learning process, especially if you're going from seed like myself. I have 2x600w currently in a 5x10, you can check out my journal and you will notice my canopy is a lot bigger than yours is, of course I have a lot more room to work with.

 

[Kervork]

It's not a big canopy I'm looking for. No use in growing what I can't light. I figure my light will cut a two foot swath over a two 4 foot areas for a total of 16 sq. ft. The tops are not impressively developed however the buds in the middle area are looking much better than they would for a flat grow. I have two plants under a 600 right next to this. My guess is that there is way more than twice as much material in the rack than the 600 flat grow.

Advantages... Inverse square law. I have plants very close to light. No reflector loss. No loss through hood glass. The only question is will it suffer because of the light mover. I learned the hard way that light movers don't really cover more room. In this case the mover isn't really to extend the area, but to keep shit from burning and keep it even. Without the mover I have little doubt plants would die a horrible death.

The pictures don't really do it justice, I can't be back far enough to show the whole thing. You will notice a few toasted leaves here and there. Not too worried since there are more where they came from.

 

[Kervork]

Buds are all showing promise one month into bud. They haven't gotten to the developing buds on top of buds stage yet. Hopefully they will get there. Temps are a little cool hanging in the mid 60's. Might have to figure out how to get them higher...
No problem if I wanted to add another rack and 1000 watt to keep things warm.

Reservoir still has me confused. I mix and ph and recirculate water to mix some more.. get the ph to 5.8. Come back the next day and it's 6.2. Adjust it again and a day later it's back up again.. This is drain to waste, why the fuck does it change.

 

[Kervork]

Harvest time approaches. Timer blew and plants got a bit cold and are starting to turn purple too early.

Still no guess on yeild. The buds are pretty close to each other and well lit. They are starting to bulk up a bit.



There are still a lot of fan leaves so it is hard to see just how many buds there are.

 

[zaphrax]

newbie here, first post, been doing alot of research and gonna go vertical, did u harvest? how was ur yeild?

 

[inspiredgardener]

how about an update? how was harvest?

 

[cowell]

Your system looks great..easy to construct, and alter - simplistic is a great way to grow, good job.

I look forward to hearing and seeing what you plan to do to improve it.

 

[Kervork]

Total yeild about a pound. Horribly not impressed but I'm not sure I want to blame the vertical.
The only heat source was provided by lights and at times temperatures dropped to 40 degrees every "Night"
I think this had something to do with less than stellar yeilds. I suspect the low night time temperatures
(night was actually day in this case) slowed growth down. This may have resulted in buds that were not
as dense/heavy.

The setup of the system was very easy. I wouldn't mind trying this again in warmer weather. It is perhaps
a bit much to ask weed to grow in the middle of winter in an unheated house where temperatures regularly
drop below freezing outside.

 

[NugHunter]

nice job with the grow ..pretty impressive actually

 

[Amysd]

Yea it does look pretty crowded in their. 2 suggestions 1) try and place the trays 30 to 45 degrees so that they can get maximum lumens and penetration from your moving light! (You maywant to use a netting to hold the plants up or in place so they dont start handing on each other once they get heavy!) 2) One of the larger facilities that we consult for in Oakland is utilizing a product called WallPots I think their made by the people who make YieldPots fabric pots and are super cool! They actually hang on your walls so you can utilize otherwise wasted space! Ill see if I can get a picture of them!

 

[Apomixis]

Lol the kevorka is strong with this one.

 

[fg2020]

Reservoir still has me confused. I mix and ph and recirculate water to mix some more.. get the ph to 5.8. Come back the next day and it's 6.2. Adjust it again and a day later it's back up again.. This is drain to waste, why the fuck does it change.

Doesn't matter if it is drain to waste or not, any given batch of nutrient solution is going to immediately start pH drifting. Aeration eliminates this problem. Throw an airstone in there, a simple aquarium pump is plenty of air to do the trick.