20,000 Watt Medical Grow Op Construction

wanabe said:

looking great
from cali as well
subd

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Thank you much! Norcal or SoCal?

yowzza said:

Nice setup, I cant wait to see what it can do!

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Thanks. Let's all hope it does well. We have 8 more lights to add in the flower room to be at full speed.

stuff looks amazing man totally sub'd and along for the ride.
im from so cal but i live in norcal and i gotta say you are my freaking hero,

food for thought and i like getting peoples opinions.
What was your opinion of prop 19? do you believe there is a real place for marijuana in our society the same as there is with alch? givin that alchohol is much more damaging and addicting to peoples lives. sorry if the questions dont make sense... i'm sober haha

i am also a medical patient so i would love to see how this turns out. and maybe contribute sometime.
have a good one man
~mac

Yea what everyone said plus this thread is probably the coolest on the site i could say. Its different and looks like your doin great i just looked at the pictures. You know thats the other thing i kind of forgot to ask and think about is security, With all of that money just in equipment lights not even including the plants or soil and nutes water put into them if that stuff got ripped off seems a lot of money be lost and a lot of people be angry.

So after seeing what you said i was thinking yea almost a lot of citys down here in socal like LA Riverside San diego they are not the best places in the world by any means. I suggest if your in either of those places get some paid security premises. Just seems like it could be affordable?

Keep it up

mcgyversmoke said:

stuff looks amazing man totally sub'd and along for the ride.
im from so cal but i live in norcal and i gotta say you are my freaking hero,

food for thought and i like getting peoples opinions.
What was your opinion of prop 19? do you believe there is a real place for marijuana in our society the same as there is with alch? givin that alchohol is much more damaging and addicting to peoples lives. sorry if the questions dont make sense... i'm sober haha

i am also a medical patient so i would love to see how this turns out. and maybe contribute sometime.
have a good one man
~mac

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Mac, thanks for the good words. I think recreational use has a place in society. I'm not sure Prop 19 was the way to do it. I have many friends who make their living growing and they felt very threatened by Prop 19. They were afraid of price drops.

The bottom line is, the feds don't want it legal on any type of large scale. Until they do, it won't be legal. It was the Feds who defeated Prop 19 with 2 press releases:

1) Attorney General states that even if Prop 19 passes, the feds will still enforce US drug law.
2) Rand Corporation issues results of their study on the impact Prop 19 would likely have if passed. One of the findings is a likely 80% drop in prices. With that statement, anyone who makes their living on pot votes NO, and many launch campaigns to vote NO. Who is Rand? Rand is a military/industrial "think tank". I'll let you do the math.

I probably got off topic. We love the Medical Marijuana scene. Isn't most use medical in many ways? I mean, if a person is stressed out from the pressures of life, and this harmless plant makes them feel better, isn't that the same as being prescribed by a "doctor" one of the many drugs to make you happier?

collective gardener said:

I probably got off topic. We love the Medical Marijuana scene. Isn't most use medical in many ways? I mean, if a person is stressed out from the pressures of life, and this harmless plant makes them feel better, isn't that the same as being prescribed by a "doctor" one of the many drugs to make you happier?

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That's what I'm saying. I like the medical system... sellling to , growing for, trading with... patients, all legally! And people who are actually patents, are into it. They get it. It's a small inner circle of society that we all love..

Nothing to complain about right now Except for federal laws

My Doctor's recommendation says up to 90 plants in a 10'x10' and 6 pounds of dry bud. per person here in Santa Barbara....variations ...knew about them but ...never seen another recommendation(from someone elsewhere). Does anyone know anything about LED lighting...I hear the sales pitch from the company trying to sell me on the product but no-one to vouch for the production quality growth time-line...real pros and cons on the product.. Love the room and honestly I am following in your foot steps...new to the indoor scene and just getting started..but inevitably working toward my own 20,000 watt set-up or an equivalent...any advice would be greatly appreciated

adamhew77 said:

My Doctor's recommendation says up to 90 plants in a 10'x10' and 6 pounds of dry bud. per person here in Santa Barbara....variations ...knew about them but ...never seen another recommendation(from someone elsewhere... Does anyone know anything about LED lighting...I hear the sales pitch from the company trying to sell me on the product but no-one to vouch for the production quality growth time-line...real pros and cons on the product.. Love the room and honestly I am following in your foot steps...new to the scene and just getting started..but inevitably working toward my own 20,000 watt set-up or an equivalent...any advice would be greatly appreciated

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LED technology is beginning to really kick ass.. at least in the developmental stage.. i'm actually working on such a project

thats a lot of plants in a 10x10 space though! Nearly 1 per square foot.

adamhew77 said:

Love the room and honestly I am following in your foot steps...new to the scene and just getting started..but inevitably working toward my own 20,000 watt set-up or an equivalent...any advice would be greatly appreciated

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I'm not trying to discourage you or anything but 20,000 watts and "new to the scene" rarely go good together. Anyone can grow weed, but it really does take an attention to detail to grow the really good bud. Like the kind of bud that people will purchase in a medical state.

legallyflying said:

I'm not trying to discourage you or anything but 20,000 watts and "new to the scene" rarely go good together. Anyone can grow weed, but it really does take an attention to detail to grow the really good bud. Like the kind of bud that people will purchase in a medical state.

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He said he's working towards it


If you have a good head on your shoulders, after a few grows and a place like Rollitup... and some success... I would see no problem for someone with means to work their way to a 20kw grow..

Just adding about 3kw of lights each time... you'll get there, and by the time your there growing should seem pretty second nature & it should be pretty well understood by you at that time

Anyone see my post? lol This is a great thread you guys. But as mentioned before he almost got ripped off. I dont know how much money he put into this already but sounds like a lot and if that stuff got tooken some one would be out a lot of money.

So just keep thinking security security security. Keep things safe and everyone be happy. Cant Wait to see more pics!

Very nice set-up collective gardener, your plants are looking great! im definitely following this one!

awesome man. i wish i had this much space.

Sr.Verde. .... They didn't say how tall it could be
and that number includes clones and such so ...a full 10x 10 I am guessing will hold at best 45 or so with a mother or 2 and 44 more clones waiting ...vegging you could easily optimize that number for sure. ..and thanks for the vote of confidence..I appreciate the positive note
and Legallyflying.....I have grown outdoors in another state(GA) for over half my life(i'm 34) I am just new to indoor and LEGALLY growing... My first grow blew the guys away at several collectives around Santa Barbara ...so believe me when I say I am blessed with a gift of a green thumb. My hydro indoor garden is completely organic even with natural CO2 in 3 corners making the whole tent smell like a cross between a skunk and freshly baked rolls lol
POKE SOME SMOT YA"LL

adamhew77 said:

My Doctor's recommendation says up to 90 plants in a 10'x10' and 6 pounds of dry bud. per person here in Santa Barbara....variations ...knew about them but ...never seen another recommendation(from someone elsewhere). Does anyone know anything about LED lighting...I hear the sales pitch from the company trying to sell me on the product but no-one to vouch for the production quality growth time-line...real pros and cons on the product.. Love the room and honestly I am following in your foot steps...new to the indoor scene and just getting started..but inevitably working toward my own 20,000 watt set-up or an equivalent...any advice would be greatly appreciated

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I think we're getting close on the LED front...spectrum is good, and distribution is great. I don't like the penetration shortfall. I've seen some big $$$ LED ops up close. If you're growing SOG or SCROG, it's very productive, especially with the savings in cooling costs. In a med op with relatively low plant numbers, penetration is key. We grow some pretty big plants. 1000 watt HID seems to still grow big plants best.
I grew with 2 - 1000 watt HPS's and a 400 Halide for about 10 years. It was very fun and could be extremely productive. You may want to start around that size until you can grow about 5 crops in a row with no issues (powdery, low yield, etc...) before expanding. It's harder than it sounds! Once you can do that, the sky is the limit. Many people concentrate too much on the latest crazt nute combination and high dollar lighting. Concentrate on your atmosphere and canopy shape. Everything else is easy. Good luck and do what works for you...regardless of what I or anyone else says.

im from nor cali where the bud is better

wanabe said:

im from nor cali where the bud is better

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Not when it comes to sativa outside in the fall and the storms come haha! It sucks seasons get cut short on sativas by like 3 weeks comes out ok but could of been a lot better.

collective gardener said:

Keep that 1000 watt cooking. Perfect your growing techniques. One day you may get the offer that I got: to manage a real growing operation without puting out a dime. You'd be amazed at how many rich people out there want to put the money to work in this industry. We are paying 8% on the line of credit we were given to do this. Where else can a wealthy person get 8%? Since starting this, I have been given 2 more offers from people wanting to throw money at me. These guys are out there. One day I just casually asked this guy if he would be interested in puting some money in a medical marijuana grow op...he didn't even hesitate. I believe that any grower with some real talent, and the ability to put together a business model, can do this. Good luck to you.

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You have no idea how right you are about this. I´m from FL and the laws here suck, I´m flying out to Cali in March to check out some investment opportunities there, and now that AZ, and DC are opening up, it´s the dam Green Rush. +rep to you sir for your fine work.

Your setup looks awesome man. But like someone already said "security, security, security." Other than locking doors do have any other security measures?

Ok gang, got some new pics today. I'm recovering emotionally from the break in, and feel good about the security. We still can't quite figure out why they didn't take anything. If they were planning on returning when the plants are done, they would have closed some doors and not made it so obvious that they had been there. The consensus seems to be that when they saw the room they got scared, thinking that they stumbled onto some serious stuff that may get them hurt. If they do come back they better bring some serious tools.

This is the new entry gate. They had pried back the window frame away from the latch. We made that impossible, and then added the gate for good merasure. My welder buddy fabricated this up for us in under 10 hours and Helper D and I installed it last night.


This is a 12 volt pump with strainer that we use to pump the waste water from the buckets to the bathroom. It makes Helper D's job much easier. Until yesterday, he was carrying 5 gallon buckets to the toilet every other day. The strainer catches all the perilite and soil, and is very easy to clean.


This is the electrical panel. Al the EMT conduit running to the right is leading to the grow room. I have to add 2 more conduit runs to complete the system. One is for more lights, and the other for a future ductless split air conditioning system. Anyone building a room this size should budget plenty of time and money for the electrical work. We did all of the work ourselves and it was still pretty expensive. All of the wire is over sized, and no circuit is using more than 70% of its rated capacity.


This fan is for a carbon filter that we'll be installing in a couple weeks. The smell will be getting strong by then. I'll probably add another one, as well. We will also be changing the ducting on the air cooled lights to draw air from outside the room. I didn't have time originally because the plants arrived way sooner and way bigger than we had planned. But, that's a good thingh.


With all of the debate over which ballast is better, I decided to use both Lumatek and Phantoms to see if there is really any difference. So far, they're the same. They also cost the same. I get the 1000 watt dimmables for $300. I guess we'll see which one lasts the longest.


This is a Trainwreck clone I picked up from Clonville...and she is a trainwreck. All the other clones did good, but this one looks burnt to hell. They only get fed 300ppm, and I flushed the shit out of this one. Anyways, we have our first casuality.


The plants in the flower room have already out grown the 4 lights. We'll be putting in another 4 - 1000 watt lights this week and bringing in another 8 plants from the veg room. Before we do this I need to install the cooling ducting for all 12 lights that will ultimately occupy the bloom room. We go to the HVAC store tomorrow. BTW, all that ducting can get pretty expensive.

That's it for today. Thanks to the whole gang for the kind words. I truly wish we could all get together and just get blasted from the first harvest. Maybe the So Cal peeps can put together a meeting at the beach in April for a sample session.