4 32 site xl undercurrent systems in a 20X40 room

bdt1981

bdt1981

Well-Known Member
Apalchen said:
How long are you going to veg in the UC system. I think UC systems are great for people with plant count limits and medical patients. I just don’t see how it is less work at all and having to veg for so long in your flower room cuts your crops per year back. I’m not trying to be discouraging at all I follow 1 or 2 undercurrent commercial gardens on IG. If you got a 60 day stain and veg for 30 days that 90 days in your flower room. So that’s 4 crops a year vs 6 if you just flower in the flower room. I don’t see anyway that your yield would be so much higher on the undercurrent system thatvit could make up for two lost runs per year. Then again cost per crop goes up, electric cost per crop goes up, dumping the Rez every couple weeks waste water and nutrients.

Again not trying to discourage just making sure you thought of all this as opening a commercial grow your gonna have to compare all the cost and production. Margins are fairly thin so when you look at big commercial facilities look at what they are doing for ideas on how to save money and pump out the most per year.
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Veg for 3 weeks in the 8gallon modules. 96 plants to trim up is a lot less than 1000 plants to trim up that is a lot less work. Harvest every 11 to 12 weeks and spend a few hrs a week grooming the plants spend a day changing water every 2 or 3 weeks. 1000 plants would be a full time job. The transplanting alone would take a 40 hr week. Grooming up 1000 plants i dont even want to think about it. I have thought long and hard about what i want to do and the under current is it. 96 plants with a .5 to 1.5 lb yield is enough for me. 4.5 times a year.
Just curious how big a garden have u had expirence with? Have u ever tried to take care of that many plants? My friends commercial grow has 300 plants. He is a noob and dont know much. It took me like 20hrs to trim up 100 of his plants. The other 200 havent been touched. The lookin a little rough. Only about 40 are in 5gallon pots the rest in gallon. Its a ton of work managing large plant numbers. Thats what im trying to avoid. Maybe if i had the space i would veg in one room and flower in the other. Ummm no would run them both the same. Veg and flower in same place. 3 week veg not so bad.
 
bdt1981

bdt1981

Well-Known Member
Oh yea i almost forgot. Today we got approved for our commercial license! Super happy about that.
 
A

Apalchen

Well-Known Member
Congrats on the license. Sounds like you have thought out the dwc and it is what will work best for you. I still disagree on some points 1. A room with 1000 plants vs a room of equal size with 100 plants I don’t see how it would be much different defoliating as you would have roughly the same plant mass right? Most Everyone shooting for an even canopy and the canopy size doesn’t change based on number of plants it just requires longer veg for bigger plants.
2. Transplanting while it might be time consuming(would be fairly easy in rock wool) saves a ton of room and makes for quicker turn around.
3. 96 one lb plants is a full time job or more.
You can get laborers since your legal if you got another job or something that keeps you from being there full time. You don’t even have to have full time laborers just a a few that comes to defoliate and trim.
 
bdt1981

bdt1981

Well-Known Member
Apalchen said:
Congrats on the license. Sounds like you have thought out the dwc and it is what will work best for you. I still disagree on some points 1. A room with 1000 plants vs a room of equal size with 100 plants I don’t see how it would be much different defoliating as you would have roughly the same plant mass right? Most Everyone shooting for an even canopy and the canopy size doesn’t change based on number of plants it just requires longer veg for bigger plants.
2. Transplanting while it might be time consuming(would be fairly easy in rock wool) saves a ton of room and makes for quicker turn around.
3. 96 one lb plants is a full time job or more.
You can get laborers since your legal if you got another job or something that keeps you from being there full time. You don’t even have to have full time laborers just a a few that comes to defoliate and trim.
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wont have money to pay people. Funds are getting thin. Couldnt trust people enough to know what they're doing. Would need seasoned growers tbh. Most of those have grow rooms. If u want it done right got to do yourself right.
I still disagree on the 1000 plants being same labor wise as 100 lol. Even if they are lots bigger. Rooted cuttings go into the uc 8gal modules and veg for 3 weeks then flip. Pull .5 -1.25#s each. Rooted cuttings flipped straight into flower in a flood or drip system u get .75 to 1.5 zips ish. Not to mention u got to veg the mothers forever to come up with 1000 good cuttings. Or spend a ton on seeds then got to worry bout a room for the moms. Ill be selecting 6 strains to keep as mothers. Maybe a few more from the freebies i get with order depending on what they are. My moms are going to be chillin under 3 to 6 4ft t5s is all. But hey my friend we bout to find out just how much work im gettin myself into. Lol. Ill give starting a journal another try once my equipment lands in my building. From bare room to completed setup thru it all.

Cool deal is my friend that i help out at his grow room is going to give me 128 cuts for free so i can start right away and not have to wait on my selections to reach size enough to cut from. They will have about 9 weeks to grow before i take a single cut while others are flowering out. 2 weeks b4 harvest ill fill my 2 64 site ez cloners up once i harvest have lil help serializing the systems and put the best 96 in within a week from chop day.
 
nDanger

nDanger

Well-Known Member
First, congrats on getting your license and building! Now just another $500 to the OBNDD and you'll be good to go. (Warning: the OBNDD isn't nearly as fast on approvals, so give it a few weeks!)
Believe me when I tell you no one here wants to see you lose a bunch of money. I'm a grower in OK too, but I don't think of you as competition. With 3000 licenses out there, some folks are going to get their finances messed up, others will quit when they find out it's not so easy and still others will grow crap that no one wants.
Second, there's a few things about your project that have been bugging the hell out of me. The uc32xl consists of modules (mods) 2 feet wide with an aisle 4 feet wide. Three of them would look like
aisle + mod + aisle + mod + aisle + mod + aisle + mod + aisle + mod + aisle + mod + aisle
4 + 2 + 4 + 2 + 4 + 2 + 4 + 2 + 4 + 2 + 4 + 2 + 4 = 40 feet
THEY WON'T FIT IN A 37 FOOT ROOM! ( Sorry for yelling, but it's been driving me nuts!!!)
The plants will stick out into those 4 foot aisles 1 foot on each side, leaving 2 feet clear, so barely shoulder width. Rolling a shop vac through there, or dragging trash bags when cleaning up the undergrowth would be a real chore, but with 3 foot aisles (leaving just room for your head!) it'll be a nightmare.
But hey, I figured out a solution to my objections that will both save you some money, make your work easier and even increase production!
Since you have some extra room width-wise, only get 2 uc32's, add 2 expansion kits to them to make them uc40's.
Now you've got room to put in an expanded uc16 (a uc20) with 2 site lids for vegging. This would let you stagger crops, pulling 40 plants almost every month. Realistically, you could get 5 crops from each 40 since they have some veg time in the uc20. That gives you 400 plants a year versus the (4x96) 384 plants doing it your way. It will even out the work load with smaller harvests more often, reduce the drying and curing space required, less nutes and water, and you'll keep the room cleaner, ensuring healthier, happier plants!
The uc20 will use a smaller chiller ($) and you could even stick up some crappy Viparspectre led's or something over it and cut down on electric and A/C costs.
Anyway, Got that off my chest!
Good Luck!!
 
Purpsmagurps

Purpsmagurps

Well-Known Member
Have you thought of putting some Quantum strips or boards together to supplement half of the lighting requirement? Save a lot on your bills. All those open faced gavitas might get pretty hot. I dunno how cold your winter season is.
 
a mongo frog

a mongo frog

Well-Known Member
Purpsmagurps said:
Have you thought of putting some Quantum strips or boards together to supplement half of the lighting requirement? Save a lot on your bills. All those open faced gavitas might get pretty hot. I dunno how cold your winter season is.
Click to expand...
Thats probably not even legal, is it? The fire commission calls the labor board are you are fucked.
 
bdt1981

bdt1981

Well-Known Member
nDanger said:
First, congrats on getting your license and building! Now just another $500 to the OBNDD and you'll be good to go. (Warning: the OBNDD isn't nearly as fast on approvals, so give it a few weeks!)
Believe me when I tell you no one here wants to see you lose a bunch of money. I'm a grower in OK too, but I don't think of you as competition. With 3000 licenses out there, some folks are going to get their finances messed up, others will quit when they find out it's not so easy and still others will grow crap that no one wants.
Second, there's a few things about your project that have been bugging the hell out of me. The uc32xl consists of modules (mods) 2 feet wide with an aisle 4 feet wide. Three of them would look like
aisle + mod + aisle + mod + aisle + mod + aisle + mod + aisle + mod + aisle + mod + aisle
4 + 2 + 4 + 2 + 4 + 2 + 4 + 2 + 4 + 2 + 4 + 2 + 4 = 40 feet
THEY WON'T FIT IN A 37 FOOT ROOM! ( Sorry for yelling, but it's been driving me nuts!!!)
The plants will stick out into those 4 foot aisles 1 foot on each side, leaving 2 feet clear, so barely shoulder width. Rolling a shop vac through there, or dragging trash bags when cleaning up the undergrowth would be a real chore, but with 3 foot aisles (leaving just room for your head!) it'll be a nightmare.
But hey, I figured out a solution to my objections that will both save you some money, make your work easier and even increase production!
Since you have some extra room width-wise, only get 2 uc32's, add 2 expansion kits to them to make them uc40's.
Now you've got room to put in an expanded uc16 (a uc20) with 2 site lids for vegging. This would let you stagger crops, pulling 40 plants almost every month. Realistically, you could get 5 crops from each 40 since they have some veg time in the uc20. That gives you 400 plants a year versus the (4x96) 384 plants doing it your way. It will even out the work load with smaller harvests more often, reduce the drying and curing space required, less nutes and water, and you'll keep the room cleaner, ensuring healthier, happier plants!
The uc20 will use a smaller chiller ($) and you could even stick up some crappy Viparspectre led's or something over it and cut down on electric and A/C costs.
Anyway, Got that off my chest!
Good Luck!!
Click to expand...
3 of those systems should actually fit pretty good when i caculated it. The systems are 9.42 ft wide. Starting 1.5 ft from the south wall and leaving 2 ft between each system should be enough with almost 3 ft left over. I really am going to avoid vegging in a different space. Especially since i dont have any space for that and because thats a lot more equipment that i cant afford right now. Im not exactly positive but seems like pulling a rootball out of a module and putting it in another would stress it somewhat. Idk maybe not but it cant be good for it. I appreciate the advice tho. Tbh i havent even considered the add on kit. Seems like it would be more difficult to cool once you go past 8 modules. Not exactly how many times per hr the water circulated thru the system but i read about someone having problems keeping nutes cool enough using 1 hydro innovations cool coil in a system. If it was the 20 ft coil he would have been maxed out at 1ft cooling 12.5 gallons of water. I am going with 1/2" 50 ft stainless wort chillers. I am also going to use only 1 1.5 hp chiller to cool all 3 systems using a 275 gal chiller res and a manifold and return manifold for the 3 wort chillers.
Last i checked there were just over 2000 grower licenses givin out in oklahoma. With an estimated 30 to 50% in operation. I am curious to see how many will be left after 2yrs. Its definatly not as easy as it may seem to grow large amounts of good weed. I bet every inexpirenced grower who starts a grow without experts helping them undre shoots the needed ac by close to half. Least my friend that has a grow did. I went away for 5 months and wasnt around to give him any advice and his ac guy didnt know what he was talking about... Anyway im off to my building to remove the rest of this wall in my grow area. Assholes used 10000 screws on the sheetrock and 5000 screws and 5000 nails on the wood work so its a real pain in my ass. Lol.
 
bdt1981

bdt1981

Well-Known Member
nDanger said:
First, congrats on getting your license and building! Now just another $500 to the OBNDD and you'll be good to go. (Warning: the OBNDD isn't nearly as fast on approvals, so give it a few weeks!)
Believe me when I tell you no one here wants to see you lose a bunch of money. I'm a grower in OK too, but I don't think of you as competition. With 3000 licenses out there, some folks are going to get their finances messed up, others will quit when they find out it's not so easy and still others will grow crap that no one wants.
Second, there's a few things about your project that have been bugging the hell out of me. The uc32xl consists of modules (mods) 2 feet wide with an aisle 4 feet wide. Three of them would look like
aisle + mod + aisle + mod + aisle + mod + aisle + mod + aisle + mod + aisle + mod + aisle
4 + 2 + 4 + 2 + 4 + 2 + 4 + 2 + 4 + 2 + 4 + 2 + 4 = 40 feet
THEY WON'T FIT IN A 37 FOOT ROOM! ( Sorry for yelling, but it's been driving me nuts!!!)
The plants will stick out into those 4 foot aisles 1 foot on each side, leaving 2 feet clear, so barely shoulder width. Rolling a shop vac through there, or dragging trash bags when cleaning up the undergrowth would be a real chore, but with 3 foot aisles (leaving just room for your head!) it'll be a nightmare.
But hey, I figured out a solution to my objections that will both save you some money, make your work easier and even increase production!
Since you have some extra room width-wise, only get 2 uc32's, add 2 expansion kits to them to make them uc40's.
Now you've got room to put in an expanded uc16 (a uc20) with 2 site lids for vegging. This would let you stagger crops, pulling 40 plants almost every month. Realistically, you could get 5 crops from each 40 since they have some veg time in the uc20. That gives you 400 plants a year versus the (4x96) 384 plants doing it your way. It will even out the work load with smaller harvests more often, reduce the drying and curing space required, less nutes and water, and you'll keep the room cleaner, ensuring healthier, happier plants!
The uc20 will use a smaller chiller ($) and you could even stick up some crappy Viparspectre led's or something over it and cut down on electric and A/C costs.
Anyway, Got that off my chest!
Good Luck!!
Click to expand...
I think you are off a little on your measurments being 4ft aisles. But get yhis i have saw 2 different 32xl system layouts. I think the older one is discontinued but not positive. With 25" plant centers it makes it 3 ft wide for 2 modules. Tho older design had a 3ft center aisle. The design on growgeneration.com shows 4 rows all evenly spaced. Not sure which layout is correct. That bit has me confused. But the dimensions on cch2o are 9.42'x18.33'. The pic there shows the layout with the bigger center aisle. Idk for sure which is right but ill figure it out no matter.
 
bdt1981

bdt1981

Well-Known Member
Purpsmagurps said:
Have you thought of putting some Quantum strips or boards together to supplement half of the lighting requirement? Save a lot on your bills. All those open faced gavitas might get pretty hot. I dunno how cold your winter season is.
Click to expand...
What do u mean how cold our winter season is? Wouldnt summer be when heat would be an issue?
 
Purpsmagurps

Purpsmagurps

Well-Known Member
Well, some people need the heat in winter. I can't get my room warm enough with just leds. I don't even need ac in summer.
 
Purpsmagurps

Purpsmagurps

Well-Known Member
I would just insulate pvc and run to each bucket up top, use one chiller per isle. You are going to have a bitch of a time keeping your shit from tangling and clogging. I have only a 4 site and as soon as my roots fill up I need to adjust my top fill and my water level changes with flow rate. Not enough room and your shits overflowing mid loop because gravity only works so hard.
 
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