lend your experience to better my vert setup, por favor

What's up guys? So I'll try and keep this concise (good luck) but basically I just had some general questions about plant behavior when grown in a vertical setup, and maybe see if someone could give some ideas about what I could do to increase the usage of my lumen footprint, yield, etc. I kinda started this thing assuming they would behave a certain way, and now that I'm into it a week or so I'm starting to learn I wasn't exactly right.

So lemme start with pics of what I'm dealing with. These pics are maybe close to a week old but the only difference now is that my air conditioning vent is on the bottom pumping air in instead of hanging from the top.


I've yet to add my exhaust; I've got a 6" hurricane fan that I bought like a month ago and haven't set up yet BC I really haven't needed it. There's an air conditioner in the room that pulls in air (where the duct runs from) and then a 20" fan in front of the closet. Even without the fan it only gets to like 80°F where cool air comes through the duct, which is now basically just fed in from the floor (it seemed like the rising heat from the bulb and dropping cool air above it wasn't the best way).

So ANYWAYS, I originally planned on having 4 decent sized plants in my long, narrow space (5'x20"x8'), and the whole idea of hanging my bulb without a hood was to try and use up more lumens without having two plants on the ends that weren't getting enough light penetration from my 400 w metal halide. I decided to build some shelves that would sit at an angle, so that I could lean my plants towards the light. I thought by having the light come down directly from the top of the plant, they would get more even light on all sides. I figured I might be able to get one more plant in that way, by having 1 on the ground under the light, and then two on each side of it at an angle, and then two more on the outside at an even greater angle. Anyways, here are the shelves I built.



They aren't completed yet, the second pic shows the top shelf but without the lip to hold the plant. Plus, I have to arrange some lengths on the pvc BC the top shelf needs to be slightly more inclined than the bottom one to keep the tops of the plants more equidistant from the light.

Now as they are growing tho, I am noticing that they grow up no matter what. The idea was to keep me from having to turn them, but now I am just to keep the plants growing straight out of the pot and towards the light.

I was also planning a scrog (if I could get the canopies even), probably by using chicken wire and making a semicircle, kind of like a smiley face, or I guess the mouth of a smiley face around the light. I would love to do the circle-like tomatoes cage with the four plants around it, but my space is just too skinny. If I can get a bigger spot that's what I would like to run my sativas on. I have a lot of indicas the first time around anyways.

So, does anyone else grow their plants at an angle? I'm starting to think my best bet might be to LST them down when they are young long enough to get the branches to grow to one side, then get them back upright. That's basically what I did with larry, the plant in the white bucket and its working well for him but he's a little small to know if it would work well with all of them.

I've seen some crazy vert setups and I know my space and lumens are going to be used to their best with this method, I just need to figure out the best way to do it, lol. I can always keep my light like that and make my shelves straight by drilling a couple holes if it would work better. Or should I keep them angled and just let them grow with a bend and go straight up? I've read how the plants grow towards the light, maybe I should just give mine more time like this and see how they do.

I have eleven plants altogether, but more than half will probably go outside to veg.

one thing to account for is pot /plant weight. when the plants get big and heavy, if the pots get a bit dry they will fall over at such an angle.

i have never done a vert but i have seen a few decent set ups and even without the sloping stand the plants still sometimes fall over because they grow towards the light.

the most efficient use of energy/space/lighting at this point would be a sphere. this concept can then be modified to your exact situation. [{EO3}]

[ = outer wall/res/growing medium
{= curved scrog/screen
E or 3 = plants
O = light source

OK, so basically have the screen behind my plants, not in between them and the light?

Can you look at my pic and explain a little better how you mean this? Basically like how they use the round cages, but put the cage around the outside of the plants and the light instead of the middle?

directly under the bulb is the weak point, you want to use up the sides of the bulbs footprint. if i were you i'd start them with a horizontal setup and then have a vert setup ready so that the plants are fully using the 360deg footprint of the bulb. you could use stage seating type setups or make racks with angles, or just grow really big plants that are big enough to use up the footprint.
so the way i look at it you could either build some sort of stadium rack setup or you could use your mh as a horizontal setup with a hood and stuff and then when your stuff is big enough switch to a vertical hps and flower. the stretching should fill the screen if you time things right

you put the screen in first, whether it be infront or behind the plant base is up to you. keep in mind you will have to still maintain the plant. watering, pruning or trimming, inspections, tiedowns, etc.

if it makes it easier to put the plants on the outside of the screen for watering and pest control etc etc... then put the bases on the outside, if it makes it easier for you to put it on the inside, put it on the inside. if you are going to add wheels/rotations/pivots points, etc etc... take that into consideration.

light will always spread out as directed. a sphere if un interupted, or if you have a lens @ 90/120 etc etc it will follow that path and dissipate accordingly

with just a bulb and no lens then it will spread out as a sphere. unless theres a black hole or something in the room.

so plan accordingly, position the mesh/screen/fencing/lattice or whatever you are using in a sphere shape or of approximate dimensions. example, cut an orange into 8 pieces, now peel off the skin of one of those pieces. look at it. ( . now get your material for the screen and add some supports. pvc piping, eavestrough downstems, wood, a pole under tension. whatever you have until you can make better. keep in mind stability, its going to be there for a while, will probably be moved, and played with and you will have to tie down or weave the plants through. (wheels and pivot points)

attach this to the base of where your plants will grow. (wheels, pivot points, hinges)

make sure it is easy to maintain. make sure you can get to the bulb, make sure you have proper air movement.

it will only go as far as you are willing to take it.

plan accordingly

use your best judgement

all the best to ya

A picture is worth a thousand words... Sorry I did not read your post, but heres my 2k.
(light moves up and down)
Google vert scrogs, it will show you allot.