Tall Plants

I'm looking to grow six tall plants, maybe 12-14 feet high including the pot. I want to do it in hydroponics. Any ideas on what pots and baskets to use? Also how many feeder lines per square foot of surface area of each pot would one use? The room is 14' by 22' and 16' high. I want two rows of three plants.

Also what configuration of lights would be suggested? I would be using 1000 MH for veg and 1000 HPS for flower. I am thinking of hanging the lights vertical with 3 rows of 4 lights off-set to the plants each at 8-9 feet from the floor and another 3 rows of 3 lights in line with each plant and these would be hung 10-12 feet high.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

so you will need some big grow containers to acheive plants that tall! maybe some sort of storage tote? never grew any that tall but i would think a 5 gallon container just wouldnt be enough room for the roots to grow that large. i have read of people growing plants up to 20' tall with monster buds! and those people were using containers such as 50 gallon drums.... i used to be able to get those drums for free from my last place of employment. i use to detail cars for an acura dealership and they would just toss their drums that at one time contained cleaning chemicals. so maybe check with a local dealership to see if they would sacrifice any. if you do just be 150% sure that you clean it out REALLY REALLY good before planting in it!

oh and you plan on using a 1000watt hps for EACH plant? Thats pretty bad ass. and have you considered T5 High Output flourescent fixtures for veg... save you on energy cost, heat build up

for veg i have been using my Pioneer T5 High Output 2' x 4 bulb flourescent veg fixture/bulbs and i love it! obviously for what you are trying to acheive bigger fixtures would be required but check out nehydro.com thats where i bought mine from.

Can we back up and perhaps you can explain how you arrived at the conclusion that this would be an efficient configuration? How many 1000w lights total are you planning? Did I really count 21? 21,000 watts? What kind of electrical service and wiring do you have? Let's see... at a gram a watt that's 47 pounds from 6 plants or just under 8 pounds per plant.

i'm looking for some background here. are you a legal grower? i ask because of energy consumption. also, as stated before, whether it's hydro or soil, you're going to need some LARGE pots. if you are legal and limited in the number of plants, but want big plants, i would suggest a good yielding outdoor strain. if you live somewhere that outdoors isnt' a good option because of the weather, and you have to grow indoors, i'd recommend soil over hydro to achieve plants of that stature. when you start trying to manage multiple plants of that size with a hydro system, you will run into so much more hassle than good old soil mixes. moving on to your grow space. it's got a high ceiling which is nice but think ahead about the problems that you run into when having to do wiring at that height. will you be using light movers/rails? are you looking for a fairly automated grow system or do you have a LOT of time to be tending your garden?

Really there is so much that you haven't let us know that I'd like to see a re-write of your original statement with lots more details. Best of luck no matter what route you choose. We are all here to help.

Yes, I am a legal grower. I have a 400 amp service. I sourced a heavy duty 85 gallon container which costs 150 bux. 29 inches round by 42 inches high. T5's might be good for the first 2 months. I am limited to grow indoors. Yes, 21 lights per room. I have never grown with dirt, but I guess I could try. I am not using light movers, just lights which I can adjust in height. Yes, I can tend to these bad azz plants daily.

Ok, I think I have addressed each of your comments and thanks a lot, so far. I am still in need of lots of help.

As for a re-write, hummmm, I will add that I would be building a raised floor which would be equal in height to the pots or maybe even a foot higher. so in essence a 4-5 foot crawl space. The floor could act as support for the lower brances. The opening in the floor would be 4-5 foot in diameter.

This will leave me with a 11 to 12 foot ceiling and the plants would only be 8-10 feet in height. I would raise the pots a foot so that they could drain back to an above floor rez.

That's all I can think of at this moment. I did consider soil and still will, because then I wouldn't have to raise the pots. With hydro,... what kind of raised mesh could I use to keep the hydrotons pebbles 8-12 inches off the bottom of the barrels? Obviously 5 gallon buckets are out of the question and so are the 10 inch mesh baskets that sit in them.

Rather than the 85 gallon barrels, they also sell 50 gallon ones which are 21 inches at the base.

grow em outside, no need for electricity, the sun has great penetration and you can just dig the holes in the ground and fill with your choice of mix.

if your cant grow outside i think plants that big are just too big, you would be better off growing 4 plants to every 1 you anticipate growing, if floor space is an issue maybe look at a vertical setup, something like this

If you want to go with hydro still get some 45-50 gallon rubbermaid totes, they are shorter to the ground. thus giving you more vertical space for plant growth, with the above diagram you could build a rack to support each tote and do some form of aeroponic setup where you have sprayer nozzles in the totes and gravity will run the water back to your rezz, you could also setup a secondary rezz with a sump pump in it that is smaller (and shorter to keep that gravity working for you) that all the plants drain into, once the secondary rez hits a certain level the sump pump empties it into the primary rezz.

I'm not sure why you would do this? 1 reason is you will need so much side lighting it's not funny. The popcorn buds will be many. 2 the veg time on them alone would alowe 2 5 foot grows. Much better yield and less power. 3 indoor plants take alot of work. How do you plan on trimming the tops? You might have a ladder to get you 12 feet up but that plant might be 12 feet wide? Wish you the best of luck but I'm going to put it out there and say your nuts. That being said.

You will need about 30-50 gallon tubs for each plant just to handle the root mass. And if that big standard ebb and flow, flood and drain, and nft might be or are really out of the question. So I would say forget about trying to hold up the hydroton and just dump it in. Screen your drain lines and use drip imiters. flow? I don't have any idea.

Sorry but I can't help conclude that anyone who is ready for 21,000 watts of grow lighting, shouldn't need any help from anyone on RIU.

To get 8' plants which seems a "little" more realistic. Look at the 13 gallon under current systems. Guys are getting big plants in those. Plus you won't need 21,000 watts of lighting. Maybe 3,000 vertical and 3,000 horizontal for 6 plants.

Illegal Smile said:

Sorry but I can't help conclude that anyone who is ready for 21,000 watts of grow lighting, shouldn't need any help from anyone on RIU.

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more money than sense apparently, i like my vertical idea.

if its legal though, just grow them outside, best cheapest way to go, mix up some nice organic soil and dig some monter holes.

typhoon said:

I'm looking to grow six tall plants, maybe 12-14 feet high including the pot. I want to do it in hydroponics. Any ideas on what pots and baskets to use? Also how many feeder lines per square foot of surface area of each pot would one use? The room is 14' by 22' and 16' high. I want two rows of three plants.

Also what configuration of lights would be suggested? I would be using 1000 MH for veg and 1000 HPS for flower. I am thinking of hanging the lights vertical with 3 rows of 4 lights off-set to the plants each at 8-9 feet from the floor and another 3 rows of 3 lights in line with each plant and these would be hung 10-12 feet high.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

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if i were you id do a gigantic scrog with 2 plants or so. or do a vertical grow and put two 1000w bulbs in the middle of the room 5 feet apart, i believe this or a stadium grow would be the most efficient for your room.

i agree but he needs maxium amount return hence huge plants this is not the way id go but if this wprks for his needs great(limits are to scrict here too iam allowed 65 plants 14grams daily orally) the first time u go this size i know from experince u begin to double guess urself (iam i forgeting anything syndrome) this is norml for some but u have great ppl here that understand the cost ur putting up and this being ur largest grow to date just need experinced grwers to bounce ideas off ....... way great round stupid aueage laws iam card holder in central canada mark emery old 1999 high times i think did sthis same thing man ur on right track but i think 600s if u have them for side lighting work best less heat he got 2lbs a plant plus but took 3months veg hydro id the way to grow here less work more consitant yeilds but up u do both if u want see diff for urself id not go hydro corn route as if any pumpd fail ur done id use rockwool flock black 50 gal barrels cut in half be great dwc buckets that stle ur growing i take it 4928 sqf in total minus palnt height should give u 35 wpsf if bulbs 12-14 "away conopy if u can afford it get supplement lighting as much as possible ie light loss is cut by huge amounts distance travelled is increased 2-1 1st foot 6-1 2nd foot 18 to 1 3rd foot just somthing keep in mind u dont want wisby meds 4 lines per pail with T's for good even mosture use larger sized drippers hardest to clog just incase 1 always cloggs 45 gal drum 5 gal pot u want roots hanging for best fastest growth too big pot will hinder ur growth lets see waht others say as dont do dwc but ebbn flo n drip to drain this would be a greatway if expences allow no ph flux in res no topping up res least amount work to get insane results so u cna care for those girls as this size room thers always something to do ...........

off topic but u got a scissor lift or what how do u plan on tending to conopy? middle growthetc just hope u think of this before thats all maybe a sky line u pull uself cross man be simple rig too setup an hour max n super cool to boot

Yeah guys, I think I had a stupid idea. lol. Oh well. Guess I'll stick to 5 gallon buckets, half the veg time and less to go wrong. If a 5 month ole gal was to die, I would cry. Oh well, it was fun dreamin'.

A ladder is easy to find. You'd need a chainsaw though to hack them down at harvest.

typhoon said:

Yeah guys, I think I had a stupid idea. lol. Oh well. Guess I'll stick to 5 gallon buckets, half the veg time and less to go wrong. If a 5 month ole gal was to die, I would cry. Oh well, it was fun dreamin'.

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vertical grow for the win.

RetiredMatthebrute said:

grow em outside, no need for electricity, the sun has great penetration and you can just dig the holes in the ground and fill with your choice of mix.

if your cant grow outside i think plants that big are just too big, you would be better off growing 4 plants to every 1 you anticipate growing, if floor space is an issue maybe look at a vertical setup, something like this

View attachment 2080392

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I can't seem to picture this. What are you proposing? I have no idea what the picture means.

hes saying raise number up 4-1 and grow straight up not the best method id advise unless ur cramped for space omg this guy wanted 10 footers im guessing just guessing space is not issue ...but u missed it as he only can grow certian limit and wanted most return resreach re circulating dwc i think will fit ur needs nicly big half pounders easy guy with half the lights but never enough light (110 wpsf max)if optimal conditions are met